Dylan makes a surprise appearance at a tribute to Roy Orbison at the Universal Amphitheater, Universal City, Los Angeles, joining three of the original Byrds (David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman) on a version of “Mr. Tambourine Man.” He remains onstage, playing guitar on “He Was a Friend of Mine,” and joining in on an ensemble encore of “Only the Lonely.” The version of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” on which Dylan competes with McGuinn for the “lead” vocal, subsequently appears in a cable TV special of the benefit, as well as on CBS’s four-CD Byrds retrospective, simply titled The Byrds.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Universal Amphitheater Los Angeles, California 24 February 1990 Roy Orbison Tribute.
The guilty undertaker sighs
The lonesome organ grinder cries
The silver saxophones say I should refuse you
The cracked bells and washed-out horns
Blow into my face with scorn
But it’s not that way
I wasn’t born to lose you
I want you, I want you
I want you so bad
Honey, I want you
Hollis Brown
He lived on the outside of town
Hollis Brown
He lived on the outside of town
With his wife and five children
And his cabin fallin’ down
You looked for work and money
And you walked a rugged mile
You looked for work and money
And you walked a rugged mile
Your children are so hungry
That they don’t know how to smile
It’s not a drain at all, …. Billy Idol’s got the right idea. It’s a charmed life. It beats 9-to-5 now, it did then and it will tomorrow.
You gotta stick it out though. That’s all there really is at the end of the line in this business. B.B. King and Chuck Berry are still working. Little Richard is as good now as he was then.
-Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen, August 31, 1990)
1990 Late Summer Tour of North America
First concert: August 12, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – Jubilee Auditorium
Last concert: September 12, Mesa, Arizona – Mesa Amphitheater
