Introduction by The President of The United States, Barack Obama: The man who was good enough to take time off from his never-ending tour, Mr. Bob Dylan!
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
The White House Washington, District Of Columbia 11 February 2010
Bob Dylan (acoustic guitar & vocal)
Patrick Warren. (piano)
Tony Garnier (bass)
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
..But it is “Long Black Limousine” and “I’ll Hold You in My Heart” which mark the high point of the album and indeed may mark the high point of Elvis’ career to date. “Long Black Limousine” is the almost quintessential C&W ballad, whose melody bears traces of such mournful standards as “Old Shep” and “Green, Green Grass of Home”.
~Peter Guralnick (Rollingstone Magazien – Aug 1969)
One of the strongest songs from one of the best albums ever released… nothing less.
Wikipedia
Released
June 17, 1969
Genre
Rhythm and blues
Length
3:44
Label
RCA Victor
Writer
Vern Stovall, Bobby George
Producer
Chips Moman, Felton Jarvis
Long Black Limousine is a song written by Vern Stovall and Bobby George; the best known version is probably the one by Elvis Presley, who turned the original country tune into a soulful rhythm and blues song.
Stovall and George, country musicians based in southern California, probably wrote the song in 1958, when it was first recorded (but not released until many years later) by Wynn Stewart. The first released version was Stovall’s, in 1961, followed by Glen Campbell’s in 1962. The only charting single of the song (in 1968 it reached #73 on the US country charts) was Jody Miller’s, her version was also on her 1968 album The Nashville Sound of Jody Miller. O. C. Smith’s version was released as the B-side of his million-selling crossover hit “Little Green Apples” in 1968. Elvis Presley’s version appeared on his classic 1969 From Elvis in Memphis album.
The sound produced at American had little to do with high-tech equipment and everything to do with its stable of musicians, who had developed a heavily R&B-influenced style that far transcended any bluesy edges the Nashville players might have boasted.
~Ernst Jorgensen (Elvis Presley – A life in music)
Elvis & Chips Moman
All southerners, all close to Elvis’s age, they shared a musical heritage that blended country, gospel, and rhythm and blues.
To the musicians Chips Moman was a godfather-like figure in the studio, who would tolerate nothing less than total commitment.
~Ernst Jorgensen (Elvis Presley – A life in music)
An even better version – Long Black Limousine (Take 6):
Lyrics
There’s a long line of mourners driving down our little street
Their fancy cars are such a sight to see, oh, yeah
They’re all of your rich friends who knew you in the city
And now they’ve finally brought, brought you home to me
When you left you know you told me that some day you’d be returnin’
In a fancy car all the town to see, oh, yeah
Well, now everyone is watching you, you finally had your dream
Yeah, and you’re ridin’ in a long black limousine
You know the papers told of how you lost your life, oh, yeah
The party, the party and the fatal crash that night
Well, the race upon the highway, oh, the curve you didn’t see
When you’re riding in that long black limousine
You’re riding in that long black limousine
Through tear filled eyes I watch as you ride by, oh, yeah
A chauffeur, a chauffeur at the wheel dressed up so fine
Well, I never, I never, never, never, oh, my heart, all my dreams
Yeah, they’re with you in that long black limousine
Yeah, yeah, they’re with you in that long black limousine
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re with you in that long black limousine
Yeah, yeah, they’re with you in that long black limousine
Producer: Chips Moman & Felton Jarvis
Produced by Felton Jarvis and Chips Moman Engineered by Al Pachucki
Overdubs arranged by Mike Leech and Glen Spreen
Digital Engineer: Dick Baxter
Personnel
Elvis Presley – vocals, guitar, piano
String and Horn Arrangements – Glen Spreen
Ed Kollis – harmonica
John Hughey – pedal steel guitar on “In the Ghetto”
Reggie Young, Dan Penn – electric guitar
Bobby Wood – piano
Bobby Emmons – organ
Tommy Cogbill, Mike Leech – bass
Gene Chrisman – drums
Overdubbed:
Wayne Jackson, Dick Steff, R.F. Taylor – trumpets
Ed Logan, Jack Hale, Gerald Richardson] – trombones
Tony Cason, Joe D’Gerolamo – french horns
Andrew Love, Jackie Thomas, Glen Spreen, J.P. Luper – saxophones
Joe Babcock, Dolores Edgin, Mary Greene, Charlie Hodge, Ginger Holladay, Mary Holladay Millie Kirkham, Ronnie Milsap, Sonja Montgomery, June Page, Susan Pilkington, Sandy Posey, Donna Thatcher, Hurschel Wiginton – backing vocals
Oh, but I just thought you might want something fine
Made of silver or of golden
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coast of Barcelona
Boots of Spanish Leather – Witmark demos:
From Wikipedia:
Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of 101.4 km2 (39 sq mi). The urban area of Barcelona extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of between 4,200,000 and 4,500,000 within an area of 803 km2 (310 sq mi), being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, the Ruhr, Madrid and Milan. About five million people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is also the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea. It is located on the Mediterranean coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs and is bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola ridge (512 m/1,680 ft).
Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona became one of the most important cities of the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.
Barcelona is today one of the world’s leading tourist, economic, trade fair/exhibitions and cultural-sports centres, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world’s major global cities. Indeed, it is a major cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe (Iberian Peninsula), 26th in the world (after Moscow, before Dubai) and a growing financial centre (Diagonal Mar and Gran Via). It is the fourth economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world with an output amounting to €177 billion. As of 2009 the city was ranked Europe’s third and one of the world’s most successful as a city brand. At the same time, the city was ranked Europe’s fourth best city for business and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year. Barcelona is the transport hub with one of Europe’s principal ports, Barcelona international airport, which handles above 34 million passengers per year, extensive motorway network and also is a hub of high-speed rail, particularly that which is intended to link Spain with France and the rest of Europe as the second longest in the world.
I didn’t want to stay in the Stones, and be stuck in a position having to play a music I didn’t like anymore and that restricted me from doing all the others things I’m interested in because of time.
I wanted a variety in my life but after a couple of years I thought that music is what I do so maybe I should start doing it again.
From Wikipedia:
Birth name
William George Perks
Also known as
Lee Wyman
Born
24 October 1936 (age 76)
Lewisham, London EnglandUnited Kingdom
Genres
Rock, rock and roll, swing,rhythm and blues, jazz, blues,skiffle
Occupations
Musician, composer, author,record producer, film producer,bandleader, photographer,inventor
Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings – Anyway the wind blows:
Bill Wyman (born William George Perks; 24 October 1936) is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings. He has worked producing both records and film, and has scored music for film in movies and television.
Wyman has kept a journal since he was a child after World War II. It has been useful to him as an author who has written seven books, selling two million copies. Wyman’s love of art has additionally led to his proficiency in photography and his photographs have hung in galleries around the world. Wyman’s lack of funds in his early years led him to create and build his own fretless bass guitar. He became an amateur archaeologist and enjoys relic hunting; The Times published a letter about his hobby (Friday 2 March 2007). He designed and markets a patented Bill Wyman signature metal detector, which he has used to find relics in the English countryside dating back to the era of the Roman Empire.
As a businessman, he owns several establishments including the famous Sticky Fingers Café, a rock & roll-themed bistro serving American cuisine first opened in 1989 in the Kensington area of London and later, two additional locations in Cambridge and Manchester, England.
Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings – Stuff:
From allmusic – Jason Ankeny:
As a member of the Rolling Stones for three decades, Bill Wyman established himself among the greatest bassists in rock & roll history; in tandem with drummer Charlie Watts, he belonged to one of the most stalwart rhythm sections in popular music, perfectly complementing the theatrics of Mick Jagger and the gritty guitar leads of Keith Richards. …. read more @ allmusic.com
Elvis & Chips Moman
