13/12/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Sometimes it is a little too easy to forget just how perfect some of the early Dylan works are, and that is why the demo version of Don’t think twice is so welcome on the “No Direction Home” album. Beautifully understated, lovingly caressed, it seems the most perfect version of the song ever.

This is the start of the goodbye songs that occupied Dylan so much in the early years – “You just kind of wasted my precious time” – so much the precursor of It ain’t me babe and the other early songs of that genre.

From the instrumental introduction there is the feeling of oneness between Dylan, the song and the guitar. Through this early version you feel for him, and you even feel for the girl who is cast as the outsider – Dylan walks off with the guitar and the song, the girl has nothing save humiliation.

After all, “You’re the reason I’m travelling on” is one of the harshest lines anyone has ever sung to a woman.

It is such a perfectly simple song – the simple strophic verse-verse-verse, which makes the words become understated. Sometimes it seems that “I give her my heart but she wanted my soul” needs to be accompanied by a clash of drums, with possibly some lighting and thunder to help us along.

And this simplicity is why it can work. It is so beautifully understated. Even though “You just wasted my precious time” we have that simple chord structure and elegant melody. How could someone write such a beautiful farewell song?

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03/11/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Coming back to Blowing in the Wind after 45 years is a strange experience. There was a time when I, and all those like me, not only listened to it every day but also played it every day. Some of us did both at once.

It is interesting to hear how close the guitar playing is to the opening track of World gone Wrong in 1993.

The voice is fresh and clear – he wants every word to be heard. The song is so tightly constructed, and every line has power and strength.

I have no idea how he actually wrote it, where each line came from, if the melody or the chords or the lyrics came first. Maybe its in a book somewhere and I’ve never seen it.

There is no emphasis in any line – rather like Positively 4^th Street, each line is giving the same weighting, whether it is “How many roads must a man walk down before your call him a man”, or “How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see.”

As for the meaning – it is simplicity – the world is out there and everything is there to be seen for those who wish to look. Science and humanity linked as one eternity. A simple Zen statement.

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