By Tony Attwood
Previously in this series:
In the first article in this series, we took a glimpse at the very first episode of Bob’s radio programme, which was on the theme of Weather. So logically moving on to Episode 2 we come to “Mother” which was first aired on 10 May 2006.
And the most notable thing for the little group of us discussing this before I sat down to try and write up some thoughts, was that the most obvious mother song known by our little group was the traditional bluegrass song “Mama Don’t Allow”. And yet on that score of course, this being a Bob Dylan show, we were wrong. Because the song we know by that title is correctly noted by Bob as “Mama Don’t Allow It” and he played the 1947 Julia Lee version
And obviously, I don’t know about you, but we were instantly knocked out by the opening. We were expecting a slower piece, but Bob gave us a version of this song that none of us knew (our fault entirely), and we really loved this. What a fantastic version – and I beg you to listen unless you already know THIS exact version – it is simply such great fun with each verse doing exactly what mama don’t allow.
What’s also interesting is that they manage to get each instrumental solo in, in such a way that we were all anticipating how it would be played – and were really surprised by what we actually heard. These are superb musicians having great fun. And this is a piece that is also totally rehearsed – none of your Bob Dylan-style improvisations. Given that the technology of the day meant that the recording would have been made in a single take, this is stunning. Can you imagine the annoyance of the rest of the band if the pianist had played a couple of bum notes right at the end of his solo, and the producer shouted “cut” and ordered yet another retake?
And the next point we noticed was that there were 17 songs played by Bob in this episode, and our little group actually knew less than half of them. Which was what made the show so much fun.
I’m obviously not going to go through each and every track Bob chose, but rather try to give a few examples which make some sort of point. In this next one we have a pure pop song…
But I was drawn to “Mama Didn’t Lie” by Jan Bradley from 1963 not because I particularly like the tune (the bubblegum style never really did it for me) but because of the extraordinary chord sequence which seems to run through it….
E, F#m, G#m, C#m, F#m, B, C#m
My point here is that a musician with Bob’s ability will instantly be able to hear what these chords are, but this sequence is a million miles from Bob’s own writing. However, as we have noticed in several episodes of the “No Nobel Prize” series, Bob did reach a time in the 1970s when he was exploring some of these alternative chord sequences. I am not sure if he ever used anything like the sequence in “Mama Didn’t Lie” but even if not, he clearly knew about it.
Of course not all of Bob’s choices were recorded by obscure artists (or better said, obscure to me, living and working in the UK) but even when he picked an artist I am perfectly familiar with, Bob managed to find an arrangement that was totally unexpected.
Even if you are tempted by now to skip some of these tracks, I would urge you to listen to this – Randy Newman’s piano accompaniment in this 1970 recording is just on another planet. And again, that is interesting because Bob was at the time of this selection, writing accompaniments that were nothing remotely as unexpected as this.
Of course not every recording Bob chose was as unexpected as that. “Mama Get the Hammer” is a 12 bar blues with the normal chord sequence modified in the vocal verses, although not in the instrumental breaks, which is weird. Just listen to the very last chord that the band ends on. There is nothing remotely similar in Dhylan’s own compositions.
So what I am finding in listening to these tracks is that Bob is not playing us the music that influenced his writing, but music which has gone out on a totally different route and which he admires.
But of course Bob went further. The final track in this little introductory collection really is a straight 12 bar blues, with the basic chords that we would expect. The second line of each verse is a repeat of the first, and the third line completes the rhyme. There is even a verse at the end which uses the song title over and over.
And then, just when I thought I had summed this song up, we have the weirdest instrumental break I have ever heard in a a 12 bar blues. It comes in at around 1’44”, and it is just plain spooky. What is it saying in relation to the song – that if you do talk to your daughter, you will just get confrontation? Or if you don’t, she’ll just go off and do something else?
Lenoir was a musician who mixed his music with showmanship and one who was known for commenting on social situations, which took him into all sorts of new musical settings, such as with this curious approach in “Talk to your daughter” from 1954. As such, he did produce blues and rock songs that really were different from everyone else’s compositions, even when he was just playing the 12-bar blues.
This song was by far his most successful release, both in terms of sales and of enhancing his reputation and it has been recorded by many other musicians.
“Mama Talk To Your Daughter”