Happy birthday Bob Part 4. Here’s a song

Previously in our Happy Birthday series…

• Bob – it’s not quite your birthday but…
• Happy Birthday Bob – Part 2. From Filip Łobodziński
• Happy Birthday Bob Part 3 – from Aaron Galbraith

By Paul Robert Thomas

To commemorate Bob’s 80th birthday, I have just finished the promo video of the radio mix of our song “Bob Dylan – Our Prodigal Son” that a number of people, including Michael Gray likes

 

The song title Our Prodigal Son is of course from the Bible (Luke 15), a book Dylan himself has heavily drawn from during his career.

The song starts by mentioning twins, or duality, Dylan is ‘Dylan the artist’ when he has to be, as he has said, and is Robert as many say he likes to be called, the family man. The Biblical parable is about 2 brothers and “Prodigal” means being wastefully extravagant. In this story the man’s son recklessly and wastefully spends his inheritance. In fact after he has been given his inheritance by his father he goes off and wastes it all but his father (God) welcomes him back into the fold with open arms.

In the context of this famous parable, the prodigal son has also come to mean someone who is spiritually lost and someone who has returned after an absence. One of the main precepts running through the Bible is that God wants us to repent, and if you know or have watched the documentary, Eat The Document, the last scene features a tired and perhaps high Dylan in the back of a limousine in 66 saying to the camera, saying to us, ‘I’m sorry for all that I’ve done and I hope to remedy it soon’! After this Dylan would withdraw from the public gaze for some years.

Anyway, that’s something that the song is about that I also tried to capture Dylan’s career journey from then to now.

But, going back to Bowling Alley Blues we, ‘Les Paul’s’ (The Paul’s) have now found time to start working on more part Dylan written lyrics and have just finished what was originally 2 sets of lyrics called “Bowling Alley Blues” that we have split into 2 sets of lyrics, the 1st we have named “Sugar Daddy Blues” (the 2nd to be called ‘Phone Operator Blues’ will hopefully be one of the next to be recorded)

Sugar Daddy Blues

I got your letter today
I’m glad you say you’re doing fine
I see you still got your habit
I’m so glad to hear it isn’t mine

I read your name in the papers again
Says you’re going out with Mister-so-and-so
So the news is out and you can’t pretend
In case you didn’t know

You didn’t want me
You said that I was poor
Says your sugar daddy feeds your need
Says ‘You’ll never want for more’
Says ‘You’ll never want for more’
Sugar daddy blues

Maybe tomorrow morning
You’ll wake up and find
That your sweet sugar daddy got fed up
And has gone and left you behind

Oh why wait for tomorrow
When you can find this out today?
Here read the paper, he’s gone back to his wife
All that glitters wasn’t gold, you’re wasting your life
You’re wasting your life

If you want babe, I’ll take you back
I’ll give you all I got to give
Just remove all that lipstick and make-up
And you can really start to live
Then you can really, really start to live, yeah

Sugar daddy blues
Sugar daddy blues
You got them Sugar daddy blues

Oh why wait for tomorrow
When you can find this out today?
Here read the paper, he’s gone back to his wife
All that glitters wasn’t gold, you’re wasting your time
All that glitters wasn’t gold, you’re wasting your life

 

Lyrics: Bob Dylan/Paul Robert Thomas; Music: Paul Odiase

Originally shown as Bowling Alley Blues