The Never Ending Tour Extended: Silvio

 I don’t know what it means either: an index to the current series appearing on this website.

The Never Ending Tour Extended: This series primarily uses recordings selected by Mike Johnson in his inestimable masterpiece The Never Ending Tour, and looks at how those performances of individual songs change as time goes by.   The selection of songs from the series, and the commentary below, are by Tony Attwood.   A list of all the songs covered in the series is given at the end.   You may also be interested in Mike’s new series: “Mr Tambourine Man: – A History in Performance, Part 1: A masterpiece is born“

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As I look at the list of Dylan’s performances sometimes I am struck by the real oddity of Bob’s choices.  Of course he is the master and I am just the observer, so I am sure that there is a good reason behind the occasional “oddity” as I perceive it, but that feeling is there nonetheless.  For example the masterpiece that is “Desolation Row” has been played 581 times while “Silvio” which without considering matters in any depth I would say is a great rocker but overall a much lesser piece, has been played 594 times, between 1988 and 2004.

Of course a concert can’t be made up totally of Dylan masterpieces but it still strikes me as slightly strange.   And I guess it must have struck Mike who selected the recordings that should be used in the show, as a bit odd too, because he only selected two recordings of the song during the whole 144 episode series.

1996: Busy being born. With Al Kooper in Liverpool

But as I say it comes across as a good rocker, with a rare opportunity to have a spot of unaccompanied singing with Bob backed up by the band.  And the lyrics by Robert Hunter really are worth a second look…

Stake my future on a hell of a past
Looks like tomorrow is coming on fast
Ain't complaining 'bout what I got
Seen better times, but who has not?

And who exactly was Hunter talking to at the end

I can tell you fancy, I can tell you plain
You give something up for everything you gain
Since every pleasure's got an edge of pain
Pay for your ticket and don't complain

Which other performer has stood on stage and sung “Pay for your ticket and don’t complain”?

1998: One who sings with his tongue on fire.

I do hope you have time to listen to this performance all the way through – the concluding instrumental at the end really is superb.   Elsewhere Bob has changed his approach to the vocals but the notion of the chorus stays the same as before, and once again it is great rocker.

Robert Hunter died in 2019, and this note from Wikipedia perhaps reminds us that being a rock n roll start and a great writer is not protection from the ways of the world.   “In 2013, he was compelled to go on a solo tour as a result of medical bills, after surviving a spinal cord abscess in the previous year. Hunter died at his home in San Rafael, California on September 23, 2019. He had recent surgery before his death.”

And since we are on the subject here are the two men together…

Other articles in this series…

• A Hard Rain’s a-gonna fall 1988 – 1999
• Absolutely Sweet Marie
• Blind Willie McTell. 1997-2006
• Blowing in the Wind. 1991-2001
• Cold Irons Bound 1997-2002
• Desolation Row: beyond imagination: 1992-2017
• Don’t think twice it’s alright 1993-1997
• Duquesne Whistle 2013-2018
• Early Roman Kings
• Forever Young 1987 to 2011
• Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
• Gates of Eden
• Goodbye Jimmy Reed
• High Water
• Highway 61 1989-2003
• Honest with Me – 2001-2017
• I and I
• I don’t believe you – 1994 – 2013
• I shall be released 1975-2008 
• I’ll be your baby tonight 2003-2015
• It Ain’t me Babe from 1994-1998.
• It’s all over now baby blue
• It’s all right ma – at least it was by 2001
• Lay Lady Lay 1993-2010
• Like a Rolling Stone 1988 to 2002
• Long and Wasted Years
• Love Sick from the very start to 2000
• Love minus zero / No limit 1988 – 1996
• Maggies Farm – with a wonderful ending
• Masters of War 1978 to 2000.
• Not dark yet
• One too many mornings. 
• Pay in Blood
• Positively 4th Street, 1994-2006.
• Rainy day women, from push to stroke
• She Belongs to Me: 1988 to 1995
• Shelter from the Storm 1989-96
• Simple Twist of Fate 1989-2003
• Spirit on the Water
• Summer Days
• Tambourine Man 1964-1995
• Tangled up in Blue 1988 to 1993
• The Times They are a Changing: 1987-1995
• Thunder on the Mountain 2006-2014
• The Drifters’ Escape. 1996-2005.
• The Hard Rain of 1988, 2003 and 2015
• Things have changed 2000-2007
• To Ramona. 1989 to 2000
• Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum – an unbelievable journey
• Visions of Johanna
• Watching the River Flow