I don’t know what it means either: an index to the current series appearing on this website.
Once or twice: A review of some of the songs that Bob has performed just once or twice on stage, selecting those of which we have a genuine recording (and “genuine” is important here since I have found a few sites that seem to suggest they are a recording of a live version, but I have my doubts.) Text and video selection by Tony Attwood.
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The official Bob Dylan website has Dylan having recorded 705 songs – although of course not all were written by him. About 46% of these have never been performed in public – or at least never performed in a way that is recognised on the official site. 77 have been performed once or twice, and we have been looking at a few of these (18 of these so far to be exact).
And (for me if no one else) they do make an interesting list, these once or twice songs. Restless Farewell for example, from “Times they are a changin'” was played on 17 May 1964 and 21 May 1998. It comes from one of his best-known albums and was the song requested specifically by Frank Sinatra when Bob played at his 1995 concert. “Roll on John” is another magnificent work, but it was given just the two outings for very particular reasons, as you can read in the review.
So what about “Blood in my eyes”? At the moment I can only find one of the two performances (16 and 17 November 19, but in this case, given that the song was performed on consecutive days, I suspect the performance was similar on both days. This is the second performance.
So why would Bob then drop this song? Quite simply I have no idea. I am not trying to argue that this is a fantastic performance – but it is very enjoyable and we all know how Bob has been able to take such a start and then go on and develop it further over time.
And after listening to that live performance it is interesting to go back to the album
This then leads me to the thought that maybe Bob felt that the extraordinary feeling he created in that solo version was completely lost in the live performances and, perhaps he valued the power and direction of the album version and didn’t want it tampered with.
Certainly the lyrics are utterly amazing – not in the normal way that we speak about Dylan’s incredible lyrics on songs like “Visions” but amazing in the simplicity of the lyrics. There are five verses but in each case just two of the lines are original, with the remaining four lines are a repeated chorus.
The magic of the song comes from the fact that such limited lyrical material makes such a fantastic and fascinating track. Leaving aside the chorus which includes the line “I got blood in my eyes for you,” three times, what we have is
Woke up this morning, feeling blue, Seen a good-lookin' girl, can I make love with you? I went back home, put on my tie, Gonna get that girl that money that money will buy. She looked at me, begin to smile, Said, "Hey, hey, man, can't you wait a little while?" No, no, ma'ma, I can't wait, You got my money, now you're trying to break this date. I tell you something, tell you the facts, You don't want me, give my money back.
And maybe in the end Bob just thought that this was not enough for a song, or I think perhaps more to the point, that by putting the band and the bounce into the song, although the result is very enjoyable, maybe there is just not enough to carry the song through.
But even so, I am so glad we have got at least one live version of the song. Yes I lose the message in the live version, but I just love the sound.
In the same series….
- A satisfied mind
- Caribbean Wind
- Corina Corina
- The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore
- Highway 51 revisited
- Lay Down your weary tune
- Lily, Rosemary and Stage Fright
- Meet me in the morning and From a Buick 6
- North Country Blues
- Only a hobo
- Oxford Town
- Restless Farewell
- Roll on John
- Sally Sue Brown
- Spanish Harlem Incident
- Stage Fright
- Talking New York
- You Angel You