Three times and out: Songs that Dylan performed just three times and then left. Previously we have looked at…
Precious Memories appeared on “Knocked out Loaded” and was played three times between October 1989 and January 1990. And I am going to admit here that when I saw the song listed as being performed three times I rather struggled to remember it.
This is of course not a Dylan composition but a gospel-type song that is thought to have been written in the 1920s by JBF Wright. It was certainly recorded by him and was by far the the most popular of the songs he performed and recorded, by a very long way. And indeed one of the best-known songs of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
In fact it has proven to be very popular with hundreds of artists recording it over the years, from Johnny Cash to Gerry Rafferty of Stealers Wheel, a band I hold in particular affection. Gerry was born in the same year as me and sadly passed away in 2011, which indeed does make me feel very old.
So there are indeed many different places from which Bob might have picked up the song. Certainly, it would be known to everyone with an interest in the music of the early decades of the last century.
Here is Bob performing it on 13 October 1989 in New York.
Sadly I can’t find recordings of the other two performances, so the only alternative is the album version however has quite a different feel – and indeed looking at the cover of the album and hearing the song gives me quite an odd feeling of disassociation.
Indeed that cover and then looking at the lyrics of the song really does give me a sense that Bob was in a world of total dislocation between the different elements of life. How could he record this song, and approve that cover? It seems a total contradiction. Sadly I don’t have his phone number so I can’t ask.
Here are the lyrics
Precious memories, unseen angelsSent from somewhere to my soulHow they linger, ever near meAnd the sacred past unfolds Precious memories, how they lingerHow they ever flood my soulIn the stillness, of the midnightPrecious sacred scenes unfold Precious father, loving motherFly across the lonely yearsAnd old home scenes, of my childhoodIn fond memory appears Precious memories, how they lingerHow they ever flood my soulIn the stillness, of the midnightPrecious sacred scenes unfold I remember, mother prayin'Father too, on bended kneeThe sun is sinkin', shadows fallin'But their prayers still follow me Precious memories, how they lingerHow they ever flood my soulIn the stillness, of the midnightPrecious sacred scenes unfoldPrecious memories fill my soul
The front album cover of “Knocked Out Loaded” features an illustration from the front of the so-called ‘low art’ pulp magazine “Spicy-Adventure Stories” concerning “The Daughters of Doom”, more of a nightmare tale rather than one of precious memories.