Dylan 1963, the era of other people’s songs: From talking blues to eternal circle

By Tony Attwood

This is a series of articles about Bob Dylan and the songs that he wrote which (at this stage) used other people’s music as he gradually built up the confidence (or maybe simply decided) to write some more songs with both the music and the lyrics composed by him.

So I am setting out below the articles so far

• Blowing in the Wind and No More Aucion Block
• Bob Dylan’s Dream How the most subtle of musical changes gave the song a totally different meaning
• Masters of War How Bob Dylan became a poet first and a songwriter second
• Girl from the north country, Farewell, All Over You, The Death of Emmett Till
• Davey Moore and Joni Mitchell’s complaint
• Walls of Red Wing and New Orleans Rag
• Seven Curses and With God on Our Side

Following this we had Talkin John Birch Blues (as Bob introduced it) which became Talkin World War Three Blues

Clearly there is nothing original musically here, but the lyrics gained a lot of publicity.  However then Bob did create a song which not only had the most powerful of lyrics but also an original musical composition to go with the lyrics.  Indeed, it still seems to me decades later that the music fits the lyrics, and vice versa, perfectly.

And it has often struck me that Bob surely must have realised that he had written a stunning, amazing piece of music here, alongside these equally extraordinary lyrics – a piece which contrasted dramatically with what had gone before.  Was this not, perhaps, the moment that it really came to him that yes he could be a composer as well as a lyricist?   What, he may have wondered, am I doing, missing out on being a composer as well?

And it is interesting that now we have some interesting cover versions of the song.  The essence of the music is still there, but it is extended – something that can happen and can work because by now we all know the music.  Here are two examples…

So we now ask, what did Bob write next, now that he must have known he can be a composer as well as a lyricist?  Well, it was Eternal Circle, and you are forgiven if you can’t recall it.  It is a a three chord song which has a repeating melody and none of the power of what had gone before.

But the lyrics were indeed memorable – and really demanded music of more power…

I sung the song slowly as she stood in the shadows
She stepped to the light as my silver strings spun
She called with her eyes to the tune I was a playin'
But the song it was long and I'd only begun

Through a bullet of light her face was reflectin'
The fast fading words that rolled from my tongue
With a long-distance look her eyes was on fire
But the song it was long and there was more to be sung

My eyes danced a circle across her clear outline
With her head tilted sideways she called me again
As the tune drifted out she breathed hard through the echo
But the song it was long and it was far to the end

I glanced at my guitar and played it pretendin'
That of all the eyes out there I could see none
As her thoughts pounded hard like the pierce of an arrow
But the song it was long and it had to get done

As the tune finally folded I laid down the guitar
And looked for the girl who'd stayed for so long
But her shadow was missin' for all of my searchin'
So I picked up my guitar and began the next song

Ah, the tragedy of the lonely folk singer playing the clubs.  Except once “Only a pawn” had hit the streets Dylan was most certainly not that any more, and in reality hadn’t been for quite a long time.

And we did eventually get a few cover versions of the song… although not for quite a few years.   But the issue that struck me when I first heard it through these cover versions was just how long it took people to realise that it was worthwhile taking a Dylan piece and trying it out with a new arrangement.  Ah well, these musicians can be a bit slow sometimes…

In fact what we did have in this song, as Dylan wrote it, was the essence of Restless Farewell, which was to follow just a short while later, so maybe we should just think of this as a sketch of the later song, which somehow escaped into the wild.

And that point is itself important, for it reflects on the fact that Dylan, although by now an experienced lyricist, was not an experienced songwriter.   He was at this point still feeling his way, and still singing other people’s songs, even if they were to his own lyrics.

The series continues….