Details of the earlier articles in this series are given at the end.
By Tony Attwood
This series is about the music of Bob Dylan, (as opposed to the lyrics of Bob Dylan), and in the previous nine episodes we have travelled as far as “Ballad in Plain D”, in each case trying to see what innovations Dylan introduced in his music, as opposed to into his lyrics.
And already, one of the many things that comes from a consideration of Dylan’s music as opposed to his lyrics is just how varied Dylan’s approach is. Chord sequences are varied not only (obviously) between songs but also within songs, so are the number of lines in each verse. Plus there is the very unusual occasional introduction of a modulation… Thus it is clear that despite the lack of interest from many journalists Dylan, was indeed very keen from the off, in experimenting to see where he could take his music, as well as where he could take his lyrics.
Also by focussing on the music in the order in which the songs were written, we can see that there really are some huge musical leaps from one song to the next, and surely there cannot be a bigger change musically than happens between the composition of “Ballad in Plain D” which I focussed on in the last episode, and what came next: Black Crow Blues
There is a temptation of course to pass over this song given that it is a 12-bar blues, with a very rough and ready piano accompaniment. And an even greater temptation to do just that when we note that “Black Crow Blues” uses the same melody and virtually the same accompaniment, and indeed seemingly the same out-of-tune piano as “Denise Denise”.
Thus in songwriting terms, we have this sequence of songs which has a sudden crash in terms of both the emotional feel from one song to another. It is as if Bob is using the music to express an emotion and then move on.
- It ain’t me babe – a song expressing sadness
- Denise Denise – taking a break and having a laugh
- Mama you’ve been on my mind – sadness and lost love
- Ballad in Plain D The absolute depths of lost love
- Black Crow Blues Moving on despite the lost love
Now what is for me, if no one else, so interesting here, is just how different the music is across these songs, and (one may suspect), just how much emotional energy and effort Bob put into each song. “Desnise” and “Black Crow”, really are knockabout songs which sound as if they were recorded in one take just to get the feeling out of Bob’s system. As such they are both musically and lyrically repetitious. For example with Black Crow we have…
Woke in the mornin', wanderin' Weary and worn outI woke in the mornin', wanderin' Weary and worn outWishin' my long-lost lover Would walk to me, talk to meTell me what it's all about
through to the final verse…
Black crows in the meadow Sleeping across a broad highwayBlack crows in the meadow Across a broad highwayThough it's funny, honey I'm out of touch, don't feel muchLike a Scarecrow today
Interestingly Bob used the same format (and seemingly the same out-of-tune piano) for Denise Denise
Despite being on the “Another Side” album, Bob did no more with this song than this rough and ready piano-bash (if I may be permitted to describe it that way). It very much does sound as if there were just the two takes and that was it – although as I have pointed out before, that doesn’t mean it is not possible to do anything with the song…
My guess is that it was Bob’s musical answer to his own previous composition (“Ballad in Plain D”) and was separated from that song on the original LP as far it could possibly be – Black Crow being the second song on side one, Plain D being the penultimate song on side two. Black Crow also stands out as the only piano-accompanied song on the album.
Next came “I shall be free number 10.”
The original “I shall be free” had appeared on Freewheelin…
I shall be free number 10 then turned up on Another side.
Neither song has ever been played by Bob in public.
The original talking blues seems to date back to at least 1926 if not earlier, and this is about the best recording there is of a very early version – perhaps it is the original talking blues (I’m not an expert on the form – and sorry about the quality – it’s the best I can find).
I suspect Bob became interested in the talking blues because of Woodie Gutherie’s interest in the genre (indeed it is quite possible that this is definitively stated somewhere, only I can’t find it) and I am sure Bob must have known this one…
But the point is that the talking blues basically gets rid of the melody and focuses entirely on the lyrics above a well-established chord sequence and simple rhythm. And given the trauma expressed in “Ballad in Plain D” we can perhaps understand why the next two Dylan compositions Black Crow Blues and I shall be free number 10 abandoned attempts at originality in terms of the music. Coming up with original melodies and accompaniments is a demanding mental process, and unless one is going to write a blues in the Robert Johnson style of everything being hopeless, it is not easy to do without taking an existing form and using it again.
But eventually Bob did get there for he then wrote “To Ramona” and “All I really want to do,” and with “To Ramona” we are at last back to a song which Dylan was willing to perform on stage. In fact he performed in 381 times between July 1964 and June 2017.
However this is not a totally original composition, for the melody and chord sequence is very closely related to the Rex Griffin 1937 song “The Last Letter,”
Obvioulsy, this doesn’t mean that Bob deliberately took that song and rewrote it, for it is certainly possible for a song composer to use the essence of a song he/she has heard in creating a new composition, without realising this is happening. Thus it is possible that Bob “borrowed” from this original, for we know that Bob’s memory for music is utterly prodigious as can be seen in his live performances, and his interest in the popular musical forms of the past (and not just the blues) is well attested. So he might have borrowed the basics of this song deliberately, or by accident. We can’t tell.
There are also articles around that suggest that the song is based on a traditional piece of Mexican folk music. I can’t comment on that but it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that “The Last Letter” itself borrows from a traditional Mexican piece in the first place.
As I noted when I first wrote on this topic, both songs are in the 3/4 time signature of a waltz, which is something Bob vary rarely does (“Sara” is the most obvious other example). Dylan does vary both the melody and the chord sequence somewhat from the original, but not much; what we are getting is G, G6, G7, G, G6, G7, D…
Subsequently, the notion arose that the song was sung for Joan Baez, or maybe for Nico (it depends which book on Dylan you read), arises, and this is possible if one just focuses on the music, but it is an idea that breaks down if one starts to translate the original Spanish lyrics into English. My view is that if Dylan borrowed anything, it was the music only.
After “To Ramona”, Dylan wrote All I really want to do And I love the recording below because it seems to signify that all the issues we have been looking at in the last couple of articles, are now over and gone, and that both in his life and in his music Bob really is now moving on…
And this is the point I am trying to make in this series which tries to focus on Bob’s music more than his lyrics. The music of Bob does indeed reflect his personal life. He’s had a terrible time with the failure of a relationship, and that is reflected not just in the lyrics of the songs, but also in the music – as revealed here. No wonder that version got so much applause – exactly as it deserved. Bob played it over 100 times in concert finally letting the song go in 1978. It had done its job.
Thus we can hear Bob’s emotional state in his music, and I think that makes the music doubly worth considering if we really do want to understand how Bob’s creativity has evolved through the years. His songs may or may not at times be autobiographical, but he cannot help but express his emotions of the time in the music he creates. There is hardly anyone, no matter how great a genius, who can write a happy song, when feeling desperately sad. Nor vice versa.
If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music
- 1: We might have noted the musical innovations more
- 2: From Hattie Carroll to the incoming ship
- 3: From Times to Percy’s song
- 4: Combining musical traditions in unique ways
- 5: Using music to take us to a world of hope
- 6: Chimes of Freedom and Tambourine Man
- 7: Bending the form to its very limits
- 8: From Denise to Mama
- 9: Balled in Plain D