It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – A History in Performance, Part 5: 1996 – 2001 You think will last.

 

Details of the articles on Tambourine Man, Gates of Eden and It’s Alright Ma, appear at the end of the article.

By Mike Johnson

[I read somewhere that if you wanted the very best, the acme of Dylan’s pre-electric work, you couldn’t do better than listen to side B of Bringing It All Back Home, 1964. Four songs, ‘Mr Tambourine Man,’ ‘Gates of Eden,’ ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ and ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ represent the pinnacle of Dylan’s acoustic achievement. In this series I aim to chart how each of these foundation songs fared in performance over the years, the changing face of each song and its ultimate fate (at least to date). This is the fifth article on the fourth and final track, ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.’ You can find the previous articles in this History in Performance series here: ]

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Dylan songs are often not as straightforward as they seem. What could be more straightforward than ‘strike another match, go start anew,’ or ‘leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you’ or indeed the refrain, ‘it’s all over now, baby blue’?

However, when we unpack the first few lines of the song, we find other things going on.

Take the first words: ‘You must leave now …’ This could be an instruction, ‘get on your way’ or ‘get out now’ but it could also be an acknowledgement that fate is moving her on (‘something calls for you’). So he’s not kicking her out, rather she is the one who has to move on and all she has to do is recognize it. Both interpretations are possible. This ambiguity runs through the whole song.

In the second half of the line ‘take what you need, you think will last.’ the kicker lies in ‘you think’ because, in the Dylan cosmology, nothing lasts, no matter what we think. This brings ‘what you need’ into question and makes a mockery of the instruction.

The second line: ‘But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast’ seems straightforward but is open to question. There’s nothing to grab (except perhaps your toothbrush and a few effects) and nothing to ‘keep’ (except perhaps a few memories). ‘Grab’ suggests a somewhat desperate action. We grab for things that are slipping away, or if we are making a fast exit.

In the second verse we find, ‘Take what you have gathered from coincidence …’ This is another back-hander. Gathering suggests a sustained process or slow awakening. In this context, it seems to mean ‘learned.’ But what can we learn or gather from ‘coincidence’? That random stuff happens? What moral can we draw from coincidences? The implication is that there is nothing to gather, which changes the import of the line from apparent heartfelt advice to mockery, once more.

None of this undermines the song, rather it’s what gives the song its bite. Instead of heartfelt advice to a lover who’s leaving (or being kicked out), what we find is a fair bit of needling. This makes the song more emotionally complex than a straightforward interpretation would suggest.

In 1996 Dylan moved from the softer, orchestral effects of 1995, with his keening vocals, to a harder-edged sound once more, only much tighter and sharper than in the early nineties. In the Berlin concert of that year, for example (see The Never Ending Tour articles for that year ), we find Dylan songs getting the hard rock treatment. In that context both ‘Baby Blue’ and ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’ provide acoustic relief, and remind the audience of the old acoustic Dylan. The harmonica has gone, replaced by Dylan’s acoustic guitar picking. Both these 1996 recordings explore the slower tempo. The first is from Octover 17th

1996

The second (June 24th) emphasizes that solid, insistent beat that marked the 1995 recordings, and highlights Tony Garnier’s double bass bowing, providing that moody underpinning.

1996

1997 was of course the year of Time Out of Mind, and ‘Baby Blue’ was played only a handful of times, losing out to ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’ for evoking the reflective, acoustic mood – even though the full band is playing. Dylan’s supercharged vocal makes this recording from Cardiff worth the listen, but the question arises – does this slow tempo mean that the song becomes too laid back, a little too weary for its own sharp edges? You’ll have to decide.

1997

Again, in 1998, Dylan keeps the song alive with a dozen performances, while his main concern was bringing songs from the new album into play. This one from Rochester is a gem, and one of the highlights of this series, if only because of the superb quality of the video and sound recording. It’s a pleasure to watch. We get to see Dylan’s guitar picking close up, and the evident pleasure he’s taking in singing this song. For my ear Dylan’s vocal is solid but unspectacular.

1998

In 1999 the song came rushing back into favour with some thirty performances. With a few variations, the arrangement hasn’t changed much since 1994/95, that slow tempo and insistent, thumping beat. This one from Wien is as good as any.

1999 (a)

However, Dylan never stops experimenting. This one from my Mp3 files, (1999 but undated) has quite a different feel to it. It has a lighter, somewhat faster beat with more of an orchestral effect from the steel guitar. A controlled but powerful vocal from Dylan.

1999 (b)

2000 was one of the peak years for the NET. Dylan was in full voice, and the band was swinging together like the integrated rock machine they had become. And, talk about swinging, there’s a definite lilt to this one from Glasgow. I find myself thinking back to the strident challenge the song was back in 1965, and the ardent, heartbroken song of 1995 and wonder, much as I like it, if something has been lost in the lilt and the sweetness of the sound by 2000. Perhaps the stridency, and the ardency, have been replaced by sadness and regret. Or perhaps the backing is too sweet for the lyrics? Does this performance lose me in nostalgia because the song has turned nostalgic, or because we can’t listen to later performances of these early songs without feeling nostalgic for the halcyon days of youthful idealism, those halcyon days that Dylan farewells in this song.

2000 (a)

If there is a newer, gentler feeling emerging from the song by this time, beyond laying down a challenge (1965) or pouring out your heart (1995), then it is explored in this remarkable ten-minute version from Helsinki. Unexpectedly, after two years of absence, the harp is back for a sustained solo at the end of the song. Quiet, reflective, whimsical, sad, nostalgia-inducing, subdued grief. Even though it builds over two choruses, it keeps a tight restraint on the sharper edges of the song. Master harpist at work! Dylan’s harmonica explores this complex emotional field, as it did when it pushed grief to its limits in 1995. It’s a different kind of warmth, and maybe a different kind of pain. It’s still all over, baby blue.

Helsinki 16 05 2000

 

Speaking of sublime harmonica breaks, Dylan returns to the instrument once more in 2001, to an ecstatic audience in this Pueblo recording. The audience reaction turns this harp solo into an epic, which begins restrained but soon lets loose. There is a triumphant tone here, as the harp turns the song into a celebration, perhaps of the love that is passing, or perhaps a celebration of the harp playing acoustic Dylan. As in 2000, he has moved from a dead slow tempo to an easy lilt. The music suggests a stately dance.

2001 (a)

Finally, another recording from 2001, this one from Corvallis. No harmonica to amp the ending of this one. Of special interest in both these 2001 performances is what we can call Dylan’s downsinging, dropping his voice into the low tones, creating a half-talking, half-singing effect.

2001 (b)

In 2002, Dylan will make perhaps the biggest shift of his career – making the keyboards his primary instrument. We’ll be back soon to follow the story of the song into the new NET era.

Until then

Kia Ora

Previously in this series….

Tambourine Man

Gates of Eden

It’s alright ma

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