By Tony Attwood
You can, of course, buy a copy of Bob’s “Philosophy” book and see what he said about each song that I am covering in this series – and then turn to the recordings of the music for that song as we work through the pieces of music one by by.
Or if you want a bit of extra background on the song you can read my notes as well – notes which for the most part are written on hearing the songs for the first time.
So I’m not trying to surplant Bob’s work in any way, it is just that for some of Bob’s reviews, I really am not fully certain I can grasp his point, particularly when I have no background in the music on which he is commenting. So my reviews are really written for people like me, who do not have a familiarity with the songs and musical traditions that Bob mentions. It’s a sort of commentary on the music, not on Bob’s commentary.
I should add that the titles of songs reviewed in this series at the end of this article are now in alphabetical order, not in the order of publication. That makes it easier for me, even if no one else.)
And before going on may I point to one line in the song “moving is the closest thing to being free”. Given Bob’s desire constantly to tour and travel, it is a fair guess that this line was one that first attracted him to the song – as well of course as the title.
This is not the tradition of music that I was brought up with, nor that which I have subsequently explored, so I can’t really comment on that, but one of the things I do know about it is that these songs do attract a lot of famous names to record them…
Three fingers whiskey pleasures the drinkers And moving does more than the same thing for me Willy he tells me that doers and thinkers Say moving is the closest thing to being free Well he's rosined his riggings and laid back his wages He's dead set on ridin' the big rodeo My woman's tight with an overdue baby And Willy keeps yelling, "Hey, Gypsy, let's go" Willy, you're wild as a Texas Blue Norther Ready rolled from the same makings as me Well, I reckon we're gonna ramble 'til Hell freezes over Willy the wandering Gypsy and me Now, ladies, we surely will take of your favors And we'll surely warn you there never will be A single soul living that could put brand or handle On Willy the wandering Gypsy and me We'll dance on the mountains, shout in the canyons And swarm in a loose herd like wild buffalo Jammin' our heads full of figures and angles And tellin' us things that we already know
The composer had a reputation for shying away from publicity, and tales exist of him avoiding performers and recording artists who wanted to record his songs. I would guess it is this image of the wandering songwriter who is not interested in fame that interests and maybe even attracts Bob, particularly here. Waylon Jennings was impressed, and he decided to record an entire album of Shaver’s songs.
In fact Billy Joe Shaver, who died in 2020 aged 81, is described as a “prominent member of the outlaw country genre” and apart from being recognised by Bob Dylan was also praised by Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, while artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Johnny Cash have recorded his songs. Since I have not heard of the ” outlaw country genre” before that puts me in my place, although to be fair I am not sure it ever reached England. Maybe it did, and I just missed it.
But I’ve tried to do my research, and one of the multiplicity of unexpected facts about the composer is that he married and divorced the same woman “several times” according to the Wiki article – wherein you can find a lot more about the composer than I can offer.
Here are the other songs we’ve covered from this book….
- Cheaper to Keep Her
- Detroit City
- Don’t let me be misunderstood
- Dirty Life and Times
- Detroit City
- Dirty Life and Times
- Don’t let me be misunderstood
- I’ve always been crazy
- Keep my Skillet Good and Greasy
- My Generation and Desolation Row
- Old Violin by Johnny Paycheck
- Please don’t let me be misunderstood
- Pump it up
- Strangers in the Night
- Take Me from This Garden of Evil
- There stands the glass
- Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
- Where or When
Thanks Tony,
There is a line in the Waylon Jennings song called “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” that says: “…Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas with Waylon and Willie [Nelson] and the boys…” Well Billy Joe Shaver is considered one of “the boys” along with Kristofferson and others. However, Shaver was not fully committed to it and has a few really good songs to his credit. Outside his extensive travels and touring Bob does not really fit in with this crew; although he understands it and dabbled in it. Neither does Hank Williams Sr. even though the song mentions him. Bob has too much of an eternal perspective to be really part of it. His sensibilities, altruistic soul, and his autonomy has prevented him from entering but he sees it clearly. To understand and flesh out what Bob is saying about this song in “The Philosophy Of Modern Song”, I think we do well to couple our reading with all of Chapter 47.
I’ve been a country music fan ever since hearing Johnny Cash back in the 1960s and the genre has been a major influence on Dylan long before he recorded his first album. The best of the genre can be summarised by the title of a Sara Evans song from the 1990s: “Three chords and the truth”. Country music at its best reduces storytelling to its most basic, removing anything that unnecessary. Singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn (writer of songs such as “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ With Lovin’ On Your Mind” and other classics) once described this process as “taking the poetry out”. I disagree with Loretta and would argue that the simplicity of the genre is itself poetic. Look at the imagery in the four short verses of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (which Elvis Presley described as the saddest song he’d ever heard). Or how about this from Willie Nelson’s “Heaven and Hell”: “Heaven ain’t walking a street made of gold/Hell ain’t a mountain of fire/Heaven is lying in sweet baby’s arms/Hell is when baby ain’t there.” Or the story of humanity overcoming poverty in Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors”. Or Tom T Hall who can compress whole life stories into three or four minute songs.
Travelling has long been a theme in country music. During the depression of the 1930s, many of the rural poor moved north to cities like Detroit, Chicago and New York. The “dustbowl refugees” who Woody Guthrie sang about tended to move west to California. Most of these rural poor were themselves descended from refugees who moved from various parts of Europe or were descended from slaves who were forcibly removed from parts of West Africa. Travelling for a better life was a feature of much of the culture of the southern states. One of the first country stars – Jimmie Rodgers – was nicknamed the “Singing Brakeman” and often dressed as a railroad worker on stage. We can add to that the fact that for at least 80 years, most country musicians have relied on heavy touring schedules to earn a living.
Billie Joe Shaver’s great song speaks to these traditions. We can also see this in songs such as Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee”, Hank Snow’s “I’ve Been Everywhere”, Bobby Bare’s “Detroit City”, Jo Dee Messina’s “Heads Carolina, Tails California”, Hank Williams’ “Rambling Man” and countless other songs. Then again, Willie Nelson wrote a song called “Still Is Still Moving to Me”.
Kevin, Denise and Tony – Thank you for the intelligent, insightful, and so very well written musings on Dylan and on Shaver’s song. There can be so much silly and argumentative commentary at so many of the Dylan sites. When sometimes there are no facts to argue, just good things to wonder about. Thanks for adding so provocatively to the discourse. Kevin Kane / Bronx NY