By Tony Attwood
In an earlier post written about eight years ago I noted that 1973 was the year in which Bob moved into a second round of genius. If you have been following this series you will know that in 1971 and 1972 Bob had cut his almost constant song-writing life, and written just three songs that many of us might consider to be of the quality that we would expect from Bob: “When I paint my masterpiece”, “Watching the River Flow” and “Foever Young”.
And of course for any other songwriter to have produced three such masterpieces in a two year spell would have been widely celebrated, but with Bob we had become used to much more. There were fears expressed occasionally that maybe the great days of Dylan’s composing were over.
However in 1973 we found that the songs were starting to flow again. Indeed one could see very clear signs of what I have previously called “unadulterated genius”.
But we also might note that seven of the first eight songs that Bob composed that year were about love – only three songs venturedd elsewhere. Going going gone – is a song of self confessions, Tough Mama is a song about being full of life (itself a strong indicator of how Bob has changed). Dirge – as its title suggests is about disdain and self hatred, but then it was followded by Wedding Song – which has within it a rejection of labelling, and the notion of setting oneself free
But here, in this series I am seeking to find ways in which Bob’s actual music, rather than his lyrics changed.
Goodbye Holly was an outtake from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. and both lyrically and musically it is a very simple song. Musically it just rotates through two chords throughout the whole piece with a chorus and a verse. The chorus is repeated several times with the lyrics
Goodbye Holly, Holly, goodbye. Your wife's a-gonna miss you you baby's gonna cry Goodbye Holly, Holly, so long. All your good times they're past now and gone
It is I think something that we can just put down as a rough try-out not a serious piece of song writing. But in case you have never heard it, here it is.
But then just in case we were all thinking Bob had utterly lost it he gave us Wagon Wheel, which has not only been recorded by Bob but by many others. And I am going to start here with a recording by one of my favourite bands who specialise in playing Dylan songs: Old Crow Medicine Show
What we have is not only a much more interesting chord sequence, and a pleasing melody, but a change in the way Dylan usually uses chords.
If we listen to the original Dylan recording we find it starts as a straight three chord song, but the bass begins as if there should be another chord and indeed if you focus on the double bass you can hear that the bass player does indeed have difficulty in the second line each time round. But then by the time we have reached the 3 minutes 28 mark, everyone has agreed there is an extra chord in there. The sequence isn’t just those three major chords but rather
G D Rock me mama to the wind and rain Em C Rock me mama like a fast bound train G D Em Hey, mama rock me
And this is interesting for me, at least, because here we can hear the enormous difference made by the addition of just one chord. The version of Old Crow Medicine Show and comes much later.
In fact the song “Wagon Wheel” which we know today is a co-composition by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow. If you want to hear how far Bob took this song, this recording reveals it…. the bass player is most certainly doing his best to follow what Bob is plyaing on the guitar, but it very much sounds as if this is not what Bob did on the previous run through!
Here Bob reduces the song to just three chords.
Now in websites that refer to the cur Old Crow recording we can find the statement that “Wagon Wheel” is a song co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973 while Secor added verses 25 years later. Old Crow Medicine Show’s final version was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013. The song has been covered numerous times, including charting versions by Nathan Carter in 2012, Darius Rucker in 2013[3] and Nathan Evans in 2022.”
So in fact what we have here is a perfect example of Bob still being able to come up with the idea and outline of the song, but really unable to finish it off. Quite why he could not finish it, of course I can’t say, but I suspect many composers and indeed artists of all descriptions will have experienced what Bob had at this point… the muse had left him – at least temporarily.
That of course would explain the lack of new compositions in previous years, and indeed Bob’s own failure to complete the song. Here’s the final version.
I do think this is a pivotal moment in the life of Bob the songwriter and one that should not be passed over, perhaps because this is not a “real” Dylan song, in that he didn’t write all of it. It actually shows us dramatically how the creativity of songwriting had slipped away from Bob in the previous years, and how he was trying to get it back.
And of course, his attempts at recovery were ultimately successful since in the same year Bob wrote songs that we still remember and enjoy. But it is worth recalling that just at this moment Bob really did seem to have lost that extraordinary creative spirit that had allowed him to write the wonderful songs we have so far covered in this series.
Previously in this series….
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 10:Black Crow to All I really want to do 11: I’ll keep it with mine 12:Dylan does gothic and the world ends 13: The Gates of Eden 14: After the Revolution – another revolution 15: Returning to the roots (but with new chords) 16: From “It’s all right” to “Angelina”. What appened? 17: How strophic became something new: Love is just a four letter word 18: Bob reaches the subterranean 19: The conundrum of the song that gets worse 20: Add one chord, keep it simple, sing of love 21: It’s over. Start anew. It’s the end 22:Desolation Row: perhaps the most amazing piece of popular music ever written 23: Can you please crawl out your window 24: Positively Fourth Street 25: Where the lyrics find new lands, keep the music simple 26: Tom Thumb’s journey. It wasn’t that bad was it? 27: From Queen Jane to the Thin Man 28: The song that revolutionised what popular music could do 29: Taking the music to completely new territory 30: Sooner or Later the committee will realise its error 31: The best ever version of “Where are you tonight sweet Marie?” 32: Just like a woman 33: Most likely you go your way 34: Everybody must get stoned 35: Obviously 5 Believers 36: I Want You Creativity dries up 37: Creativity dries up - the descent towards the basement. 38: One musical line sung 12 times to 130 worlds 39: Bob invents a totally new musical form 40: There is a change we can see and a change we can't see 41: A sign on the window tells us that change is here 42: One more weekend and New Morning: pastures new 43: Three Angels, an experiment that leads nowhere 44: An honorary degree nevertheless. But why was Bob not pleased? 45: When Bob said I will show you I am more than three chords 46: Moving out of the darkness
Ah so now I understand… this is why Dylan deserves credit for contributing to the Wagon Wheels song