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By Tony Attwood
In 1966, Bob Dylan wrote, completed and in one way or another made available 22 songs. Fewer than in 1962, 1963 or 1965, but roughly the same number as in 1964. Perhaps the one that immediately stands out and we all still remember is “Sad Eyed Lady” because it occupies one side of an LP, and it is both sad and enigmatic at the same time.
But for me, it’s not a song I choose to play. I find it ponderous, and the imagery strained, and I doubt I have ever put it on the record player (although I still have the LP) since a few days after I bought the album.
However, of course, that is just me. And the trouble beyond that is that although I bought and endlessly played the Blonde on Blonde double album, it never made me think I was hearing something wonderfully revolutionary or even new. It was a good double album, but it did not include the revolutionarily brilliance which is how I had found within the previous albums.
There was, however, one song that stood out, and got played over and over in my house, until my mum asked, “Is that the only song on the record?” It was One of Us Must Know.
Bob composed the song, as far as we can tell, after “Leopard skin pill-box hat” and before “She’s your lover now”. And although it was composed in 1966, Bob didn’t perform it on stage until ten years after he released the album. He stayed with the song for just four months, singing it sixty times, and then put it to rest once and for all. So not a great song for Bob, but a life-changer for me.
Of course, we are used to Bob being enigmatic, and in this year of composition, perhaps above all others, “lost love” was one of his themes. For this was the year he gave us “Fourth Time Around,” “Just like a Woman,” “Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine,” “Temporary Like Achilles”, “I can’t leave her behind,” etc.
But “One of us must know” stands out (for me at least) above all those other lost love songs, and indeed above everything else on the album, and everything else (22 songs in all) that Bob wrote in that year. And I include this recording below not only because of the picture (which I adore) but the recording too….
For musicians, it is an interesting reworking of the album version as it has an extra instrumental pause at the end of each of the first two lines in each verse. As for example
I didn’t mean to treat you so bad
You shouldn’t take it so personal (extra rest)
I didn’t mean to make you so sad
You just happened to be there, that’s all (extra rest)
It’s just one of those little things that Bob does sometimes. There is no musical reason why it should be in there in each case – except it just takes us by surprise after listening to the album version and (in my case at least) helps me refocus on this version, rather than what is in my head).
But to come back to the song. 1966 was not one of Bob’s greatest years for songwriting, as he spent much of his time trying to overcome the upsets in his personal life, without making each song similar to the last song. And I am not sure that always worked, except here.
The quality of this second recording is not so good but it does show how Bob was exploring the theme and playing with it in quite subtle ways
Emma Swift who has a massive experience of working with Dylan songs, found another essence in the song, and the fact that it can be changed so much and with such success shows just how complete this song is. Here, the meanings within the lyrics become ever clearer, while somehow the whole fragmentary nature of the relationship is retained.
And if you are a regular reader of my ramblings (for which thank you) you will know how much I have admired the way Old Crowe has reworked Dylan’s masterpieces. And this is no exception. Indeed, listening to the recording below takes my valuation of this song onto even higher planes. The way they change the accompaniment for the chorus shows an implicit understanding of the song that I didn’t get until I heard this.
Now if you are a regular reader of these ramblings then not only “thank you” but also you will already realise that these are recordings I have highlighted before. And this is not just me sticking to my favourites, but a reflection of the fact that not that many people have succeeded in making interesting original recordings of the song.
But I have found one, and I am going to finish with a version of the song that I am not sure about. The musical accompaniment gives the song a completely new meaning. The pain and angst have gone and have been replaced by regret. The changes to the melody and the remarkable accompaniment really do take us somewhere new. I am not suggesting that I prefer this to the versions above, but I am grateful to the band for showing me another aspect of the song that I had never considered before.
If you have never experienced the emotions and feelings expressed in this song, well, then at least the song offers some insight into what you have missed in life.
Thank you, once more, Bob, for this wonderful song. I first heard it in 1966, when of course, it could have been said of me, “how young” I was, still learning about relationships, still pretending that I knew everything when, of course, I knew nothing. I haven’t seen or heard from or about the lady I was with at the time for over 50 years. If she is still with us, I imagine she is perhaps a grandmother now. If I met her, I doubt I would recognise her or she me. I have no idea what she made of her life, and of course, I am sure we will never meet or hear of each other’s exploits, but yes, I do remember her and those days, and this song from that time has stayed with me always as part of those memories. If she does remember me, I hope it’s not in too bad a way.
All these people from across the decades that I have known…. I wonder if any remember me as I remember them….
I couldn't see what you could show me Your scarf had kept your mouth well hid I couldn't see how you could know me But you said you knew me and I believed you did