Previously in this series….
- 1961. “I was young when I left home”
- 1962: Tomorrow is a long time
- 1963: Seven Curses
- 1964: Gates of Eden
- 1965: Visions of Johnanna
- 1966: One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
- 1967 part 1: “Drifter’s Escape”
- 1967 part 2: I’m not there
1968 – Bob stops but even so…
If you know your Dylan history either from reading everything about Bob, or from just meandering through the chronological list of Dylan’s songs published on this site, you will know that after writing or improvising the Basement Tape songs, he also wrote and recorded the John Wesley Harding songs – which is why I felt the need to have two goes at picking a Dylan song for 1967.
I knew that I would face the problem of picking a song from 100 or so recorded by Bob in 1967 and so before the series started, I also knew that 1968 would have to have at least two parts. But rather stupidly, I didn’t then think about 1969, because as far as I can tell Bob only wrote one song in that year.
Now, as it turned out, it is an utter stunner of a song, but really, it seems a bit silly to choose as the song of the year the only song Bob wrote that year. But the series has started, and I have made bigger goofs in the past than forgetting that this problem will arise, so here we are with 1968 and the song of the year has to be the only song we know of that Bob wrote that year – Lay Lady Lay.
The song appeared on Nashville Skyline, of course, and between 1969 and 2010 Bob played it 407 times. Then some 16 years ago, he bid farewell, at least as far as I can see, and hasn’t played it since.
One of my favourite performances is on Daily Motion which you can find here. And then you can find the real contrast in styles by comparing that with this one below…
Now I must admit I would have been incredibly disappointed if Bob had used his year out of composing to deliver a song that musically was, to all intents and purposes, musically much the same as other songs. By which I mean a 12-bar blues or something like that.
But what Bob actually delivered here was a song with a chord sequence which is not only utterly different from anything he had written before, but also different from anyone else’s. And if you have bothered yourself with my recently concluded series on Dylan’s music (as opposed to his lyrics) you will know my view that the chord sequences Bob uses or invents are of some significance in terms of his work as a musician.
And even if you don’t know too much about music and chords, you might recognise that the chord sequence of the first line is not just unusual but quite possibly unique – or at least unique at the moment Bob created it. That chord sequence runs
A major, C#minor, G major, B minor A major.
Now, from a musician’s point of view, the start and end of that line being on the chord of A major tells us we are in the key of A major. Except that the G major chord that appears halfway through is a real blues chord – by which I mean you can find it in a blues (and indeed a rock song) in A major – although in classical terms the chord of G is completely alien.
To simplify that rather confusing previous sentence, what I mean is that musically, Bob is joining together the classical notion of chord sequences from which we might take A, C#m, Bm and then of course A, and also throwing into the middle of that, the chord of G major, which in this context would be considered a “blues” chord, and not one that was available to the classical musician.
And it works brilliantly. We might not know it, but we are led along a path that says, “this is a classical sort of song,” and then jerked out of that, and then pushed back. At the same time, what we have is a superb melody – none of those endlessly repeated notes except at the end of the lne where they work, because they give us the song’s essence. It is not any old bed, it is a much more sexy Big Brass Bed that she is lying on.
But that is not all, because in the “bridge” or “middle 8” section (the part of the song where the verse is left behind and an alternative commentary, both musically and lyrically, appears), we get another surprise.
Bob doesn’t change keys – he is still in A major, but he starts the middle 8 on C sharp minor (C#m as we normally write it). Now, although that is a chord that is perfectly allowable in classical terms in relation to a song written in A major, it is rare indeed to find it at the start of a line. So we get a shock musically as we hear, “Why wait any longer.” Even if we know no music theory, it is a surprise.
However, the essence of that line is reassurance – you don’t have to wait any longer, it says, so quickly we move on to E major, there is a passing chord of F# minor and we are back to the key chord of A. We are home, everything is ok.
Yes, it is complex and unusual, but it feels absolutely right. If you have a moment, just play a recording of the song and listen to this middle 8 – you will, I am sure, feel that it is an additional commentary – an extra view – on the situation, but it is a reassuring one.
And although the line about having your cake and eating it too (a phrase that was often sent my way as a child in post-war London when we had years of rationing, but being a child, I asked for more) rings extra true for me. For here we are told you can have everything. You don’t have to wait any longer.
But notice that Bob taunts us musically, for although “love” as in the “one you love” is reassuringly sung against the major (ie positive) chord, there is still that edge, that feeling that she is not appreciating how the world is, by having the line “When he’s standing in front of” sung against the B minor chordmoving on to C sharp minor – chords that musically suggest something is still wrong. Especially when we get those two minor chords one after the other
C#m Bm
When he’s standing in front of you
Even if we are so taken by the overall song, or perhaps because we have heard the song so often that we know what is happening, it means that the opening of the next line “(Lay Lady Lay” at the start of verse 3), starting on the key chord of E is utterly reassuring musically, as it is lyrically.
This song is therefore somewhat more complex than we are used to, both in terms of melody and chords, and in fact overwhelmingly complex in terms of its chord sequence. This is undoubtedly why Bob restricted the piece to the pop-classic construction of verse, verse, middle 8, verse. And we might note, that is all we get.
This is indeed the classic format of popular songs of the age, and it was the way most popular songs of the era were written. But what Bob has done is taken that structure and used a set of accompanying chords that really are very rare indeed in popular music of the era. You might find them in the 1940s – and of course, there will always be examples to be found in other eras – but in a song from Dylan, no, this was something else.
And I think we might pause to consider this point. Dylan had recorded around 100 songs the year before, almost all of which were in the classic mode of popular songs, often only using three standard chords, often just being strophic (ie verse after verse) or occasionally with an additional chorus.
Everything about Lay Lady Lay is different, to the point of being utterly “challenging”. Even if we just consider the way in which the third line of each verse has a musical and revolutionary tone against the earlier two lines
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed Whatever colours you have in your mind
I am sure that you will be able to find another song from the era that does that, but my point is not that this is unique (although it is quite possible that it is), but rather, within the context of Dylan’s own compositions, and the popular songs of the era, this is different. And with this song, Bob was announcing, “ok I have not written anything much this year, but you are certainly going to remember this.”
And we have.
PS – when I selected the above recording, I didn’t realise what it would move on to immediately after “Lay Lady Lay” it would give us another of my choices of Dylan songs of the year. The utterly, utterly, beautiful “Angelina”. One of the songs which I had ever written, I would then have simply stopped and said, “That’s it, I’m done”. There’s no connection with “Lay Lady Lay” – just a coincidence. And of course, with the way the internet is, it might come up with something different for you.