There is a listing of some of our series and recent articles on the home page.
By Tony Attwood
If you have a tendency to read much of what is published on this site then first of all, thank you, and secondly you might well have noticed the bits and pieces I have missed as we go.
So I thought I might try and pick up on a few of these, just in case you have missed them too, and besides, I like finding recordings I have either missed completely or maybe forgotten en route.
So I have to start with Angelina, which is one of my absolute, absolute, absolute favourite Dylan songs, and looking back I suddenly find there is a recording of the song I have never added to this site before. As you can see below it is from the Bootleg Series 16: Springtime in New York. How I can be so dumb as not to include this before I can’t explain….
Now my commentaries on this song are of course nothing special, but I will include the links below, just in case you want one or two random thoughts. But looking back I do seem to have gone utterly over the top about this song…. and yet I still love it beyond any words I can use to explain my feeling for the song…
So with this number of commentaries you can take it from me that I rate this song because of its lyrics, its melody, its use of chords and its accompaniments. Quite why Bob never found it special enough to play in public I can’t imagine. Maybe my family would like to play it at my funeral – not least because no one else will ever have asked for this song to be played.
Bob Dylan: The lyrics AND the music – Angelina
And if all of that is not enough there is an extensive article on Wikipedia about the song which of course has nothing to do with me.
But after all this time there is one thing that I regret, and that is my lack of ability to explain why this song means so much to me. It is certainly not because I have known any lady with this name, although I suppose I am attracted utterly to the opening line. Indeed the notion of setting up yet another Bob Dylan website, which there were already so many available was itself something of a risk.
Well, it’s always been my nature to take chances
My right hand drawing back while my left hand advances
Where the current is strong and the monkey dances
To the tune of a concertina
Blood dryin’ in my yellow hair as I go from shore to shore
I know what it is that has drawn me to your door
But whatever it could be, makes me think you’ve seen me before
Angelina
Oh, Angelina. Oh, Angelina
His eyes were two slits that would make a snake proud
With a face that any painter would paint as he walked through the crowd
Worshipping a god with the body of a woman well endowed
And the head of a hyena
Do I need your permission to turn the other cheek?
If you can read my mind, why must I speak?
No, I have heard nothing about the man that you seek
Angelina
Oh, Angelina. Oh, Angelina
In the valley of the giants where the stars and stripes explode
The peaches they were sweet and the milk and honey flowed
I was only following instructions when the judge sent me
down the road With your subpoena
When you cease to exist, then who will you blame
I’ve tried my best to love you but I cannot play this game
Your best friend and my worst enemy is one and the same
Angelina
Oh, Angelina. Oh, Angelina
There’s a black Mercedes rollin’ through the combat zone
Your servants are half dead, you’re down to the bone
Tell me, tall men, where would you like to be overthrown
Maybe down in Jerusalem or Argentina?
She was stolen from her mother when she was three days old
Now her vengeance has been satisfied and her possessions
have been sold
He’s surrounded by God’s angels and she’s wearin’ a blindfold
And so are you, Angelina
Oh, Angelina. Oh, Angelina
I see pieces of men marching, trying to take heaven by force
I can see the unknown rider, I can see the pale white horse
In God’s truth tell me what you want and you’ll have it of course
Just step into the arena
Beat a path of retreat up them spiral staircases
Pass the tree of smoke, pass the angel with four faces
Begging God for mercy and weepin’ in unholy places
Angelina
Oh, Angelina. Oh, Angelina
I still play the Dylan recording regularly, and indeed still play the song for my own amusement on the piano – although fortunately no one else hears that.