Category Archives: Uncategorized

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 6 :  Those old Baptist hymns

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 6 by Jochen Markhorst VI         Those old Baptist hymns I been into the baggage room where the engineer’s been tossed I stomped on a 100 compasses, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music part 2: from Hattie Carroll to the incoming ship

  By Tony Attwood   (Preliminary note: I do know that I included this street performance of Hattie Carroll in an article under a week ago.   But I include it again because it is one of the most extraordinary cover … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bob Dylan: if only there had been a Nobel Prize for music. Part 1

Details of previous articles on this theme of Dylan the musician, and how he worked to change some of the very fundamentals of folk music that existed when he strarted writing are given at the end of this article. By … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry: 5 He smelled like cigarettes and Dixie Peach

    It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 5 by Jochen Markhorst V          He smelled like cigarettes and Dixie Peach Don’t the brakeman look good, mama, Flagging down the “Double E”?  Robert … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sioux City, Iowa 2 April, 2025: What Dylan played, how it sounded and what went before

By Tony Attwood The full recording of one of Bob’s current series of concerts is now available on the internet, so I thought I would add it here, as part of our series reviewing Bob’s concerts across the ages.  The … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How Bob Dylan has avoided the obvious and has taken us into worlds unknown

By Tony Attwood My recent articles (see a few links at the end of this piece) concerning Bob Dylan’s early years of songwriting in the 1950s and 1960s have been, by my own admission, a ramble, because for once on … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – A History in Performance, Part 6: 2004-13. It blows the mind most bitterly.

  It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – A History in Performance, Part 6: 2004 –  2013. It blows the mind most bitterly. Part 1 1964 – 74 – From the fool’s gold mouthpiece Part 2: 1975/81 – Stuffed graveyards … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 4

by Jochen Markhorst IV         He knows all those songs Don’t the moon look good, mama, shinin’ through the trees? Don’t the brakeman look good, mama, flagging down the “Double E”? Don’t the sun look good, goin’ down over the sea? … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How Bob Dylan turned the entire notion of how a song should be written, upside down.

By Tony Attwood I ended my last commentary The songs got longer the form started to bend; we needed patience with the question how on earth has Dylan…. “…managed to persuade so many of us to listen to (and one … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 3: La petite morte

  by Jochen Markhorst III         La petite morte Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby / Can’t buy a thrill Well, I’ve been up all night / Leanin’ on the windowsill Well, if I die / On top of the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The songs got longer the form started to bend, we needed patience

Breaking down the rigidity of the popular song. Dylan in 1963 Bob Dylan, truth and fiction from 1963 to 1995. The Restless Farewell. Details of some of our other recent articles and series can be found on the home page … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Dylan’s songwriting: does it matter who wrote the music (and were we missing a deeper meaning?)

  Bob Dylan, truth and fiction from 1963 to 1995. The Restless Farewell. Breaking down the rigidity of the popular song. Dylan in 1963 Why does Bob Dylan so often re-write the music of his songs? The songs Bob wrote … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry part 2 : The Ghost of Casey Jones

  by Jochen Markhorst II          The Ghost of Casey Jones I been into the baggage room Where the engineer’s been tossed Steel guitarist Bill Schlotter acknowledges that Rod Morris (1919-1980) may not have been as great a musician or as … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It’s Alright Ma Part 5: 1999 –  2004. Stuffed graveyards, false goals

  Publisher’s note: “It’s alright ma” is the third song to be considered in the “History in Performance” series.  A full index of the articles relating to “Mr Tambourine Man” and “Gates of Eden” appears at the end of this … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bob Dylan, truth and fiction from 1963 to 1995. The Restless Farewell.

By Tony Attwood Western societies seem to me to have a mixed, not to say utterly confused view of truth and fiction. Parents tell children not to lie, but at the same time watch fictional tales on TV and maybe … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Breaking down the rigidity of the popular song. Dylan in 1963

By Tony Attwood Author’s note: through my own lack of focus, caused by the postman knocking at my door, I published this article before I had made  the final adjustments.  The corrected version was published at 1140 GMT on 21 … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry part 1: Like I’d been hit by a tranquilizer bullet

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 1 by Jochen Markhorst I           Like I’d been hit by a tranquilizer bullet Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby Can’t buy a thrill  DJ Dylan … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Why does Bob Dylan so often re-write the music of his songs?

  By Tony Attwood If you are a regular reader of Untold Dylan, then first, thank you, I really do appreciate it.  And second, you will I am sure have noticed that while the contributions of those other writers who … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The songs Bob wrote and then ignored: Tell ol Bill

The songs Bob wrote and then ignored.  Ballad for a Friend and the issue of originality Dirt Road Blues and Too Much of Nothing The utterly brilliant Angelina, plus Maybe Someday, Under you spell The album title songs Dylan wrote … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Highlands (1997) part 4 (final): She studied the lines on my face  

Highlands (1997) part 4 (final) by Jochen Markhorst Part 1: Wild rose in the heather Part 2: You can hear the air around it Part 3: That long rambling talking thing IV         She studied the lines on my face      I’m in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments