Category Archives: Uncategorized

One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later). Is it Dylan’s hatred of women or just a failed affair?

By Tony Attwood This review updated 3 August 2018 with the addition of videos and further commentary.  In particular the one brilliant revisited version of the song from 1978 – one of the great, great, great moments from the Never … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Knocking on heaven’s door

By Tony Attwood How many Dylan songs can you name which have a chorus consisting of the title sung over and over again?  “How does it feel?” comes up twice on “Like a Rolling Stone”, but for the moment I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

You ain’t going nowhere: absurdism and surrealism in popular music

This review has been updated several times, the last on 13 April 2020, and some of the comments were written before this update was written. by Tony Attwood “Why? What’s the point?” was how I opened my first attempt at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

I’ll be your baby tonight

By Tony Attwood “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” was recorded in the autumn of 1967 by Bob Dylan and released on the John Wesley Harding album. Before we get anywhere near the analysis of the song it is worth noting … Continue reading →

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Quinn the Eskimo: Bob Dylan having a laugh and 3 reinterpretations taking us elsewhere

By Tony Attwood By no means Bob Dylan’s only nursery rhyme, but probably the only one to get to number one in the charts when re-recorded.  And it has been recorded a number of times since in rather surprising ways.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Just like a woman. The meaning of the music and lyrics of Bob Dylan’s song

By Tony Attwood Three new videos added July 2018. From as early as 1963 Dylan was highly engaged in writing “lost love” songs with an extra edge. “Lost Love” was defined by the English academic Professor Keith Swanwick of London … Continue reading →

Posted in Essential Bob Dylan, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

One too many mornings: the start of a journey that led to Tangled up in Blue

By Tony Attwood One of the many reasons why “One too many mornings” stands out is that its original release placed it straight after that questioning, probing, aggressive song, “With God on Our Side.” Two songs could hardly more different.  … Continue reading →

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90 miles an hour down a dead end street

By Tony Attwood It is strange where research can take you. Let me start from a simple observation: I think Dylan’s recording of this song is awful.  If you are going to take a song very slowly and have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

“Can you please crawl out your window?” The meaning of the lyrics and the music

By Tony Attwood Updated 2 May 2017 and 12 Feb 2018 My addition on 12 Feb 2018 is simple: I have just heard the versions of “Crawl” on The Cutting Edge, and suddenly the song makes sense.  There is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Maybe Someday – the forgotten masterpiece. (Knocked out loaded)

By Tony Attwood Updated 20 September 2017 with link to the song at  the end. If I could be given something impossible, just once, I would ask for the studio tape of Maybe Someday, and the opportunity to remix it.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Silvio: with lyrics by Robert Hunter, a brilliant live version and strange comments.

By Tony Attwood This review updated July 2018 with the addition of videos.  I did think about trying to adjust the review in the light of the comments made when it was first published but I can’t really see how … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Shelter from the storm: Dylan the poet laureate, Dylan the myth maker

This review updated 19 July 2018, with the addition of three videos of the song, plus the missing verse and a short debate on the meaning of mythopoeic and a comparison with Gormenghast.  Plus a list of other articles that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

On the road again: Bob Dylan’s forgotten post-modernist 12 bar. Its origins, its re-invention

By Tony Attwood This review re-written July 2018 with links to the original “On the road again” and  the Nas and Jack White revival of that, plus videos from other artists who have re-worked Dylan’s song. Having delivered a straight … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Bob Dylan’s “It’s alright, ma (I’m only bleeding)”. The masterpiece of the era

by Tony Attwood You cannot be a Dylan fan without knowing this song inside out, and all the way round again.  But perhaps what many of us have not done is listened to the version on “Before the Flood” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Bob Dylan: The perfect “Like a Rolling Stone” recording. Energy and aggression.

By Tony Attwood We have all heard Like a Rolling Stone so many times on recordings, and of course at the end of the Never Ending Tour gigs, that it is hard to go back and get a new perspective … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Dylan’s “Everything is Broken.” How a short track transmuted into post-modernist chill.

By Tony Attwood This review updated July 2018 with the addition of live videos and further thoughts on the song itself.  I’ve also added links at the end to various articles from Untold Dylan which explore the theme of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oh Mercy, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Bob Dylan’s “Political World”: How to get hit by reality (& the 6 missing verses)

Review by Tony Attwood This review updated July 2018, with some commentary on the missing verses, and three videos: the official release vid, the full song with the 6 missing verses from the outtakes of the album session, and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Oh Mercy, Uncategorized | 12 Comments