Category Archives: Uncategorized

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry: 9. “It’s not such a terrible song to do”

  by Jochen Markhorst IX         “It’s not such a terrible song to do” With the wisdom of hindsight, it is the recording that marks Elvis Costello’s entrance pass to the Pantheon, the opening song of the album with which Costello … Continue reading

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Bob Dylan – the concert series. Palo Alto, California 14 October 2019

Series selected by Tony Attwood This series of videos and recordings are collected from the internet and put into chronological order to help anyone (including me) to hear what happened to Bob’s concerts across time.   A list of the other … Continue reading

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If only there had been a Nobel Prize for music 5: Using music to take us to a world of hope

By Tony Attwood If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music 1: We might have noted the musical innovations more 2: From Hattie Carroll to the incoming ship 3: From Times to Percy’s song 4: Combining musical traditions in unique ways … Continue reading

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It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry 8: The words are all mighty

  by Jochen Markhorst VIII       The words are all mighty Well, I wanna be your lover, baby I don’t wanna be your boss Don’t say I never warned you When your train gets lost Our great storytellers do like a … Continue reading

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Dylan Live: the complete concert (and some rehearsals). Fort Collins 23 May 1976

By Tony Attwood I can take no credit for the links to this collection of videos given below; it has merely come about because on occasion I have been searching for a video from a certain year, and wished I … Continue reading

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If only there had been a Nobel Prize for music 4: combining musical traditions in unique ways

By Tony Attwood If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music 1: We might have noted the musical innovations more If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music 2: From Hattie Carroll to the incoming ship … Continue reading

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It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry part 7: It hurts me too

  It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1965) part 7 by Jochen Markhorst VII        It Hurts Me Too Well, I wanna be your lover, baby I don’t wanna be your boss Don’t say I … Continue reading

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If only there had been a Nobel Prize for music 3: From Times to Percy’s song

  By Tony Attwood If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music 1: We might have noted the musical innovations more If only there had been a Nobel Prize for Music part 2: From Hattie Carroll to the … Continue reading

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It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue; A History in Performance, Part 1: 1965. Crying like a fire in the sun

It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – A History in Performance, Part 1: 1965 – Crying like a fire in the sun By Mike Johnson [I read somewhere that if you wanted the very best, the acme of Dylan’s pre-electric … Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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