Monthly Archives: September 2014

“Trying to get to heaven” – the meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood If I were to make a CD of Dylan songs based on meaning and feeling, I’d put “Trying to get heaven” followed not by “Til I Fell in love with you” as on Time out of Mind, … Continue reading

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Obviously Five Believers; understanding the music and lyrics of the Dylan song

There is a quote that Heylin uses and which turns up in lots of other places saying, that the band, at the recording session, made a number of false starts, and Dylan then admonished them saying it was a very … Continue reading

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“Fourth Time Around” The meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood This is the fourth track on side 3 of Blonde on Blonde, and although the song is very different in nature from what has gone before, we are still in the zone of turning the concept of … Continue reading

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“Temporary Like Achilles” The meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood This is a blues about the outsider,  played  out at a slow blues pace.  Once again  I think  Dylan would have performed this in G, but on my equipment the album is playing sharp   and it sounds … Continue reading

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Most likely you go your way and I’ll go mine: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood Since writing this review in 2014 I have found a new recording of the song which really does take it in a different direction.  Here it is – the original review continues below… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpNRcw7yn8A “Most Likely You … Continue reading

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“Absolutely Sweet Marie” The meaning of the music and the lyrics

Coming back to Blonde and Blonde I picked up my original double album, the one I bought shortly after its release in England, while I was a music student.  Amazingly its in quite good nick – probably because no one … Continue reading

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The Levee’s Gonna Break: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood At one level “The Levee’s Gonna Break” is simple.  It is based on “When the Levee Breaks” by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie.  It is a straight 12 bar blues in B flat without any variations … Continue reading

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Rollin and Tumblin: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood The problem with “Modern Times” is that one can spend forever looking at the sources of Dylan’s lyrics and music, and then forget the Dylan’s version which is a really decent version of a classic blues, mixed … Continue reading

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Someday Baby: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood “Someday Baby” is a song with controversies within it.  The album “Modern Times” says that all the songs were written by Dylan, but this, along with a number of other songs on the album are very closely … Continue reading

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Early Roman Kings: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

The music and meaning of Bob Dylan’s Early Roman Kings By Tony Attwood We’ve got three issues in the lyrics of “Early Roman Kings”.  There were Kings in the earliest days of Rome, and there was a gang in the … Continue reading

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Pay in Blood: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

What is the most appalling word you could say to a young Jewish musician? Actually, that’s a dumb question, because although I’ve heard most of them, being born and brought up in a part of North London where the insults … Continue reading

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Million Miles: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

There are many people who just don’t grasp what the blues is all about.  For these people it sounds repetitive, dull and simplistic. Of course there is nothing wrong with not getting something – we all have areas of culture … Continue reading

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Make you feel my love: the meaning of the music and the lyrics

By Tony Attwood Review updated 15 October 2017. Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” appears on Time Out of Mind (1997) and was initially released by Billy Joel, before Dylan’s version appeared on the album.  Since then he has … Continue reading

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