• Wanted Man (1969) part 1: From Sacramento to Bangor, Maine
• Wanted Man part 2: I shot a man in Reno

by Jochen Markhorst

III         Now, I admire Merle

I might be in Colorado or Georgia by the sea
Working for some man who may not know at all who I might be
If you ever see me comin’ and if you know who I am
Don’t you breathe it to nobody ’cause you know I’m on the lam

That first take of 18 February and the song’s premiere in San Quentin on 24 February suggest that the manuscript was written before 18 February. Indeed, as Cash reveals at the announcement, at Cash’s home. Dylan hears about that upcoming prison concert, may already know that Cash wrote the song “San Quentin” for the occasion, and now offers to contribute a song as well, and Dylan fan Cash gratefully accepts, such a scenario is obvious. Against an alternative genesis, a scenario of Dylan later undertaking a lyric revision, which then is the manuscript we see on page 29 of the booklet, speaks the absence of the best lines from the versions we know, from Take 1 and San Quentin:

Then I went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene
Wonderin’ why the hell I’m wanted at some town halfway between

… it’s not too likely that Dylan would delete these lines when revising “Wanted Man”, in any case. No, that manuscript surely is the primal version, rewritten on the spot a day later, in the studio. And we find this Colorado couplet broadly reflected in it:

I might be in Colorado, or maybe Tennessee
Working for some man who may not know who I might be
But he always gives me notice [crossed-out word]
(But I do not have a number, couldn’t get one if I tried
But there’s always someone special, whom I must keep satisfied
For I do not have a number, couldn’t get one if I tried)

The first two lines are keepers, but then the greatest writer of our time seems to lose his momentum. An unfinished third line, a crossed-out word, and three more variants, all of which – rightly – will not make it: one can virtually see the clogging of the creative vein.

The photograph of the manuscript offers three more final lines. Revealing how Dylan is trying to get the engine going again:

I eat only when I’m hungry
Now I plot my destination by the lamp inside the can
That is how it is boys when you’re a wanted man

… so, to get started, Dylan once again delves into his inner jukebox. “I eat only when I’m hungry” is, of course, the beginning of I’ll eat when I’m hungry and I’ll drink when I’m dry from “The Moonshiner”, the old traditional that Dylan has already recorded once at the Times They Are A-Changin’ sessions in 1963 (a recording eventually released in 1991, on The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3). And it works: he doesn’t even have to finish the line, and rushes on to the two closing lines.

“Now I plot my destination by the lamp inside the can” is still far from perfect, obviously. On several fronts, even. The choice of words is alienating in a text full of good ol’ boys locker room talk, the sentence structure is ramshackle, and a denouement where the Wanted Man is in prison (in the can) is not too strong either – in that case, the intended closing line (“That’s how it is boys when you’re a wanted man”) is now wrong; after all, when he’s in the can, he’s no longer a wanted man. But the line presumably does take him to the verse that will make it into the final version: “Don’t you breathe it to nobody ’cause you know I’m on the lam”. At least, that seems obvious because of the homophones lamp – lam.

Another, and equally attractive option, is Merle Haggard. The next day, in the studio, Cash seems to give a hint when he jokingly sings/shouts “Wanted man in Muskogee”, but that’s a coincidence; Haggard’s signature song “Okie From Muskagee” is not recorded until a few months later (17 July 1969). Cash played in Muskogee in June 1968 – it’s yet again a town from his tour calendar.

In Cash’s record cabinet, however, there are undoubtedly plenty of records from his colleague, and surely the two most recent, which happen to be two of Haggard’s very best records: Mama Tried and Pride In What I Am. The latter has just been out for a fortnight and is high on the Country Charts at the time Dylan is staying with Cash. And on Mama Tried, the record filled with prison songs like “Green, Green Grass Of Home” and “I Could Have Gone Right”, and with the heart-breaking “In the Good Old Days” from the then rather unknown Dolly Parton, also features Merle’s cover of “Folsom Prison Blues”. Plus the title track, of course, the No. 1 hit that Dylan still admires almost 40 years later, when he jokingly criticises Merle Haggard in his wonderful MusiCares speech (February 2015):

“Merle Haggard didn’t think much of my songs, but Buck Owens did, and Buck even recorded some of my early songs. Now I admire Merle – “Mama Tried,” “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down,” “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive.” I understand all that but I can’t imagine Waylon Jennings singing “The Bottle Let Me Down.” I love Merle but he’s not Buck.”

In the “Post MusiCares Conversation”, Bill Flanagan asks just to be sure. Was he really dissing Merle Haggard back there? No, not at all, Dylan says. I have the highest regard for Merle, toured with him, his Jimmie Rodgers tribute album is one of my favourite records, he’s a complete man and we’re friends these days,

“I wasn’t dissing Merle, not the Merle I know. What I was talking about happened a long time ago, maybe in the late sixties. Merle had that song out called “Fighting Side of Me” and I’d seen an interview with him where he was going on about hippies and Dylan and the counter culture, and it kind of stuck in my mind and hurt, lumping me in with everything he didn’t like. But of course times have changed and he’s changed too.”

And when host Cash puts Merle’s new record on the turntable, this February evening ’69 in Nashville, Dylan hears in the beautiful opening song “I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am” (okay, a rather shameless “Gentle On My Mind” rip-off, but still beautiful):

I guess I grew up a loner, 
I don't remember ever havin' any folks around.
But I keep thumbin' through the phone books,
And lookin' for my daddy's name in every town.
And I meet lots of friendly people,
That I always end up leavin' on the lam.
Where I've been or where I'm goin'
Didn't take alot of knowin',
But I take alot of pride in what I am.

… in which he then hears that unusual phrase “on the lam” a few times. And the rest of the record will no doubt please Dylan too; the Bakerfield sound, as opposed to the indulgence of Nashville, sprinkled with folk, blues and pop influences, containing wonderful songs like “The Day The Rains Came”, Hank Williams-like tearjerkers like “It Meant Goodbye When You Said Hello To Him” and even a Jimmie Rodgers song (“California Blues”).

That idle eat-when-I’m-hungry line on the manuscript, by the way, keeps buzzing around in the back of Dylan’s mind; some 30 years later, in 1997, it finally finds shelter in “Dreamin’ Of You” (Well, I eat when I’m hungry, drink when I’m dry / Live my life on the square). But tomorrow, in the studio, the men will be singing something else there.

To be continued. Next: Wanted Man part 4: To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
• Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
• Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
• John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
• Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s lookin’ for the fuse
• Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
• Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s 2^nd Big Bang
• Time Out Of Mind: The Rising of an Old Master
• Crossing The Rubicon: Dylan’s latter-day classic

By Aaron Galbraith (in the USA) and Tony Attwood (in England).

Aaron: Highway 51 Blues was composed by American blues pianist Curtis Jones, originally released on a 78 record on January 12, 1938.

Tony: To me this is a perfect blues from the era.  The piano, double bass and guitar mix together in a beautiful way, each complimenting the other rather than seeming to fight for dominance, as happens in some recordings.   The vocals are perfectly sung, without degenerating into over-playing or attempting to dominate; there’s a great melody, and every musician is playing his part (I’m assuming it was “his” – it normally was with these recordings) without getting carried away.  Perfection.

Aaron: Dylan closes out the debut album with his version, which according to Wikipedia uses “the tune from the 1938 recording by Jones. He used lyrics from a 1939 Tommy McClennan recording called “New Highway No.51” for the first and last of the four verses, and utilised a repeating guitar figure from “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers (1957). ”

First here is the Tommy McClennan recording

Tony: Immediately this sounds much more like a traditional 12 bar blues – and I’m reminded of just how famous has that “runs right by my baby’s door” line become.

But for me the McClennan version is one that somehow feels it is always trying to escape from the regular beat of the piece and get faster and faster.   It’s something that happens in a lot of blues, and I am not sure if it is intentional or indeed if it isn’t just my imagination, but it’s how these old recordings sometimes sound to me.

Aaron: And now “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers

Tony: I know I am supposed to be focussing on the music but I just love the fact that a random man wanders across the set around the 26 second mark.  It is just so strange.  But anyway, that’s one of the recordings I heard in my childhood and it remains always in the memory.  But today it does seem rather trite and silly, but then popular music of the type we know today was still only just finding its feet, and of course, blues music was being sanitized to make it “suitable” for a white audience.

Aaron: So if you put all that together you should come up with the Dylan version

Tony: I think I played this to death when I first got the album, and being not only from England, but also living in a somewhat behind-the-times shire county, and indeed being just about the only kid in the school who had even heard of Dylan, let alone like him, this was my liberation.  I didn’t get to discuss the music with anyone.   And I don’t recall the local library having any books on the blues either.  But now I could hear it.

Aaron: Here is one more recent version I kind of like – Mark Browning from 2001 Ballads, Love Songs & Gasoline. This version uses all the Dylan changes

Tony:  Oh Aaron – thank you.  I’ve never heard this before.  I’m not sure about the affectation of the outpouring of breath occasionally, but the re-interpretation of Dylan’s interpretation is great fun.  It keeps the guitar playing under control but gives us something new, especially in the instrumental solo.   Great fun.  Not for the first time I am indebted to you for expanding my knowledge.

Previously in this series…

1. Other people’s songs. How Dylan covers the work of other composers
2. Other People’s songs: Bob and others perform “Froggie went a courtin”
3. Other people’s songs: They killed him
4. Other people’s songs: Frankie & Albert
5. Other people’s songs: Tomorrow Night where the music is always everything
6. Other people’s songs: from Stack a Lee to Stagger Lee and Hugh Laurie
7. Other people’s songs: Love Henry
8. Other people’s songs: Rank Stranger To Me
9. Other people’s songs: Man of Constant Sorrow
10. Other people’s songs: Satisfied Mind
11. Other people’s songs: See that my grave is kept clean
12. Other people’s songs: Precious moments and some extras
13. Other people’s songs: You go to my head
14. Other people’s songs: What’ll I do?
15. Other people’s songs: Copper Kettle
16. Other people’s songs: Belle Isle
17. Other people’s songs: Fixing to Die
18. Other people’s songs: When did you leave heaven?
19. Other people’s songs: Sally Sue Brown
20. Other people’s songs: Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
21. Other people’s songs: Step it up and Go
22. Other people’s songs: Canadee-I-O
23. Other people’s songs: Arthur McBride
24. Other people’s songs: Little Sadie
25. Other people’s songs: Blue Moon, and North London Forever
26. Other people’s songs: Hard times come again no more
27. Other people’s songs: You’re no good
28. Other people’s songs: Lone Pilgrim (and more Crooked Still)
29. Other people’s songs: Blood in my eyes
30. Other people’s songs: I forgot more than you’ll ever know
31. Other people’s songs: Let’s stick (or maybe work) together.
32. Other people’s songs: Jim Jones
33. Other people’s songs: Highway 51 Blues

• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts III & IV)
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts V and VI
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts VII and VIII
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part IX & X)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XI and XII)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (parts XIII and XIV)

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XV)

by Larry Fyffe

A number of “Dylanologists” claim that the singer/songwriter/musician only makes meaningful references to Roman/Greek mythology later on in his career.

Not true.

The narrator in the following song, applauds Neptune, the God of the Sea, brother to thundering Zeus (Apollo’s dad) and brother to Pluto, the dark King of the Underworld: the Big Three gods in the days of Roman Emperor Nero.

Easy to get the message in the following song lyrics without any Decoder Ring.

Can’t be much clearer that Apollo calls on uncle Neptune to warn the now-in-power followers of Christianity ~ that they better smarten up; start to appreciate the yellow-haired, blue-eyed Sun-God … or else!

Neptune sinks the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic.

Marks the score on the sandy shore ~ Neptune -1: Jehovah -O.

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting 
"Which side are you on?"
(Bob Dylan: Desolation Row)

The shining Olympian foretells that there’s gonna be a war in Heaven, in Hell, and on Earth.

Decoded, the song below makes it as plain as day that Apollo is rising in order to rescue his “bride” from organized religion.

At first Apollo admonishes the followers of the Judeo-Christian religion ~ they’re like the  relatives of the drowned victims from the Titanic that his uncle sinks; they blame the whole thing on the Devil and Beelzebub, but are sure that most of the dead can look forward to a wonderful Afterlife:

There are no mistakes in life some people say
And it's true sometimes you can see it that way
But people don't live or die, people just float
She's gone with the man in the long black coat

Later, Apollo points out with a smile that he can’t die because he’s eternal, ~ the Sun shines down from above on the Titanic; there’s no gangplank made big enough for him to get on board:

I went down to the river, but I just missed the boat
She's gone with the man in the long black coat
(Man In The Long Black Coat)

So who’s side are you on anyway?

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XVI)

By Larry Fyffe

Apollo leaves an encoded message concerning the harm that ‘Christian guilt’ can do.

The early Dylan song quoted below reveals that guilty desire does not work out that well, even in the land of the Olympian gods.

Apollo’s virginal sister Artemis (Mona) is well respected by the son of Phaedra’s husband.

The son rejects the sexual advances of Aphrodite who, when angry, can be scorpion-like. She makes Phaedra fall in love with her husband’s son. Phaedra offers herself to him, but he rejects her advances too.

To cover up her guilty behaviour, Phaedra tells her husband that his son raped her.

Needless to say, all hell breaks loose:

Well, Phaedra with her looking glass
Spreads her legs upon the grass
She gets all messed up, then she faints
That's 'cause she's so obvious, and you ain't
(Bob Dylan: I Wanna Be Your Lover)

Below, the author thereof, influenced by the Puritan creed, fears the ever-present Lord of the Flies, the harbinger of Death.

There’s no way for her to really know if she’s part of God’s Elect; as a consequence, she feels guilty:

I heard a fly buzz when I died
The stillness in the room
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm
(Emily Dickinson: I Heard A Fly Buzz)

Not the bright god Apollo of ancient Greek/Roman mythology though, protected as he is by a shield emblazoned with the golden bough of Immortality.

No fears has he of ever boarding a Titanic heading for an iceberg.

No fears has he of being ferried aross the River Acheron.

Apparently, Emily’s not so lucky; for some reason, she doesn’t meet with God’s approval.

Apollo leaves a message to that effect, encrypted in the following song lyrics:

She went with the man 
In the long black coat
(Bob Dylan: Man In The Long Black Coat)

As we’ve observed, never-ending Apollo can make mistakes, even get physically injured by someone, or punished by his father Zeus, but he cannot die.

Beelzebub be damned.

What Apollo’s really doing in the song beneath is going down over the horizon for a brief spell after which he’ll return:

I'm closing the book
On the pages, and the text
And I don't really care
O-o-o-o, what happens next
I'm just going
I'm going
I'm gone
(Bob Dylan: Going, Going, Gone)

By Tony Attwood, based on the research of Mike Johnson

The aim of this series is to go back over the vast monument to Dylan’s work that is the “Never Ending Tour” series created and written by Mike Johnson (Kiwipoet), and pick out a few moments that strike me as being special in some way, perhaps in terms of musical originality, or perhaps beauty or indeed insight from Dylan into where his work could be taken.

Throughout the creation of the NET series, I have had the good fortune to be the first to read and hear each of the 100+ episodes that Mike has created for this site, and I have constantly marveled at both Dylan’s ability to rework his own material, and at Mike’s ability to collect all these recordings and present them to us in a coherent fashion.  Two quite different achievements, but one without the other would mean that we would not today have the pleasure of listening to all these reworkings of Dylan’s catalogue by the man himself.

With over 100 editions of the series now published (at the time of writing we are in 2009 – the latest piece is here) Mike and I have begun to talk (via email, we live just about as far apart from each other as it is possible to get) about what else (if anything) could be written concerning Dylan’s live performances, once Mike’s series is complete.

In one sense the answer is nothing, the Never Ending Tour series that Mike has created and is still creating, is a monument that cannot be surpassed, but Mike had the idea that maybe there is something more that could be done.  And this was that I could work my way through the series once again and pick out various recordings from the 1000+ that have been included, that stood out to me when I first listened to them and still have that impact today.

And I would stress that this is not with the idea of comparing different versions of the same song, for I fear that could become rather technical and for non-musicians extraordinarily boring, but rather simply picking out one song from one show and saying “Wow”.  And then perhaps a few more words as well.

So here we go.

John Brown; 1987.   NET review: “Farewell to all that”

We all know the awful, tragic story, that is told within this song, and so appalling is it in the recognition of how many millions of men and women have returned home from war destroyed either physically and mentally by the experience, that if it didn’t affect you the first time round, I’m sure nothing I can say will make it affect you this time around.

But I do find myself deeply fascinated by this musical performance as well as moved emotionally.  Perhaps it is because of its speed and its unrelenting drive, perhaps because of the assuredness of the delivery by Bob, and also perhaps by the instrumentation.

Of course I’ve no idea how they stumbled on this musical arrangement.  Quite possibly Bob sat alone trying the song in different ways and then realised just how much power he could get from the piece when performed at this speed.  Then it would have been taken to the band; although I think it is also possible that this version just emerged in rehearsal.

Certainly the song has changed over time.  There is a version on the internet of Bob performing this song in April 1963 and it has none of the impact on me.  The 1987 version brings the horror of the situation full-on into me in a way that the version below does not approach.

But of course I am listening to these recordings now knowing exactly what the story is – yet the 1987 recording above still sends shivers all through me and leaves me wanting “something strong to distract my mind”.  (Fortunately, I am not seriously tempted to succumb to such a wish, but I can recognise it when I feel it).

At the start of this live rendition, there is a technique that Dylan has sometimes used elsewhere of the instrumentation seemingly randomly playing against each other with odd musical phrases that take a few moments to coalesce into the song itself.  But coalesce the music quickly does to become unrelenting – and that is the key to the impact this version the song has on me.  No matter what instrument comes in (the piano for example, then the percussion), that drive forward never stops.  It is utterly relentless, just as war is.  Once it is running, there is no escape.

But Bob and the band don’t just let the music rip.  What Bob does is resist any temptation to change the speed or passion in order to reflect the realisation of the mother as to what has happened.  We can’t catch each word – but that doesn’t matter, we know the lyrics anyway.  It is the sound and the horror and the unrelenting consistency of the music that holds us.

And what is so extraordinary here is that really this should not work – it goes against all the logic of writing and performing a horror story.  Just think of the music that accompanies the revelations of a horribly mutilated body in a movie – this performance is nothing like this at all.  Any musician worth his/her salt can parody the music accompanying a black-and-white 1950s horror film.  Few can hold the intensity that Bob and the band create here.

But then, I would ask that you don’t always focus on the magnificent guitar playing – listen to the way the piano keeps up relenting accompaniment often being nothing more than four notes repeating over and over and over…   It would have been so easy to hammer out chords to signify horror and aggression, but those notes are almost delicate – and yet they are once again utterly unrelenting.  Like a tiny drop of water, which is gentle when just one falls, but add them all together and it becomes part of an overwhelming destructive horror.

Of course not everyone will feel overwhelmed – emotions are personal and based on who and what we are.   Equally not everyone in the audience will know all the lyrics, but eventually, surely most fans will find them and read

And I couldn't help but think, 
through the thunder rolling and stink,
That I was just a puppet in a play.

And then at that moment, if one has any feeling for the way the accompaniment is created, that piano part, going on and on and on, seemingly unresponsive to the horrors of the lyrics, makes absolute and total sense.  Nothing, but nothing is ever stopping this horror.  They’ll probably write nursery rhymes about it.

Beautiful Obscurity: John Brown

John Brown and Tomorrow as Never Before

Not just the song but the staggering performance

• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts III & IV)
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts V and VI
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts VII and VIII
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part IX & X)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XI and XII)

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XIII)

by Larry Fyffe

Even without the magic Untold Decoder Ring, clues of the return of Zeus to his usurped throne can be spied abounding in a number of song lyrics by Bob Dylan ~ he’s no false prophet.

The loser will be later to win.

Not at all angry at the kidnapping of the Greek princess Helen by Trojan Paris, Apollo guides the arrow that kills Achilles, a Greek fighter out to save Helen in the Trojan War.

In the following song it’s apparent that Apollo, an expert marksman with the bow and arrow, disguises himself as Paris, and attempts to fool around with Aphrodite.

Paris awarded her the golden apple. Known also as Venus, she’s usually quite loose with her ‘velvet door’, but she wants nothing to with Apollo because he’s on the wrong side; she’s got a scorpion for protection.

Achilles is in Aphrodite’s alleyway, a place where the Greek soldier does not belong; he’s switched over to the Trojan side temporarily, but the Sun-God doesn’t trust him.

The feeling is mutual:

Achilles is in your alleyway
He don't want me here, he does brag
(Bob Dylan: Temporary Like Achilles)

This simple explanation is completely missed by the Sound School of Dylanology.

Another song mentions a cypress tree, a symbol of bereavement, sacred to Diana, the Goddess of the Moon. Also called Mona, she’s the, sister of  Apollo.

Aeneas and other Trojans fleeing to the Seven Hills are to meet under a particular cypress tree.

A symbol that goes way back before the followers of Christianity displace Zeus as the God Most High, and thereafter embark on the crusades:

Stand over there by the cypress tree
Where the Trojan woman and children
Were sold into slavery
Long before the First Crusade
(Bob Dylan: My Own Version Version Of You)

Prophesied is that the Seven Hills will expand by five upon which oak trees arise ~ oak trees are sacred to Zeus, father of the yellow-haired Apollo.

Singing an encrypted psalm, the God of the Sun wades across the river to greet his “Bride”, formerly the twelve apostles of Christ:

The boulevards of cypress tress ....
My pulse is running through my palm
The sharp hills are rising from
The yellow fields with twisted oaks that grow
Won't you meet me out in the moonlight alone
(Bob Dylan: Moonlight)

It takes some time for the Christians to beat the ancient mythological gods, and the rematch is expected to last a long time too.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens ~  the winner of the second match takes all.

Says Apollo:

No place to turn, no place at all
I'll pick a number between a one and two
And ask myself ,"What would Caesar do?"
(Bob Dylan: My Own Version Of You)

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XIV)

by Larry Fyffe

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Ledo; he’s immortal and never dies though he may seem to disappear at sunset.

Dionysus, the demigod of vegetation, is the son of Zeus and Semele; he dies in the wintertime, but returns to the earth in the spring.

Christ, the son of God and Mary, dies on the cross, revives for a bit, then goes up to Heaven. He is supposed to return to the earth some day.

Not pleased is the Sun-God that Christianity has placed Jesus above him in the Parthenon of the gods: replaced the great healer who’s able to banish Beelzebub, the Lord of Death and Disease.

So decoded in a number of song lyrics sung by Bob Dylan wherein the narrator speaks through the musical mouth of Apollo.

In the song lyrics below, the Sun-God is annoyed at having to put up with the earth-bound energy of his brother Dionysus, and his wild gang of oft-drunken Bacchants:

All the early Roman kings
In the early, early morn
Come down from the mountain
Distributing the corn
Speeding through the forest
Racing down the track
You try to get away
They drag you right back
(Bob Dylan: Early Roman Kings)

Sunny Apollo would rather smile at Aurora, the Goddess of the Dawn.

Then like Caesar, harness his chariot, and stab an ‘x’ on all those who dare to seek his crown:

I got up early
So I coud greet the goddess of the dawn
I painted my wagon, abandoned all hope
And I crossed the Rubicon
(Bob Dylan: Crossing The Rubicon)

Happy Apollo is to abandon hope, and instead take positive action in the service of his father, the God of Thunder who’s way up there where the eagles fly:

Shake the dust off of your feet

Don't look back
Nothing can hold you down
Nothing that you lack
Temptation's not an easy thing
Adam given the Devil reign
Because he sinned, I got no choice
It run in my vein
(Bob Dylan: Pressing On)

Unhappy Apollo is that the twelve apostles are part of the Judeo-Christain Almighty’s plan to make a hero out of Jesus.

Beneath, Apollo sings out an early warning that it’s all a conspiracy to undermine the Thunder son’s lofty seat atop Mount Olympus.

Judas goes along with God’s plan:

I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side
(Bob Dylan: With God On Our Side)

Decrypted: Jehovah, Judas and Jesus are definitely not on the side of the Olympian Thunder King nor his son.

As far as Apollo is concerned the three Big J’s give Satan and his buddy Beelzebub free rein.

And all the best lines.

• Never Ending Tour 2009 part 1 Contending forces: Courting Disaster
• NET 2009 part 2: contending forces: through the tears and the laughter
• NET 2009 part 3 The blood of the land in my voice: Together Through Life
• NET 2009 Part 4 – foundations: the raw and the real
• NET 2009 Part 5 – Old things become new again

NET 2009 part 6 Rolling the Rock

By Mike Johnson (Kiwipoet)

While ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ recorded in 1954, marks the beginning of the rock ‘n roll era, it was Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ 1956, that broke new ground musically by introducing white audiences to the blues, and which might be seen as the first rock song. You can find Heartbreak Hotel, by the way, if you mosey on down Lonely Avenue. It is fitting that in 2009 Dylan performed the song, even if only once, at Nevada, 16^th August. If anything, with that dumpty-dum organ, the song sounds even older than Presley’s. The circus barker will never have Presley’s smooth, rubbery voice, but here it is, sounding like a Chicago blues number.

Heartbreak Hotel

That was a wonderful ‘uncover’ of the famous song, and Dylan sounds like he was having a lot of fun with it.

Listening to Dylan’s 2009 performances of some of his early rock songs, I’m once more struck by how ‘primitive’ they were, how like the music of the 1950s compared to the sophistications of, say Pink Floyd or even the melodic complexities of the Beatles songs of the 1960s. Only The Rolling Stones and The Animals were doing this kind of unfiltered bluesy stuff for mass white audiences. I found myself wondering how these performances would have sounded in the mid-1950s and, for the most part, they would have fitted in quite well.

Take this performance of ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ from Rothbury, for example. A 1950s audience would have had no trouble boogying to the guitar riff that drives the song. They might have had a few problems with the lyrics but, well, don’t we all?

Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
Told the first father that things weren’t right
My complexion she said is much too white
He said come here and step into the light he says hmm you’re right
Let me tell the second mother this has been done
But the second mother was with the seventh son
And they were both out on Highway 61

I think something is happening here but I don’t know what it is, and maybe it’s best I don’t enquire too deeply.

Highway 61 Revisited

Note Dylan’s organ break. He doesn’t stray too far from vamping along with the rhythm, but it’s more adventurous than what we heard from him in 2006 /07.

A 1950s audience would have had no problem with this performance of ‘Maggie’s Farm’ either. The guitar riff (hauntingly familiar, but I can’t quite place it) and the fast dumpty-dum tempo would have had the 50s audience up and jiving. The lyrics would probably have made them laugh. I suspect that in this case Dylan has deliberately made the song sound vintage, placed it in that era. (Amsterdam 11^th April)

Maggie’s Farm

‘Rainy Day Woman’ would have been a foot-tapper, I suspect, for that notional 50s audience, particularly for the first few verses, when the pace is brisk, but curiously the song slows down to more like its original lazy tempo. And the lyrics might not have puzzled them that much either. The word ‘stoned’ was being used in the early 1950s to describe being under the influence, and ‘stone drunk’ goes back to the 1920s.

Rainy Day Woman

The sentiment expressed in ‘Most Likely You Go Your Way’ is common enough in the world of pop songs, and the thumpity-thump beat of this performance (Boston, 15^th Nov) would have gone over okay with a 50s audience.

Most Likely You Go Your Way

Dylan swings ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,’ just as he did with ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ (see NET 2009 part 1) and will do, in 2011, with ‘Blind Willie McTell.’ If they had heard Victoria Spivey’s ‘Dope Head Blues’ (1927) or ‘Cocaine Blues’ by Luke Jordan (1927), or ‘Spoonful Blues’ by Charlie Patten (1929), our 50s audience could well have related to Dylan’s own junky’s lament. We might feel that this swing version lessens the agony inherent in the lyrics, but I dunno – if you can dance to it, it can’t be all bad. (Hanover, 21^st March)

Tom Thumb’s Blues

Since all the imagery of ‘Blind Willie McTell’ related to the era of that old blues musician who did his last recordings in 1956 (but was active in the 1930s and 40s), a hip, blues-oriented 50s audience would have had no trouble with the song’s pessimism and nostalgia, or with this particular performance, although I doubt it would appeal to rock ‘n rollers listening to Bill Haley. This beautifully clear Crystal Cat recording (Brussels 22^nd April) is a treasure. Close your eyes and you’re right there, in the shadow kingdom of a speakeasy, listening to some old guy recall the old days. A remarkable vocal performance.

Blind Willie McTell

‘Cat’s In the Well’ doesn’t need much tweaking to fit right into the boogie-woogie era. The guitar break is right out of the rock ‘n roll playbook. You can jive to this no problem. The lyrics would have given a 50s audience some trouble though. Despite the bounce of the music, the lyrics are vicious – ‘the world’s being slaughtered as it’s such a bloody disgrace,’ although he doesn’t sing ‘bloody’ on this performance, Dylan shies away from profanities, and softens it to ‘terrible’ or some such euphemism.

This is a warm up, the opening song at Boston (14^th Nov), so we are treated to that extended introduction current at the time. I must say I prefer the simpler ‘…Columbia recording artist, Bob Dylan!’ to this potted biography.

Cat’s In the Well

It’s when we come to that greatest of all rock songs, ‘Like A Rolling Stone,’ that we leave the 50s audience behind us. While we can trace the riffs that drive the song to Richie Haven’s 1958 hit ‘La Bamba,’ suitably disguised, the famous lyrics land us squarely in the drug-fuelled years of the mid-1960s:

You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?

Nor has time, or Dylan’s ravaged voice, been able to dim the ferocity of these lyrics, their condemnation of falsity and snobbery. In this case, however (Stockholm), the spirit of the performance is more reflective than accusatory, more in sadness than in anger.

Like a Rolling Stone

With this gleeful performance of ‘Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat’ we are right back in both the musical and clothes fashion of the 50s. Pillbox hats date back to the 30s, but came into full prominence in the 50s and 60s. Of course, Dylan is taking the piss out of the fashion, and even musically he has his tongue in his cheek. This song, at least this performance of it, could be seen as a send-up of that ol’ bouncy rock ‘n roll; it’s fun but not to be taken too seriously. This is another opener, warm up song, in this case from Rothbury.

Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat

If we remove ‘All Along the Watchtower’ from its standard place as the closing song, and place it here, with the rock ‘n roll songs, we get a somewhat different perspective of that apocalyptic song. Despite its biblical, in fact Old Testament, imagery, the song belongs firmly to the first two decades of the Cold War, and the constant threat of annihilation ushered in by it. That Cold War was as real to the 50s as it was to the 60s, and a 50s audience would have had little trouble relating to it. As he’s done in the past few years, Dylan plays the song for its contrasts; a minimal, quiet backing during the verses, punctuated by raging guitar blasts between verses, all pushed along by a churchy organ and a militant tempo. (Rothbury) A stand-out performance.

With the drums of war still beating in Ukraine, and the implicit threat of a nuclear holocaust, this song sounds as relevant as ever.

Watchtower

Folk songs predate rock ‘n roll. You could argue that rock ‘n roll grew out of a particular kind of folk music, the blues crossed with jump jazz, and Dylan’s acoustic folk songs grew out of the rich folk tradition fully alive in the 50s. Dylan’s first audience for his acoustic songs were very much a 50s crowd, hipsters and old lefties, the lost generation that preceded the boomers. You can see them at the video of Dylan’s Finjan club performances of 1962. (I find, however, that the video of these performances has vanished from Youtube)

Dylan keeps this performance of ‘Don’t Think Twice’ simple and pared back, despite the organ. (Amsterdam 12^th April) A 1930s audience might have found this a little unusual but not right out of the ballpark, and the relationship suggested by the lyrics is as old as love itself.

 Don’t Think Twice

‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ deals with a racism that is as old as the Jim Crow laws that enforced it. While the incident it’s based on, the casual killing of an African American barmaid by a rich young white man, happened in February 1863, it could have happened pretty much any time from the 1880s on, along with the tepid response from the law that Dylan laments.

In keeping with performances in recent years, Dylan does a half-talking, half-singing adaption that perfectly suits the didactic purposes of the song. (Boston 14^th Nov)

 Hattie Carroll

I’m going to finish with this performance of ‘My Back Pages’ because it must come close to a best ever, wonderfully recorded by Crystal Cat and passionately delivered. And, for this song, a rare, piercing harp break. I’ve always found the song a bit lumbering, but that doesn’t seem to bother me here. Finally, after all these years, I get swept away by it. (Berlin, 1^st April) In it, Dylan announces a swing away from simplistic, oppositional thinking. We’ll see a resounding return to that oppositional thinking in 1979 – but he will be so much older then…

My Back Pages

I’m indebted to Jochen Markhorst for drawing my attention to the following comment made by Dylan in 1997 ( see Markhorst’s indispensable Crossing the Rubicon page 91):

‘What makes (my songs) different is that there’s a foundation to them. That’s why they’re still around…’ Dylan also refers to, ‘a strong foundation, and subliminally, that’s what people are hearing.’

This has helped me understand what Dylan has been doing with these stripped-down performances in 2008/9, and the dumpty-dum which has given me so much trouble.

Dylan wants his songs to have a strong foundation when the winds of musical fashion shift. Their roots in vintage music provide that foundation, just as his lyrics, rooted in blues, folk and literary traditions provide another deep foundation. He ain’t no flash in the pan. Part of his genius is the ability to make old things new again, antique sounds and musical structures in particular. At that level, his songs remain forever young, while at the same time being forever old.

So ends my survey of this rich and challenging year. Next post, we’ll be turning to 2010, and the beginnings of a new musical direction for Bob Dylan. Catch you then.

Kia Ora.

The Never Ending Tour from the start

• Wanted Man (1969) part 1: From Sacramento to Bangor, Maine

by Jochen Markhorst

II          I shot a man in Reno

Wanted man in California, wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City, wanted man in Ohio
Wanted man in Mississippi, wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you might look tonight, you might see this wanted man

“Last week, uh, in Nashville, Bob Dylan, one of the top writers… well, I don’t need to tell you who Bob Dylan is. The greatest writer of our time was at our house, and he and I sat down and wrote a song together. Let me see if I can find that damn thing, I’ll sing it for you. Yeah, here it is. It’s called Wanted Man. Do you know the introduction Bob? OK.” That last question is addressed to lead guitarist Bob Wootton, who then effortlessly splashes a “Folsom Prison Blues”- like intro from his guitar. Which kicks off “Wanted Man” on Johnny Cash At San Quentin – the opening track on the legendary album (1969), but number 15 on Cash’s actual setlist, that February day in California.

The claim that “he and I sat down and wrote a song together” might be a bit overblown – presumably, Cash also noticed that Dylan copied the place names from his tour schedule, or maybe he did spell them out, and therefore feels some kind of authorship. Either way, not a big deal. More interesting are the half-mumbled comment Let me see if I can find that damn thing, and the observation that we do indeed see him looking at a paper on his lectern during the song: so by now, six days after that funny Take 1, he has a written-out version of the lyrics. All the more interesting because these – now official – lyrics are so vastly different from the handwritten lyrics published in the 2019 booklet of The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 1967-1969: Travelin’ Thru (on page 29). Every line is different, including the opening couplet/refrain:

Wanted man in Carolina, Wanted Man in Buffalo
Wanted Man in Arizona, Wanted Man in Ohio
Wanted Man in Kansas City, Wanted Man in Old Chyanne [sic]
Everywhere you look tonight, boys, I am a Wanted Man

So far, hardly spectacular differences; “Carolina” instead of “California” or “Kansas City” instead of “Mississippi” is, of course, not that relevant. More fascinating is the rest of that photographed manuscript in the booklet: after this slightly different refrain, we see two-and-a-half more stanzas, including corrections and alternative verses, that differ wholly and utterly from the final text. There is no trace of the first verse, for instance, in the final version:

I find a seat in Reno, and I’m doing mighty fine
The boss he tips his hat to me and I in turn tip mine
                                (take my money)
I’m just about to collect my winnings, every nickel, every dime
                (I was born to make this killing)
But someone always recognizes me before it’s time

Fine verse, and for Dylanologists, it sheds priceless light on the workings of Dylan’s creativity. “I find a seat in Reno” and the third alternative of verse 3 “I was born to make a killing”… Dylan chooses as his first-person narrator a protagonist who almost automatically imposes himself on him as he sits next to Johnny Cash at a table here:

When I was just a baby my mama told me: Son,
Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns.
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
Now every time I hear that whistle, I hang my head and cry.

… the leading actor from “Folsom Prison Blues”, one of Cash’s signature songs, one of his first songs too (written in 1953), and the song with which he scored a No 1 hit just a few months ago, in the summer of 1968 (the live version from At Folsom Prison). There is no way Dylan is not thinking of the song when he writes the line I find a seat in Reno. He himself played “Folsom Prison Blues” with the guys of The Band at the Basement not so long ago; in May ’69, still in Nashville, he records it during the Self Portrait sessions, in 1987 he plays it with the men of The Grateful Dead, and from 1991 onwards it is on the setlist 20 times. When the theme “Jail” is on, at his Theme Time Radio Hour (season 1, episode 6), the monument is – of course – the opening song, and DJ Dylan again quotes exactly this line, or rather, he quotes verbatim from Cash; The Autobiography from 1997;

Johnny said he wrote the line I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die because he was trying to think of the worst reason for killing another person. He added: “It did come to mind quite easily, though.” When Johnny Cash performed first at San Quentin, Merle Haggard was in the audience. And by “audience” I mean: jail.

“Wanted Man” would thus have been set up as a kind of prequel to “Folsom Prison Blues”, as the background of the hunted criminal who is eventually, in Cash’s song, caught and locked up. Which is a nice idea, and its execution is also fine – a line like The boss he tips his hat to me and I in turn tip mine is already as wonderful a Dylan-worthy line as the opening of this verse, which initially seems to be about a successful gambler.

In the second instance, however, apparently after Dylan has also written a second and a third stanza, he seems to want to lay the Folsom Prison connotation on even thicker, prickling in small print between the third and fourth lines that I was born to make this killing-alternative. Nice line, and the hint to “Folsom Prison Blues” is also successful, but: the plot is disrupted. Now it’s no longer a successful gambler at a gaming table in Reno, and furthermore the last line, But someone always recognises me before it’s time, does not fit anymore and should now be rewritten as well.

It is unknown, and somewhat puzzling, why Dylan did not do so. The greatest writer of our time should have no problem with that, and the rest of the manuscript demonstrates his “usual” extraordinary form today. He doesn’t seem to be short of time either; the handwriting is neat, he uses no abbreviations, no “&” instead of “and”, even the past participles are written with end-g (doing, working), and the manuscript gives four alternate verse lines… time enough, apparently.

No, it almost seems as if a lonesome whistle has suddenly blown away his blues.

To be continued. Next: Wanted Man part 3: Now, I admire Merle

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
• Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
• Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
• John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
• Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s lookin’ for the fuse
• Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
• Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s 2^nd Big Bang
• Time Out Of Mind: The Rising of an Old Master
• Crossing The Rubicon: Dylan’s latter-day classic

• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts III & IV)
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts V and VI
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts VII and VIII
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part IX & X)

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XI)

By Larry Fyffe

Private eye Auguste Dupin may stray off the trail a bit, but his ‘theory’ (that the Greek/Roman God Apollo moves Bob Dylan’s fingers across the keyboard) has merit.

Drawn from the following lines is evidence-in-writing that Apollo has the means to stab a number of the Christian Apostles, seven to be exact, who were thought killed by the blades of others.

Satan’s depicted as rising from Hades:

And a wheel came out of the abyss
Having seven fiery knives
(Gospel of St. Bartholomow)

Apollo goes out of his way to “correct” the above vision that the Apostle claims to see:

Peace will come
With tranquility and splendour on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
Between the King and Queen of Swords
(Bob Dylan: Changing Of The Guards)

The lines directly above reveal that Apollo snatches the Devil’s blades; that it is the Sun-God who drives Beelzebub (the pale Prince of Darkness and Death) out of the disciples who follow the many churches of Mary and Jesus.

Not only that, but the Mount Olympian expects no thanks in return.

Golden-haired Apollo’s just showing off the divine power that he inherits from Zeus, the God of Thunder, and Leto, the Titan queen of tranquility and splendour  ~ “the King and Queen of Swords”, pictured on Tarot cards.

That’s not to say that the lyre-playing Apollo isn’t quite upset that Christian-oriented “Dylanologists” claim that Jesus controls the fingers of musician/singer/songwriter.

Evidence clearly points in the other direction, however:

In the courtyard of the golden sun
You stand and fight, or you break and run
You went and lost your lovely head
For a drink of wine, and a crust of bread
(Bob Dylan: Narrow Way)

Of Apostle Judas Iscariot, the Holy Bible says:

And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple
And departed
And went and hanged himself
(Matthew 27:5)

If, dear reader, you’ve purchased an Untold “Secret Decoder Ring”, you know that this is simply not true.

Unloved Judas is Apollo victim number seven – stabbed to death in the House of the Rising Sun because he makes a martyr out of Jesus. Thereby Christ upstages the Sun-God when Jesus comes back to life (Apollo’s not human, and can’t do that ~ he’s immortal).

Revealed in the lines below is that Apollo disguises himself as Dr. Frank Lee; after a difficult seventeen-day struggle, the Sun-God, with the last of his seven crooked knives, manages to stab the Priest in the heart:

Well, up the stairs ran Frankie Lee
With a soulful bounding leap
And foaming at the mouth
Began his midnight creep
For sixteen nights and days he raved
But on the seventeenth, he burst
Into the arms of Judas Priest
Which is where he died of thirst
(Bob Dylan: Frankie Lee And Judas Priest)

Judas is scary a lot; bleeds all over the stage, then dies. Apollo, to make the show more dramatic, pretends to die.

He is his usual shining and smiling self after he’s administered a cup of cool, clear water by this sister Mona.

Apollo takes a bow.

The curtain falls.

Everybody applauds.

Except Judas.

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part XII)

Trouble, trouble, double trouble, here, there, and everywhere.

Citizens of the Roman Empire distance themselves from the Chief God who inhabits Mount Olympus.

Many Roman temple worshippers, the ‘bride’ of Zeus/Jove/Jupiter, turn their loyalty in the direction of Apollo (who bravely sided with the Trojans against the victorious Greeks) since the Sun-God stands up for the religion of the Roman Empire.

Apollo attempts to ward off the rising influence of Jehovah and Son Jesus therein:

They shaved her head
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo
(Bob Dlyan: Changing Of The Guards)

The Holy Bible portrays the religious conflict:

And when the people saw what Paul had done
They lifted up their voices, saying ...
"The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men"
And they called Barnabas "Jupiter"
And Paul, "Mercurius"
Because he was the chief speaker
(Acts 14:11,12)

Sun Apollo seeks to establish himslf as the “most High”; he goes on a stabbing spree, a religious crusade to mark the Christian Apostles with the sign of the Devil – with the ‘x’ sign of the Cross.

According to the biblical scholar/detective Auguste Dupin anyway.

The yellow-haired Apollo is determined to drive our Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies, from their bodies ~ enough of their devoting themselves to a dead person, and consuming His flesh and blood.

Some relatives of private eye Dupin seek permission to exhume or examine the relics of the bodies of James, John, Jude, Judas, Matthew, Peter and Bartholomew so they can search for any indication that these apostles were indeed stabbed by a crooked knife, the kind of steel weapon revealed wielded by Apollo in decoded song lyrics.

If they do find such evidence, a number of traditional biblical stories, and verses in the Bible itself will have to be revised.

It’s recorded that Jesus Himself shows that He has such marks on His body:

Then saith He to Thomas
"Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands
And reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side
And be not faithless, but believing"
(Gospel Of John 20: 27)

The singer/songwriter below deliberately entangles himself in the web of the mystery narrative.

Claims the immortal Sun-God stabbed him too:

Shadows are falling, and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I've still got the scars that the sun wouldn't heal
(Bob Dylan: Not Dark Yet)

According to many Gnostics, the truth may never be known, hidden as it is – a way beyond the visible Cosmos as we know it.

by Sandra Chatterley

With the arrival of ‘ The Philosophy of Modern Song ‘ it is an appropriate time to look at Dylan’s history of performing cover songs.  For the fact that the world’s greatest singer/songwriter (with an incomparable body of self-penned songs ) has performed so many cover songs throughout his career is quite remarkable.

Bob Dylan has released 39 studio albums and 10 of these albums are comprised of cover songs: Bob Dylan, Self Portrait, Dylan (A Fool Such As I), Down in the Groove, Good As I Been To You, World Gone Wrong, Christmas in the Heart, Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels, Triplicate. A considerable proportion of his back catalogue.

It is also important to note that some of his finest albums of his own songs have included cover songs including the wonderful ‘ Corina, Corina’ on the Freewheelin’ album and the riveting ‘ A Satisfied Mind’ on the Saved album.  The under-rated  ‘Knocked out Loaded’ album contained mostly co-written songs such as the peerless ‘Brownsville Girl’ but also a few cover songs such as the beautiful version of ‘Precious Memories’.

The marvelous  Basement Tapes Complete containing 6 discs includes a selection of delightful cover songs such as ‘Four Strong Winds’  and these covers enhance the quality of this historic record.

Then we have the lost Bromberg album from 1992 where he recorded nearly 30 cover songs and based on the evidence of the released songs, starting with the magnificent ‘Polly Vaughan’,  this could have been a great album. Surely, a strong contender for an official Bootleg Series release.

The Supper Club concerts from 1993 should also be included in the lost gems category because in addition to great performances of his own songs ( ‘Ring Them Bells’ and ‘ Has Anybody Seen My Love ‘ are personal favourites) he also performed a surprisingly high number of cover songs but not surprisingly performed them differently than the versions on his superb, then current, traditional cover songs albums. Who else would release a new album (Infidels) then perform on primetime tv and begin their performance with a never performed version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Don’t Start Me Talking’?

This significant body of studio cover songs is matched by his career-spanning live cover song performances. There is an incredible bootleg Genuine NET Covers 1988 -2000 collection released in 2001  which comprises 9 disc’s of cover songs which have titles such as ‘Contemporary Competition illustrating the type of songs contained within, for example the gorgeous ‘Lady Came from Baltimore’ and curiously  ‘Nowhere Man’.  Many of these live cover songs are spontaneous one off’s but a large number are regular additions to his setlist.

Some of his greatest tours have included these additions such as ‘ Baby Let Me Follow You Down’ in 1966, ‘Deportee’s’ in 1976 and ‘ We Just Disagree ‘ in 1981.  The magnificent 1986 tour with Tom Petty would not have scaled the heights it did without the terrific covers performed consistently including  ‘That Lucky Old Sun’ , ‘Across The Borderline’, ‘Unchain My Heart’ and, a jaw dropping ,  ‘ House of the Rising Sun ‘.  It is interesting to note that ‘That Lucky Old Sun’  was called up again for the great Sinatra-inspired Shadows in the Night album released in 2015.

Why does Dylan perform and record so many cover songs? The simple answer is because he can. This is what singers and musicians do. Another answer is that he may see himself as an artist keeping alive music traditions and demonstrating the relevance of such songs.

The Theme Time radio shows certainly demonstrated his love of songs in general together with his encyclopedic knowledge of music. It is worth mentioning that with both ‘Good As I Been To You’ and ‘Shadows in the Night’ he produced follow-up albums. This is important because this clearly proves how important these songs are to him and how intense his relationship with these songs has become. These are far from best-selling albums but that is not his primary focus, the most important consideration is the performance of these songs or as he explained ” uncovering them”.

This can be seen in the setlist of his current Rough and Rowdy Ways tour and his inclusion of ‘Melancholy Mood’ in the USA and ‘Old Black Magic’ in Europe. The fact that he produced five albums of Sinatra-inspired songs and lavished such love and care in interpreting these songs (arguably his finest vocals in 20 years) is testamony to this fact.

Bob Dylan has always done things his own way (” the audience find me”).  Some of his fans dislike his decisions with the music he releases such as the Sinitra inspired cover albums. On the other hand I love his voice and I believe he is a great singer.  I also believe he is a great interpreter of other’s songs. I feel that he saved the best album Triplicate for last.

Many of the songs he covers when performed by the original artist are ordinary, and such is his ability to transform a song that he makes the song come alive. The Mississippi Sheiks song ‘Blood in my Eye’ is one example where he turns a type of sea shanty into a powerful stand out song.

G E Smith tells a lovely story about his audition for the first NET band. He said that the main thing that Dylan needed to hear was that the band could perform ‘Pretty Peggy o’ , not ‘Shelter From The Storm’ or ‘Gates of Eden’ but an electrified ‘Pretty Peggy o’. This song, of course, became a great highlight of the NET.

https://youtu.be/G8RAICNZ3o0

As indicated above, Dylan often performs spontaneous, one-off covers to celebrate a fellow musician associated with the city or town he is performing in. I was most fortunate in being in the audience at several such performances; a lovely ‘One Irish Rover’ in which he was joined mid-performance by Van Morrison, a delicate ‘Something’ in Liverpool which brought the house down (it was reported that he went on the public  Beatles tour during his visit) and  ‘London Calling’ in London.  Sometimes a cover song will be chosen to signify an event,etc.

The 1987 Temples in Flames tour unveiled a splendid ‘ Go Down Moses  ( Let My People Go ) ‘ in Israel and finished with a tremendous, spontaneous performance of the same song as the last song of the tour in London. Most people will probably be surprised at just how many cover songs from a wide range of genres have been performed on a stage somewhere in the world throughout his musical history. I know I was when I browsed the brilliant Still On The Road website.

A couple of weeks ago I was applauding his performance at the London Palladium and trying my best to encourage an encore, other fans were leaving  and one fan said to me ” he does not do encores” ( despite the evidence that he performed encores at the begining of the USA tour).  A few nights later in Nottingham he performed an encore ‘I Cant’t Seem To Say Goodbye ‘ as a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis.

By Tony Attwood

We’ve already covered the covers of this song in the article in the “Beautiful obscurity” series where you’ll find recordings by Hard Nutz, the White Stripes, Robert Plant, Big Runga, Roger McGuinn with Calexico and Tom Jones.   So plenty there for you to listen to if you are a fan of the song.

But my task today is to ask, “could there be any more that are worthy of note?”   I’ve found three, although I think there probably are many more.

This live recording by Gallie digs out every grain of emotion in the song, without overdoing it.  I love the harmonies in the chorus.

And there is more – this by Jessica Rhaye and The Ramshackle Parade in which again every ounce of feeling within the song is explored without it ever being overplayed or pushed too far.

In fact I think that is the key point; there needs to be an element of retraint here. Lose that and you lose the song.

Just one more as we have had so many excellent versions already.  Jessica Rhaye and The Ramshackle Parade

And that really shows what this is all about – keeping an understanding of the piece while taking it somewhere else.   The melody is changed and the rhythm is unrelenting, and as a result I’m not totally sure about this version but I can see where it is going, and admire the way they have found something else to do, despite all the other versions.

by Jochen Markhorst

I           From Sacramento to Bangor, Maine

Wanted man in California, wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City, wanted man in Ohio
Wanted man in Mississippi, wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you might look tonight, you might see this wanted man

Dylan’s fascination with wanted men, with killers in particular, has been known since the early 60s, and is uncomfortable to this day. The 1975 ode to mafia assassin Joseph “Joey” Gallo is one of the low points in that respect, not to mention the propagandistic nonsense Dylan sings about John Wesley Hardin, the repulsive psychopath who murdered dozens of innocent people for the slightest reason (because they snored, for instance): “He was never known to hurt an honest man”, to quote just one blatant lie, and “But no charge held against him could they prove” (“John Wesley Harding”, 1967).

Whitewashings like “poetic freedom” or “irony” do not make it any less distasteful. Moreover, off-song utterances also give reason to think that Dylan has a peculiar blind spot for the inappropriateness of admiring unscrupulous butchers like Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin and Joe Gallo, and the anecdote told by scriptwriter Rudy Wurlitzer to Popmatters journalist Rodger Jacobs in 2009 is illustrative and rather worrying in this regard.

Wurlitzer, incidentally indeed a great-grandson of Rudolph Wurlitzer, the jukebox guy, attracted attention thanks to his script for the cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), the only film to feature James Taylor (in a leading role even, as “The Driver”, with a supporting role for Beach Boy Dennis Wilson as “The Mechanic”). The script impresses, is printed in its entirety in the April 1971 issue of Esquire, and is noticed by director Peckinpah. “Bloody” Sam then asks Wurlitzer to write the script for his next western, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, which apparently comes to Dylan’s attention.

“The script was already written when Bob came to see me in my apartment on the Lower East Side of New York. He said that he had always related to Billy the Kid as if he was some kind of reincarnation; it was clear that he was obsessed with the Billy the Kid myth.”

Wurlitzer, who at first naturally thinks Dylan is interested in providing the soundtrack, learns to his surprise that Dylan would like to play in the movie. One phone call to producer Gordon Carroll is enough (Carroll, of course, recognises the commercial value of a film poster with Dylan’s name on it), and Wurlitzer invents an insignificant supporting role (“Alias”) on the spot, and, still back home in New York, quickly writes a few extra scenes into the script.

The rest is history, but Wurlitzer’s outpouring about Dylan’s obsession with Billy The Kid remains somewhat underexposed – though it really is not that insignificant. It places yet another question mark over Dylan’s judgement or, perhaps more painfully, an irrevocable tick in the “rather naïve” box on the list of Dylan’s intellectual qualities.

An “obsession with the Billy The Kid myth” and a sense that he is “a kind of reincarnation” of the legendary outlaw suggests that Dylan is confusing romanticised biographies of the desperado with historiography. The dry, factual historiography is quite comprehensive and well-documented, and leaves little doubt about the nature of Henry McCarty alias William H. Bonney alias Billy The Kid; robbing shops from the age of 15, aggressive horse thief, quarrelsome gambler and (at least) eight-time murderer, who needlessly and with apparent pleasure also kills unarmed opponents – there really isn’t much admirable or romantic about the actual life story of Billy The Kid.

If Dylan feels any kinship at all, it almost certainly has to be with one of Billy’s many film incarnations. The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954, starring Scott Brady), for instance, or 1958’s The Left Handed Gun, with Paul Newman. And songs like Woody Guthrie’s version of “Billy The Kid”, and otherwise that of Marty Robbins (on one of Dylan’s favourite albums, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, 1959), will only have confirmed him in Billy’s heroic, ill-fated image;

I rode down the border and robbed in Juarez
I drank to the maidens, the happiest of days
My picture is posted from Texas to Maine
And women and riding and robbing's my game

… subject matter, myth-making and word choice that all lead him to the song he pulls out of his stetson in few minutes for Johnny Cash in 1969: “Wanted Man”.

The song is not overly ambitious; in fact, no more than a list song over a ten-a-penny chord progression (the time-honoured Johnny Cash favourite, C-D-G-F-C repeating chord sequence), with an equally unspectacular melody. The trigger for the song doesn’t seem too mysterious either: San Quentin. The song is first tried, and presumably written, on 18 February 1969. Six days later, 24 February, Cash is expected in California, at San Quentin State Prison, for the legendary prison concert.

In fact, Dylan’s inspiration seems to have been fed far more extensively by Cash’s touring schedule than this single, legendary concert at San Quentin. A glance at the Man in Black’s tour history does ignite more than one aha-experience:

• 24 February – 12 March ’69 – California
  12 October ’69 – Buffalo
  17 March ’68 – Kansas City
  27-28 August’69  – Ohio
  1 December ’69 – Mississippi
  14 September ’68 – Colorado
  13 August ’70 – Georgia
  13 September ’68 – El Paso
  21-21 October ’69 – Shreveport
  12-13 September ’69 – Abilene
  15-18 September ’69 – Albuquerque
  14 November ’69 – Syracuse

… remarkably many of the place names Dylan lists in “Wanted Man” can be found in Cash’s tour schedule. Twelve out of 16 – that’s a bit too many to be coincidental. The US has over 19 thousand towns and cities, with Cash performing in 36 of them in 1969, so the chance of Dylan incorporating twelve of them in his song is microscopically small. Thirteen even, if you cheat a bit;

Then I went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene
Wonderin’ why the hell I’m wanted at some town halfway between

Exactly halfway between Shreveport and Abilene lies Dallas – where Cash performs on 29 November 1969. Incidentally: still here in Nashville, probably at that same little table, Dylan writes “Champaign, Illinois” as well, for the guitarist on duty during this same session, for Carl Perkins – Cash plays 4 October 1969 in Champaign, Illinois.

All in all, it begins to look very much like Cash’s calendar indeed is on the little table at which Dylan quickly writes his song for his friend. Although Take 1, on The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 1967-1969: Travelin’ Thru (2019) suggests that the song has not literally been completely “written” at that point; Cash has only a basic idea of the lyrics and is just guessing at the place names. “Hibbing” he shouts, for example, gleefully cheeky, and “Duluth”. Apparently, he does not yet have a written-out full version of the lyrics. Which are, by the way, very different from the final, official lyrics anyway:

Wanted man in Indiana, wanted man in Ohio
Wanted man in Texarkana, wanted man in Mexico
Wanted man in Sacramento, wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you may look tonight, you may see this wanted man

… with Dylan himself in turn also hopelessly jumbling the lyrics, when repeating this opening couplet – which then turns out to be intended as a chorus:

Wanted man in Sacramento, wanted man in Tennessee
Wanted man in Oklahoma, wanted man in… ehmm… 
                                 [“Muskogee?” Cash guesses] 
Wanted man in Indiana, wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you might look tonight, you may see this wanted man

And in the continuation Dylan, clearly à l’improviste, calls out place names like Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Missouri, and an audibly amused Cash does not lag behind. “Bangor, Maine”, “Seattle”, “Jackson”, “Bristol”, “Kingston”, “Norfolk”… again all place names where he has either performed recently or will perform soon. Yes, by now the conclusion seems inescapable: during this semi-improvised Take 1, both men are peeking at the same tour schedule, at Johnny Cash’s 1968-69 tour schedule. “Gate City”, which Cash playfully calls out at the end, is an unsightly little town in Virginia (about two thousand inhabitants) where the Man In Black won’t play until August 1971, so that’s not the trigger; that would be his wife June, also present in the studio – she is from there.

Anyway: in six days, in a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation State Prison for Men, Cash will premiere the final version of “Wanted Man”.

To be continued. Next: Wanted Man part 2: I shot a man in Reno

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
• Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
• Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
• John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
• Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s lookin’ for the fuse
• Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
• Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s 2^nd Big Bang
• Time Out Of Mind: The Rising of an Old Master
• Crossing The Rubicon: Dylan’s latter-day classic

• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts III & IV)
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts V and VI
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts VII and VIII

By Larry Fyffe

The God of Thunder is not happy that the New Testament asserts that Roman/Greek mythology will be undermined by the religion of Christianity; that the temples to him and his son Apollo will crumble:

But the many that art first shall be last
And the last shall be first
(Matthew 19: 30)

In the song lyrics below, song and danceman Apollo takes the Christian Almighty, and his son Jesus, to task:

And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling who
That it's naming
For the loser now
Will be later to win
(Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changing)

The rumour that Christianity is eventually going to win the war, and history come to an end, is not at all pleasing to Apollo’s ears:

And ye shall hear of wars
And rumours of war
See that ye be not troubled
For all these things must come to pass
But the end is not yet
(Matthew 24:6)

The Sun-God is not worried; he’s immortal, and always rises again.

He, like mortal Friedrich Nietschez, answers back:

There's been rumours of war
And wars that have been
The meaning of life
Has been lost in the wind
And some people thinking
That the end is close by
'Stead of learning to live
They are learning to die
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down underground
(Bob Dylan: Let Me Die In My Footsteps)

The last apostle mentioned in detective Dupin’s notebooks to be stabbed to death by Apollo is Saint Matthew.

According to these notes, the Sun-God is especially upset at Matthew ~

As a tax collector, the Apostle works for the Roman authorities, but Apollo considers him a traitor for being a follower of what he labels the “soft-hearted” Christian Messiah rather than a devotee of himself, and his father, the God of Thunder.

Tradition has it that Matthew is killed by a sword on the orders of a lusty King of Ethiopia; Matthew tells the monarch to keep his royal hands off a Nun.

Not so, documents Dupin ~ the Sun-God tracks down Matthew, and stabs the apostle while he’s soaking in the bathtub.

No matter, the Nun pours poison in the King’s ear, and supposedly grieves her protector’s death to the point that she takes on the Apostle’s name.

So recorded in the following song lyrics:

She stoops down to gather partly shattered men
And knows that when it's over, it will start again
Both the times she smiled, it was the portrait of the sun
She calls herself "St. Matthew" when she is on the run
(The Monkees: St. Matthew ~ Nesmith)

The Monkees: St. Matthew ~ Nesmith

https://youtu.be/sIPALVOLPKI

Apparently, unlike his dad, yellow-haired, blue-eyed Apollo doesn’t have to disguise himself as anything – not in so far as the Nun on the run is concerned anyway.

Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch (Part X)

The Sun-God Apollo claims that Saint Matthew is possessed by Beelzebub, the Lord of Death.

The Apostle writes that Jesus hides things in plain sight in order that only innocent babes can see them.

His Father is going to sacrifice, like a lamb, His only begotten son so sinners can save themselves from Hell if they only open up their eyes:

At that time Jesus answered, and said

"I thank thee, O Father
Lord of heaven and earth
Because Thou has hid these things
From the wise and the prudent
And hast revealed them unto babes"
(Matthew 11:25)

The son of the Thunder God turns the religion of Christianity on its head, and mocks the Messiah’s disciple for being such a blind devotee to the ‘soft’ teachings of Christ when the dark material world has gone so wrong.

Where Satan is winning all the battles:

Saved. 
By the blood of the Lamb
Saved. 
Saved.
And I'm so glad
Yes, I'm so glad. 
I'm so glad
So glad. 
I want to thank You, Lord
I just want to thank You, Lord
Thank You, Lord
(Bob Dylan: Saved)

On the artwork of a recording by singer/songwriter/musician Bob Dylan, the number 1125 is missing from licence plate of a smouldering Cadillac – so Patrick Roefflaer informs us; replaced by the 666 number of the AntiChrist

The gaffetti work of Apollo, asserts Edgar Allan Poe’s private eye Auguste Dupin. The detective says he dicovered the peeled-off licence numbers in a cave high up on Mount Olympus. He’s sure that Apollo stabbed, or convinced others to stab, a number of the Apostles to death so as to mark them off as Satan worshippers.

However, a Royal Commission, established by Athena’s Court, concludes that Apollo was the lone knife-wielder.

Nevertheless, the Sun God of Music pleads that he is as innocent as a new-born baby.

Seems quite an irrational god when all is said and done. Took the side of the Trojans because Hera, not being his real mother, sided with the Greeks  ~  so claims investigator Dupin anyway.

By Tony Attwood

Now I have to admit that I’d hardly given a thought to this song over the years until Jochen came along with his four-part review of the piece which ended with a range of cover versions.  At the top of that article there are links to the earlier parts of the series, so you pick up on the whole review from that point to get the full background.

And of course Jochen picked out the best of the covers including Julie Doiron, whose voice and the notion of her singing it with herself but without any harmonies is really spooky, it really seems to bring across the whole notion of being “really weird” or put it another way, spaced out.

But for me Jochen’s biggest and best find (in the sense that I had never come across the recording before, or if I have I have forgotten it) was Ben Sidran.   Jochen noted, “American jazz phenomenon Ben Sidran delivers an attractive, neurotic cover on his wonderful tribute project Dylan Different (2009) – the performance on Dylan Different Live In Paris At the New Morning (2010) is a degree more neurotic and two degrees more attractive.”

But I would also include Pat Guadagno and Tired Horses as being worthy of a listen.  It has a relaxed approach to the piece which after all these years of knowing it I rather like.

For me indeed it is the old question of, does this cover add anything to a song that I know forwards, backwards and inside out?  And yes this version does.  Most particularly the band don’t just play the instrumental break as a way of using up time – they add an extra insight – or at least an extra thought.

It’s not a profound thought, but it still made me smile.

And I will finally give a mention to The Deversons doing something different, early on in the history of the song – this was released in February 1966.   The instrumental break is a disappointment but the sung verses gave me a smile.

But then I’ve always had a weird sense of humour.

The Deverons were from Winnipeg and featured Burton Cummings who left to join The Guess Who in 1965 – they then recorded Undun which was said to have evolved after Cummings heard Ballad in Plain D.  It’s an interesting thought and indeed an interesting piece and I shall divert for a moment to offer it in case you are interested.

But that is not my theme today, so here is their “On the road again”

I think it is possible to go further with this song, and my first inclination would be to slow it right down.   Ah, if only I was still in a band, I’d have a go at that.   “Tony Attwood and the Septegenarians do Dylan Different” – there’s a snappy title for the album.

The Dylan Cover a Day series

1. The song with numbers in the title.
2. Ain’t Talkin
3. All I really want to do
4.  Angelina
5.  Apple Suckling and Are you Ready.
6. As I went out one morning
7.  Ballad for a Friend
8. Ballad in Plain D
9. Ballad of a thin man
10.  Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
11. The ballad of Hollis Brown
12. Beyond here lies nothing
13. Blind Willie McTell
14.  Black Crow Blues (more fun than you might recall)
15. An unexpected cover of “Black Diamond Bay”
16. Blowin in the wind as never before
17. Bob Dylan’s Dream
18. You will not believe this… 115th Dream revisited
19. Boots of Spanish leather
20. Born in Time
21. Buckets of Rain
22. Can you please crawl out your window
23. Can’t wait
24. Changing of the Guard
25. Chimes of Freedom
26. Country Pie
27.  Crash on the Levee
28. Dark Eyes
29. Dear Landlord
30. Desolation Row as never ever before (twice)
31. Dignity.
32. Dirge
33. Don’t fall apart on me tonight.
34. Don’t think twice
35.  Down along the cove
36. Drifter’s Escape
37. Duquesne Whistle
38. Farewell Angelina
39. Foot of Pride and Forever Young
40. Fourth Time Around
41. From a Buick 6
42. Gates of Eden
43. Gotta Serve Somebody
44. Hard Rain’s a-gonna Fall.
45. Heart of Mine
46. High Water
47. Highway 61
48. Hurricane
49. I am a lonesome hobo
50. I believe in you
51. I contain multitudes
52. I don’t believe you.
53. I love you too much
54. I pity the poor immigrant. 
55. I shall be released
56. I threw it all away
57. I want you
58. I was young when I left home
59. I’ll remember you
60. Idiot Wind and  More idiot wind
61. If not for you, and a rant against prosody
62. If you Gotta Go, please go and do something different
63. If you see her say hello
64. Dylan cover a day: I’ll be your baby tonight
65. I’m not there.
66. In the Summertime, Is your love and an amazing Isis
67. It ain’t me babe
68. It takes a lot to laugh
69. It’s all over now Baby Blue
70. It’s all right ma
71. Just Like a Woman
72. Knocking on Heaven’s Door
73. Lay down your weary tune
74. Lay Lady Lay
75. Lenny Bruce
76. That brand new leopard skin pill box hat
77. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
78. License to kill
79. Like a Rolling Stone
80. Love is just a four letter word
81. Love Sick
82. Maggies Farm!
83. Make you feel my love; a performance that made me cry.
84. Mama you’ve been on my mind
85. Man in a long black coat.
86. Masters of War
87. Meet me in the morning
88. Million Miles. Listen, and marvel.
89. Mississippi. Listen, and marvel (again)
90. Most likely you go your way
91. Most of the time and a rhythmic thing
92. Motorpsycho Nitemare
93. Mozambique
94. Mr Tambourine Man
95. My back pages, with a real treat at the end
96. New Morning
97. New Pony. Listen where and when appropriate
98. Nobody Cept You
99. North Country Blues
100. No time to think
101. Obviously Five Believers
102. A Dylan Cover a Day: Oh Sister

• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts III & IV)
• Bob Dylan Pawns his Watch Parts V and VI

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part VII)

by Larry Fyffe

Detective Dupin’s notebook indicates that he investigates Apollo the Sun-God  as a possible suspect in the murder of Saint Peter.

The detective points out that the God of Thunder pushes aside Jehovah and presents an image of his own son instead to brothers John and James, and to Peter:

It’s a contest of wills, and Zeus (Jove) replaces their vision of Jesus with one of Apollo:

And was transfigured before them
And his face did shine as the sun
And his raiment was white as the light
(Matthew 17: 2)

Then speaks Zeus:

And behold, a voice out of the cloud
Which said, "This is my beloved Son
In whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him"
(Matthew 17:5 )

The notes go on to explain how Peter, like John and James, do not listen:

And when they lifted up their eyes
They saw no man, save Jesus only
(Matthew 17:8)

Proclaims Apostle Peter:

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge
 Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
To Him be glory both now and forever. 
Amen
(Il Peter 3:18)

It’s no more Mr. Nice Guy ~ the musical blue-eyed son of the God of Thunder decides to settle the matter once and for all with six fiery knives (or maybe it’s seven) conjectures Dupin:

Others can be good
I'll cut you up with a crooked knife
(Bob Dylan: Crossing The Rubicon)

https://youtu.be/dw2Hau2WQjs

Tradition has it that Saint Peter is stretched upside down on a cross in Rome by  Emperor Nero ~ Dupin speculates that the Apostle, while upside down, is slashed by a crooked knife:

But when thou shalt be old
Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands
And another shall gird thee
And carry thee whither though wouldest not
(Gospel Of John 21:18)

Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part VIII)

Our Unold experts have uncovered Dupin’s “conspiracy theory” which proposes that the Olympian gods, having overthrown the harsh Titans, are now determined to put matters in balance by taking their domain back from the ‘too soft’ Judeo-Christian religion.

As goes the theory, targeted by the singing Sun-God Apollo are the Twelve Apostles. Unlike the pitiless Titans, Apollo allows his victims to be brought back to life ~ the stabbings simply a warning that the Olympian gods are not to be underestimated.

Half-hidden messages to that effect are posted in plain sight all over the place.

In the song lyrics below:

I'm gonna make you play the piano like Leon Russell
Like Liberace,  like St. John the Apostle

And again:

You can bring it to St. Peter
You can bring it to St. Jerome
You can bring it all the way over
Bring it all the way home
(Bob Dylan: My Own Version of You)

Detective Dupin, created by writer Edgar Allan Poe, traces the stabbing deaths, of apostles John (questionable), James, Bartholomew, and Peter back to the Sun-God who’s from Mount Ida.

Apollo’s next victim, claims the detective, is Apostle Jude.

Tradition claims he’s  killed by an axe in Roman Syria; however, Dupin claims he has proof that the Sun-God finds an accomplice in a Turkish city that Jesus Christ admonishes:

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee
Because though sufferest that Jezebel
Which calleth herself a prophetess
To teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication
And to eat things sacrificed unto idols
(Revelation 2:20)

Apollo convinces this latter-day Jezebel to stab the Apostle with one of the crooked knives that he gives her.

The stabbing recorded quite explicitly in the following song lyrics:

Hey, Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you began to make it better
(Beatles: Hey Jude ~ Lennon/McCartney)

Means that the Son of the Thunder God has one, maybe two, knives left.

Begs the question ~ Of the remaining Apostles, whom does he let off the hook, and why.

The story gets interesting about now.

(After a short pause for a message from our sponsors, the story will continue).

Marchin’ To The City (1997) part 4 (final)

by Jochen Markhorst

• Marchin’ To The City part I:   The last verses might be better
• Marchin’ To The City part 2: Loneliness is just a waste of time
• Marchin’ To The City part 3: You’ll be sorry when I’m dead

IV         I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself

 The second version, the up-tempo and smoother version of “Marchin’ To The City”, distinguishes itself, apart from the changed key (from E♭ to the guitar-friendlier E) and the different arrangement, mainly by the radical text intervention. The chorus is maintained, but the verses are cut back considerably. Of the seven, only four remain; two and a half old ones, supplemented by one and a half new ones. The only one to emerge unscathed from the battle is the most beautiful verse, the one that Dylan evidently finds hard to say goodbye to and which is even promoted to the opening verse:

Loneliness got a mind of its own
The more people around, the more you feel alone
I've been chained to the earth like a silent slave
I’m trying to break free out of death's dark cave

… which was originally the third verse. The first two are ruthlessly deleted, though this one will not survive either in the end. The theme of “‘Til I Fell In Love With You” is “smaller”, more intimate love despair – perhaps the poet finds the “larger”, existential desolation of this loneliness couplet ultimately too dramatic.

From version #1, the gay Paree/follow the river lines are saved for “Not Dark Yet”, the first line of that former fifth verse is allowed into this second verse:

I was hoping to my soul that we'd never part
You took all the madness right out of my heart
I was hoping we could drink from Life's clear streams
I was hoping we could dream from Life's pleasant dreams

So for the time being, William Blake’s words from “You Don’t Believe” may remain, now introduced by a much more intimate confession of love. Poetically not really an improvement, by the way. The rhyming of we’d never part with broken heart, or with gave you my heart, or with other variants, we’ve known for a hundred years from inspirational quotes, the back of matchboxes and sentimental lyrics like “Hello Mary-Lou” and “Wayward Wind” and “Hurt”.

Nothing wrong with that of course, but here, in this revised version of “Marchin’ To The City”, it is an impoverishment. At most, the “I Walk The Line”-like motif of you took all the madness right out of my heart, of the revelation that love has changed the personality of the protagonist, is a merit, opening the gate to the theme of the forthcoming “’Til I Fell In Love With You”.

Which does not extend to the third verse, however. This third stanza seems to consist of rather haphazard cutting and pasting from #1;

My house is burnin' up to the skies
I thought it would rain but the clouds passed by
Sorrow and pity through the earth and the skies
I'm not looking for nothing in anyone's eyes

… which in turn is merrily cut up, and pasted into “’Til I Fell In Love With You” (lines 1 and 2), “Not Dark Yet” (line 4), and consigned to the wastebasket (line 3). This verse ultimately has little more than a bridging function, all in all; it fills a minute to the main verse of #2, the most important part, the closing couplet.

Wind is blowin' all troubles and dirt
Time to get away 'fore someone gets hurt
I just don't know what I'm a-gonna do
I was all right ’til I fell in love with you

Not so much important because of the rather generic opening lines, obviously. Skilful and provided with a pinch of appropriate melancholy, but the clichéd rhyme dirt/hurt is undoubtedly too easy in Dylan’s ears as well. It’s been used in thousands of songs, from Loretta Lynn to Marty Robbins, from Tom Waits to Mick Jagger and from Motörhead to Public Enemy… and Dylan himself has chosen this easy way out plenty of times too (“Do Right To Me Baby”, “Don’t Ever Take Yourself Away”, “Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie”). No, for this #2 Dylan does dash off these lines in a wink, including the trite rhyme, but after the recording they are discharged into the shredder just as easily.

The music-historical eternal value is, of course, in the closing lines. Again, presumably, a sample of the conclusion of Dylan’s songwriting class to Mike Campbell; the “twenty verses” you write while you’re out there in The Zone, hoping that “the last ones might be better than all the stuff you had.” Dylan, in this case, is not only merely content with these last lines; they even inspire a complete song – that’s how much better than “all the stuff he had” these new lines are, apparently.

It is a change of course. Where the song initially seemed to be going in an almost metaphysical, transcending misery direction, these last two lines suddenly take a turn towards universally recognisable, “small” heartbreak, small heartbreak at which that new line in verse 2 already hinted (“You took all the madness right out of my heart”). And once again, after the “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” echo in #1, Burt Bacharach seems a signpost. At least, the opening of the change of direction, “I just don’t know what I’m a-gonna do”, has the colour, tone and even word choice of the immortal “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself”;

I just don't know what to do with myself
Don't know just what to do with myself
I'm so used to doing everything with you
Planning everything for two
And now that we're through

… the song we all know of course in Dusty Springfield’s unsurpassed 1964 version, but which, as we only discovered in the 1980s, was recorded much earlier by Chuck Jackson in 1962 (over the original track by Tommy Hunt) – with a similarly magical, thoroughly melancholic beauty as Dusty’s masterpiece.

Although the magic, to be honest, actually shines through in each and every version. Marcia Hines, Isaac Hayes, White Stripes, Dionne Warwick… Elvis Costello has had the song in his repertoire since 1977, when he still was an angry young man and therefore initially misunderstood, as he explains:

“It was a measure of how backwards things were in 1977 that some people actually thought I was making a joke when The Attractions and I began performing “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself”. I was not being ironic. I was being extremely literal.”
(in his autobiography Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, 2015).

Costello has performed the song at least 50 times during his career, was even allowed to perform it with Bacharach himself on piano in 1998, and still performs the evergreen in 2020, when he has already become a Grand Old Man himself;

Anyway, “Marchin’ To The City”. Bacharach or not, Dylan is in The Zone and, via I just don’t know what I’m a-gonna do, eventually arrives at the key that will unlock an entire song; I was all right ’til I fell in love with you is the last line of the final version of the preliminary study of “’Til I Fell In Love With You”.

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
• Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
• Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
• John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
• Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s lookin’ for the fuse
• Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
• Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s 2^nd Big Bang

By Aaron Galbraith and Tony Attwood

Aaron: This song is usually known by its longer title “Jim Jones at Botany Bay”. It is a traditional Australian folk ballad dating from the early 19th-century.

One of the earliest recordings is by Marian Henderson from 1964

Tony: That two note counter melody from the flute but it is incredibly effective and when it suddenly turns into a short solo wow that is good.  Brilliant arrangement, and good work from the flautist Don Burrows.  In fact the who group of musicians are, I think, classical musicians.

To me, this is exactly what should happen if one is resurrecting traditional folk songs – and indeed the fact that it as an Australian folk song is something that should be noted because this is an Australian ensemble recreating and expanding the song with such care and feeling.

Aaron: Gary Shearston  recorded his version on his debut album Folk Songs And Ballads Of Australia.

Tony: This is another Australian version (and this focus on Australia is rather a coincidence given that my youngest daughter and granddaughter, live in Australia but are currently in England, and indeed are visiting me this evening – a great treat for me).  It’s a more straightforward rendering of the song, which of course would have originally been sung unaccompanied.

Gary Shearston was quite an interesting fellow, who was very much at the forefront of seeking out traditional Australian folk music and bringing it to a much wider audience than ever before.   He actually had a hit in the UK with “I get a kick out of you” in 1974.

Botany Bay is famous of course as being the site of James Cook’s first landing in Australia in 1770.  (Six days later most of the fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour).   Cook called it Stingray Harbour (for reasons I don’t need to explain) but changed the name after the naturalist on the expedition (Joseph Banks) pointed out just how many new varieties of life he was noting.  (Sydney Harbour is the largest natural harbour in the world, and one of the few places I ever proclaim as one that “you really ought to visit” to anyone who is silly enough to be listening to me at the time).

Aaron: Dylan’s version appears on Good As I Been To You.

Tony: I’d love to know how much of this is a re-invention of the song by Bob and how much is taken from a recording by someone else.

The lyrics of the song change from singer to singer, as is of course common with songs this old, each choosing a different moment in the history of the song on which to base their version.  There’s another version of the song yet to come but I’d like to drop in the lyrics Bob has used.

Come and listen for a moment, lads
And hear me tell my tale
How across the sea from England
I was condemned to sail
Now the jury found me guilty
Then says the judge, says he
"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you
Across the stormy sea
But take a trip before you ship
To join the iron gang
Don't get too gay in Botany Bay
Or else you'll surely hang
Or else you'll surely hang", says he
"And after that Jim Jones
It's high above on the gallows tree
The crows will pick your bones"

And our ship was high upon the sea
When pirates came along
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong
For they opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away
But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship
Than gone to Botany Bay
With the storms ragin' round us
And the winds a-blowin' gale
I'd rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales
There's no time for mischief there they say
Remember that, says they
Or they'll flog the poaching out of you
Down there in Botany Bay

Now it's day and night and the irons clang
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves
And it's by and by I'll slip my chains
Well, into the bush I'll go
And I'll join the bravest rankers there
Jack Donohue and co
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I'll shoot those tyrants one and all
I'll gun the floggers down
Oh, I'll give the land a little shock
Remember what I say
And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay

Jack Donohue is an interesting reference: he was another deportee who was part of a gang called The Strippers, who were very well known in NSW in the early 19th century – and it is said, often supported by the servants of rich landowners in the state.

The gang was caught and sentenced to death in 1828 but Donohue repeatedly escaped capture – and became famous as one of the Wild Colonial Boys gang.  £20 reward (later increased to £200) was offered from his capture and the notices in 1829 announced him as being 22 years old and five feet four inches tall.

The gang were effectively highwaymen – and their reputation was enhanced by the notion that they only stole from the rich and gave some of their income to the poor.  An Australian Robin Hood in fact – although in this case a real person.

He was finally killed in a gun battle on 30 September 1830.

Aaron: More recently the song was sung live by Jennifer Jason Leigh in the Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight

Tony: Aaron has sent me a further video which doesn’t work in the UK – I’ll include it below but I can’t comment on it as I can’t see it .   Aaron – do you want to add a note as to what it is?

Tony: Aaron, thanks very much for this one.  Having no connection at all with Australia until my youngest daughter moved there, I’ve gradually been learning more about the country through regular visits (until covid put a stop to that) to see my daughter and her new family.  This is one more bit of knowledge about the country and its history to add.  I’m slowly getting the hang of the place.

Previously in this series…

1. Other people’s songs. How Dylan covers the work of other composers
2. Other People’s songs: Bob and others perform “Froggie went a courtin”
3. Other people’s songs: They killed him
4. Other people’s songs: Frankie & Albert
5. Other people’s songs: Tomorrow Night where the music is always everything
6. Other people’s songs: from Stack a Lee to Stagger Lee and Hugh Laurie
7. Other people’s songs: Love Henry
8. Other people’s songs: Rank Stranger To Me
9. Other people’s songs: Man of Constant Sorrow
10. Other people’s songs: Satisfied Mind
11. Other people’s songs: See that my grave is kept clean
12. Other people’s songs: Precious moments and some extras
13. Other people’s songs: You go to my head
14. Other people’s songs: What’ll I do?
15. Other people’s songs: Copper Kettle
16. Other people’s songs: Belle Isle
17. Other people’s songs: Fixing to Die
18. Other people’s songs: When did you leave heaven?
19. Other people’s songs: Sally Sue Brown
20. Other people’s songs: Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
21. Other people’s songs: Step it up and Go
22. Other people’s songs: Canadee-I-O
23. Other people’s songs: Arthur McBride
24. Other people’s songs: Little Sadie
25. Other people’s songs: Blue Moon, and North London Forever
26. Other people’s songs: Hard times come again no more
27. Other people’s songs: You’re no good
28. Other people’s songs: Lone Pilgrim (and more Crooked Still)
29. Other people’s songs: Blood in my eyes
30. Other people’s songs: I forgot more than you’ll ever know
31. Other people’s songs: Let’s stick (or maybe work) together.

• Never Ending Tour 2009 part 1 Contending forces: Courting Disaster
• NET 2009 part 2: contending forces: through the tears and the laughter
• NET 2009 part 3 The blood of the land in my voice: Together Through Life
• NET 2009 Part 4 – foundations: the raw and the real

The Index to all 100 previous episodes of this series can be found here.

By Mike Johnson (Kiwipoet)

There's a moment when all old things
become new again
but that moment might have been here and gone

For Bob Dylan, no song has a fixed or final form. He grasped that if you try to make your live performance sound like your studio recording, you’ll end up imitating yourself*. We hear that over and over again with singers who want to sound just as they did when their songs became famous. Dylan escaped that trap, despite his audience’s nostalgia or attachment to the ‘originals.’ In this post I want to look at how, in 2009, Dylan renovated his older setlist.

But first, to a couple of rarities.

‘Billy,’ from the soundtrack to Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrat And Billy The Kid had never been performed live until the 22^nd of March, 2009, when he performed the song for the first and only time at Stockholm. You can hear some of the audience gasp in surprise when they recognise the song. He had no need to make changes to this song; doing it in his cracked and aged voice is enough of an innovation.

It’s a powerful song about the doomed flight of the outlaw, and resonates with Dylan’s 21^st Century fascination with sex and murder. Maybe that’s why he chose to revive it.

There’s eyes behind the mirrors in empty places
Bullet holes and scars between the spaces
There’s always one more notch and ten more paces
Billy, and you’re walkin’ all alone

Billy

‘Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking’ is an old tub-thumper from Dylan’s gospel period, last played in 1980, reappearing here in 2009 with a brand new set of lyrics, and would be played regularly through to 2011. ‘I’m gonna revitalize my thinking’ Dylan sings in this new version which is haunted by betrayal and death.

I'll tell you something,
Things you never had you'll never miss.
I'll tell you something,
Things you never had you'll never miss.
I'll tell you something else, a great man will kill you with a sword,
A coward with a kiss.

It’s an upbeat blues, driven here by a resounding organ and a triumphant vocal.

Gonna change my way of thinking

‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ had been performed eighty-eight times since 1976, and was last performed in 2009. In 1976, during the Rolling Thunder tour, he came up with a much starker set of lyrics, lyrics which put a different complexion on the song:

If you’re makin love to her
Watch it from the rear
You never know when I’ll be back
Or liable to appear

In this version, however, he returns to the original, but with some telling changes, not as vindictive as the 1976 version, but not as tender as the album version:

And although our separation
Cuts me to the bone
Gotta find somebody to take her place
I don’t like to be alone.

If you see her, say hello

(I don’t have the date for that one on hand, sorry.)

‘The Man in Me,’ off New Morning, is not a total rarity, having been played about a hundred times during the NET, and would disappear in the great purge of 2011/12. Lyrically, I think it’s one of Dylan’s weaker songs, but it can be heard as a love song, and this performance, (Boston, 15^th Nov) is notable for its harp break, Donnie Herron’s gentle trumpet, and Dylan’s recent tendency to break into falsetto. We’ve had the upsinging, which has now largely disappeared or been integrated in Dylan’s vocal style, we’ve had the growl and bark which are still with us in 2009, and now we get the falsetto moments which will become a feature through to 2012. This mannerism tends to give the songs a hysterical edge; it sounds funny in a manic kind of way.

The man in me

‘Man in the Long Black Coat,’ another tale of seduction and murder (you can see it that way), had its peak performance years in the mid 1990’s (if you like the slow, spooky version), and would be last played in 2013. Here, Dylan does what he would shortly do with ‘Blind Willie McTell’ and put a swing to it. This changes the atmosphere of the song completely, creating a dissonance between the happy dance of the music with the darkest of dark tales. It’s not the last time Dylan would use such a dissonance.

(Amsterdam, 11^th April)

Man in the long black coat

The mystical Chimes of Freedom is a song Dylan has struggled to make new again. It’s too vast and ambitious for easy renovations, and simply dropping out verses and putting in some circus, rinky-dink organ doesn’t do much for the song. It seems to be one of those songs that belongs firmly to his early, acoustic phase, and is difficult to transplant. Dylan gives it fair go here, but I have to say that if I want to get the full poetic grandeur of the song, and the vision behind it, I will return to the 1964 album version.

Here is one of the verses he doesn’t sing in 2009, a fine example of Dylan’s early lyrical power:

Through the wild cathedral evening, the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an’ blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanour outlaw, chased an’ cheated by pursuit
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

The disrobed faceless forms of no position? Jeez Bob, where did you get a line like that? And how could you miss it out?

Chimes of Freedom (London 15^th April)

‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ from the same era as ‘Chimes,’ Had its glory days in the 1990s, and whenever I think of the song I think of the soaring Prague performance of 1995 (see 1995, part 1: The Prague Revelation and other astonishments), but since then Dylan has experimented and struggled with this classic song, not always successfully. By 2009 he has dropped his baroque arrangements and turned the song into a mid-tempo foot-tapper. Despite missing a final harp break, it’s a more successful adaption than we’ve seen, and the circus barker is in fine voice (Boston, 15^th Nov). He’s playing the guitar on this one.

It’s all over now Baby Blue

With ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’ we are on more familiar ground when it comes to innovation, at least in terms of the lyric; musically, its retained its original tub-thumping heart. There is huge range of variations in the lyric, it would take a book to unravel them, and he never sings it with the same words twice, it seems. Here, however, he strips it back to a few mostly familiar lines. (Amsterdam, 12^th April)

Serve Somebody

The lyrics of a song like ‘The Ballad of Hollis Brown’ cannot be altered as it is a tightly constructed narrative with an obsessively linear drive. It doesn’t play fast and loose with time and place, like ‘Tangled up in Blue’ does, and so, like ‘John Brown’ and ‘Hattie Carroll’ the lyrics have to be firmly fixed in place. ‘Hollis Brown’ is rural blues, and here Dylan uses Donnie Herron’s banjo to give it that country flavour. Yet it remains that discomforting tale of rural poverty, murder and suicide. (Boston, 14^th Nov)

Hollis Brown

The Wicked Messenger has turned it into a pre-rock chugger, really just a shadow of what it once was, nothing like the blistering hard rock versions of 1999 – 2004 with their searing harp solos. (See NET, 2001, part 4.)

The song had been slipping from Dylan’s set lists in the past couple of years, and would not be performed again after 2009. This recording is not up to the standard I prefer, it has a bit too much echo for my taste, but it’s worth including even if just to say goodbye to this NET stalwart, a song which invites comparison with its sister song from John Wesley Harding, ‘All Along the Watchtower.’

Another rocker from the same album, ‘Drifter’s Escape’ finally made its escape from the NET in 2005. I’m not entirely sure of the date of this one, but I suspect it is its final performance in Dublin, 6^th May.

Wicked Messenger

‘Senor’ has grown somewhat quieter and more stately since the wild performances of 2003. This is a dark, brooding performance from Stockholm, with harp breaks that succeeds in being both gentle and piercing at the same time, much appreciated by the audience.

Senor (A)

The Rothbury performance ‘Senor’ is also worth checking out. The vocal is better recorded, and is possibly more passionate than Stockholm. The only drawback for me is that there are no harp breaks. The guitar breaks don’t do it for me.

Senor (B)

“It’s all Right Ma” is another song that’s been through many iterations in terms of musical arrangements, although the lyrics haven’t changed and Dylan tends not to drop verses despite the length of the song. For some years it became quite lumbering when put to the Sonny Boy Williamson riff from ‘Help Me,’ but in 2007 emerged as a fast-paced rocker, while its 2008 version with banjo has earned high praise from our editor, Tony Attwood. This performance from Amsterdam (11^th April) is in the same vein. I don’t think it’s quite as mean as the 2008 performance. It needs to be ominous and threatening. This one has a bit too much bounce for me, but hell, who’s complaining, it’s a magnificent performance.

It’s all right ma

Despite some variation in tone over the years, from the desperate to the beguiling, Lay Lady Lay has remained pretty much the same. The softer versions have tended to be more convincing. The circus barker has not quite regained his crooning voice yet, that will come, but the song never fails to transport us into that state of hopeless desire when we’ll say anything just to get between the sheets with a lover. (Chicago)

Lay Lady Lay

‘I’ll be your baby tonight’ comes from the same bag. ‘Kick your shoes off, do not fear…’ This Stockholm performance catches the light-hearted humour of it. A minimalist jazzy harp break with a background sound of a vamping organ, pretty tasteful all around.

 I’ll be your baby tonight

I’ll stay in Stockholm to finish this post with a beaty performance with another NET familiar, and another upbeat song, ‘Watching the River Flow.’ It’s hard to get around this tribute to indolence. I think maybe I can skip it this time, but I never can. It doesn’t have raging harp breaks as it did in 2005, and it’s been stripped back to its basic beat, but it seems like we always want to keep our rendezvous with that old midnight café.

Watching the river flow

I haven’t yet done with this multitudinous year and will be back soon with what I hope will be the finale. Until then

Kia Ora

* Editor’s footnote: If you wish to pursue this issue of Dylan’s re-writing of songs further you might enjoy the series

• Why does Dylan keep changing his songs Part 1: Constant touring and changing the band
• Why does Dylan keep changing his songs Part 2: Breaking the traditions
• Why does Dylan keep changing his songs Part 3: The options are available
• Why does Dylan keep changing his songs Part 4: Taking chances

• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Parts III & IV)

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part V)

by Larry Fyffe

According to detective Dupin, the Sun God Apollo uses one of his six crooked knives to get rid of Apostle James the Elder (Big Jim) because he, like his brother John, has been infected by the poisonous bites of Beelzebub; wants to be “the most High”.

Tricks Herold the Great into doing the deed:
And he killed James, the brother of John
With the sword
(Acts 12:1)

Declares Dupin, the ‘sword’ is encoded as a ‘penknife’ in the following song lyrics that the detective discovers while searching through Apollo’s drawers.

Seems Mother (Rose)Mary takes the blame:

Big Jim lay covered up killed by a penknife in the back ....
The only person missing on the scene was the Jack of Hearts
(Bob Dylan: Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts)

https://theminchmins.bandcamp.com/track/lily-rosemary-and-the-jack-of-hearts

Dupin further explains that JOH=Jehovah=Apollo.

So he deduces from the Holy Bible:

For the Lord God
Is a sun and shield
(Psalm 84:11)

Apollo keeps it all within the family.

So encoded by Jesus Himslf:

And James, the son of Zebedee
And John the brother of James
And he surnamed them "Boanerges"
Which is, "The Sons Of Thunder"
(Mark: 3:17)

Even Apollo does not escape the wrath of his father Zeus.

He runs off with Mary Magdalene. Jesus is able to rid her of seven devils, but (akin to Eve) not of Beelzebub himself, the Prince of Darkness:

Was that the thunder that I heard
My head is vibrating, I feel a sharp pain
Come sit by me, don't say a word
Can it be that I am slain
Quick Magdalena, take my gun
(Bob Dylan: Romance In Durango ~ Dylan/Levy)

Not to worry though – the show about “The Sons Of Thunder” must go on.

All of these archetypes come back to life in one form or another.

Bob Dylan Pawns His Watch (Part VI)

He unharnessed the bull, and took out Dupin.

Little doubt has Poe’s detective that blue-eyed, yellow-haired Apollo does away with Apostle Bartholomew too.

Largely based on biblical lore that claims the apostle’s skinned alive in India due to his religious imperialism.

And, according to Dupin’s papers, because the musical Apollo’s killing spree is encrypted in the song lyrics below:

Others can be tolerant
Others can be good
I'll cut you up with a crooked knife
(Bob Dylan: Crossing The Rubicon)

https://youtu.be/mO6hQYiCBmE

Furthermore, Dupin continues, Bartholomew, like self-confessed John, obviously has a  “Napoleon Complex”.

His body possessed by Beelzebub:
And I saw, and beheld a white horse
And he that sat on him had a bow
And a crown was given unto him
And he went forth conquering
And to conquer
(Revelation 6:2)

Just look at the likes of people that Bart hangs around with.

Little wonder that Dupin has suspicions:

Simon (whom they also named Peter)
And Andrew his brother
James and John, Philip
And Bartholomew
(Luke 6:14)

Another encoded warning in song lyrics ~ the mythological religion of the Romans, whose chief god is Jove, is under threat because its temples are being desecrated by the beliefs of ‘Christian pagans’.

Even in the New Babylon of America where now the Golden Bullion is worshipped:

Seen the arrow in the door post
Saying, "This land is condemned
All the way from from New Orleans to Jerusalem"
(Bob Dylan: Blind William McTell)

Apollo has to act fast, and fast he does act; gets his idea of murder from the verse below:

And the AntiChrist said, "I will tell  thee"
And a wheel of fire came up out of the abyss
Having seven fiery knives
(Gospel Of St. Bartholomew)

By Tony Attwood

This has never been one of my favourite Dylan songs – his performance (for me, and this is as ever a very personal reflection) is (in terms of the original Dylan release) too slow.   The viola and the harmonica clash, the percussion is too heavy, the instrumental verse after one vocal verse stops the song from progressing…   Of course none of that stops this being a song that millions love – it is just a personal reflection.   And for me only the middle 8 (We grew up together from the cradle to the grave…) saves it, (mysteriously in fact, as the lyric says) but then it is so short the relief hardly has a chance to settle in.

So it is with some trepidation that I steel myself to listen to a collection of cover versions.   And here there is relief.  If you have a moment, play Dylan’s own version first… and then go straight on to Lisa Wahladnt…

Lisa Wahlandt has rescued the song for me.  She sings it with the lightness I believe it needs, she has a stunningly beautiful voice, and the arranger knows exactly what she or he is doing.   Here the cello works to perfection, the middle 8 now sits simply in all its glory, and I can take in the emotions.

And just listen to what she does to the lyrics “from the cradle to the grave”.

If you would like to know a little more about this extraordinary performer she has a superb website.

Of course having started by saying that I find the Dylan version to be very hard going and then offered a performance of sublime and utter elegance, what else can be offered?

Actually nothing much – so you might want to stop reading here and just go back to playing the above version again, but if you insist on keeping on…

Andrew Bird and Nora O’Connor, in my view, get it half right, although my own view is that they could be with a totally different video, or maybe no video at all.

And listening to this version, it does seem to emphasize the feeling that this song presents a real problem in terms of accompaniment, although I don’t quite know why.  What is that strummed string instrument?  A banjo?  A strummed violin???   I am not at all sure, but whatever it is, I wish it wasn’t.  And I am not at all sure about the whistling either.  But take that out, and what one would have would be a lovely version of this piece.

So I am wondering if the arranger heard Bob’s version and thought, “ok we need some extraneous instrumental sounds in it,” without actually thinking, “Why do we need these extraneous instrumental sounds?”  After all, just because Bob and co did it, it doesn’t mean it’s right.

The introduction to Jimmy LaFave’s version brings hope that simplicity will be restored, and to a degree it is, but the sudden desire to emphasize individual guitar notes again surely comes from what the arranger of LaFave’s version hears on the Dylan original.  And sady Mr LaFave feels the need the throw in a few extra lorry loads of emotion, which I really don’t think are needed.  I don’t have a sister, but I did find out (earlier this year in fact) that I have a brother I never knew about.  We have now met once, and are about to meet for a second time.  So I think I know a little about having a brother, if not a sister.   And believe me this type of accompaniment has got nothing to do with the emotions that overwhelm me every time I think about my brother, just discovered, who through all my life I never knew existed).

But I digress.  Back with the music the accordionist then feels he/she needs a few twiddles…

Yes really there is something about this song that makes vocalists, arrangers and instrumentalists go over the top.  It is a simple, gentle song talking about powerful emotions.  What have twiddles got to do with it?

I’ve noted the work of VSQ a few times in the past and at least we know with them we won’t get any larking about with unexpected instruments.  Two violins, a viola and cello, that’s what you get.

The trouble is, the repetitive nature of this song doesn’t lend itself to the string quartet.  The lead violinist does a sterling job but we still get a feeling of chug-chug-chug which is not the slightest bit implied by the original or the lyrics.

And oh, the middle 8 is a disaster.  I had to stop the recording.

So, ten out of ten to Lisa Wahlandt, and minus several million out of ten to everyone else.  And after that I needed to clear my mind.

Now you might well not agree with me at all, in which case I’m amazed you’ve got this far, but as you are here, and in case you need lifting as I have feel I need lifting, having listened to these versions of what is beneath it all a beautiful song, here is a bit of fun, but with the same problem of an over-enthusiastic arranger.

What you find below is a fun song, but just listen to the instrumentation of the chorus (“Take it easy, take it light…”)   It is the same problem.  “OK guys we need something else in the chorus – how about a few thumps?”

But maybe it’s just me turning into a grumpy old man.  Maybe my adrenalin level is above the danger mark because I’m about to meet my brother for a second time.   If that is the case, take no notice.  Tonight I’m going to London to watch my football team tonight, a bit of shouting and cheering ought to sort me out.  (As long as my team win).

The Dylan Cover a Day series

1. The song with numbers in the title.
2. Ain’t Talkin
3. All I really want to do
4.  Angelina
5.  Apple Suckling and Are you Ready.
6. As I went out one morning
7.  Ballad for a Friend
8. Ballad in Plain D
9. Ballad of a thin man
10.  Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
11. The ballad of Hollis Brown
12. Beyond here lies nothing
13. Blind Willie McTell
14.  Black Crow Blues (more fun than you might recall)
15. An unexpected cover of “Black Diamond Bay”
16. Blowin in the wind as never before
17. Bob Dylan’s Dream
18. You will not believe this… 115th Dream revisited
19. Boots of Spanish leather
20. Born in Time
21. Buckets of Rain
22. Can you please crawl out your window
23. Can’t wait
24. Changing of the Guard
25. Chimes of Freedom
26. Country Pie
27.  Crash on the Levee
28. Dark Eyes
29. Dear Landlord
30. Desolation Row as never ever before (twice)
31. Dignity.
32. Dirge
33. Don’t fall apart on me tonight.
34. Don’t think twice
35.  Down along the cove
36. Drifter’s Escape
37. Duquesne Whistle
38. Farewell Angelina
39. Foot of Pride and Forever Young
40. Fourth Time Around
41. From a Buick 6
42. Gates of Eden
43. Gotta Serve Somebody
44. Hard Rain’s a-gonna Fall.
45. Heart of Mine
46. High Water
47. Highway 61
48. Hurricane
49. I am a lonesome hobo
50. I believe in you
51. I contain multitudes
52. I don’t believe you.
53. I love you too much
54. I pity the poor immigrant. 
55. I shall be released
56. I threw it all away
57. I want you
58. I was young when I left home
59. I’ll remember you
60. Idiot Wind and  More idiot wind
61. If not for you, and a rant against prosody
62. If you Gotta Go, please go and do something different
63. If you see her say hello
64. Dylan cover a day: I’ll be your baby tonight
65. I’m not there.
66. In the Summertime, Is your love and an amazing Isis
67. It ain’t me babe
68. It takes a lot to laugh
69. It’s all over now Baby Blue
70. It’s all right ma
71. Just Like a Woman
72. Knocking on Heaven’s Door
73. Lay down your weary tune
74. Lay Lady Lay
75. Lenny Bruce
76. That brand new leopard skin pill box hat
77. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
78. License to kill
79. Like a Rolling Stone
80. Love is just a four letter word
81. Love Sick
82. Maggies Farm!
83. Make you feel my love; a performance that made me cry.
84. Mama you’ve been on my mind
85. Man in a long black coat.
86. Masters of War
87. Meet me in the morning
88. Million Miles. Listen, and marvel.
89. Mississippi. Listen, and marvel (again)
90. Most likely you go your way
91. Most of the time and a rhythmic thing
92. Motorpsycho Nitemare
93. Mozambique
94. Mr Tambourine Man
95. My back pages, with a real treat at the end
96. New Morning
97. New Pony. Listen where and when appropriate
98. Nobody Cept You
99. North Country Blues
100. No time to think
101. Obviously Five Believers

• Marchin’ To The City: I     The last verses might be better
• Marchin’ To The City (1997) part 2: Loneliness is just a waste of time

Marchin’ To The City (1997) part 3

by Jochen Markhorst

III         You’ll be sorry when I’m dead

 Most films and stories in which a ghost roams the earth have such a scene. Sometimes romcom-like, as in Just Like Heaven (2005) and Ghost Town (2008), sometimes even corny (Topper, with Cary Grant, 1937), but mostly melancholic to just plain sad: the spirit wanders unseen over the stopping places of his life, stares lonely at playing children, sadly observes smiling people at outdoor cafes and his shadowy presence is noticed at most by a passing dog. Who, to the incomprehension of his owner, starts growling at an emptiness.

His sojourn in The Zone brings Dylan’s meandering creative mind a protagonist in death’s cave, chained to earth, so that is the direction where “Marchin’ To The City” now flows:

Boys in the street beginning to play
Girls like birds flying away
I'm carrying the roses that were given to me
And I'm thinking about paradise, wondering what it might be

… cinematic, indeed. First the wide-shot of a street scene where life goes on as usual, then the camera pans the protagonist with the loaded image of roses in his hand. Which reminds the Dylan fan of “Love Minus Zero”, of course (people carry roses, and make promises by the hour – where it also illustrates something like “life goes on”), but here the ghostly narrator insinuates that he has just attended his own funeral and taken some flowers from it. All the while musing about the next stop, “paradise”.

The latter does not survive. The image of the boys playing and the girls running has a lasting quality, is eventually taken to “‘Til I Fell In Love With You”. No such luck for the roses and paradise. Perhaps too sweet, too cute – both are discarded. The tenor is maintained, though; they are replaced by “When I’m gone you will remember my name” from verse 7.

In the end, the same net result as verse 5 will have, coincidentally;

Go over to London, maybe gay Paree
Follow the river, you get to the sea
I was hoping we could drink from Life's clear streams
I was hoping we could dream Life's pleasant dreams

… the first two lines are so good that they are reserved for the highlight “Not Dark Yet”, the lines after that survive up to and including “Marchin’ To The City #2”, and are discarded then. Beautiful lines, euphonious and beautifully poetically balanced with a not-too-bad imagery, lovingly stolen from William Blake’s famous “You Don’t Believe” from 1808;

You don't believe -- I won't attempt to make ye:
You are asleep -- I won't attempt to wake ye.
Sleep on! sleep on! while in your pleasant dreams
Of reason you may drink of Life's clear streams

… but nevertheless rejected by Dylan. Perhaps for stylistic reasons; they are the only lines of the whole song with a “we” perspective – although confusingly fiddling with personal pronouns is exactly what the poet Dylan usually integrates (cultivates, even) without any problem. In terms of content, there seems nothing wrong with it, nor with the subtext, with Blake’s conclusion That is the very thing that Jesus meant, / When He said `Only believe! believe and try! / Try, try, and never mind the reason why! – a message that must be close to Dylan’s heart.

Anyway, Blake is deleted again, but still inspires Dylan to an aphoristic interlude, to a sixth verse that opens with:

Well the weak get weaker and the strong stay strong
The train keeps rolling all night long
She looked at me with an irresistible glance
With a smile that could make all the planets dance

Ironically, the weakest verse of the song under construction, and it is rejected immediately, even before the #2. Understandable; the “aphorism” is a rather gratuitous variant on a worn-out cliché, the rolling train is admittedly dylanesque, but not much more than filler in which, with some good will, one might see a link to “life goes on” or something like that, and the closing lines, with the dancing planets are just awkward. Undylanesque anyway, though again lovingly stolen, as Larry Fyffe from Canada has found, from none other than Lord Byron;

'Bride of the Sun! and Sister of the Moon!'
('T was thus he spake) 'and Empress of the Earth!
Whose frown would put the spheres all out of tune,
Whose smile makes all the planets dance with mirth
(Don Juan, Canto V)

… but in this constellation still lousy poetry, like Dylan once reportedly said about Joan Baez’ writings.

It does not derail the train. The last stanza, the seventh, is clearly only a sketch, but it does give the persistent poet in The Zone words and images that will make it to the gallery of honour, to Time Out Of Mind:

My house is on fire, burning to the skies
I thought the rain clouds but the clouds passed by
When I'm gone you'll remember my name
I'm gonna win my way to wealth and fame

Okay, that second line comes out a bit clumsy. Corrected in #2 to, of course, I thought it would rain but the clouds passed by, as it will eventually appear in “’Til I Fell In Love With You”. And, although every word of this verse is deemed good enough for Time Out Of Mind, this combination of verse lines is not to the master’s liking – nor its position in the lyrics; it is just not a final couplet.

The first rudimentary steps to a ghost story in the third verse, the death’s dark cave couplet, leads the flow to When I’m gone, but otherwise, it’s not very coherent. The mother of “Marchin’ To The City”, the gospel “Wade In The Water”, pushes the associations with metaphors like My house is on fire, burning to the skies to religious connotations. “My soul is lost, I’m going to hell”, something like that. But is still quite underdeveloped – the words will find a better place in “’Til I Fell In Love With You”.

And it is suddenly no longer a melancholic spirit. “Just wait, soon I’ll be rich and famous and you’ll be sorry”… this is beginning to sound more like the childish, vindictive bleating of the aggrieved protagonist of The Police’s “Can’t Stand Losing You” (1978):

I guess this is our last goodbye
And you don't care, so I won't cry
But you'll be sorry when I'm dead
And all this guilt will be on your head

No, this is going the wrong way. Dylan puts the last two sentences aside. They don’t appear in #2. The burning house and the overhanging rain clouds are allowed to remain, but the wealth and fame are exchanged for the misery and regret from the first verse:

My house is burnin' up to the skies
I thought it would rain but the clouds passed by
Sorrow and pity through the earth and the skies
I'm not looking for nothing in anyone's eyes

… better, indeed. But still not good enough for “’Til I Fell In Love With You”.

 ————–

To be continued. Next up Marchin’ To The City part 4:

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
• Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
• Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
• John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
• Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s lookin’ for the fuse
• Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
• Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s 2^nd Big Bang