Maggie's Farm

It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry. Dylan's great song performed by Jerry Garcia, 1985:

Where are you tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat) 1978. The remarkable lyrics are on the video.

Just found out Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour has finished its 100-piece series.

It can be found on line, though, and in reruns on Sirius. It's enjoyable, with a great selection of old tunes.

Every Grain of Sand (1981)

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

Here's Emmylou Harris singing it:

The horny, raunchy but appreciative Going to Acapulco, from the 1967 practice Basement Tapes with The Band (which were never meant to be publicly heard). Lyrics here, but he doesn't always stick to the lyrics - Dylan often invents new ones as he sings.

All profits from this record will go to charity. While I understand Dylan's respect for Christmas - and for the Great American Songbook in general, I'm not sure about this (h/t, Right Wing Bob, who has posted a bit about this record):

"Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing."

Chimes of Freedom, 1964. Lyrics here.

It's a heck of a line-up, but, still, Bob does it best alone. For you youngsters, this song was Bob's Goodbye to "causes," and his Hello to the heart and soul. McGuinn's guitar dominates.

"I could be unravelin'
Wherever I'm travelin'
even to foreign shores..."

From 1985's under-appreciated album Empire Burlesque. Tune here (embedding is disabled).

Shelter from the Storm lyrics here. It begins:

'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured
I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Not a word was spoke between us, there was little risk involved
Everything up to that point had been left unresolved.
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Here's a good version from the 1976 Rolling Thunder tour:

Dylan questioned by cops in NJ. Yes, the Jersey shore. Police said they had a report of "a stranger wandering around and looking into a vacant house in a rainstorm." Yup, that would be Bob. The mystery tramp.

Note that he did not say "Don't you know who I am?"

This is 1966 in England:

The Dylanologist and I used to joke about the notion of a Bob Dylan Christmas album.

But what's up with this?

Related, Dylan reciting The Night Before Christmas on his Theme Time Radio Show.

This is 1974. It sounds like a studio rehearsal tape. No video.

I am referring to CT's Sen. Chris Dodd.

Here's Dylan with the relevant (wonderful) song, Duncan and Brady. Too bad he messes up the verses, but who can keep 1000 lyrics in his head?

"I got the pork chops, she got the pie,
She ain't no angel and neither am I."

Some bonus Bob for thunderstorm season. Sorry, but it's not embeddable: Thunder on the Mountain.

With The Band, 1976:

"They're selling postcards of the hanging..." The recorded version of Desolation Row from Highway 61 Revisited, with good photos:

A soulful traditional song (lyrics here).

Not embeddable, but a good tune about desire for a prostitute. Fun video too. 1993. 

Newport, 1965

Oh, help me in my weakness
I heard the drifter say
As they carried him from the courtroom
And were taking him away
"My trip hasn't been a pleasant one
And my time it isn't long
And I still do not know
What it was that I've done wrong.

Well, the judge he cast his robe aside
A tear came to his eye
"You failed to understand", he said
"Why must you even try ?"
Outside the crowd was stirring
You could hear it from the door
Inside the judge was stepping down
While the jury cried for more.

"Oh, stop that cursed jury"
Cried the attendant and the nurse
"The trial was bad enough
But this is ten times worse"
Just then a bolt of lightning
Struck the courthouse out of shape
And while ev'rybody knelt to pray
The drifter did escape.

Best version I've heard of the song, except for maybe the one Bob and Jerry did together. This from the mid-90s, no video.

I don't think we posted this already, but maybe we did. This interview was with MTV producer Bill Flanagan in anticipation of the release of Dylan's Together Through Life in April.

Bob is a smart man and always interesting, especially when discussing music.

Parts 1-3 together here.

Part 4 here.

Part 5 here.

Once small excerpt:

BF: Have you ever tried to fit in?

BD: Well, no, not really. I'm coming out of the folk music tradition and that's the vernacular and archetypal aesthetic that I've experienced. Those are the dynamics of it. I couldn't have written songs for the Brill Building if I tried. Whatever passes for pop music, I couldn't do it then and I can't do it now.

BF: Does that mean you create outsider art? Do you think of yourself as a cult figure?

BD: A cult figure, that's got religious connotations. It sounds cliquish and clannish. People have different emotional levels. Especially when you're young. Back then I guess most of my influences could be thought of as eccentric. Mass media had no overwhelming reach so I was drawn to the traveling performers passing through. The side show performers - bluegrass singers, the black cowboy with chaps and a lariat doing rope tricks. Miss Europe, Quasimodo, the Bearded Lady, the half-man half-woman, the deformed and the bent, Atlas the Dwarf, the fire-eaters, the teachers and preachers, the blues singers. I remember it like it was yesterday. I got close to some of these people. I learned about dignity from them. Freedom too. Civil rights, human rights. How to stay within yourself. Most others were into the rides like the tilt-a-whirl and the rollercoaster. To me that was the nightmare. All the giddiness. The artificiality of it. The sledge hammer of life. It didn't make sense or seem real. The stuff off the main road was where force of reality was. At least it struck me that way. When I left home those feelings didn't change.

BF: But you've sold over a hundred million records.

BD: Yeah I know. It's a mystery to me too.

High Water (for Charlie Patton)

MSG, NYC, 1992

Bob and Willie: Pancho and Lefty, at Nelson's 60th Birthday Party