A place to talk about Bob Dylan.

The Dylan topic.

You know that Dylan line: 'Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.'" Well, Paula Jones lawyers are quoting that. And the Republicans like to play "The Times they are a changin'" every time they win an election. Funny how the right has co-opted this. Apparently, Paula Jones has described a certain piece of Clinton anatomy in excruciating detail. And he may have to take a doctors test to see if her description matches.

And in a more serious note. Bob Dylan is doing a series of nightclub dates across America in December, and five shows with Van Morrison in New York City in January. For the first time, a small number of tickets for each show will be available via mail order. Information is available at http://bobdylan.com/live/ You'll find the full set of confirmed dates, and detailed instructions on how to order.

Wow! Cannot imagine Dylan and Morrison together- what an increbible idea. Has anyone heard Morrison's take on "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"? It was recorded in his Them days (Bang, I think?), and is really tremendous- Caledonian soul at it's finest. Dylan used to boast that he "killed tin pan alley" (of course, as we all now know, it merely moved to Nashville)- but, when you consider it, he's done a fair impression in it's stead... Top Ten Dylan Songs Made Hits By Other Artists (and, in the case of Cher, at least, this term is used loosely): 1. Blowin' in the Wind (Peter, Paul, and Mary) 2. It Ain't Me, Babe (the Turtles) 3. Quinn, the Eskimo (who in the hell did this song?- can't remember) 4. Mr. Tambourine Man (the Byrds) 5. All I Really Want to Do (Cher) 6. Forever Young (Rod Stewart) 7. Don't Think Twice (Peter, Paul, and Mary) 8. All Along the Watchtower (Jimi) 9. I Shall Be Released (the Band) 10.My Back Pages (the Byrds) There are others, of course- no cover though probably as fine as Jimi's- with respect to the Band (whom I really love), the Byrds, Rod Stewart. Even Dylan has said Jimi's version of "Watchtower" was superior to his own, and Dylan actually altered the way he performed the song himself, to conform better to Jimi's vision of it...

That Jimi Hendrix Watchtower rendition *is* awesome! Such moving, exciting music.

Anyone seen the magnificent D.A. Pennebaker film "Don't Look Back"? Released in 1967, it's a documentary of Dylan's '65 tour of England, and it is mesmerizing, beginning to end. Along with Scorcese's "The Last Waltz", the best rock and roll film made, probably...

Quinn the Eskimo was done by Manfred Mann and by Bruce Springsteen.. Manfred Mann made the pop charts... Karl

Hmmmm. Manfred Mann's Earth Band... I couldn't remember that 2 minutes ago... *grin* Karl

Thanks- should have remembered that. Mann also covered a couple of Springsteen tunes, most notably, of course, "Blinded by the Light", and several more Dylan tunes. Are you certain, though, that Bruce covered "Quinn"? I have each of his records, and I don't remember that one...

I was thinking about this on the way home tonight and I was mistaken. Somehow I got the Springsteen cover confused in my mind with Quinn. I can't remember who else did Quinn but I do think somebody else did and it was at least a moderate hit...

Got this off the net a few minutes ago- typically Dylan-esque exchange from an interview at Music Central: Q: You've been hailed one of this century's greatest songwriters, yet you tend to accept the praise reluctantly. Why? Dylan: I don't consider myself a songwriter in the sense of Townes Van Zandt, or Randy Newman. I'm not Paul Simon. I can't do that. My songs come out of folk music and early rock and roll. And that's it, no more. That's the foundation. I'm not a classical lyricist. I'm not a meticulous lyricist. I don't write melodies that are clever, or catchy. It's all very traditionally documented... Not meaning to be disrespectful to the three artists Dylan mentioned (and I do like each of them), this is sort of like W.H. Auden saying, "No, I don't consider myself a real poet. Not in the sense of Rod McKuen, anyway." Simply amazing... If you want to read the rest, it's at this url: http://musiccentral.msn.com/weeklyfeatures/article/875/1

Low self esteem?

Typical Dylan weirdness, I guess- sort of the nature of many great artists, and iconoclastic thinkers in general, though (i.e., Marx, "I am not a Marxist", that kind of thing- when the iconoclast becomes the icon, perhaps his nature somehow compels him to trivialize himself, or at least that aspect of himself which caused him to become an icon. Then again, Dylan's always been pretty weird, hasn't he?).

Any tour skeds available? Will he be in Austin?

Nothing listed at his sight yet, beyond what you reported earlier...

Just saw the most incredible thing, ending ABC's In Concert- Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, several others, too, jamming to Dylan's "My Back Pages"...Really sounded great, and Dylan sounded better than I've heard him in a long while...

Sounds terrific. This show was on last night?

Yeah, last night Dylan and Neil Young were featured...Didn't catch what the occasion was, though I believe I heard someone say it took place within last few days...

Bob Dylan is one of the worst singers I have ever heard. It therefore speaks volumes about the quality of his words and music that I listen to them every chance I get (which isn't often in Jamaica).

Bob Dylan reminds me of Peter Tosh. Neither of them sings well, both of them sing exactly what comes to their mind without trying to make it more lyrical or artistic, and both are (sorry, Peter was; he's dead) great musicians.

sigh... i know what you're saying, but don't think that stuff about dylan singing "badly" is accurate... first, the voice you know as his is an affectation... it is a sound he purposely conveys, to give power, honesty to the lyric... if you've ever heard "lay, lady, lay" (in which he sings more in the traditional sense) you know that he can carry a tune, within the pre-dylan definition of the term... and second, dylan's voice cuts me... can think of a very few artists possessing the emotive vocal ability of dylan... he really moves me, not just with the lyrics, but with the sound touching them... also, it is my impression, too, that he is a perfunctory musician... often seems that the arrangement of the sound, too, is not a big priority to him... "lyric" and "art" are pretty much what he's about...

I'm sorry, but I have only one Dylan album, and the first song on it is "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, where his singing is atrocious. His best singing on that album is in "Blowin' In The Wind" (and the singing on that one wasn't that good!) BTW, that album, with a copyright of '65 or thereabout, has a rap piece in it called "Subterranean Homesick Blues"!

perhaps it's a matter of expectation (and personal tastes, of course)... it is a mistake to approach dylan as one might tony bennet, however... it was never his goal merely to please, or to entertain...

As I've said, I still listen to him (though his singing makes it a bit difficult!) I'm not a Tony Bennett fan, more of a Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Marley fan. And as I said, I also like Peter Tosh, who is no great singer, although you can hear every word he says quite clearly. But Dylan, like Marley & Tosh, sang about his time and his situation, which, sadly enough, hasn't changed, because it's also our time and our situation! S&G weren't so far out of it either!

I keep talking about Peter Tosh in the present tense. I don't know why; the man's been dead for about ten years! BTW PLEASE do not confuse Peter Tosh (former Wailer) with Peter Tork (former Monkee). Apart from the first name, they have NOTHING in common!

They both never had two arms and two legs? Wow...

you know, if i'm not mistaken, davy jones actually jammed with the wailers for awhile... so, that'd be another connection (you know, beyond the arms/legs thing)...

The Wailers actually jammed with something as insipid as Davy Jones? Then again, I prefer the Monkees' version of "Day Dream Believer" to Anne Murray's (I used to think that I liked only one Anne Murray song; then I foud out that it was not Anne Murray but Michael Jackson who sang "One Day In Your Life"!)

BEN!

actually, i was teasing you re: davy jones (you're getting harder to piss off, sam)... Yeah, i agree that the monkee's version is "superior" (though do hate using that word in any monkees-context)... and don't you agree that, music aside (even), anne murray is more of a man than michael jackson? she may even have fathered as many children...

uhhhh... WILLARD(?)

Michael Jackson peaked at Thriller and has been downhill ever since. Anne Murray and Michael Bolton should do a duet together, then it would be obvious to me what the worst single in the world is.

my god, that's a bone-chilling thought...

Dylan is touring with Van Morrison right now and they're getting great reviews and jamming together some. A recent Van Morrison playlist from a live gig where he did a number with Dylan (see note): 1/21/98, MSG: Burning Ground Fire In The Belly It Once Was My Live Foreign Window Raincheck Who Can I Turn To? Summertime in England Love in the Afternoon Vanlose Stairway This Weight Domino Blue Suede Shoes (w/Dylan) Sometimes We Cry Cleaning Windows Northern Muse(Solid Ground) See Me Through/Soldier of Fortune/Thank you falettin, etc. It's A Man's World

christ, that sounds great...

Bob Dylan Lyrics Search engine at http://bobdylan.com/search/ Type in a word and see what happens.

Check out http://www.bobdylan.com, it's done by a wellbeing and it's *great*; really good stuff for Dylan fans.

Million Miles You took a part of me that I really miss I keep asking myself how long it can go on like this You told yourself a lie That alright mama, I told myself one too Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you You took the silver you took the gold You left me standing out in the cold People ask about you I didnt tell them everything I knew Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you Im drifting in and out of dreamless sleep Throwing out my memories in a ditch so deep Been so many things I never did intend to do Well Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you I need your love so bad turn your lamp down low I need every bit of it for the places that I go Sometimes I wonder just what its all coming too Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you I don't dare close my eyes and I don't dare wink Maybe in the next life Ill be able to hear myself think Feel like talking to somebody but I just dont know who Well Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you Yes, the last thing you said before you hit the street Gonna find me a janitor to sweep me off my feet I said thats alright mama you do what you gotta do Well Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you Rock me pretty baby rock me all at once Rock me for a little while rock for a couple of months And Ill rock you too Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you Well theres voices in the night trying to be heard Im sitting here listening to every mind polluting word I know plenty of people who would put me up for day or two Yes, Im trying to get closer but Im still a million miles from you

Dylan and Paul Simon are playing in Austin Sept 13, I may call to see what tickets are going for today. At the Irwin Center, our biggest venue.

Tickets for Dylan and Paul Simon go on sale at 10 am today. Call 512-471-7744 to order. I wonder what they'll for? Here's the set they did July 23. Set list for Friday night, July 23. Paul Simon came out first. Nice, slick, polyrhythmic production. Songs range from the recent Cape Man broadway play, on back. Bridge over Troubled Waters [unknown: "I can't run but I can walk much faster than this?"] The Boy in the Bubble [unknown: "ooh ahh ooh ahh do what you want?"] Trailways Bus Mrs. Robinson [nice bo diddley guitar lick inserted here!] Me and Julio Further to Fly Graceland Cool Cool River ? [I believe in the future I will live in my car?] Slip Sliding Away Diamonds in the soles of his shoes Call Me Al ENCORES: [forget the name... "it was late in the evening ... first thing I remember....] Still Crazy after all these years INTRODUCES DYLAN. Together: Sounds of Silence I Walk the Line Blue Moon of Kentucky Knocking on Heaven's Door Intermission DYLAN (pure rock and roll--damn, did he enjoy himself jamming with the guys; voice, almost indecipherable): Hand of the Lord [old country gospel?] Mr. Tambourine Man Desolation Row Don't Think Twice, It's All Right Tangled Up In Blues All Along the Watchtower Lay Lady Lay Memphis Blues Again [unknown: It's not dark yet, but it's getting there] Highway 61 ENCORE: Rolling Stone Blowing in the Wind

Gosh, that sounds SOOOO cool! With all this counter-culture business the sixties just seems so exotic. I wish I could just see ONE of those artists perform live.

You will baby ree. They'll come to your world sometime. Or you'll come to ours.

That's true. I'll just have to be patient and hope they don't all die off before I get to see them.

Bo Diddley's still alive and busy. Bo is the man who put the ROCK in Rock 'n' Roll... Makes ya wonder who got things to roll? OK, Bo wasn't counterculture, hes was just the guy who created the music all sixties rock acts started off from. EVERYBODY covered BO: The Who, The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, and especially Iggy Pop, who's first single with his band The Iguanas in 1964 was a Diddley-cover. Bo rules! Riette, if you want to see what the Stones and the early Who, etc., were about, listen to the Diddley-Daddy himself! Bob Dylan used to tour Europe until at least mid-Eighties. The Stones do it on every tour, but I wouldn't really bother... I saw Joan Baez in the Eighties. For more on Bob Dylan, how he went from folk to rock and what it all meant then, see "Invisible Republic : Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes" by Greil Marcus (publ. 1997).

For the first 21st century post I would like to tell you of my experience at a Bob Dylan concert. I was warned that he was pretty unpredictable in quality. So along with many graying older folks in old tie dyed t shirts (that were not really a good fit anymore) bearing concert dates some 40 years out of date, I joined them for my first rock concert. The warm up band and singer was great and unknown to me but I loved it and was happy to go deaf hearing him. Then came Elvis Costello. I am not a fan of his and now I know why. Others enjoyed him. Then came Dylan. I generally listen very carefully and this time was no different. But try as I might I could not discern any tune and the words were garbled. There was not a single thing I recognized though upon reading the review of the night I found he sang all the favorites. Each band memeber seemed to be playing to his own beat and in his own key, quite unlike the ones his mates were using. Dylan was loud enough but completely flat and unintelligble. I was so disappointed. he took my money under false pretences. He did not even try.

I had a very similar experience at a Dylan concert in San Antonio about a year ago. Unspectacular.