Bob Dylan All the Songs
Page 56
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
Dylan refers to an Italian poet of the thirteenth century, probably Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, and not Petrarch or Boccaccio, who were born in the fourteenth century.
Simple Twist Of Fate
Bob Dylan / 4:18
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Tony Brown: bass
Recording Studio
A&R Recording (Studio A), New York: September 19, 1974
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Dylan
Sound Engineers: Phil Ramone and Glenn Berger
Genesis and Lyrics
“They walked along by the old canal”; “And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burnin’ bright”; “A saxophone someplace far off played”: in a few words, just like a thriller novelist or a Russian playwright, Bob Dylan creates a heavy, oppressive atmosphere and a feeling of tension and anxiety. “Simple Twist of Fate” is about an encounter, an ephemeral liaison in an hotel, between a client and a prostitute. Is this embrace of a few hours real, or is it a dream or the narrator’s imagination? In the third and fourth verse, Dylan sings, “He woke up, the room was bare / He didn’t see her anywhere.”
Dylan introduced “Simple Twist of Fate” to the Japanese public during his concert at Budokan Hall in Tokyo in 1978 as, “Here’s a simple love story, happened to me.” The song, first called “4th Street Affair,” could describe his own experience. Indeed, when he arrived in New York in the early 1960s, he rented a small apartment on that very street. According to Clinton Heylin, this song evokes his past relationship with Suze Rotolo (he tried to see her at that time). Dylan, however, again spreads confusion, as he did so well with “Tangled Up in Blue,” by alternating the pronouns “I” and “he.”66 The teachings of Norman Raeben allowed Dylan to shift perspective from actor to narrator and form the basis for new masterpieces.
Production
After the Minneapolis sound, “Simple Twist of Fate” gives a New York sound. The relatively long reverberation wrapping Dylan’s vocal and guitar is striking. According to Phil Ramone, it was the effect of the famous Seventh Avenue studio, a reverb due to the vast room’s location on the ground floor of the building. “I was coming out of my overecho days—or maybe I was just coming back to them, I don’t know!”109 This choice allows Dylan to enhance the emotion of his performance. The chords employed are unusual in his work, and Tony Brown’s excellent bass line is reminiscent of Charlie McCoy on “John Wesley Harding.” The song is a success. After five takes recorded on September 16, three other attempts were made on September 19. The third was used for the album. To date, Dylan has performed “Simple Twist of Fate” live more than six hundred times. The first live performance was in Burlington, Vermont, on November 8, 1975.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
The parrot that talks in “Simple Twist of Fate” certainly refers to the parrot in Anton Chekhov’s novel The Shooting Party (1884).
You’re A Big Girl Now
Bob Dylan / 4:35
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Kevin Odegaard: guitar
Chris Weber: guitar
Gregg Inhofer: piano
Billy Berg: drums
Recording Studio
Sound 80, Minneapolis: December 27, 1974
Technical Team
Producer: David Zimmerman
Sound Engineer: Paul Martinson
Genesis and Lyrics
“You’re a Big Girl Now” is another song about a sentimental breakup. The narrator does not accept the departure of his beloved, a departure that gradually drives him out of his mind. Although it is difficult not to draw a parallel between the text and Dylan’s personal turmoil at the time—his separation from Sara—the songwriter denied this, saying, “I read that this was supposed to be about my wife. I wish somebody would ask me first before they go ahead and print stuff like that. I mean it couldn’t be about anybody else but my wife, right? Stupid and misleading jerks sometimes these interpreters are… I don’t write confessional songs. Emotion’s got nothing to do with it.”12 Nonetheless, this beautiful song is full of emotion, to a degree rare in his work and it easy to identify with the lyrics. Sadness, sincerity, resignation—Bob Dylan has rarely shared his own feelings. Whatever the inspiration of his text, the result is amazing and gorgeous.
Production
The music carries the emotion. The melody reinforces this sense of melancholy, regret, and pain that emerges from the accompaniment. Dylan alternates between sweetness and power, and the intensity on every “oh oh” sounds almost like a complaint. After rejecting the New York version, a first take was rerecorded on December 27 in Minneapolis. That day Dylan himself added an overdub of a solo acoustic guitar introduction. There is no bass line; Bill Peterson left the session because of an engagement in a jazz club. It is questionable if the songwriter made the right choice, preferring this version to the New York one, released on Biograph. That one featured Dylan on vocals, acoustic, and harmonica, accompanied by Tony Brown on bass, Paul Griffin at the organ, and Buddy Cage on pedal steel guitar. The New York version is absolutely heartbreaking and exudes a stronger feeling than the Minneapolis version. Dylan is touching in his sincerity, and harmonically it has a richer arrangement, more suitable to the music. But “You’re a Big Girl Now” is a great song, whatever the version. Dylan performed it for the first time in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on May 1, 1976, as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue.
IN YOUR HEADPHONES
At 1:43 and 3:01, the guitar right strikes some obviously false notes (Blood on the Tracks version).
Idiot Wind
Bob Dylan / 7:47
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica, organ
Kevin Odegaard: guitar
Chris Weber: guitar
Gregg Inhofer: piano
Bill Peterson: bass
Billy Berg: drums
Recording Studio
Sound 80, Minneapolis: December 27, 1974
Technical Team
Producer: David Zimmerman
Sound Engineer: Paul Martinson
Genesis and Lyrics
Bob Dylan began working on “Idiot Wind” just after his comeback tour with the Band, which ended on February 14, 1974, in Inglewood, California. Meanwhile, Ellen Bernstein became his girlfriend. She recalls Dylan constantly changing the lyrics. Dylan himself has said, “That was a song I wanted to make as a painting… A lot of people thought that song, that album Blood on the Tracks, pertained to me. Because it seemed to at the time. It didn’t pertain to me. It was just a concept of putting in images that defy time—yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”110
“Idiot Wind” is one of Dylan’s major works. Indeed, like “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Desolation Row,” or “Positively 4th Street,” it unites all the components of Dylan’s artistic genius, starting with poetic and mystical-epic lyrics against the backdrop of a marriage’s apocalyptic breakup. Beginning in the second verse, the narrator speaks directly to the woman who shares his life, criticizing her. The refrain is clear, “Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth / You’re an idiot, babe / It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.” The narrator feels misunderstood, even betrayed. Hence this reference to Christ and the Last Judgment: “There’s a lone soldier on the cross… / What’s good is bad, what’s bad is good, you’ll find out when you reach the top.”
A closer look makes us realize that the song expresses not only frustrations and arguments with a former mistress or an ex-wife, but also the barking dogs of gossip… journalists with their easy and vengeful pens. Worse, perhaps, as Jim Beviglia states, this “idiot wind” seems to be the words coming from the mouths of people across the United States, “From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol.” Perhaps an allusion to the recent scandal of Watergate?
But “Idiot Wind” would not be a masterpiece if Dylan hadn’t shown the fragility and co
ntradictions of his own mind. An argument against his detractors or his ex-wife? In the last two verses, he is suddenly humble, conceding with sadness that he does not understand the woman he loved. He admits sharing responsibility for their destiny. This “idiot wind” may be seen as the wind that leads us all down a path we may later regret. Dylan explained that with “Idiot Wind” he wanted to express willpower. “With strength of will you can do anything,” he said to Jonathan Cott. “With willpower you can determine your destiny.”20
Production
“Idiot Wind” is one of the five songs Dylan redid in Minneapolis during the first session on December 27. It took five attempts, including a rehearsal, to record it. Surprising as this may seem, Dylan recorded many overdubs during these sessions. He played the Hammond organ part, knowing exactly what he wanted. The musicians working for the first time with the songwriter tried to learn the song structure as quickly as possible. Berg is the first to capture the mood of the song, followed by the other musicians. Dylan’s singing is almost aggressive, expressing a deep fury. He made many punch-ins, which is quite surprising for him. But the result is impressive and the sound reminiscent of his best albums of the sixties.
The New York version, released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3, has a different attitude, totally acoustic. This version features Bob on lead vocals, guitar (in open tuning), and harmonica, only accompanied by Tony Brown on bass. The tone is intimate, submissive, showing deep emotion, more obvious than in the Minneapolis version. According to Glenn Berger, Dylan asked at the end, “Was it sincere enough?”108 But which version is more successful—New York or Minneapolis? In fact, they are complementary, representing two sides of the same song, like an artist painting a variation of the same object on several canvases.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
The word idiot was suggested to Dylan by Norman Raeben when he was taking an art class in spring 1974. Indeed, it was one of Raeben’s favorite words. According to his widow, he believed “there is an idiot wind blowing and blinding all human existence.”111
IN YOUR HEADPHONES
A punch-in is noticeable on the line “I can’t remember… into mine” in the sixth verse (between 4:17 and 4:27). Dylan’s voice no longer has the same intonation or the same intensity.
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Bob Dylan / 2:55
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Tony Brown: bass
Recording Studio
A&R Recording (Studio A), New York: September 17, 1974
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Dylan
Sound Engineers: Phil Ramone and Glenn Berger
Genesis and Lyrics
“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” closes the first side of the LP Blood on the Tracks. It is different from the other tracks on the album. Its rural atmosphere is, in fact, quite close to that of New Morning: “Crickets talkin’ back and forth in rhyme / Blue river runnin’ slow and lazy.” A pastoral song, but also a love song, certainly written for Ellen Bernstein as suggested by some clues scattered over the couplets: Ashtabula, Ohio, Bernstein’s hometown; Honolulu and San Francisco, two cities where she had lived; or the “Queen Anne’s lace” in the third verse. She could have introduced the plant to the songwriter during walks in the countryside on her farm in Minnesota. She said, “To put it in a song is so ridiculous, but it was very touching.”109 The narrator talks about his life, these “situations [that] have ended sad” and he does not want to live again. He compares his own relationship to that between Rimbaud and Verlaine, two of his favorite poets, whom he mentions for the first time in one of his songs. Confession in the form of supplication: “Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.”
Production
If the lyrics recall the bucolic side of New Morning, the music, however, is more reminiscent of his early albums, like The Freewheelin’ or Another Side. Dylan sings this folk song in a calm tone of voice that contrasts completely with the harrowing vocal on “Idiot Wind.” After recording eight takes of the song on September 16 with Eric Weissberg and his band, the following day Dylan rerecorded the song accompanied only by bass player Tony Brown. Two takes were sufficient to immortalize it, the last being the best. The feeling in the studio must have been tense, and Brown’s nervousness at being alone recording with Dylan must have been exacerbted by that tension, especially since one by one his bandmates had been fired the day before. Dylan has performed this song a dozen times since the concert in Clearwater, Florida, on April 22, 1976.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
The slow version of “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” was planned to be released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3, but was removed at the last minute for lack of space.
Meet Me In The Morning
Bob Dylan / 4:22
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Eric Weissberg: guitar
Charles Brown III: guitar
Buddy Cage: pedal steel guitar
Tom McFaul: keyboards (?)
Tony Brown: bass
Richard Crooks: drums
Recording Studio
A&R Recording (Studio A), New York: September 19, 1974
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Dylan
Sound Engineers: Phil Ramone and Glenn Berger
Genesis and Lyrics
When Dylan started recording for his new LP on September 16, 1974, he was still writing new material. “Meet Me in the Morning” was written after the first recording session for Blood on the Tracks. Once again, he focuses on a broken relationship and its ending, which plunged the narrator into a deep, depressive mood. Since the departure of the beloved woman, he feels “vulnerable” and does not know how to get her back. The song comes down to one line, repeated twice at the beginning of the second verse: “They say the darkest hour is right before dawn.” Dylan fixed a rendezvous between “56th and Wabasha.” Wabasha is a city in Minnesota 190 miles from Duluth, Dylan’s birthplace, but there is no intersection with 56th.
Production
“Meet Me in the Morning” is a blues song seemingly straight out of the Chess Studios in Chicago, with the same tense and electric atmosphere found in the legendary recordings of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. The musical arrangement features excellent electric guitar licks, played with a bottleneck and bass, and drums providing a heartfelt rhythm. Eric Weissberg and his band are on hand for the only blues song on the album (recorded in one take). Unfortunately, it was their first and last session. One by one they were told to stop playing, except for the bass player Tony Brown (the keyboard player Tom McFaul does not seem to play). Weissberg and his musicians played well, but unfortunately their efforts were not sufficiently appreciated by Dylan. Dylan sings brilliantly and powerfully and gleefully gathers together all the clichés of the genre. But the incredible sound that emanates from the piece comes from Buddy Cage on pedal steel guitar in an overdub added on September 24. The saturation used on his instrument gives both a blues sound. Before attaining this result, Cage admits having played his guts out because Dylan was never satisfied, forcing Cage to redo take after take. On September 19, 2007, Dylan played this song live in concert for the first and only time at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
TURNING DOWN A STONE
After recording several takes of “Meet Me in the Morning,” Mick Jagger, who had been present at the session, joined Dylan in the control room. Jagger, probably drunk, implored Dylan constantly, “Let me play drums or something.”109 But Dylan said uncompromisingly, “No!”
Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts
Bob Dylan / 8:52
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Kevin Odegard: guitar
Chris Weber: guitar
Gregg Inhofer: organ
Bill Peterson: bass
Billy Berg: drums
Recording Studio
Sound 80
, Minneapolis: December 30, 1974
Technical Team
Producer: David Zimmerman
Sound Engineer: Paul Martinson
Genesis and Lyrics
“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” is perhaps the first song written for Blood on the Tracks. Dylan wrote the tune after his six-week tour with the Band, probably thinking about his acting experience for the film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Indeed, “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” is a Western-like ballad. It includes references to the inevitable saloons, strippers, outlaws, lawyers, and poker games. The main character is the Jack of Hearts. Throughout the verses other protagonists appear: Lily, a “fair-skinned” poker-playing princess; Big Jim, the wealthiest and most influential person in town, the owner of a diamond mine; Rosemary, an usher who is “drinkin’ hard”; and a judge famous for his speedy court convictions. Over the course of the song, “the dressing room burst open and cold revolver clicked,” the Jack of Hearts gang “cleaned out the bank safe,” and Rosemary stabbed Big Jim in the back. When she is sent to the gallows, “she didn’t even blink.” Lily is thinking about her father and the Jack of Hearts, who probably escaped disguised as a monk.
How to interpret this song? All protagonists seem to play with their life as if it were a game of poker. Love is seen as comedy, life as a game of chance. There is no doubt about what Dylan thought of justice, embodied by an alcoholic judge, imposing sentences with merciless severity.