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Well, a strange thing happened last night. I was up late and around ten to four I suddenly got this urge to play a Dylan song. I hadn't done anything like this for years, not the picking, not the singing, so I churned it out for fun. Fuzzy fingers, croaky voice, poor boy accent... you know :-)
But this morning I looked at the news and here we are. Must be in the stars or something, I'd no idea about it.
Bob Dylan: 80 things you may not know about him on his 80th birthday - BBC News
But you can have the recording for what it's worth. It was evidently meant to be.
Last edited by ragman1; 06-08-2021 at 09:15 AM.
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05-24-2021 09:20 AM
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Long may he wave.
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Nicely done. Once you learn that thumb picking, it never goes away. I practiced it many years ago, and seldom use it now, but I'm sure it would be there in muscle memory if I needed it.
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Absolutely, but it was rusty. Struggling for the words a bit, too. But you're right, it doesn't really go and neither do a lot of lyrics from way back. Long term memory.
But it was strange that should happen, must have picked it up on the ether or something. After I'd done it I wanted to do another one but the muse had closed down, as though I was allowed just the one and that was it.
Odd thing is, I was never a devoted Dylan fan. But he did write some very, very good songs and I suspect I know/knew more than I realised. As I type I keep thinking of one after the other!
But it's not about me. Happy Birthday, Bob, you made it
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By coincidence I have been listening to him a lot, and played a couple of songs last night at a little jam session...tried to play Mississippi, but the chords I had were all wrong. Love that song though.
I think I sorta did justice to Buckets of Rain.
Happy BD, BD. Stay forever young.
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BTW that reminds me there is a new Dylan biography coming out--first of 2 volumes.
Bob Dylan Biographer Clinton Heylin: Interview on New Book - Rolling Stone
Nice interview with the author. Sounds promising.Last edited by Doctor Jeff; 05-24-2021 at 06:15 PM.
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I liked Dylan's Chronicles. Not boring. As I remember them anyway, it was some time ago.
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Well done, ragman!
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Originally Posted by ragman1
One thinks of Elliot’s Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock:
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate...Last edited by Doctor Jeff; 05-27-2021 at 10:55 AM.
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Chronicles got a lot of stick for inaccuracies if not sheer invention. Personally, I didn't care then and don't now, it's a good read. Second only to Keith Richards' Life which is a helluva book. Or Straight Life by Art Pepper.
Chronicles: Volume One - Wikipedia
Anyway, Dylan was always being accused of ripping off this and that. Cecil Sharp called it the 'folk process'. The blues guys did the same, they were always borrowing lyrics and melodies.
Probably every time we borrow a jazz line from our favorite player I'd say it's pretty much the same thing. No one condemns it, they all guffaw 'Hey, I loved that reference to xyz!'
I don't think it matters unless it really is shameless plagiarism and taking credit for someone else's work. That's different.
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Ive been reading Dylan on Dylan by Jeff Burger. Its a collection of interviews through Bobs life and its pretty good. My favorite Dylan song is Desolation Row. I was surprised to hear Charlie McCoy played guitar on it. I wonder who played harmonica when they were both in the studio at the same time." Casanova is being punished for playing the electric violin on Desolation Row." I always wondered if it also meant the electric guitar?
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After thinking a little I would have to say " If Dogs Ran Free" is the closet to a jazz tune Dylans ever done and my second favorite Dylan song.
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If Dogs Run Free is a 12-bar jazz blues, the lead guitar played by someone not too familiar with the format, apparently!
But the female singer is a hoot :-)
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Maybe Bob himself gave it a shot and it was a kings new clothes kind of producer? Whos gonna tell Bob he cant play guitar on a Dylan record? I cant find the original on YT right now. But there are some good comedy versions. I would like to hear Tom Waits cover it.
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Maybe Bob himself gave it a shot
The piano player knew what he was doing.
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Bob even plays some jazz guitars!
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Bob is the most complex and talented and frustrating popular artist we have experienced in our lifetimes, IMO. He is kind of like Picasso or Hemingway in that regard.
Having literally grown up with Bob's music, it is interesting to listen to it and examine it from my (our) current perspective.
Some things I loved as a younger person, I don't really care for now. That would include some of the longer narrative songs (maybe Isis excluded). I tend to really like his simpler songs--Buckets of Rain, Don't Think Twice, Lay Lady Lay, Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
Some of his songs are best in his voice, but sometimes his voice drags a song down, or at least makes it harder to appreciate.
I would say about a third of his songs are classics which have stood the test of time. About a third are dreck. And about a third are overrated, and at the very least not something I enjoy listening to these days.
The Heylin bio mentioned above states that Bob has written more than 900 songs (previously thought to be only about 600!). That's about 900 more songs than I've ever written in my life, so take that for what it's worth...
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I think we should be grateful for his finest work and let the lesser stuff gradually and gracefully fall into the "of interest mainly for post-graduate dissertations" category. Life is too short to waste on anything but the best.
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I used to sit on a stool at Harry's Open Door (aka Harry's Banana Farm) in Lake Worth, FL with my Ovation and sing everything from "Blood on the Tracks" except "Meet Me In The Morning."
Still love "Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts" and "Idiot Wind." (Though the older I get, the less patience I have with songs with so many verses---did any song on BOTT have a bridge????) "Tangled Up In Blue" and "Simple Twist of Fate" are gems.
I bought "Rough and Rowdy Ways" (his most recent album) and enjoy it. I saw him in New Orleans on the "Love and Theft" tour---great night that was.
I consider myself a fan, a big fan even, but I've never been much interested in his personal life outside the songs. (I haven't read any of the biographies about him.) I just like a lot of the songs and admire anyone who could a) write so many good ones and b) write some good songs across such a long span of time. (Willie Nelson is also like that---have they ever recorded together? They should do an album where Bob sings Willie's songs and Willie sings Bob's and they do duets on a few covers.)
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
I agree those long songs...dude needed an editor with an iron fist.
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Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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I saw Freddy Live and hes the only man I think Ive ever seen whose big enough to put his strap on his right shoulder! Great Bluesman!!!
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Whoever paid Bob 300 Million Dollars for his catalogue gots some splanin to do as far as a future investment????!!!! IMHO
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Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
The other is Memphis Street in Wichita...
Freddie was from northern TX but grew up and played in Chicago. He mighta had some experience with South Memphis, as a lot of bluesmen did at that time. Otherwise...I don’t know.
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