I’m taking Renfield Jr. to see Bob Dylan next month, so decided to familiarize myself with some of his more recent original material. I think this song’s as brilliant as anything he’s done (admitting that I haven’t heard everything).
Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
I really like that latest album. He does a lot off it in his shows. I have tix to see him here, and am pretty sure it’s the last time I’ll go see him (same thing I said after seeing him with Monkeystador at the Ryman a year or so ago, but he’s coming to my town, so….). That song also gives you a good idea of what he sounds like in concert now. You won’t see much of him, and he won’t have witty banter between songs. Just one blues growler after another. I still enjoy seeing him, though. I’ll be interested in hearing your take on it after the show.
Thanks for the info. I remember hearing many years ago that he’s aloof in concert and doesn’t talk much. Fine with me. I’m at a show for just the music, to the point that I can get annoyed by stage-banter pauses if they get too long or frequent.
Given Dylan’s reputation, I was surprised at how chatty and engaging he was on Theme Time Radio Hour. That was a great show, and I don’t think I missed an episode.
It’s just funny that people STILL go expecting him to be up there with a Martin and his harmonica singing Tambourine Man or something. I’ve managed to get close for a couple of shows, and he does usually seem like he’s having a good time, dancing about a bit. It’s amazing how closely his band watches him the whole time. Unfortunately at the Ryman he stood behind a piano the whole time (big stand up one), so all we could see was the top of his hat. It was kind of ridiculous.
I really enjoyed that. The book he put out last year, the Philosophy of Modern song (full disclosure – haven’t finished it) is in that same vein. Hipster vibes, and kind of funny. Not what I was expecting, but a fun read regardless.
Yeah, my in-laws went to see him in the early 2000’s and walked out, I guess partially because he wasn’t doing his Martin/harmonica thing. But oddly enough, they said the main reason they left was that he was wearing a bolero. I was baffled about why that would be a deal breaker, but older boomers can be stodgy like that. Non-boomers tend to lump us all together, but there are significant differences between early boomers (them) and late boomers (me). For one thing, later boomers, especially those of us who saw Bowie and the Spiders live, along with other glammy acts like Mott the Hoople or shock rockers like Alice Cooper, just took weirdness for granted. You either overlooked the outrageousness because you liked the music, or you embraced it as part of the fun. And the parental outrage was worth its weight in gold to any fourteen or fifteen year old. Older boomers generally hated those types of acts too. They didn’t bother to listen. They just assumed it was all done for effect.
By the way, making money by shocking prigs via music did not start with rock and roll. One of my favorites of countless examples: back in 1905, Richard Strauss, same guy who wrote Also Sprach Zarathustra (the 2001 theme), shocked the world with an opera called Salome. It was shocking first because it was based on a widely-banned play by Oscar Wilde (that guy who, you know…). Also, the music was wild and dissonant and had an infamous “dance of the seven veils,” pretty much Salome’s striptease for King Herod. But there was more! As a tip for the dance, Herod offers Salome anything she wants. She requests the head of the imprisoned John the Baptist because she had tried and failed to seduce him. A creepy “duet” follows, where Salome is holding John the Baptist’s severed head and singing to it, a kind of “you wouldn’t have me but I’ve got you now” thing, kissing it and caressing it, etc. Creepy as fuck and disturbing for the time. The opera was denounced by religious organizations and bluenoses everywhere. It was a huge scandal, and some houses had to cancel it. But others staged it, and of course the publicity ensured that people flocked to it. Asked later if he regretted the scandal around Salome, Strauss just said “that opera built my summer house at Garmisch.” (Garmisch is a beautiful resort town in the Bavarian alps. Coincidentally, we Renfields went there every summer when we lived in Germany).
Sounds like Alice Cooper!
But back to Dylan. I’ve been streaming R&RW, and I must confess I’m hooked. This is the funniest (albeit darkly) new song I’ve heard in many years. And this one is just great, and not just lyrically: very well played, great vocal timing, and whoevever came up with the three-beat transistions is clever as hell. Elsewhere, the ruminations on death are the most sensible I’ve encountered since it so obnoxiously visited my family three years ago this month. Either Dylan or the persona he’s created seems very well-grounded for someone who’s been so idolized for the past sixty years.
Have you bastards seen the “We Are the World” documentary on Netflix? Dylan was fucking LOST. He just kind of stood around with an awkward grin on his face the whole time. When the time came for his solo, Stevie Wonder had to pull Bob aside and mimic his voice at the piano to show him what to sing. Dylan was waaaaay out of his element, and that look behind the curtain fascinated the hell out of me.
I remember seeing that. So many 60’s-70’s icons were adrift in the 80’s. Even Bowie, who did so much to create the 80’s, got lost.