Jan 16, 2012 | 100 Days with Bob Dylan
Links to Song: I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
What you should know about this song: This song was originally recorded for the Another Side of Bob Dylan album in 1964, but was ridically re-arranged two years later into an electric version which Dylan incorporated into his live tour repertoire for 12 years.* The song was also a major influence on the writing of “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” by the Beatles, which was featured on their Help! album. You can see the lyrical resemblance when you compare the two:
“I can’t understand, she let go of my hand
And left me here facing the wall
I’d sure like to know why she did go
But I can’t get close to her at all.”
– Bob Dylan, “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)”
“Here I stand, head in hands
Turn my face to the wall
If she’s gone I can’t go on
Feeling two foot small”
– The Beatles, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”
“‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’ is my Dylan period. It’s one of those that you sing a bit sadly to yourself, ‘Here I stand, head in hand…’ I’d started thinking about my own emotions. I don’t know when exactly it started, like I’m A Loser or Hide Your Love Away, those kind of things. Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself, which I’d done in my books. I think it was Dylan who helped me realise that – not by any discussion or anything, but by hearing his work.” – John Lennon (source).
“Bob loomed absolutely the largest. The strength and breadth of his writing during that period, it just eclipses everybody.” – John Sebastian, The Lovin’ Spoonful*
*Source: “Dylan: 100 Songs and Pictures” by Fine Communications
Photo Source: Daniel Kramer
Jan 15, 2012 | 100 Days with Bob Dylan
Links to Song: All I Really Want to Do
Cher’s version (cool live video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPjPnUcvbzs
The Byrds version (also a cool live video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjAI9R94X-M
What you should know about this song: Interested in hearing Dylan’s falsetto? Here’s your chance. In fact, it took me by surprise when, at the end of each verse, Dylan hits those high notes. I also enjoyed the lyrics or this piece, which proved to be quite simple yet still profound. I could not find a lot of history on this song, but I did find it interesting that a year following its recording for the Another Side of Bob Dylan album (1964), cover versions by both The Byrds and Cher reached the UK Top 10 and the US Top 40 hit lists.
“I remember playing ‘All I Really Want to Do’ and Bob asked, ‘What was that?’ I told him it was one of his songs. And he said, ‘Ah Ha!’ He didn’t recognize it.” – Roger McGuinn, The Byrds
Source: “Dylan: 100 Songs and Pictures” by Fine Communications
Photo Source
Jan 14, 2012 | 100 Days with Bob Dylan
Links to Song: Chimes of Freedom
What you should know about this song: This six-verse “masterpiece”, as some have called it, supposedly evolved from a short poem Dylan had written about John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. It was recorded a year later for the album Another Side of Bob Dylan. Apparently, it took Dylan six different tries to record this song right in the studio. I guess all of those lines proved hard to keep straight (Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 1131).
“Great tunes like ‘Chimes of Freedom’ taught me a whole lot of what songwriting essentially is about: a three-way marriage of melody, harmonic progression and lyrics.” – Bob Weir, Grateful Dead
Jan 13, 2012 | 100 Days with Bob Dylan
Links to Song: One Too Many Mornings
What you should know about this song: “A pretty breakup song” is what Rolling Stones Magazine called it, “and the rare tune where Dylan offered a fare-thee-well without assigning any blame” (Issue 1131). Similar to “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” this song was also inspired by his relationship with Suze Rotolo but it’s a bit gentler than the aforementioned song. Dylan has revisited this song many times since recording it in 1964, performing an electric version in 1966 amongst others. Johnny Cash also covered this song and chose to record four different versions of it over his career.
“‘One Too Many Mornings’ is a goodbye to innocence – the end of something and the beginning of something else. I love that song.” – Ralph McTell
Photo Source: 1964 yearbook of St. Lawrence University
Jan 12, 2012 | 100 Days with Bob Dylan
Links to Song: The Times They Are A-Changin’
What you should know about this song: This is quite possibly one Dylan’s most famous “protest” songs, as they have been dubbed. It is because of songs like this one that Bob Dylan was often referred to as the “spokesman of a generation.” The song was released just a few months after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which only spurred the song to even more popularity. I like how Rolling Stone Magazine describes it: “A masterpiece of political songwriting, it addresses no specific issue and prescribes no concrete action, but simply observes a world in violent upheaval” (Issue 1131).
“Nobody could have spoken better for our generation than ‘The Times They Are A-Changin.’ I was already comfortable with protest songs. But with Dylan’s songs it was ‘Aha!’. Because they’re so good. He’s influenced every songwriter in rock and roll, and folk.” – Joan Baez*
Photo Source
Jan 11, 2012 | 100 Days with Bob Dylan
Links to Song: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
What you should know about this song: Once again, Dylan drew from real world events to write this piece. “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” was inspired by the malicious attack (and resulting homicide) against a black maid by a wealthy white man. To this day, Dylan still is known to often include this song in his live music repertoire.
“‘Hattie Carroll’ is a classic. It’s an absolutely wonderful song, written, I’m quite sure, in a rage, but also with a great sense of form. He’s a proper writer.” – Martin Carthy*
Photo Source: 1964 yearbook of St. Lawrence University
