Forum / this (if cranked)
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mxi woddAug 01, 05:30amis insanely good:
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Sally HoutmanAug 01, 06:48amI second that. Great version.
Made me go and read the Wiki on the song.
This on the original version:
"Critics have described Dylan's version as a masterpiece of understatement. Andy Gill said "In Dylan's version of the song, it's the barrenness of the scenario which grips, the high haunting harmonica and simple forward motion of the riff carrying understated implications of cataclysm; as subsequently recorded by Jimi Hendrix, ... that cataclysm is rendered scarily palpable through the dervish whirls of guitar."
And an opposing view:
"Dave Van Ronk, an early supporter and mentor of Dylan, disagreed with the majority view when he made the following criticism:
That whole artistic mystique is one of the great traps of this business, because down that road lies unintelligibility. Dylan has a lot to answer for there, because after a while he discovered that he could get away with anything—he was Bob Dylan and people would take whatever he wrote on faith. So he could do something like "All Along the Watchtower," which is simply a mistake from the title on down: a watchtower is not a road or a wall, and you can't go along it."
Wow.
Them's some fightin' words.
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mxi woddAug 01, 07:02am
I love Dave Von Ronk.
But that DOES seem a bit nit-picky (I mean, christ, it's a poemsong, not a travelogue).
Also, if we go way back, Dylan stole Van Ronk's version of "House of the Rising Sun," which was VR's calling card, and didn't tell him about it until his album came out.
(thought I never thought of DVR's complaint...in which he's right: you can't, literally, be "along" a watchtower...)
((but bob dylan can))
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Sally HoutmanAug 01, 07:24am
"...he's right: you can't, literally, be "along" a watchtower..."
To that, I pull out one of my favorite quotes:
"When a thought takes one's breath away, a grammar lesson seems an impertinence."
--Thomas W. HigginsonThe song takes one's breath away. I think, in this case, we can excuse any slight, logical wobbles, eh?
He's a songwriter, not an architect, right?
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mxi woddAug 01, 09:47pm
allah
long the
watchtower~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I performed (well, did it, and people would occasionally throw pennies at my feet) that song hundreds of times down in new orleans with Candian fiddle players and southern harmonica players and inbred banjo players and African click-language drummers and non-English-speaking-Japanese-bluegrass guitar players and one-legged-British mandolin players and Carolina-clog-dancing-washboard players...
And each and every time each and every one of us took it seriously.
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Darryl PriceAug 02, 12:01amLove the song. Love Dylan. I don't think Dylan is trying to get away with anything--that's just people daring him to show up at their doorstep for dinner.He's not that hungry or that stupid. Dylan's not likely to play that way. If he shows up it's because he wants to, not because you want him to. If he writes something it's because that's the way he wrote it, not because of anything you believe or don't believe about his process.He's allowed his freedom to create a song any way he likes. It's not about you or your sensibilities. He doesn't owe you anything just because you like his stuff.
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 12:05amEnjoyed, even with Neil Young. Not a fan and, yes, I know that's blasphemy to some. I will probably always prefer the Jimi Hendrix version since that's the first one I remember hearing. I like a moody tone. Gary Clark Jr does a freaking great guitar on this. (And everything else he does.)
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GoneAug 02, 12:14amSong was an anthem. Made me what I am today.
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mxi woddAug 02, 12:18am
"even with Neil Young."
Hmmm...
Trying to decide on a mythical penance for Charlotte to perform...
(searches in voodoo bag...)
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GoneAug 02, 12:18am
Dat Neil Young is one gone dude. After Dylan, it was After the Gold Rush kept me from wondering whether anybody really had a clue. Another anthem that...
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Sam RasnakeAug 02, 12:19amOnce Dylan heard Hendrix' version, Charlotte, he preferred it too. There's a live take - I think the bootleg series - of Dylan's performance of Watchtower that reflects that.
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GoneAug 02, 12:24am
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mxi woddAug 02, 12:26am
dream comfort memory to spare:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkof_neil-young-helpless-w-the-band_music
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 12:27am
Hey now, MD, I might have to give MS Sallie Ann a call.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Ann_Glassman ). That's my photo of her.
Yes, indeed.Sam, I didn't know that.
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mxi woddAug 02, 12:39am
Charlotte--
Whereas I could conjure the ghost of The Lucky Bead Lady* AND Ruthie the Duck Lady!
*ever hear of her? A TRUE FQ personage.
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 12:46am
Yep, lived here since '78. *sigh* Bead Lady trumps Sallie Ann. ;)
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mxi woddAug 02, 12:52am
yeah she do.
She put a "curse" on a friend of mine one night when he wouldn't buy her beads ("Would you like to buy a lucky Beeeeeeead?")
Stood back and waved her fingers and mumbled some weird foreign-sounding gibberish.
He left shortly after. Said he started feeling weak and strange...
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Sally HoutmanAug 02, 01:46am
I'm keeping the link to the Bead Lady site, because I SWEAR, if Charlotte trash-talks Neil Young one more time...
she will leave me no option...
('Helpless' has to be one of my all-time favorites. Gets me ever' time. Sigh.)
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mxi woddAug 02, 01:53am
I love the moment in the link I posted where Neil leaves his mic to go over and sing with Robbie and That Other Guy (never can remember his name)
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 01:59am
Lordamercy, can't a girl have a mind of her own? ;) Ok, I'll admit to liking Heart of Gold....for sentimental reasons only.
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mxi woddAug 02, 02:20am
HEART OF GOLD?!
What an over-played-to-the-point-of=meaninglessnessoskity drivel!
(just kidding!)
But this is just gorgeous:
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Sally HoutmanAug 02, 02:29am
How can you not love this?
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 02:29am
Ok, yeah, that's sweet.
Heart of Gold = playing touch football with a boy I liked but was too much of a nerd to have a chance with. lol Yeah, it was played to death....So will we get sent to the principal's office for hijacking this forum....?
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mxi woddAug 02, 02:30am
One thing that I've always found interesting is that both Bob n' Neil have unique right-hand strumming motions.
Another for sure-ity:
neither Bob nor Neil are neuro-typicals.
They're odd, in the brilliant scheme of things.
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mxi woddAug 02, 02:43am
Neil's right hand floats in the air.
Bob's is incessant, claw-like, driven...foreign.
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Sally HoutmanAug 02, 03:05am
To be a true artist, you must, in some small way, be like *no one* else.
But yourself.
And to be *that* well.
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Sam RasnakeAug 02, 03:16am
And Gone - After the Gold Rush is a perfect song. Good choice.
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mxi woddAug 02, 03:43am
Sam--
Do YOU have a choice, a preference, an affinity for a Dylan or NY song?
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Sam RasnakeAug 02, 04:00am
No. I don't have a choice. My ear is my ear.
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Matthew RobinsonAug 02, 04:14amNeil: "Don't Let It Bring You Down" -specifically, the Live at Massey Hall recording... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9czPqNFKKw
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Darryl PriceAug 02, 04:19am
Like a Hurricane?
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Matthew RobinsonAug 02, 04:20am
"Ohio," also.
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 04:27am
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mxi woddAug 02, 04:29am
Dang...
Well here's one I like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww1gt6MHJRA
when he was being nashville-bob
Same strange mannerisms, but differently packaged.
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mxi woddAug 02, 04:42am
Young-Hypno-Bob:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brNby5IFDnA
(I learned this song, sang it once...it's VERY long.)
((How could he remember, back then, all the words to all those wordy songs?))
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 04:45am
Well holy hell, I just realized that vid of YaBGN is a cover. They must have taken down the original, can't find it....my favorite.
Bob and Mr, Cash were buddies. He was on the Cash show a few times.
Loves me some J. Cash. -
Sam RasnakeAug 02, 04:50am
Here, Charlotte:
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 05:03am
Ah, Sam. You clearly are more skillful at the YouTube than I. :)
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mxi woddAug 02, 05:05am
"Well holy hell, I just realized that vid of YaBGN is a cover"
I was wondering about that...thought it was your friend or something.
;-)
SUCH a wonderful song (thanks for the link, Sam).
(interesting history of the recording of that album
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Charlotte HamrickAug 02, 05:16am
The best BD album ever. In fact, am listening to it now. Well, it's time for my pillow and Bob's sweet voice to (hopefully) sing me to sleep. 'Night.
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mxi woddAug 02, 05:29am
People say they don't like Bob's voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For many many many many many many many
recording/years
Bob WAS the right-hand
voice of God (I dare say).~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The most incredibly beautiful/uplifting/transcendent artistic/human *moment* I personally have ever experienced was seeing Mr. D in 1979 in an old-time music-hall theater in San Francisco where his encore was a solo acoustic performance of It's All Over Now, Baby Blue with (hanging over the upper-balcony rail as I was) a harmonica solo that simultaneously lifted and transported and hypnotized everyone present.
unspeakable beauty
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mxi woddAug 02, 05:56am
ABSOLUTE
somethingness
;-)
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Letitia CoyneAug 02, 06:34amLike a Hurricane; Out on the Weekend.
Hendrix, every time.
Bob is very very near to God.
Lxx
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Sam RasnakeAug 02, 11:51am
Blood on the Tracks is excellent work. Those sessions are in company with - though behind - Highway 61 Revisited, Love and Theft, Bringing It All Back Home, John Wesley Harding, and (of course) Blonde on Blonde,
I don't consider Basement Tapes a Dylan recording though his work there is surely among or "along" his finest - or it would be there.
Modern Times is close on that list well.
Visions of Johanna, for me, is pure nothingness or mu - and is his finest song.
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mxi woddAug 02, 06:45pm
From what I've read, The Basement Tapes, mythical long before its release, AS released had very little to do with the ACTUAL basement tapes.
Albert Grossman wanted to push The Band (his recent acquisition), and so included a number of cuts by them recorded elsewhere, etc. Stuff like that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, Visions of Johanna...
Gates of Eden
Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Desolation Row
It's Alright, Ma (I'm only Bleeding)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Visions of Johanna, for me, is pure nothingness or mu"
If you'd be inclined, I'd like to hear more about this 'nothingness' of which you speak in the context of what very well could be his most astounding song
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GoneAug 02, 10:37pm
This link came to me to-day... liked it, wanted to pass it on. TakeitRleaveit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWEJPqJtZsk
Meantime, I'm gone.
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mxi woddAug 02, 11:26pm
james be good.
This girl used to play with my daughter when they were about six, got pictures of 'em in the tub together, backyard in the garden, etc.
Went to her first Suzuki violin recital when she was eight. It was terrible...
She's come A LONG WAY since then. Has played with everyone: Willie Nelson, etc.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhzMexgTWQY&list=FLjfmW6XbZVaAC_qkPeF5BYA&index=11
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Sally HoutmanAug 03, 02:34am
That is gorgeous.
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mxi woddAug 03, 02:42am
I was shocked, when I saw this video, to hear her ADULT voice. Last time I saw her she was squealing and laughing to the point of tears over something I had done after taking her out of the tub...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"james be good."
As in James McMurtry IS good...
;-)
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Sally HoutmanAug 03, 02:51am
"james be good."
Yesssindeeeeed.
(I knew which James you meant.)
:)
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mxi woddAug 03, 03:13am
(I was juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust makin' sure)
;-)
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Ann BogleAug 03, 05:56pmThanks for this, Jorge. I have seen Neil Young perform many times and liked all of the performances, even the very cavernous solo show in which he played three different organs and as many guitars. When my friends and I left that concert, the bright sun hit our eyes, and one friend in our small group said she was thinking of taking her own life, as if she were in a spell or dream that brought up for her a dangerous Rolling Stones concert she had attended as a teenager. I bolted down Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis toward the parking ramp where our other friend's car was parked. He had never seen me run at anything. I seldom run. I ran in Houston once and passed Spike Lee standing alone on the street corner near the Menil. I ran in Minneapolis, and when they caught up with me, I upbraided my woman friend for her speech, hoping to frighten her from her thoughts, and after that, our friend the driver silenced us on the drive home. The best performance was of CSNY at Target Center in 1999. In particular, Neil Young rocked us so magically in the upper tier where we sat, amid hippies with their trimmed beards and receding hairlines, that we danced riotously without rising from our seats. Neil Young played from written sheet music that night, his best marbling of all elements ever, not unlike the video you share here. Now I'll set out to read the beautiful coffee table biography of Neil Young that Ned gave me last year.
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Sam RasnakeAug 03, 06:00pm
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Sam RasnakeAug 03, 06:02pm
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Ann BogleAug 03, 06:43pm
"Long May You Run"
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mxi woddAug 03, 08:07pm
I think this is great, esp. for daytime tv:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NjZrPX-l0
(how many illegal smiles can you see?)
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mxi woddAug 03, 09:57pm
I always thought this was a cover of an old Methodist hymn, but he wrote it.
Not the best quality:
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mxi woddAug 03, 10:16pm
Power of a song dream:
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Ann BogleAug 04, 05:39am
"Don't Let It Bring You Down"
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mxi woddAug 04, 10:14pm
In it's own way a church:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_f7Df2-oM&list=FLjfmW6XbZVaAC_qkPeF5BYA&index=15
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mxi woddAug 04, 10:19pm
(I love Tom Petty...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb0UXPK_O-8&list=FLjfmW6XbZVaAC_qkPeF5BYA
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Sally HoutmanAug 05, 02:23am
Always partial to this 'n:
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mxi woddAug 05, 03:38am
Never saw that video before! Real fun!
My links above are from his 30th Anniversary Return To Florida concert.
Last from that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aogOR8c8Q4&list=FLjfmW6XbZVaAC_qkPeF5BYA
I SALIVATE over the guitars TP & Mike Campbell have access to...
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Sally HoutmanAug 05, 04:31am
The instrumental (which is about half the video) is absolutely fantastic.
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mxi woddAug 05, 04:41am
the guitar inter-play...
turns out Tom Petty is quite the guitarist!
And the band... the keyboard player, the drummer...
just IT.
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mxi woddAug 05, 04:56am
Here, John shows his Dylan influence...
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Sally HoutmanAug 05, 05:14am
That is wrong on so many levels.
:)
(I love the Ahhhhhhs, spelled out in case we didn't understand!!)
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mxi woddAug 05, 05:20am
I remember listening to that for the first time in '75, before I'd heard the Primal Scream album (which I think in itself justifies THE BREAK-UP).
But damn, funny is funny.
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mxi woddAug 05, 05:24am
(in fact, all the words are from his interview with jann werner/RS/1970)
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mxi woddAug 06, 10:05pm
Again, Ruby Jane Smith (the kid I used to babysit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL3XrUBdDp8&list=FLjfmW6XbZVaAC_qkPeF5BYA&index=10
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mxi woddAug 06, 10:09pm
sixteen years old
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