Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
A beautiful song by Joni Mitchell
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What are you listening to? The world really needs to know. #5
- Thread starter mjp
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Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
Crazy Arms, Ray Price.
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
PhillyDave
“The essential doesn't change.” Beckett
like x 10 for the Wolf. Christ he kills every time. How about Tom Waits on Letterman in 2012
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Skygazer
And in the end...
Listening to a lot of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers this week, this is my favourite guitar instrumental, ever: just transfixing When Clapton left the band to form Cream, what a piece of luck getting Peter Green as a replacement, from the 1967 album A Hard Road:
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PhillyDave
“The essential doesn't change.” Beckett
PS- F'n amazing
I wish I knew what video this comes from; I'm guessing I may own it. It's pretty clearly 1965; Don't Look Back, perhaps (in any case, I need to). If Dylan had only written four songs: It's Alright Ma, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, Desolation Row, and Visions of Johanna, I'd consider him the best songwriter ever by a wide margin.
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Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
I tried to like the above 4 times.
Skygazer
And in the end...
Can I add a fifth purplestckpin? I love this one, don't know who was on the receiving end of it ...Ouch, but great lyrics.
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. . .Then ruin it (slightly) with this; since it's a great Christmas film and a favourite song ( on my secret album that also contains Betcha By Golly Wow by The Stylistics and Zoom by Fat Larry's Band.
Sugababes, love it:
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Considering that this was recorded a mere four days after the '65 Newport Folk Festival, there are some obvious theories. All, of course, deflected and denied by Dylan in his own inimitable fashion. But yes, it's a great work and a good example of simplicity being so effective. When Dylan got the dagger out, he used it mercilessly. I remember reading about a concert in the 70s where Dylan's ex-wife (or soon to be ex-wife) was in the audience and he ripped out a scathing version of Idiot Wind.
Skygazer
And in the end...
The surprising thing is the lyrics are so "out of tune" with the music which is pretty upbeat, then when you start listening it's a case of bloody hell, what's this all about!
Plus, had no idea until very recently... er, today in fact, that he wrote Make you feel my love, so still writing great songs, relatively recently-ish, roundabouts 1997?
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I have to believe the "dichotomy" of 4th Street was quite intentional. For those that were critical of Dylan's new direction and having not written "protest songs," it would seem that Dylan wanted to make it nice and sparkling clear that his new genre was perfectly capable of supporting an act of defiance.
mjp
Founding member
Remember too, Dylan's recording sessions were/are notoriously "loose." Al Kooper - a guitar player - played the organ on Like a Rolling Stone, and that kind of "whoever is in the room" thing wasn't unusual with Dylan. So I'm not sure he was necessarily dictating, "Make the music sweet, the lyrics are brutal." His direction was likely more subtle. But the end result is what counts, and it's got his name on it, so, yeah.
I believe that Kooper lied his way onto this one - he was told the guitar parts were covered and he offered that he played organ when he really didn't know sweet FA about it. Still, he played a nice simple part that worked.
Skygazer: Dylan was specifically asked if he was directing 4th Street at his critics - the folkies who felt abandoned. Dylan replied "I don't write songs for critics." Dylan is a brilliant songwriter and an iconic musician who almost single-handedly changed the direction of popular music. I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, however (at least in the context of what he says to the media).
Skygazer: Dylan was specifically asked if he was directing 4th Street at his critics - the folkies who felt abandoned. Dylan replied "I don't write songs for critics." Dylan is a brilliant songwriter and an iconic musician who almost single-handedly changed the direction of popular music. I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, however (at least in the context of what he says to the media).
Skygazer
And in the end...
Can you ever really say that one specific person is responsible for that much? isn't it just an evolution, that a number of influential musicians were moving towards and changing their style in response to the society they were in. Don't musicians especially morph and evolve and influence/inspire each other? I don't know, it's like trying to say what is the best colour in the world, or who was the best classical composer, although agree about his contribution being huge.
It's a fair question and the topic is, of course, subjective. I did type "almost singlehandedly." But anyone who is well-informed regarding 60s musical influence wouldn't find the assertion that Dylan and the Beatles were probably the two most influential forces from the 60s to be completely ridiculous. And of the Beatles, Lennon is probably the more influential songwriter; McCartney the better overall musician and Lennon the more innovative songwriter. Who had the most profound influence on Lennon's development as a songwriter? Dylan, by a wide margin. The direct influence is first seen in "I'm a Loser," recorded in August '64.
Look at the Beatles catalog through the years: http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-beatles_projects.shtml. Through Rubber Soul, virtually every song is about love and/or relationships. As Dylan started producing more abstract poetic lyrics in 1965, this change was reflected in all of the Beatles' works from Revolver forward.
So, Dylan was arguably the most influential songwriter of a fertile period in music history and was the primary influence on arguably the second most influential songwriter of the same period. Never has popular music had such an upheaval and transformation than it did around 1965 and 1966. I've got to throw Brian Wilson's name in the ring here too. Pet Sounds was a landmark achievement and McCartney cites this album as a source of inspiration for Revolver.
So, there you go. Either I'm on to something or full of bunk (possibly both, who knows?).
Look at the Beatles catalog through the years: http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-beatles_projects.shtml. Through Rubber Soul, virtually every song is about love and/or relationships. As Dylan started producing more abstract poetic lyrics in 1965, this change was reflected in all of the Beatles' works from Revolver forward.
So, Dylan was arguably the most influential songwriter of a fertile period in music history and was the primary influence on arguably the second most influential songwriter of the same period. Never has popular music had such an upheaval and transformation than it did around 1965 and 1966. I've got to throw Brian Wilson's name in the ring here too. Pet Sounds was a landmark achievement and McCartney cites this album as a source of inspiration for Revolver.
So, there you go. Either I'm on to something or full of bunk (possibly both, who knows?).
mjp
Founding member
Influence on him as a songwriter, and on his taste in headgear!
I seem to remember reading about an English author who had Lennon's ear during that time as well, suggesting that he should write about experiences and knock it off with the teenybopper boy-girl stuff.
But Dylan was unquestionably an influence on The Beatles and everyone else who picked up a guitar in those days. Jimi Hendrix covered his songs fer chrissakes.
But to the point Skygazer made, Dylan started out as a straight up Woodie Guthrie impersonator, so there is always previous influence. Dylan didn't spring forth fully formed and utterly unique. He grew in to that uniqueness. But he was - and is - one unique motherfucker, no doubt about that.
The funny thing about the mid-60s is everyone was influencing everyone. So much was new, and there seemed to be a real camaraderie among musicians in those days. How else do you explain something like the Monkees hanging out with The Beatles, and The Beatles taking them completely seriously as musicians (which they did)? Different times.
No question about it, but the mother lode of change really occurred when Dylan
Skygazer
And in the end...
Guess it wasn't just musical influence or hats according to some stories, hard to believe though, given their time in Hamburg and I do think they perhaps tried it before but Dylan gets the credit for it in a number of places:
Brian and the Beatles looked at each other apprehensively. "We've never smoked marijuana before," Brian finally admitted. Dylan looked disbelievingly from face to face. "But what about your song?" he asked. The one about getting high?"
The Beatles were stupefied. "Which song?" John managed to ask.
Dylan said, "You know..." and then he sang, "and when I touch you I get high, I get high..."
John flushed with embarrassment. "Those aren't the words," he admitted. "The words are, 'I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide...'"
The Love You Make
Peter Brown
I Like this
Don't know if this has been seen here before (your two boys, Purplestickpin), Dylan and Lennon blethering a load of rubbish, but still interesting to watch:
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Brian and the Beatles looked at each other apprehensively. "We've never smoked marijuana before," Brian finally admitted. Dylan looked disbelievingly from face to face. "But what about your song?" he asked. The one about getting high?"
The Beatles were stupefied. "Which song?" John managed to ask.
Dylan said, "You know..." and then he sang, "and when I touch you I get high, I get high..."
John flushed with embarrassment. "Those aren't the words," he admitted. "The words are, 'I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide...'"
The Love You Make
Peter Brown
I Like this
Don't know if this has been seen here before (your two boys, Purplestickpin), Dylan and Lennon blethering a load of rubbish, but still interesting to watch:
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mjp
Founding member
Lennon looks like he's had quite enough of a too high Dylan. That's why you should never meet your heroes face to face.
Skygazer
And in the end...
Strange thing is, watching that, I feel really annoyed at Lennon, you feel protective towards Dylan, because you can see the annoyance and irritation in Lennon's face and voice, and when he got nervous (as he clearly is there) I think he became sarcastic as a defense. They had met before though a couple of times, but the car trip is filmed in London for Dylan's tour.