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The title of tonight's diary, "Dylan's 70," has a double meaning. First, the legendary Bob Dylan is turning 70 on Tuesday the 24th, which makes me feel incredibly old--probably because I AM old. The other half of the title's meaning refers to the cover of the May 26, 2011, print edition of Rolling Stone which promises "The 70 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs." This diary will not be a comprehensive look at the list, just a few Random Thoughts™. I'd like to hear yours, too.
Before I opened the magazine, I knew what Dylan's number one song would be. Of course, Rolling Stone had already proclaimed it number one on its 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time so it wasn't exactly a shock that it was "Like a Rolling Stone."
Dylan plays his encore, "Like a Rolling Stone" --Charlotte, NC 1975
When the song first hit the airwaves, I was 14 years old and I was stunned. This was when the number one song of 1965 was "Wooly Bully," for chrissakes. The Beatles' big hit that year was "Help." Even the Rolling Stones' gritty classic "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"--No.2 on the 500 Greatest List--paled next to Dylan's song. As Bono says in the article about the song,
It's a black eye of a pop song. The verbal pugilism on display here cracks open songwriting for a generation and leaves the listener on the canvas. "Like a Rolling Stone" is the birth of an iconoclast that will give the rock era its greatest voice and vandal.
For a middle class white kid from the suburbs, it was my first exposure to street culture and an assault on the bourgeois values I had been weaned on. Dylan assails the "pretty people drinkin', thinkin' that they've got it made." He focuses on a formerly high class woman who finds herself "scrounging for [her] next meal." He chastises her, proclaiming,
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you.
The piercing electric organ, the intricate rhyme, and the howl of a voice that turned "feel" into a triumphant "fee-ul" were unlike anything I had ever heard before. The discordant harmonica breaks made the hair stand up on the back of my neck (and still do). With apologies to my colleagues at Readers and Book Lovers, it wasn't a book that changed my life; it was a great, great song that left me with these words to live by:
When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.
Another interesting sidelist in the article features the best covers of a Dylan song. No. 1 on that list is unquestionably Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower." RS quotes Dylan as saying,
He played [my songs] the way I would have done them if I was him.
While I can acknowledge Hendrix as the apex, "Watchtower" is not my favorite cover. My favorite is The Byrds' rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man." I think it's one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I also love this acoustic rendering. Roger McGuinn is at his finest. (Whatever you do, NEVER EVER listen to this version.) Byrds alumnus David Crosby notes:
As far as I can tell, the Byrds' recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the first time anyone put really good poetry on the radio. . . . Bob's lyrics were exquisite. "To dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free"--that was the line that got me. At the time of "Mr. Tambourine Man," I think he was finding himself as a poet. He was learning to be beautiful.
One cover of a Dylan song that didn't make either list is one of my faves--"The Man in the Long Black Coat" as sung by Joan Osborne. She just opens her throat and Dylan's lyrics pour out like honey and cream. The song reaches its zenith with this line:
People don't live or die; people just float.
I had the privilege of seeing Bob Dylan/The Band in 1975 in Charlotte during the Before the Flood tour. We had seats on the tenth row.The Band was awesome, playing all their hits. Jamming with Dylan, they were even more unbelievable. But the highlight came when Dylan did his acoustic set alone.
My good friend Gaines took the picture to the right and the one at the beginning of the diary.They are literally 8 X 10 color glossy photos (but they don't have circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explainin' what it was all about) that were made from Kodachrome 35mm slides. (Gaines took these remarkable shots with available light.) For me, "It's Alright Ma (I'm only bleeding)," No. 7 on the Top 70 list, was the pinnacle of the show. Dylan is at his most profound in this song, handing out bon mots like these:
Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.
(Note: In 1975 this line got a huge cheer.)
:::::
Don't hate nothin' at all except hatred
:::::
Money doesn't talk, it swears
:::::
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
I'll leave you with No. 23 as Robert Allen Zimmerman of Duluth, Minnesota, turns 70:
Happy Birthday, Bob!
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Thanks to tonight's Top Comments contributors. Let us hear from YOU when you find that answer Blowin' in the Wind.
TOP COMMENTS
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