Desolation Row

nicaragon:

Bob Dylan - Spirit On The Water

My favorite off the album, so odd remembering this song last night, and being able to remember the lyrics, and how songs can change as life changes. 

Good night.

Lyrics - 

Spirit on the water 
Darkness on the face of the deep 
I keep thinking about you baby 
I can hardly sleep 

I’m traveling by land 
Traveling through the dawn of day 
You’re always on my mind 
I can’t stay away

I had forgotten about you 
Then you turned up again 
I always knew 
We were meant to be more than friends 

When you’re near 
It’s just as plain as it can be 
I’m wild about you, girl
You ought to be a fool about me 

Can’t explain 
The sources of this hidden pain 
You burned your way into my heart 
You got the key to my brain 

I’ve been trampling through mud 
Praying to the powers above 
I’m sweating blood 
You got a face that begs for love 

Life without you 
Doesn’t mean a thing to me 
If I can’t have you 
I’ll throw my love into the deep blue sea 

Sometimes I wonder 
Why you can’t treat me right 
You do good all day 
And then you do wrong all night 

When you’re with me 
I’m a thousand times happier than I could ever say 
What does it matter 
What price I pay?

They brag about your sugar 
Brag about it all over town 
Put some sugar in my bowl 
I feel like laying down 

I’m as pale as a ghost 
Holding a blossom on a stem 
You ever seen a ghost? 
No, but you have heard of them 

I see you there 
I’m blinded by the colors I see 
I’ll take good care 
Of what belongs to me 

I hear your name 
Ringing up and down the line 
I’m saying it plain 
These ties are strong enough to bind 

Now your sweet voice 
Calls out from some old familiar shrine 
I’ve got no choice 
Can’t believe these things would ever fade from your mind 

I could live forever 
With you perfectly 
You don’t ever 
Have to make a fuss over me 

>From East to West 
Ever since the world began 
I only mean it for the best 
I want to be with you in any way that I can 

I’ve been in a brawl 
Now I’m feeling the wall 
I’m going away baby 
I won’t be back until fall 

High on the hill 
You can carry all my thoughts with you 
You’ve numbed my will 
This love could tear me in two 

I want be with you in paradise 
And it seems so unfair 
I can’t go to paradise no more 
I killed a man back there 

You think I’m over the hill 
You think I’m past my prime 
Let me see what you got 
We can have a whopping good time

Can I be your chauffeur? 

Don’t get in to this while it’s playing.  I dare you.

dylanoftheday:

Day 8 of 365: ”Soon After Midnight” - Tempest (2012)

               
                 In honor of the release of Bob Dylan’s most recent studio album, (yesterday) today’s song comes from Tempest (2012).  The second track off the album, “Soon After Midnight” juxtaposes simplistic lyrics with more complex ones, as they are interwoven perfectly to create a simply beautiful love song.

                   The accompaniment on the song is, as with most recent Dylan albums, flawless in nature.  Dylan has come to surround himself with world class musician’s over the years, as they seem to jump at the chance to play with such a masterful song writer.  The track represents one of the lighter songs on the album, which is, unsurprisingly, filled with songs so great they could only be works of Dylan.  

                  The album is highly recommended, and is well worth the price on amazon. Enjoy this recent classic, and thank the lord Dylan hasn’t lost a beat.

dylanoftheday:

Day 6 of 365: ”Sign on the Window” - New Morning (1970)

         New Morning (1970) remains one of Dylan’s most under-appreciated albums.  Coming directly after the ill-recieved Self Portrait (1970), where Dylan mostly covered country classics with a new “sweet” voice, the album was initially seen as a return to form for the songwriting legend.  However, with the release of Blood on the Tracks (1975) and Desire (1976), the album was quickly forgotten in favor of these works which became considered “truer” returns to form. 

            However the album is well-worth listening to all the way through on a rainy day, filled with classics like “If Not For You” (Which became a hit for former Beatle George Harrison) and “The Man in Me”, (Theme song of The Big Lebowski) as well as hidden gems like this one.  

              The song features the “sweet” side of Dylan, with a hesitant beginning, as most succesful relationships truly began, yet culminating in a matter-of-fact repeated statement on the way things turn out.  

         Enjoy this wonderful song, and have a great week.  

dylanoftheday:

Day 5 of 365: ”A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” -The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)

         Our biggest leap yet, as today’s Dylan song came 46 years before the last one.  Hard Rain is one of Dylan’s most recognized works, and has remained a relevant song in the world of political causes for the last 50 years.  

         The song is often misinterpreted as written in response to the Cuban MIssile Crisis which occurred in October of 1962, as the “Hard Rain” is thought to be nuclear fallout.  The song, however, was written months prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Iroinically enough, the source of this misinterpretation can be traced back to Dylan himself, who claimed that he wrote it in response to the Crisis, saying,

“Every line in it is actually the start of a whole new song.  But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn’t have enough time alive to write all those songs so I put all I could into this one.”

          Dylan has since made quite clear that a “Hard Rain” is simply just that, not some sort of nuclear fallout, and means, “just some sorta end that’s gotta happen”.  The song stands as an elegant dialogue describing the prevalent injustices in 1960’s society, and is filled with arguably the greatest imagery ever written into a song.  

           Despite being written almost 5 decades ago, the song is still what it was 50 years ago; A bitter reminder of the wrong we let exist simply because of our acceptance of the status quo.  

            After watching the amazing documentary directed by one Martin Scorsese on Bob Dylan entitled, “No Direction Home”, one cannot hear “Hard Rain” without seeing Allen Ginsberg reminisce on it.  Ginsberg was a great American poet, and an influential leader of the Beat Generation of the 1950’s.  Best known for his epic poem, “Howl” Ginsberg is interviewed in the documentary and describes the first time he heard “Hard Rain”:

         “I heard “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall… and wept because it seemed to me that the torch had been passed to another generation.”

         Ginsberg said he had not heard lines as beautiful as:

“And I’ll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it

And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it

Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’

But I’ll know my songs well before I start singin’”

            A beautiful song, and a prime example of the craft of songwriting at its best.  Enjoy, yet ask yourselves these questions Dylan would have all ask themselves:  

Where have you been?

What have you seen?

What have you heard?   

Who have you met?

What will you do now?

dylanoftheday:

Day 4 of 365: ”Life is Hard” -Together Through Life (2009)

         Today’s Dylan song comes 35 years after the last one, and is the second track off his (barely) most recent album, Together Through Life (2009). [Tempest (2012) is in stores this Tuesday, the 11th.]

         In recent decades Dylan has eased into the role of a wise old man reminiscing on a world gone by, oddly enough not to different from his original role.  Twenty year-old Dylan sang with the voice and insight of a 70-year-old man, so it is only natural that 70-year-old Dylan sings with the voice and insight of a 120-year-old man.  

        The melody is chilling, as is the imagery, as we listen to the last memories of love the artist seems to have.  The song is soothing, yet worrying; sweet, yet barren; reminiscent, yet cold.  The beautiful instrumentation, and perfect for the song vocals make it a wonderful addition to the incredibly vast catalogue of Dylan.  Much appreciated is the traditional imagery Dylan has utilized throughout the many decades of his career, most notably, the sinking sun.  

    Sit back, and enjoy a stroll down the bitter lane of lost love.  

dylanoftheday:

Day 3 of 365: ”Wedding Song” - Planet Waves (1974)

         Planet Waves (1974) was Bob Dylan’s first number 1 album, as his arguably less cryptic songwriting and backing by his longtime collaborators The Band appealed to a larger audience than his earlier work did.  The album remains popular for both versions of the song “Forever Young”, but, as all Dylan albums seem to be, is filled with great works.

          ”Wedding Song” begins as a mere expression of a man’s love for a woman, yet spirals into much more than that.  The lyrics soon are flooded with thoughts of doubt and contradictions, causing the song to be a great source of controversy over the years as to whether or not it is autobiographical in nature.

          Have a listen for yourself, and enjoy this under-appreciated gem.  

dylanoftheday:

Day 2 of 365: ”It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

         Today’s Dylan track comes from his most critically acclaimed album of all, recently ranked the fourth greatest album in Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 500 Albums List.  Highway 61 Revisited (1965) was the second of Dylan’s “rock trilogy” in the mid 1960’s.  

          While best known for containing what Rolling Stone Magazine called the Greatest Song of All Time (“Like a Rolling Stone”), the album is filled with some of the great classics of American music.  The album remains a perfect blend of Dylan’s trademark abstract lyrics, and exceptional musical backing.

       “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” exemplifies Dylan’s new approach to songwriting, as his blend of traditional blues song lyrics and lines of his own have been interpreted by many to invoke images of “sexual frustration”.  However, this website tries to refrain from advocating certain interpretations, and rather encourages all to listen and appreciate Dylan in their own rights.

      Enjoy one of the all-time great driving songs.

dylanoftheday:

Day 1 of 365: ”Spanish Harlem Incident” - Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

         Despite being Dylan’s last acoustic album before making the “switch” to electric instruments a year later on Bringing it All Back Home (1965), Another Side of Dylan (1964) represented just as dramatic a shift for the artist.  While the instruments remained the same, the album represented Dylan’s first real foray into the abstract and personal realms of songwriting that came to define him throughout the remainder of his career.  

        Although containing a few elegant and well-received “protest” songs, ”Spanish Harlem Incident” represents the remainder of the songs on the album, truly encapsulating this new style of songwriting for Dylan.  Filled with poetic phrases and hidden layers, the song has been described as a “a gorgeous vignette” and masterpiece of acoustic Dylan.  

      Enjoy the immense imagery and intriguing melody.