Fun to hear Dylan singing the line "If You Go Down to Houston" almost a half century before Together Through Life. Is the phrase taken from some old blues or folk song? (And yes, I realize it's worded a bit differently here.)
That's the best take of that "song" I've heard... More Bloomfield, more swing, more excitement & swirl than the two takes that have been out.
It's presented thru Vevo. Could you guys have a security setting turned on that disables their content?
I'm pretty sure I've listened to Vevo stuff before - I'm at work, so it's possible they've blocked it, but I couldn't get it at home this morning, either If I actually click through to the Vevo site I get: and if I click through to the Dylan Vevo channel, "Barbed wire" isn't listed...?!??
BIABH is a more restrained album than Highway 61, but still great... On BIABH, the musicians thought they were going to be accompanying a folk singer; and Dylan went into the sessions unsure of how much of it he would do with a band. Bruce Langhorne plays beautiful guitar, but he wasn't going to rock like Mike Bloomfield. (Comparing the album & Newport versions of Maggie's Farm illustrates the difference!) But at the time, BIABH still blew a lot of people's minds, and I think he won more new rock fans than he lost old folkie fans. And in the context of rock music, Dylan didn't have any "folk-rock" template to draw from in January 1965 (I think he liked John Hammond's work with a band, and producer Tom Wilson was struck by the Animals) - and rock music in general wasn't that heavy yet: it was a world where, say, Ticket to Ride & Satisfaction did not exist yet. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Bloomfield didn't record their first album until after Highway 61!
Huh. All I can say is it's working fine thru my iPad (not the most hi-fi way to listen, but it gets the job done). I just checked again, and it's still working for me.
I tried the Vevo app on my Roku. The newest Dylan video on there is the "BIABH" album cover video. Oh well, I can wait a month. I'm an adult. Yeah, sure, that's the ticket.
If I can mention That Group here, your predicament reminds me of a bit at the end of the Think For Yourself session: Martin: "You want to hear your words then?" George: "No." John: "No, God. .We have never heard them once, you fool" "No wonder we've been getting it wrong." Martin: "I'm hearing them up here." John: "Wonderful for you." Martin: "Very lovely."
There's a hint of love for Gates of Eden expressed in your dislike for it. Maybe it's all relative and you like it (just less than other Dylan songs). Thanks for helping me to understand it - I've been trying to figure it out lyrically. Musically it's very beautiful to me.
I agree "Sitting on a Barbed-Wire Fence" is a bit of a minor song. It would have fit nicely onto Highway 61 Revisited, but it would have been the weak link--and From a Buick 6 isnt a weak song how dare you suggest such a thing. Anyway, Bob does pretty much sum up the song in the song when he says, "you might think this song is just a riff". That's pretty much what it is, Bob. I will say, though, there is a certain passion to the performance for the version they just released that I really like. It seems like there's a few mistakes in places (Bob coming in at the wrong times), and maybe they just figured this wasn't going to be the final take and just decided to have fun with it. As @DeeThomaz mentioned, it does seem like there's a bit of lyric improvisation going on, and I wonder if that goes beyond just referencing Mike Bloomfield. There certainly has been some major re-writing going on from this version to the released version (not necessarily for the better, is my current opinion), and it seems like Bob liked some of what he had and spread it out to some of his other songs (the part about his doctor and "make a mess out of you" both going to "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"). I am happy we're getting more preview tracks (two versions of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh"? I'm not complaining, it's one of my favorites, but still seems weird)... something's gotta get me through this waiting period. As an aside, if anyone's having trouble listening to them, I theoretically have saved the new preview tracks. So, in theory, if you're having trouble listening to them or just want to have these recordings to theoretically listen to, you should theoretically be able to theoretically ask me about them. In theory, a lot of us already own this stuff because we actually paid for them already. That's all just a theory, of course.
Dylan's original lyric, on the manuscript at Sotheby's auction, was: "The last one now shall later be first" Dylan crossed out the words and put a double arrow to make the switch. It was one of his better edits.
