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Any thoughts on Bob Dylan’s Clothes Line Saga, supposedly a response to Ode To Billie Joe? Dylan’s version isn’t up on youtube, but the cover by The Roches is.
Or Dick Emery! He had a rare Queen appearance from Top of the Pops at the beginning of a video tape, after the show had over run into the time slot he was recording.
IIRC, the original tape box containing Clothes Line Saga was labeled Answer to Ode. Thanks for the Roches link; I've been meaning to check this out!
What I hear on the first two CDs sounds like some noise reduction. I am skeptical that those master tapes have virtually no tape hiss, for example during the intros of Ode To Billie Joe, Reunion or the Sermon demo. Could you clarify this?
"It was January the 30th, and everybody was feeling fine." Somewhere in the recent Bobbie Gentry coverage I read the claim that Dylan hated "Ode to Billie Joe" and that "Clothes Line Saga" was some sort of scathing put-down response. Maybe there's a basis for that, but I don't think so. My instinct is that Bob was simply gobsmacked by the out-of-nowhere greatness and compelling mystery of "Ode" just like everybody else, and was simply spliffing and riffing about in a related mode — it's less a parody than an extremely off-handed half-hearted pastiche in a vaguely John Wesley Harding mode. It doesn't have any bite or punch and sounds like a goof like a bunch of other Basement Tapes tracks.
Mine came on Tuesday. One of the greatest box sets ever ... and I haven't had the chance to play it yet
Dylan and the Band were a pretty snarky bunch around this time (66-67). And drunk during most of those sessions. In those conditions, surrounded by your drunken pals, you can think you hate something and next thing you know someone's switched on a tape recorder. You record a parody , not intended for release, then a few years later it does get released, by which time you have realized BG is a great artist, but you give the go ahead to the release because it doesn't sound as snarky as the mood in which it was created - could even pass as a kind of "affectionate tribute". Sorry to get complicated but I reckon this happens a lot - artists think they dislike a record but the urge to parody it suggests a subconscious liking for it. I would also hazard a guess that it wasn't so much "Ode" that Dylan et al disliked as BG's down-homey, black-eyed peas and grits schtick, which maybe they thought was corny/affected. Anyway, plenty of good Dylan parodies out there to redress the balance! Anyone seen Joan Baez on the Earl Scruggs DVD taking the p--- out of ol' Bob? Very funny. Made me like Joan a lot - never realized she had a sense of humour. My favorite one is Adrian Belew on Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti album ("Flakes").
A beautiful set! Finally arrived yesterday after a few false starts. Really looking forward to hearing it this weekend.
I know exactly what you mean hear as I think the same dynamic was at work with Elvis Presley during his 68 Comeback Special. Elvis spent a great deal of time mocking the recent hit song MacArthur Park during outtakes of the television special. He kept singing the line about "Someone left the cake out in the rain" and then would end it with a sort of effeminate yelp at the end of that line. It reality, the great producer of the special, Steve Binder, had asked Elvis as a test before working with him on the special, if he would have ever considered recording a song like MacArthur Park, if nobody else had already recorded it yet. Elvis answered surprisingly in the affirmative, and this response indicated to the young director that Elvis was still a hip artist and had not lost touch with the changes in the music business that had occurred since his breakthrough in the 1950's. I think Elvis secretly liked that song, but he did not want his tough Memphis Mafia buddies to know that fact.
Great thread here. Have enjoyed reading it. Not too familiar with her music outside of the hits but I am thinking I should get this boxset before it goes out of print! Jim
I complained to Amazon about the crappy packaging and the resulting damage, and got a 30% refund of $24.
My favorite is when they email you a day or two after the “delivery date” to tell you it’s delayed. Gee, thanks.
Ooooooh, let's go just a little further off track and start a poll; how many BG fans could care less what Dylan thinks, does or says? I just got off the phone with a lovely woman at Amazon. Didn't find out too much about my order but she recommended to me the Cocaine and Rhinestones podcast and was grateful for my encouragement to buy this boxset herself. We had a nice conversation about mastering practices as well.
Thanks RSteven I really appreciate the positive feedback. This size is a new format, and I really love it! I'll be using it on future boxsets as well
Please keep this thread up to date regarding your next project. I have upwards of 50 box sets in my collection, including about a dozen of the highly revered Bear Family box sets, and this Bobbie Gentry collection is easily within the top tier of my box sets collection. I can hardly wait to hear about your next project. I will be keeping my credit card nearby.
When I saw this Bobbie Gentry box announced a few months ago I was really pleased to see her catalogue being treated with such care and keen to upgrade from the Raven discs. At the same time, the funds were a sticking point as another pretty expensive Dylan box was due. Anyways, after reading all these posts and finding the means, both have now been ordered. Funny thing is, I'm now really looking forward to listening to The Girl from Chickasaw County - moreso than the Dylan. On a related note, I really liked the quote from Bobbie Gentry's biographer, Tara Murtha, in the recent Guardian article. "As a working-class woman in the music industry, '(Bobbie Gentry) successfully navigated a system literally built to exploit people just like her', says Murtha. 'I don’t begrudge her silence. I’m rooting for her. I think it’s fantastic'.”
Tyler Coe made the claim that Dylan 'apparently hated' Ode to Billie Joe in his wonderful Cocaine and Rhinestones podcast episode on Bobbie Gentry. Later in the season, a listener wrote in saying that Dylan's Clothes Line Saga seemed more like 'a whimsical and affectionate parody'. Tyler said he had no direct quote from Dylan on the subject but that he would "show that the general consensus among his fans, which is he (Dylan) does not have much affection for the song, is probably accurate". To me, Tyler struggled to prove anything and it was one of those moments where it might have been best to acknowledge different opinions and leave it at that. You can listen to that part of the Q&A on CLS/OTBJ here and see what you think:
