What's the story of Bob Dylan's 4th Time Around?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by johnnyyen, Nov 11, 2006.

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  1. owsley

    owsley Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    One of my favorite's too, especially the French mono lp mix with the harmonium mixed way up.
     
  2. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    You see? It all makes sense now, doesn't it?
     
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  3. guy incognito

    guy incognito Senior Member

    Location:
    Mee-chigan
    "What a jerk Bob Dylan was in 1965. What an immature, self-important, inflated, cruel, shallow little creature, lacking in empathy and contemptuous of anyone who was not himself or his lackey. Did we actually once take this twirp as our folk god?"

    Roger Ebert, reviewing the re-release of Dont Look Back in 1998
     
  4. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    All true .... and yes. :)
     
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  5. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    But he did have the guts to let it out of the can, warts and all.
     
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  6. Johnny Livewire

    Johnny Livewire New Member

    I like that. According to Dylan most of the songs on Blonde On Blonde didn't have titles when they were recorded, so he gave them random titles when they were organising the track listing for release.
     
  7. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    Why do people assume he burned the house down? He lit a fire- In the fireplace, no big deal
     
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  8. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    McCartney, the author of that part, confirmed it in Many Years From Now I believe.
     
  9. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    I think he's just revising history
     
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  10. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    The meter of the song is kind of funny. All that going on in the middle of a waltz? Which lends itself to the whole story being a dance of a scene between two people.

    I had more typed but hit a button and it got erased. I dont feel like redigging my mind for it.
     
  11. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    Blonde On Blonde is such an incredible album. It's as much the pinnacle of Dylan's 60's style as Smile was the culmination of Brian Wilson's studio craft. Interesting that both had breakdowns of their own kind that ended the blinding flash of creativity that they were operating under.

    I didn't hear the Norwegian Wood element in 4th Time Around until I read about, and then it all made sense. Parody or not, it's a fantastic song. Bob's sleepy, nasally delivery around this time certainly had a big influence on Lennon.
     
  12. fmfxray373

    fmfxray373 Capitol LPs in the 70s were pretty good.

    Back in English 100 at Kent State University in 1981 I had this non-tenured non-staffed Ph.D hold over from the 1960s bring in a crappy record player and proceed to play "Just Like A Woman" to a bunch of yuppie wannabee college freshmen who were horrified at the sound of Bob's voice (even then virgin ears were shocked). I was the only student in the class that actually owned Blonde On Blonde. Mr. Bennett made the argument that the song Just Like A Woman was about marijuana, which makes love, aches, takes and breaks just like a woman...but was not an actual lady but Queen Mary, code for marijuana.
    I remember that class to this day. His argument was pretty good from what I can recall.

    So when I hear that term crutch from 4th Time Around I always think Bob is saying I never asked for your pot now don't ask for mine lol....

    If you are out there Ken I hope things turned out ok for you.
     
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  13. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Wow, yet another mix of this album to try any hunt down (joke).
     
  14. Vincent deLeon

    Vincent deLeon Forum Resident

    My guess is he didn't have a name for the song that became the 4th track on Side 3 of Blonde on Blonde.
     
  15. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :kilroy: Dylan probably thought "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" was a parody of "Gates Of Eden." The melody is slightly different, but it's the same meter.
     
  16. qwerty

    qwerty A resident of the SH_Forums.

    The book Magic Circles by Bob Mason (2004, published by Duffy & Snellgrove) proposes that Dylan and the Beatles had an extended conversation via their music. It is a fascinating read. It uncodes the secret language in their (and their contemporaries lyrics) and how they answered each other's songs. For example, "Rain" in lyrics was a code for "drugs". I can't recall what he said about "4th Time Around", but I'm sure it was significant in their "conversations".

    [​IMG]
     
  17. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    So I lit a fire. Isn't it good, Norwegian wood = The Norwegian wood burns well
     
  18. John DeAngelis

    John DeAngelis Senior Member

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Not a harmonium. An electric keyboard. The session tapes make that clear. Played by Charlie McCoy.
     
  19. vonwegen

    vonwegen Forum Resident

    That was what I used to think, until I read an interview with Paul in 1988. He said, and I quote: "Twas my idea to burn the house down!"
     
  20. owsley

    owsley Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    You are correct. I originally posted before The Cutting Edge box set was released. It definitely is an electric keyboard, sounds like a Farfisa to me with that 'fuzz' sound. I suspect that Dylan wanted the keyboard removed from the track, which was recorded on the same track as the drums. Drums were re-recorded on the multitrack but not before several different mono and stereo lp masters had already been made with the keyboard version and issued haphazardly in US, Canada and France. That would have been nice to include a wide stereo mix of the multitrack take used for the initial album masters but it doesn't exist.
     
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