Bob Dylan Hidden Gem Dark Eyes

This for me is one of Bob Dylan‘s best songs a true hidden gem.





Forum members post your own Dylan gem I would be interested in hearing them.

 

Love that song very much too.

I guess my hidden gem is "shooting star" which just gets me every time.

 

“Under Your Spell”.

 

The degree to which it is "hidden" is--I suppose--debatable, but "Every Grain of Sand" jumps out as a gem from a period where Dylan's work was not getting universal acclaim.



Bill

 

“Sign on the Window” from New Morning. It has always struck me as about the wonderment Dylan found in married life.

 

'Man in the Long Black Coat'. Another one from Oh Mercy.

 

I love Dark Eyes. For some reason, he sounds like he’s singing in a Manc accent and I can picture him as a terrifying elderly gangster railing in the backroom of an Ancoats boozer.

In terms of nominating one, I’ll go for In The Summertime. For me, it does as almost much to rescue Shot O’ Love as Every Grain of Sand and it’s a nice nod to the Mungo Jerry song from which he seems to have borrowed the melody for Buckets of Rain.

 

I love how Bob's dog barks with perfect percussive timing at around 3.11!

 

Ninety Miles an Hour Down a Dead-End Street, from the dreaded Down In The Groove album

 

Love that song. On spotty album, I don't even like Brownsville Girl. Good pick!

 

When Patti Smith came out of retirement in 1995, she toured with Dylan. They often did a duet of Dark Eyes during Dylan’s set. I remember hearing and seeing it for the first time and how beautifully they performed the song.

 

That particular version is significantly better than the album version imo

 

After being whacked around the head with horrific 80's production for 40 minutes, it comes as a bit of light relief. But it's a very average track, that would have been discarded if written only a few years earlier. The melody is very generic, and doesn't really go anywhere. 4/10

 

Yeah, I don't think this gem counts as "hidden." I mean, I think it's Dylan's greatest work. And it's pretty universally acclaimed, been covered a bunch, gotten multiple different releases on Shot of Love, Biograph, Bootleg Series 1-3 and like 4 versions on Trouble No More, been played by Dylan in concert hundreds of times.

 

In the Summertime is wonderful kind of testimony of being in the presence of God given a really heartfelt performance. But Shot of Love is one of my favorite Dylan albums largely because it's less of an apocalyptic calling the judgement of God down upon the sinners and more personal testimony like this and an exploration of the personal struggle of faith.

 

I think Dark Eyes was singled out a lot at the time as the one masterpiece on that album. Rather like the reaction to Every Grain of Sand at that time. (Also, Patti Smith started covering Dark Eyes soon after her return to performing).

 

A song you don't hear much and one that's seldom discussed is Dylan's great cover of John Hiatt's ' The Usual'.

I think it's only available on the ' Hearts of Fire' soundtrack but I could be wrong about that.
Anyway...it's truly a hidden gem.

 

Wish they’d made room for it on Springtime vinyl

EDIT: My fault, I was thinking about Death is Not the End.

 

the version on the new Bootleg Series is somehow less nasal and i prefer. just a gorgeous song with some of his best lyrics. wonderful!

 

Eric Clapton does some very nice guitar work on that track.

 

Didn't know it was Clapton. I'm surprised. He actually sounds involved and interested.

 

Sign Language from Clapton's No Reason To Cry album. Bob and Eric share vocals.

 

Dark Eyes is a true gem. Another "hidden gem"--as noted, one fan's hidden gem is another's well-known drivel--is Hazel from Planet Waves. As lovely as that version is, there's a unreleased version from the rehearsals for MTV Unplugged that really gets me.

 

Got to see Dylan do Hazel in 2004 at 9:30 club in Washington, DC. A special moment at an already special show. The song would be perfect contender for the Shadow Kingdom treatment.

 

Why Try to Change Me Now from Shadows in the Night. Also, the whole of that album

Tim