Bob Dylan's Empire Burlesque - your favourite track?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Dave Gilmour's Cat, Dec 3, 2016.

  1. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident Thread Starter

  2. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    "Tight Connection". Cool lyrics, good melody, good arrangement. Much superior to the often touted demo on The Bootleg Series.
     
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  3. andy75

    andy75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    Love this album. It's in my Bob Dylan top five list! Voted for "I'll Remember You", but I like the entire album.
     
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  4. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky
     
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  5. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    "Dark Eyes" but I really think "When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky" is a great song, I just much prefer the arrangement as recorded with the E Street Band guys on the Bootleg Series issue.
     
  6. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Empire Burlesque took a lot of criticism when it came out, but I really liked it. My favorite tracks are When the Night Comes Falling, Something's Burning Baby, and the solo acoustic Dark Eyes.
     
  7. Thomas Casagranda

    Thomas Casagranda Forum Resident

    I like both versions of Tight / Someone. There's also a version I heard directly at Hammersmith, 1990, at a Dylan gig. I also like Emotionally Yours by the OJays: that track is a precursor of To Make You Feel My Love.

    However, both versions of When The Night are fantastic.
     
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  8. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    The O Jays version of Emotionally Yours at Bobfest is fantasticm they really do justice to the song. Bob's version is nice though, except the synth,
     
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  9. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Ive always been a fan of this album. At one time it would have been Dark Eyes (which is still the best song on the album by far). However, I now prefer Tight Connection. I love the surrealistic lyrics that go into the dark and seedy streets.


    There's just a hot-blooded singer
    Singing "Memphis in June, "
    While they're beatin' the devil out of a guy
    Who's wearing a powder-blue wig.
    Later he'll be shot
    For resisting arrest,
    I can still hear his voice crying
    In the wilderness.
    What looks large from a distance,
    Close up ain't never that big.
     
  10. jeffrey walsh

    jeffrey walsh Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, Pa. USA
  11. Sandinista

    Sandinista Forum Resident

    Dark Eyes easily.

    Not a great album imo - production issues whew boy, a long way from _____________ (whatever the last Dylan album you loved) but the last 3 songs are pretty damn good and the opening track is solid.
     
  12. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Miami Bob :cool:

    Oh my goodness, I made to the end of that; but I wish I hadnt when I saw Dylan doing Temptation motions with the singers..lol
     
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  13. majorlance

    majorlance Forum Resident

    Location:
    PATCO Speedline
    Well, well, well..."Dark Eyes" appears to be the early leader. What a surprise. :hide:

    I voted for Clean Cut Kid. Nothing special musically (like most of this album), but some damn good lines, including an allusion to one of my favorite movies of that era, The Stunt Man:

    Everybody wants to know why he couldn’t adjust
    Adjust to what, a dream that bust?

    He was a clean-cut kid
    But they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    They said what’s up is down, they said what isn’t is
    They put ideas in his head he thought were his

    He was a clean-cut kid
    But they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    He was on the baseball team, he was in the marching band
    When he was ten years old he had a watermelon stand

    He was a clean-cut kid
    But they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    He went to church on Sunday, he was a Boy Scout
    For his friends he would turn his pockets inside out

    He was a clean-cut kid
    But they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    They said, “Listen boy, you’re just a pup”
    They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up

    They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills
    A jeep to drive, blood to spill

    They said “Congratulations, you got what it takes”
    They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes

    He was a clean-cut kid
    But they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    He bought the American dream but it put him in debt
    The only game he could play was Russian roulette

    He drank Coca-Cola, he was eating Wonder Bread
    Ate Burger Kings, he was well fed

    He went to Hollywood to see Peter O’Toole
    He stole a Rolls-Royce and drove it in a swimming pool

    They took a clean-cut kid
    And they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    He could’ve sold insurance, owned a restaurant or bar
    Could’ve been an accountant or a tennis star

    He was wearing boxing gloves, took a dive one day
    Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay

    His mama walks the floor, his daddy weeps and moans
    They gotta sleep together in a home they don’t own

    They took a clean-cut kid
    And they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did

    Well, everybody’s asking why he couldn’t adjust
    All he ever wanted was somebody to trust

    They took his head and turned it inside out
    He never did know what it was all about

    He had a steady job, he joined the choir
    He never did plan to walk the high wire

    They took a clean-cut kid
    And they made a killer out of him
    That’s what they did
     
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  14. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    I request World Gone Wrong as the next album to vote on
     
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  15. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Fun little rocker. Beats Union Sundown and that other terrible rocker off of Infidels.
     
  16. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Request noted. I'm spacing these out more at the request of the moderators, but – yes – it will be next.
     
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  17. Great Sly & Robbie drum and bass on half of the album, after they'd done "Infidels" for Bob Dylan
     
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  18. the sands

    the sands Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    I'll Remember You
     
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  19. Dayfold

    Dayfold Forum Resident

    I love Empire Burlesque in the same way I do Nashville Skyline: they may not be considered top tier Dylan by the critics, but always make me feel great listening to them. Perhaps my expectations had been lowered by all the negative stuff I'd read over the years, but when I finally heard EB just a few years ago, I was suprised by how much I enjoyed it, and it continues to grow in my affections.

    I chose I'll Remember You, mostly because of Dylan's wonderful Farm Aid performance of it:
     
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  20. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)
     
  21. jedstar

    jedstar Well-Known Member

    Location:
    woodstock
    this record proves that EVERY Dylan album has at least ONE masterpiece.

    in this case...................DARK EYES
     
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  22. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    "Tight Connection," but I like the outtake version on the Bootleg Series better.
     
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  23. dylankicks

    dylankicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oshkosh, WI
    There is more good here than people usually give it credit for. I went with "Never Gonna Be The Same Again" but I really like several songs. I almost wish he would recut this entire album and get rid of the cheesy 80's production they threw on.
     
    dee likes this.
  24. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    "Dark Eyes" is undoubtedly the best track, but my favorite track is "Never Gonna Be The Same Again" - because it's so darn weird. Those little glockenspiel accents never fail to crack me up.
     
  25. Marc 74

    Marc 74 Senior Member

    Location:
    West Germany,NRW
    Emotionally Yours. I certainly would go with When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky if it would be the Bootleg Series version.
     

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