Dylan - Shot of Love

Paul Nelson in his Rolling Stone review went as far as saying that it was "...filled mainly with hatred, confusion and egoism."

 

Say that he's a loser 'cause he got no common sense
Because he don't increase his worth at someone else's expense
Because he's not afraid of trying, say he's got no style
'Cause he doesn't tell you jokes or fairy tales, say things that make you smile

 

Super album.

 

Not my favourite, but two or three really good songs.

 

Prayed in the ghetto with my face in the cement
Heard the last moan of a boxer, seen the massacre of the innocent
Felt around for the light switch, felt around for her face
Been treated like a farm animal on a wild goose chase

West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar

Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery
Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your shyness for snobbery
Got the message this morning, the one that was sent to me
About the madness of becoming what one was never meant to be

West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the ptage
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar

Don't know what I can say about Claudette wouldn't come back to haunt me
Finally had to give her up about the time she began to want me
But I know God has mercy on them who are slandered and humiliated
I'd a-done anything for that woman if she'd only make me feel obligated

West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar

Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature?
I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture
There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it
Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to keep it

West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar

Cities on fire, phones out of order
They're killing nuns and soldiers, there's fighting on the border
What can I say about Claudette?
Ain't seen her since January
She could be respectfully married or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aires

West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar

The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar lyrics © Bob Dylan Music

 

Unless you count "Sad-Eyed Lady" being shortened on the original BOB CD. The whole one was later restored though.

 

Uttering idle words from a reprobate mind
Clinging to strange promises, dying on the line
Never being able to separate the good from the bad
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
It's making me feel so bad.

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

Satan got you by the heel, there's bird's nest in your hair
Do you have any faith at all ? Do you have any love to share ?
The way that you hold your head, cursing God with every move
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
What are you trying to prove ?

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

The glamour and the bright lights, and the politics of sin
The ghetto that you build for me is the one you're living in
The race of the engine that overrules your heart
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
Pretending that you're so smart.

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

What are you trying to overpower me with, the doctrine or the gun ?
My back is already to the wall, where can I run ?
The tuxedo that you're wearing, the flower in your lapel
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
You're takin' me down to hell.

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

Songwriters: Bob Dylan
Dead Man, Dead Man lyrics © Bob Dylan Music Co.

 

A solid album, not his best.

 

Shot of Love is an album that-for me-only gets better as the years pass. One could see it as the third-part of Dylans Christian trilogy. Slow Train and Saved are great albums to but the black and white message on those albums have changed to more doubt on Shot of Love.
Great music

 

I was in your presence for an hour or so
Or was it a day?
I truly don't know
Where the sun never set, where the trees hung low
By that soft and shining sea
Did you respect me for what I did
Or what I didn't do, or keeping it hid?
Did I lose my mind when I tried to get rid
Of everything you see?

In the summertime, ah in the summertime
In the summertime, when you were with me.

I got the heart and you got the blood
We cut through iron and we cut through mud
Then came the warning that was before the flood
That set everybody free
Fools they made a mock of sin
Our loyalty they tried to win
But you were closer to me than my next of kin
When they didn't want to know or see.

In the summertime, ah in the summertime
In the summertime, when you were with me.

Strangers, they meddled in our affairs
Poverty and shame was theirs
But all that suffering was not to be compared
With the glory that is to be
And I'm still carrying the gift you gave
It's a part of me now, it's been cherished and saved
It'll be with me unto the grave
And into eternity.

In the summertime, ah in the summertime
In the summertime, when you were with me.

In the Summertime lyrics © Bob Dylan Music Co.

 

I'll have to have another listen. The title sounds like a Van Morrison tune .

 

It's the Dylan record I'd take if I could only have one. Not because it's "his best," but because I just like it the most. There's lots to discover - still. To this day.

 

That was not just a CD-specific change. When the album was first released on CD (in 1985, I believe) that song was added to the vinyl and cassette versions of the album also.

 

I have to track down "Yonder Comes Sin"!

 

Same here though I've since replaced "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" with the bootleg live version with Michael Bloomfield. Oddly enough, the bootleg version sounds better than the official release on the Bloomfield box set - that box set sounds like it used a poor copy of the same soundboard recording.

So in short, Paul Nelson was right.

 

Lovely harmonica on that song. Great melody to.

 

I think his lyrics are top-notch and his singing is inspired. There's lots to admire in this album for sure.

 

The LP also included it too as an extra track on the very quickly issued second pressing.

 

You're right, and I still have to get a copy of that revised vinyl edition -- I only have the first pressing, and my trusty Heart of Mine 45 with Groom on the flip.

Of course that track is also on Biograph and several other collections, in superior quality, but no matter -- my obsessiveness requires me to get that second edition of the LP, too.

 

Apparently a 2013 remaster was issued on the box set, can't imagine that it would sound much better than the excellent standard cd.

 

wow, that version of the album would have made many reconsider Dylan in the 80's. Of all the good to great songs he left in the vault, "Angelina" is imo the most astonishing. Songs of that caliber make me think the Nobel Committee might have been on to something (I'm not so impressed by his put down songs or surrealistic silliness). One of his greatest vocals too.

 

Nope. Anesini did a fine job with the original CD.

 

This was and always will be a master work... wonderful album!
They added "Groom" later, after the original albums release, which brought the album to ten songs from nine.
It was a smart move making the album even better.
I have the original authentic 10" acetate of "Groom's Still Waiting At The Alter"... oddly pressed on the Capitol label for Columbia.
I also have the original 12" one-sided, Precision Lacquer of Side Two (w/ nine songs). This was the first acetate made in LA before GSWATA.
These are well documented at: www.searchingforagem.com

 

Underappreciated album. Better than Saved, Infidels, Empire Burlesque. The title track is amazing for a start.

 

"In The Summertime" is a Dylan classic, a lovely song, but I don't like the rest of the LP. Also, its cover is one of his worst!

I'm a fan of "Down In The Groove" too.