Bob Dylan, The #29 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

 

Dylan stayed hot with the 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.  Dylan explained that the first single is about trials of relationships with women and specifically, about a Biblical passage from the Book of Acts. In that passage, it states:

     Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to

     heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus

     standing at the right hand of God...And when

     they had driven him out of the city, they began 

     stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes

    at the feet of a young man named Saul.

The single "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" also reached #2.

 Dylan's follow-up, "I Want You", stalled at #20, and "Just Like A Woman" fell short of that at #33.  In the former, which is featured here, the lyrics "I want you, I want you, I want you so bad" seem simple and mundane, and the music upbeat, but there's a lot more going on here.  Bob weaved those lyrics with other subjects such as a lonesome organ grinder, a guilty undertaker, a drunken politician weeping, the Queen of Spades, Dylan taking someone's flute, and more.

Al Kooper, who played for Dylan for years, loved the song and encouraged Bob to record it.  Guitarist Wayne Moss improvised the great sixteenth-note guitar part.  

 

The album has sold over two million copies, a lot by Dylan's standards.  Bob wrote "Visions Of Johanna" when he was living with his future wife Sara in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.  

 

One of Dylan's characters in "Stuck Inside Mobile With The Memphis Blues" is the ragman.  Bob told Robert Shelton for his book No Direction Home:  The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, that the ragman is Satan.

 

In "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat", Dylan satirically teases a woman who makes the unfortunate decision to wear a leopard-skin pillbox hat.  Pillbox hats at the time were very much in fashion.

After a tour of Europe and Austria, Bob returned home, but crashed his motorcycle on July 29, 1966.  Although he broke his neck and suffered amnesia as a result, Dylan did not require hospitalization, but he rarely appeared in public and did not tour again for nearly eight years.

In 1967, Dylan recorded the album John Wesley Harding, another Platinum release, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Performance. 

 

Some of Dylan's best lyrics, in "All Along The Watchtower", are familiar with Jimi Hendrix's version, which became the hit.  

We begin the song in the middle of a conversation between the Joker and the Thief.  The Joker hates his lot in life and hates the values that society has adopted.  Then Bob sings of princes, women and barefoot servants (said to signify established society*)  guarding a castle.  But we are warned that danger is imminent ("Somewhere in the distance, a wildcat does growl"), and then when we hear "Two riders are approaching", we know that the Joker and the Thief are back in the story to confront those established values and give us something different.

 

Dylan followed with the 1969 album Nashville Skyline, which has sold over one million copies.  "Lay Lady Lay", written for his wife at the time, Sarah Lowndes, hit #7. Bob wrote it for the movie Midnight Cowboy, but "Everybody's Talkin'" by Nilsson was chosen instead. "Lay Lady Lay" would be the last Top 10 song Bob would ever enjoy.  

 

One of Dylan's only true love songs is "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You".  He didn't have a full album's worth of material when he began recording in February so he needed a few more songs to complete it.  He wrote this song in a two-day period while staying at the Ramada Inn, but the song required 11 takes to finish.

The song "Nashville Skyline Rag" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance.  Dylan turned down offers to appear at Woodstock, choosing the Isle of Wight Festival in England, where he knew he would have a much smaller crowd.

Bob received an honorary degree from Princeton University in 1970.  He released the albums Self Portrait and New Morning in 1970, each of which went Gold.  Dylan did the artwork for the cover for Self Portrait, which is a reproduction of a painting of a face by Dylan. 

 

Bob landed a role in the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and recording songs for the movie.  The film flopped, but "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" did well at #12, helping the album sell over 500,000 copies.

In 1971, Dylan released his compilation Greatest Hits Vol. II, which has gone over five million in sales.  He helped George Harrison by performing at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh, with the project winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. 

Dylan re-recorded a new version of "I Shall Be Released", a song he originally wrote for The Band.

Dylan signed with Asylum Records in 1973 and released the album Planet Waves, another Gold album.  

The next year, he returned to touring, enlisting the help of the Band for a tour of North America.  A live double album featuring performances from the tour was released as Before the Flood, a one-million seller.  Unhappy with his new label, however, Bob returned to Columbia.

Part Four is next, exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!

Bob Dylan, The #29 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued from Part One)

 

The following year, Dylan included electronic instruments on the album Bringing It All Back Home, which has sold over one million copies.  The first single touches on drug busts, bad policing and social unrest.

The famous music video is of course one of the first of its kind and is part of the 1965 documentary Don't Look Back, which shows Dylan on his tour of England.  In the video, Bob is in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel in London flipping through cue cards as the song continues.  The cue cards were written by Dylan, Donovan, Bob Neuwirthand and poet Allen Ginsberg.  The latter two are seen in the video standing behind Dylan.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" again made the Top 10 in Great Britain but stalled at #39 in the U.S.

 

"Mr. Tambourine Man" is the only song that Dylan wrote that went to #1, though it is of course the Byrds who turned it into a classic.

 

Dylan generally liked to play his songs live before recording them to get a feel for them.  With "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", he wanted to get it recorded before getting comfortable with it in concerts.

 

Dylan's talent as a lyricist produced several great lines in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)".  The most famous is "He who is not busy being born is busy dying" has been quoted by several politicians, including president Jimmy Carter in his acceptance speech at the 1976 Democratic National convention and vice president Al Gore, who told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that it was his favorite quote.  The opening line, "Darkness at the break of noon" refers to a nuclear explosion.  

 

The Newport Folk Festival of 1965 was famous for being the first time that Dylan played an electric guitar since high school.  Other Folk artists did not react well to the change.  Dylan recorded "Positively 4th Street" to address the criticism.

Dylan released the album Highway 61 Revisted in 1965.  Bob toured North America in support of the album, which has since gone Platinum.  The first single was the only one on the album produced by Tom Wilson, who produced Dylan's legendary album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.  Wilson brought in keyboardist Al Kooper, who played the famous organ riff.   "Like A Rolling Stone" gave Dylan his first Top 10 hit at #2.  

 

Bob wrote about fellow musicians in Greenwich Village who he believed were jealous of his success.  Dylan released the single "Positively 4th Street", a #7 song.  

 

In "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry", Dylan mixes original lyrics with those from old Blues songs by Charlie Patton, Brownie McGhee and Leroy Carr.  Bob hints that life (at least his) is fundamentally sad.  He writes that an ordinary train can make us cry (such as when a lost love leaves town), but it is not easy to laugh.

 "From A Buick 6" was the flip side to "Positively 4th Street".  It is based on the 1930 song "Milk Cow Blues" by Sleepy John Estes, even taking some of the lyrics from the song. 

 There is much speculation among Dylan fans about who Mr. Jones is in "Ballad Of A Thin Man".  The Counting Crows refer to the song in their classic 1993 song "Mr. Jones" ("I wanna' be Bob Dylan, Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky").

 

The road that is the subject of "Highway 61 Revisited" runs from Minnesota to New Orleans.  For Dylan, it runs directly to the Blues music that he loved and influenced him so much.  "Highway 61 begins about where I came from, Duluth, to be exact," Bob said in his book Chronicles.  "I always felt like I'd started on it, always been on it, and could go anywhere from it."

 

In "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", Dylan refers to Tom Thumb, an English folklore character who starred in the first fairytale ever published in English in 1621.  Rue Morgue Avenue refers to Edgar Allen Poe while the Housing Project Hill is from the Jack Kerouac book Desolation Angels.

 

The opening lines of "Desolation Row" ("They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown..." refer to three men in town for the Duluth circus were accused of raping a girl.  On June 15, 1920, a town mob broke them out of jail and lynched the men.  Dylan rarely performed the song live, but when he did, it could sometimes stretch to be 45 minutes long.

 "Queen Jane Approximately" finds Dylan once again criticizing a woman and telling her she is getting ready for a fall.

The song eventually found its way onto Dylan's Greatest Hits album in 1967, which has sold over five million copies in the U.S. alone. 

Be sure to catch Bob Dylan, Part Three!

Bob Dylan, the #29 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

"One of the greatest poets of our lifetimes."

"One of the greatest songwriters of all-time."

"Pure genius."

"Dylan is a lyrical master."

"I have spent a lifetime deriving so much pleasure from Dylan's wonderful music."

"This awesome, beautiful, complex, deep, electric, brilliant, artistic genius of a man is an inspiration."

"Master writer with a gift."

"This man was real and sang with life and truth."

"He's a living legend."

"He's a poet. An intellectual. A genius. An original. A unique, true, pure musical spirit"

"He is one that comes along once in a century."

"Bob Dylan has written so many life changing songs and influenced more musicians than anybody in the history of music."

"He is transportative."

"One of the all-time greats in the music industry."

"His lyrics and song are heart wrenching!"

"He has given us so many memories.

Robert Zimmerman was born May 24, 1942 in Duluth, Minnesota and was raised in Hibbing.  While attending Hibbing High School, Robert formed several bands, playing covers at school functions.  After graduating, Robert moved to Minneapolis and enrolled at the University of Minnesota.

Zimmerman began playing Folk music at the coffeehouse named Ten O'Clock Scholar.  Soon, he took poet Dylan Thomas's first name and changed his stage name to Bob Dylan.  Bob's love of music led to him dropping out of school to go to Manhattan, New York, where he played at clubs in Greenwich Village.  

Dylan soon met several other Folk singers, and played harmonica for an album by Carolyn Hester.  Bob signed a management deal with Roy Silver.  Producer John Hammond was in the studio and was impressed by Bob.  Hammond was instrumental in signing Dylan to Columbia Records.

Dylan released his self-titled debut album in 1962, but it sold a mere 5,000 copies.  However, Bob's work was recognized by his peers in the form of a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Recording.

He changed his legal name to Robert Dylan and signed a new management contract with Albert Grossman.  Grossman was unhappy with Hammond and replaced him with Tom Wilson.

Dylan toured the U.K. in late 1962 and early 1963, including stops in London Folk clubs.  In 1963, Dylan released the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which elevated Bob to a protest singer without peer.  "Blowin' In The Wind" was a protest song about the social injustices in society, and, although it didn't make the Hot 100 for Dylan, it became a #1 classic for Peter, Paul & Mary.  

Although Dylan is unquestionably an amazing lyricist and a poet of the highest magnitude, and occasionally was able to put together a nice melody, he unfortunately did not possess an outstanding voice to execute what he put down on paper.  Thus, several of his greatest compositions were hits for other artists, but not for him. 

 

The seven-minute anti-war anthem "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna' Fall" is just one of several standouts and one of three protest songs on the groundbreaking album.  

It is based on the folk ballad variously called "Lord Randall" or "Lord Ronald", in which a mother questioning her son again and again (beginning with "Where have you been?"), leading the son to reveal he has been poisoned.  The song ends when he falls dead to the ground.

Folk musicians began playing the song, which became "Jimmy Randall".  Authors Leonard Roberts and Calvin Buell Agey say in the book In the Pine that there are about 100 known references to the song in the United States.  

Freewheelin' Bob Dylan has sold over one million copies.  Dylan earned a nomination for Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (Other than Comedy) at the Grammy Awards for his work with Pete Seeger on Seeger's album We Shall Overcome.  "Masters Of War" (written over the winter of 1962-63) is an amazing track, with the melody adapted from the traditional song "Nottamun Town".  Dylan's lyrics are a protest against the nuclear arms build-up in the Cold War during the early 1960's.

 

During Dylan's tour of the U.K., he met Folk singer Martin Carthy, who introduced Bob to several traditional English Folk songs, including "Scarborough Fair".  Dylan took the line "Remember me to one who lives there/She once was a true love of mine" for the song for "Girl From The North Country", another Top Track*.  

 

Dylan wrote this song after his girlfriend Suze Rotolo (seen walking with Bob on the cover of the album) moved to Italy to study, leaving him in New York City.  Dylan rewrote the separation in the song as him leaving her.  "A lot of people make it sort of a love song - slow and easygoing," Dylan said of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".  "But it's a statement that maybe you can say something to make yourself feel better.  It's as if you were talking to yourself."

"Corinna, Corinna" is remarkably similar to several songs, including "She Belongs To Me", "It Takes A Lot To Laugh" and "Alberta".  Blind Lemon Jefferson in the 1920's wasn't the first to sing the slightly different title "Corrine, Corrina" but his version was well known when Dylan wrote it.  There is a 1932 copyright of the song by Armenter Chatmon that starts 

"Corrine, Corrina, where you been so long? 

Corrine, Corrina, where you been so long?

I ain't had no lovin', since you've been gone."

Not only did Joan Baez record several of Dylan's songs--she became his girlfriend as well.  Baez invited Dylan on stage during many of her concerts.   Other artists, such as the Association, the Turtles, the Byrds and Sonny & Cher, also recorded Bob's songs.

 

Dylan and Baez sang together at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.  Dylan continued to sing about the wrongs of the world on the album The Times They Are-a-Changin'.   The title song did much better in the U.K. (#9) than it did in the United States, where it didn't make the Hot 100, but it is one of Bob's most significant songs.  "The Times They Are-a-Changin'" became a youth anthem to inspire them in the civil rights movement and later Vietnam War protests.

"The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll" is generally a factual account of a 1963 killing of a 51-year-old black barmaid, Hattie Carroll, by a young white man from a wealthy farming family in Charles County, Maryland.  The killer got a sentence of six months in a county jail.

The album has sold 500,000 copies and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Recording.  Bob released the album Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964.  Recorded in a single all-night session, it too was certified Gold. 

"Spanish Harlem Incident" is one of Dylan's best but little-known songs.  Bob writes that he is homeless and expressing irrational love for a "gypsy gal".  Smitten by the woman, the real beauty of the song is the last line--

"I got to know, babe, will you surround me?

So I can tell if I'm really real".  

It is an ironic twist that this man so attracted to the woman puts the power in the woman to tell the future of him (and her as well) with a reading of his palms.

"Chimes Of Freedom" was influenced by poet Arthur Rimbaud.  As written in Songfacts, the protagonist talks about the tragic treatment that poor people get, implying that the rumbling thunder cries for them and that flashes of lightning are like flashing bells ringing out for the oppressed everywhere.

Dylan later played the song in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. for the 1993 Presidential Inauguration of Bill Clinton.

 

"It Ain't Me Babe" is an answer to two songs--the line "Go away from my window" is an acknowledgement to Folk singer John Jacob Niles (one of Dylan's influences) and his song "Go 'Way From My Window", while Bob's line "No, no, no, it ain't me babe" is his reply to the Beatles "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" from "She Loves You".  The song became a Top 10 hit for the Turtles.

This master lyricist has given us much over the decades.  Join us for Part Two!

Bob Seger, The #30 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Four

 

(Continued from Part Three)

 Seger recorded "Understanding" for the movie Teachers in 1984.  It hit #4 on the MR chart and #14 overall.

 

Two years later, Bob released the album Like a Rock.  The title song gave Bob his first #1 Mainstream Rock hit that peaked at #12 Popular.  It was used for several years by Chevrolet for a popular commercial.  

The album sold over three million copies.

Bob played 105 shows before 1.5 million fans.  In 1987, Seger & the Silver Bullet Band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine Street.

 Seger wrote the song "Shakedown" for the soundtrack to the movie Beverly Hills Cop for longtime friend Glenn Frey.  Frey lost his voice before going into the studio, so Bob recorded it as well.  Seger rode the song to #1 in the U.S. and Canada.  

Seger was nominated for Best Rock Performance, Solo at the Grammy Awards, Favorite Pop/Rock Single at the American Music Awards and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards, and he won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film.  Bob also won an ASCAP Music Award for Most Performed Song From a Motion Picture.

 

In 1991, Seger released a solid but largely unappreciated album The Fire Inside.  Bob brought in many ace musicians to assist in the project, including one of The Top 100 Guitar Players of the Rock Era*--Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers).  "The Real Love" rose to #4 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #24 overall.  J.D. Souther ("You're Only Lonely") sings backing vocals on this as well as "Sightseeing", which we'll hear in a bit.

 Seger was nominated for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male and Best Rock Performance, Solo at the Grammy Awards for The Fire Inside.  Bob began writing the title song in 1989 and finished it in 1991.  Punch kept telling him, 'You gotta' finish that song!"  "The Fire Inside" also landed in the Top 10 on the MR chart.

 "Sightseeing" is Seger's favorite song on the album.  He brought in piano wizard Bruce Hornsby (who played accordion on this track), vocalist Patty Smyth (leader of Scandal ("Goodbye To You") who also enjoyed success with Don Henley on "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough") and violinist Lisa Germano.  Seger was happy with the results:  "I just got that strange feeling...and I loved it."

 

Seger delivered a great version of the Tom Waits song "New Coat Of Paint".

In 1994, Seger released his Greatest Hits package, selling nearly 10 million albums in the U.S. alone.

 

The 1995 album It's a Mystery went Gold.  The following year, Seger released another of the best albums of his career--Face The Promise.  He promoted it with an extensive tour that ranked as the fourth-largest in terms of number of tickets sold in 1996.  The title song is one of just many gems. 

 "Wreck This Heart" is another great song released 31 years after he began.

 

We also want to feature "Simplicity".

 Seger also featured this hauntingly beautiful song on the album--"Won't Stop".

 

"The Answer's In The Question" (with Patty Loveless) is another incredible song that few people heard.

Seger than concentrated on his family for nearly ten years without recording or touring.  In 2004, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bob released the album Face the Promise in 2006.  It has sold over one million copies.

In 2009, Seger released another compilation Early Seger, Vol. 1.  

In 2012, Seger was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  In 2014, he released the album Ride Out.

Bob has racked up 31 career hits.  Six of those have reached the Top 10 although many are underrated, and he has one #1 song to his credit.  Although the Mainstream Rock chart didn't exist for the first 21 years of his career, Bob still charted 16 hits with 11 Top 10 songs and 3 #1's.  Those numbers would triple or quadruple had the chart been around since his early days.

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Seger has sold over 50 million albums.

Seger won one Grammy Award from seven nominations and was nominated for three American Music Awards, one Academy Award, one Golden Globe Award, one MTV Video Music Award and he won an ASCAP Music Award.