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Saturday, January 13, 2018

Master Blueprints # 2: "My Clothes Are Wet, Tight On My Skin, Not As Tight As the Corner That I Painted Myself In”

(Personal reflections inspired by Bob Dylan songs)

Song: “Mississippi”
Album: Love and Theft
Release Date: September, 2001

I’ve done quite a bit of travelling for work over the past 30 years, allowing for a significant amount of time to reflect:  Long drives, generic hotel rooms, and an endless parade of airport terminals all provide the atmosphere that contribute to this state of mind.  In fact, many of these blog entries are the result of all that time alone and on the road.  Work travel for me triggers a range of often-conflicting emotions related to discovery, weariness, loneliness and wanderlust.  I’ve learned over the years that if you don’t find ways to exploit solitary time on the road, that time will find ways to exploit you.

It was on the return home a handful of years ago on a redeye after one of those trips (considering the depth of my weariness, more likely a series of back-to-backs) when I greeted my car awaiting me in the central parking garage at Logan Airport, and started my 1-hour drive home to Pepperell.   As I exited the ‘Big Dig’ and ramped up the Zakim Bridge, taking in the Boston landscape, I turned on the radio, which was queued to the cd I had inserted near the end of my drive into the airport earlier that week.  More specifically, it was queued to the start of track 2 on the 2001 album Love and Theft, the masterpiece that is “Mississippi”, one of my all-time favorite Bob Dylan songs ( https://rutube.ru/video/e448c39bd1ee8a6c6e7066d993fdf7cd/ ).

I’d purchased Love and Theft not long before, but my ears had not quite tuned into it.  Being the rocker I am, this blues-sounding album, which would eventually grow on me, was admittedly a real struggle to connect with out of the gate:  One of those albums that I have to give a listen, and then tuck away for a spell, and then give another listen, repeating this cycle until it all begins to seep in.  I knew it was good, but it was going to take a while, unlike Time Out of Mind, Bob Dylan’s previous release four years earlier, which was near-instant karma, being much more in step with my music sensibilities. 

“Mississippi” was originally meant for Time Out of Mind, but in a move oh so typical of Bob Dylan over the years, he left this gem off the final release, and rerecorded it, with different musicians, and at a different tempo for Love and Theft.  It was the right thing to do, at least for me, because this song proved to be my inroad into Love and Theft that day on my drive thru Boston.  Whether it was the frazzled state of my mind that morning, or the cumulative effect of several weeks away from home, I am not sure, but at that moment this song talked to me, verse upon verse, upon verse.  And it has not stopped talking to me since.

I’ve written at least once before in this blog about the reflective effects of travelling on my mind; in that case 5 different night-driving experiences, the entry inspired by the Rolling Stones’ ethereal “Moonlight Mile” ( http://pete-gemsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2012/04/14th-in-series-of-stepping-stones.html ).  “Mississippi” takes the traveler a lot deeper though.  It’s a song written by a much older, wiser, and experienced soul.  Instead of simply a song about longing to be back home with your beloved one (“Moonlight Mile”), “Mississippi” stretches this way out,  longing also for what once was, in head-shaking ways (“Some people will offer you their hand and some won’t; Last night I knew you, tonight I don’t”) and it laments (“So many things we will never undo; I know you’re sorry; I’m sorry too”), and it connects with the innocence of youth (“I was raised in the country, I been workin' in the town; I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down”) and it self-evaluates (“All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime; Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme”) and it captures an on-the road mindset (“Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees; Feeling like a stranger nobody sees”) and it praises (“But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free; I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me”) and it pleads its case with spot-on confidence and hope (“Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow; Things should start to get interesting right about now”) and it sums it all up with the metaphorical refrain “Only one thing I did wrong; Stayed in Mississippi a day too long”.  Dylan stirs all this up in one big pot of lifelong reflection, somehow pulling it off in 5 magical musical minutes.

Bob Dylan’s singing on “Mississippi” is some of his most emotional.  At times, it almost sounds like he’s crying out the words.  Two thoughts came to mind when I arrived at this conclusion earlier this week.  The first was in relation to a Dylan interview with Rock DJ Tony Pigg on New York City radio station WPLJ back in 1991, in celebration of the first 3 volumes of his phenomenal Bootleg Series. The interview coincided with the year of Dylan’s 50th birthday, which was brought up, and in turn had him in a particularly open and reflective mood as they weaved through highlights of his rare and unreleased songs (the theme of those first 3 volumes).  I taped this interview at the time and listened to it often in the ensuing months (man, I wish I could find that tape).  At one point Bob Dylan, who is an encyclopedia of music-history knowledge, was asked by Pigg if he knew of musicians who would readily cry on stage while singing their songs.   For the life of me, I can’t recall who he mentioned (Judy Garland may have been one), but he sounded quite reverential to a singers ability to cry lyrics with a degree of composure for an audience. 

The second thought took some research.  I had a faint recollection of reading a quote somewhere from a studio musician who played on one of Bob Dylan’s albums, talking about how Dylan experimented for a time with ‘singing into a corner’ during the sessions.  When I first read it, I did not think much of it.  Perhaps it was to get a bit more edge on focus, seeing as Dylan’s music is typically loaded with lyrics.  But now I was thinking there was way more to it.  Anyhow, a quick Google search got me nowhere, so I started leafing through several magazines that I had purchased over the past year as part of my preparation for Master Blueprints.  Finally there it was, in “The Ultimate Music Guide: Dylan” from the makers of Uncut.  The quote was from organist Augie Meyers (formally of the Sir Douglas Quintet), who was talking about ……the Love and Theft sessions!  Bingo!  My thinking now is, Bob Dylan was not so much trying to squeeze out more focus.   No, what he was really trying to do was squeeze out more emotion.  “Mississippi” may have very well been recorded as tears flowed down Dylan’s face, with only the wall as witness.  And yet, if this be the case, it was recorded live, with brilliant musicians playing behind him, and so we all get to hear.  These kinds of emotions often need some level of privacy in this macho world we live in, even for a troubadour like Bob.

“Mississippi” has been a particularly (and to the degree, peculiarly) moving song to these ears ever since that early morning drive out of Boston.  Now, after a solid week of listening and contemplating, I think I know why.  Bob Dylan figured out a way to deliver extra emotion into his music by the turn of the century, in similar fashion to those musicians he talked about in reverential tones in his interview with WPLJ.  He faced a wall to do it.   I followed suit on the listening end, alone in my car.

Pete

Monday, January 1, 2018

Master Blueprints # 1: “Take Me On A Trip Upon Your Magic Swirlin’ Ship”

(Personal reflections inspired by Bob Dylan songs)

Song: “Mr. Tambourine Man”
Album: Bringing It All Back Home
Release Date: January, 1965

It was a cold winter’s night, I’m thinking 1987-88.  I’d driven into ‘Boston Town’ to meet good friends, Phil and Mac and catch some live music at a jazz club.  First order of business was finding a metered parking space, particularly seeing that in those days every penny counted and meters ran free after dusk.  After a few circles around the block, I spied a prime spot near the club, and shoehorned my barebones white Datsun into the questionable car space available.  As was always the case in the 80s, WBCN FM, the “Rock of Boston”, was blaring on my radio, and as I proceeded to turn off my ignition - and in turn the music - the DJ just happened to be in the middle of introducing the next song.  Out of curiosity I hesitated:  WBCN DJ’s were known to throw deep cuts and curve balls at the listener in those days, and experience told me to hear her out.  It was a wise decision.

Over the airwaves, the opening guitar salvo to the live Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue version of “Shelter from the Storm” (off the live Hard Rain album) permeated through my speakers.  To my knowledge, I’d never heard this song, not even the studio version off of Blood on the Tracks.  It immediately resonated with me, and despite its length (the studio version clocks in at a bit over 5 minutes) and my running a tad late, I sat and listened to it in its entirety.  It was the tipping point moment in my connection with the music of Bob Dylan.

In the years previous, I’d slowly been perking my ears to Dylan’s music.  All my other major music influences from the 60s and 70s, including the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, the Kinks, and Van Morrison, had already made serious inroads into my rock and roll heart.  But Bob Dylan had remained elusive, despite being mentioned as a major influence by these musicians, and so many more who I already had the utmost respect for.  Dylan’s songs were also covered more often than anyone else’s music at shows I attended.  What was it that they were drawn to?  What did these incredible musicians connect to that I did not quite grasp?  Sure I had respect for the man who had written a handful of timeless protest folk songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.   But why all the seemingly over-the-top accolades?  What did they hear in this gravelly voiced soothsayer that blew their minds?  I - wanted - to - know.

That Boston car-parking moment was the first real clue for me.  Since then it’s been an avalanche of head shaking, jaw dropping wonder.  Very few people I know understand this fascination, and since I have been so moved by this artist, I see it as my duty to try and explain.  And so, over the next year or so, I’ll attempt to do just that through my standard approach; blending personal reflections that are inspired by music (as I’ve already done with 50 blog entries respectively in relation to the music of the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and the Who).  Bob Dylan is truly the cream of the crop.  He’s poetry in music.  His greatest strengths are inspiration and truth.  He ceaselessly seeks redemption.  He’s a man who is always busy being born.  He is the artist of our times who will above all others, not just survive the test of time, but thrive the test of time.  And oh boy, does he ever have a body of work.  There’s no way I can fit it all in with 50 entries, but I welcome that challenge. 

I can’t think of a song more apropos to launch this series than “Mr. Tambourine Man” (I’ll get to “Shelter from the Storm” later).  There are several reasons for this. The first is related to the only personal connection I ever made with Bob Dylan.  It was at the Roy Orbison tribute show at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles in the spring of 1990, which I have written about in a previous entry (see http://pete-gemsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2009/02/gmvw-59-got-it.html ).  My wife, Nancy and I had won tickets to this show and were seated in the second row, center stage.  Every musician that performed that night covered a Roy Orbison song, except for a surprise, somewhat out-of-context, one-off reunion of three of the original members of the Byrds (David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn) who played a short set of several of their most famous songs from the 60s.  If that were not shocking enough, who comes roaming onstage with them halfway through their set, but Bob Dylan!  After he playfully tussled with Crosby for a moment they all got serious and broke into “Mr. Tambourine Man”, a Dylan song made into a hit by the Byrds in 1965. 

I knew right away it was a historic music moment and, in a rare move in relation to the plethora of concerts I have attended throughout my life, I pulled a camera out, not heeding a warning from friend Jeff Strause that Bob Dylan was averse to any means of recording him in those days (Jeff having his tape recorder swiped from him by security at a Boston show earlier that year).  As the song played out, and I snapped a few shots, Dylan honed in on me, drifted to the edge of the stage in front of us, and glared at me and my camera.  My one encounter with this musician-icon, as with another, Pete Townshend, years later ( http://pete-gemsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/01/under-big-top-1-pete-meet-and-greet.html ), was not a warm and fuzzy.  But after all the stories I had read about how Dylan sometimes works with studio musicians and how he often deals with reporters and fans, at least I did not feel completely isolated in my supposed wayward moment.  Regardless it felt in that instance as if daggers were emanating out of Bob Dylan’s eyes, cutting clear though to my soul.  This was one intense man, and I got a self-inflicted taste of his medicine, momentarily losing my good vibrations on that otherwise glorious evening.  I got the hint, put my camera away, and simply took in the show for memory alone from that moment on.

The second strong connection I made with “Mr. Tambourine Man” was while watching the live simulcast of the 1992 Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary concert (I plan to write more on this show in the months ahead, seeing as there were so many highlights).  The song was performed that night by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, along with the aforementioned Roger McGuinn.  I recall as I listened to it thinking at the time that Petty and crew had in mind Dylan himself as they sang the lyrics.  And then near the end of the song, Tom Petty catches McGuinn’s eye and offers a knowing wink.  At that moment, I felt a kinship with these musicians.  A common sense of wonder in relation to the man they were honoring, not only through a song written by him, but now being interpreted as also being about him.  Not long after, I purchased the VCR tape of the show and every time I get to that Petty-winking moment, I feel that same connection (most recently in a slightly different light after the sudden death of Tom Petty this past October).  

Which brings me to the meaning of “Mr. Tambourine Man”.  Let me say right off, I’m not going to make any claims in this series to know precisely what Bob Dylan means when he puts pencil to paper when composing.  All I can do is to try and relay how I interpret his songs, which often evolves with each listen.  Anyhow, to me this song is about being astonished by the strength of someone’s (or God’s) character, which is conveyed here in that being’s ability to emit unearthly beautiful music, and you yourself wanting nothing else but to listen.  Dylan gets this across with the aura of an early morning urban setting after an all-night escapade, the protagonist weary but somehow energized.  We’ve all been there.  Dylan is an expert at this sort of thing - tapping into your conscience through common life experiences - like no other songwriter I know. 

I’m thinking this series on Bob Dylan will be fairly unique.  Unlike other series on the Rolling Stones, Who, and Neil Young, I’ll be discussing the instrumentation much less here.  Dylan is more about the spoken word, the lyrics, the cadence, and the meaning (although the meaning is a commonality with all these series’, it’s a bit more so here).  I’ve dubbed this series “Master Blueprints” because part of what fascinates me with Dylan is that he never appears to try and perfect his delivery on stage or in studio.  He lays it out there, for others to work with, even more so than for himself.  These are blueprints you hear on his records, which in some miraculous way, makes his songs even more profound than if they had been expertly crafted.  I will strive to make this blueprint concept a common theme in this series, particularly in regards to how I write my part of the story. 

Also, unlike other series, I’m not going to make a regular attempt to add a url link of the song of choice.  The original studio versions are too hard to find on the web.  I suggest if you find yourself intrigued or curious that you go out and purchase the given record if you don’t have it, or borrow it from the library.  And finally, these entries are likely to be more sporadic than the weekly output In typically try to pull off, as I’m multitasking with all sorts of things these days.  I’ll try my best to keep a routine though.

Happy New Year.

Pete

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Under the Big Top TOC: Titles, Song Inspirations, and url links


Below are links to each of the 50 Under the Big Top entries (personal reflections inspired by Who songs), which were written weekly throughout 2016.  The italicized green text is my title for the entry.  The brown text in quotes is the song that was the focus for that given entry.  The url link is below each title.  The next series will focus on the music of Bob Dylan, likely starting in January of 2018.  If you are interested in a future series, please sign up as a member of this Blog and I will send a notice when I get started again.
# 1
A Pete Meet-and-Greet
Inspired by the song "The Seeker"

 # 2
The Awakening
Inspired by the song "A Quick One, While He’s Away”
Goodbye - Hello
Inspired by the song "Eminence Front"

 # 4
Connecting the Dots
Inspired by the song "Blue, Red and Grey"

 # 5
Of Wit and War
Inspired by the song "I Can See For Miles”

 # 6
A Texas Two Step
Inspired by the song "Keep Me Turning"

 # 7
A Change of Plans
Inspired by the song "The Song Is Over"

 # 8
Access Who-llywood
Inspired by the song "You Better You Bet"

 # 9
A Symphony of Four
Inspired by the song "The Punk Meets the Godfather"

 # 10
A Who Album Review: Who Are You
Inspired by the song "Who Are You”

 # 11
A Who Concert Review: The Last Who-rah
Inspired by the song "Join Together"

 # 12
A Wholesome Set of Thunderfingers
Inspired by the song "Old Red Wine"

 # 13
Poetry in Fluid Motion
Inspired by the song "The Sea Refuses No River"

 # 14
Risk, Reward (and other reverberations)
Inspired by the song "Amazing Journey”

 # 15
Stoked
Inspired by the song "After the Fire"

 # 16
The Exquisite Tune in My Silver Spoon
Inspired by the song "Long Live Rock"

 # 17
LOL
Inspired by the song "Happy Jack”

 # 18
Parallel, Interconnected Worlds
Inspired by the song "Mike Post Theme"

 # 19
Gravitational Pull
Inspired by the song "My Generation"

 # 20
Tug of War
Inspired by the song "The Kids Are Alright"

 # 21
Filling the Glass
Inspired by the song "Empty Glass”

 # 22
Learning the Hard Way
Inspired by the song "Slip Kid”

 # 23
Music Is My Yoga
Inspired by the song "Won’t Get Fooled Again"

 # 24
Unfinished Business
Inspired by the song "Zelda"

 # 25
Bloody Good Use of Cockney
Inspired by the song "Bellboy”

 # 26
A Watershed Moment
Inspired by the song “Guitar and Pen”

 # 27
Friendship
Inspired by the song "A Friend Is a Friend"

 # 28
A Balancing Act
Inspired by the song "Don’t Let Go the Coat”

 # 29
Secrets to Success
Inspired by the song "Success Story”

 # 30
The Townie in All of Us
Inspired by the song "Come to Mama”

 # 31
Music and Memory
Inspired by the song "Love, Reign o’er Me”

 # 32
Twenty Four Magnificent Set Lists
Inspired by the song "Substitute”

 # 33
Pop Art
Inspired by the song “Magic Bus”

 # 34
Rising to the Occasion
Inspired by the song “See Me Feel Me/Listening to You”
http://pete-gemsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/08/under-big-top-34-rising-to-occasion.html

 # 35
Transition
Inspired by the song "Outlive the Dinosaur”

 # 36
Eye Opening Experiences
Inspired by the song "Bargain"

 # 37
This Machine Kills Fascists
Inspired by the song "I’ve Known No War”

 # 38
Fortunate Son
Inspired by the song "Heart to Hang Onto”

 # 39
Disco Still Sucks
Inspired by the song "Sister Disco”

 # 40
Odd Man In
Inspired by the song "Tattoo"

# 41
Been There
Inspired by the song "Slit Skirts"

 # 42
First Impressions and Expectations
Inspired by the song "I Can’t Explain"

 # 43
When Fiction Becomes Fact
Inspired by the song "Pure and Easy”

 # 44
Love Undetached
Inspired by the song "A Little Is Enough”

 # 45
Wash Over Me
Inspired by the song "Drowned”

 # 46
Big Brother
Inspired by the song "Boris the Spider"

 # 47
Valediction for an Old Faithful
Inspired by the song "How Many Friends”

 # 48
Rising From the Ashes
Inspired by the song "Real Good Looking Boy”

 # 49
Who Dunnit: 100 Who Anecdotes
Inspired by the song "Behind Blue Eyes”

 # 50
Deja Who
Inspired by the song "Baba O’Riley”