11:37pm: Happy Birthday Bob
So Bob Dylan is 61 years old today. Happy Birthday Bob. And through it all Bob Dylan has done what he has always done: write songs. He has continued, through the years, putting his unique poetry to music unlike anyone before him or since, and performing, continuously, like some kind of natural wonder. Certainly he has changed, but he has not changed what he has always done and continues to do. It is left to us to reinvent him, those that feel a need to do so. For me, like Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, and in Dylan's own words, "I'll just sit here and watch the river flow."
Favorites
I guess even people who aren't into Dylan probably have a favorite Dylan song, might not even know he wrote it, but let's face it, he's written some of the great anthems of modern times. Back when they were written, when he was a young man in his 20's, they were simply anthems of a generation, the sixties. But they are with us still, redefining our times even to this day, with songs like A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, The Times They Are A-Changin, Blowin In The Wind, Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, It Ain't Me Babe, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Mr. Tamborine Man, and the anthem of them all Like A Rolling Stone.
But everyone picks those, so I'm gonna pick a favorite Dylan song that's a little off the beaten track: Brownsville Girl off the 1986 Knocked Out Loaded, and co-written with American playwrite and actor Sam Shepard. It's a beautiful 12-minute romp of a road song, telling a story like a troubadour and summoning Keroac and Cassady and a whole beat generation gone south for the winter. Second Place would be "Watching The River Flow" first released (the first instant greatest hit) on Greatest Hits Vol. 2, and Honorable mention on the "Off The Beaten Path" list would be "Changing Of The Guard" off the 1978 Street Legal.
My Favorite Dylan album cover is without a doubt 1975's Desire, with a great head shot of a wind-blown Dylan with some kind of big, fur-collared winter coat, denim shirt, grey flat-brimmed cowboy hat, and leopard-skin spotted silk scarf blowin in the wind. Classic photo, and correct me if I'm wrong:
My Favorite Dylan Album Cover
Favorite Recorded Moments
No.1: The beginning of "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" off the 1965 Bringing It All Back Home, and you can click for the audio, but you'll have to boot up the cd to hear what I'm talking about, because Dylan plays a measure of guitar intro and starts singing and then busts out laughing. The producer is laughing, he says "Okay, take two" and they start again and it's all on on the record, hilarious!
...to be continued
I'm not done with this page, so keep checking back to this post if you're interested, as I'll be posting to it during the week, in addition to my regular daily posts, and adding more personal favorites, favorite lyrics, concert memories, and the like. See you then...
Posted by cronish at May 24, 2002 11:43 PM