From "The Animals' guitarist, Hilton Valentine, has died" (at my son John's blog, quoting Wikipedia).
First, goodbye to Hilton Valentine.
Second. I don't know about that Bob Dylan story. Who, on hearing something on the car radio, gets out of the car to bang on the "bonnet"? I'm assuming Steel was paraphrasing and will not get into the silliness of Dylan saying "bonnet." And I won't question that there really is somebody named John Steel who told this story, even though "John Steel" sounds like the #1 fictional name of all time. Look for it in romance novels and action movies.
Ah, I see, John Steel was the drummer for The Animals. I can believe that Dylan told Steel that story, but not that Dylan really did pull over the car just to jump out of it to bang on the hood. I mean, in movies when things like that happen, the character pulls over the car and bangs on the steering wheel. In real life, I think you tend to keep driving, maybe gesticulate. With one hand waving free.
But did Dylan get the idea to go electric from The Animals? The Animals are not even mentioned in Dylan's memoir, "Chronicles: Volume One." The Byrds are mentioned. The closest thing to "animals" in the book is:
Suddenly... my mind sprang back to... the time I’d seen the Leopard Girl.... The Leopard Girl. A carnie barker had explained about her, how her mother who was pregnant with her in North Carolina saw a leopard on a dark road at night and the animal had marked her unborn child. Then I saw the Leopard Girl and when I did, my emotions got weak.
I wondered, now, whether all of us... had been inscribed and marked before birth, given a sticker, some secret sign. If that’s true, then none of us could change anything. We’re all running a wild race. We play the game the way it’s set up or we don’t play. If the secret sign thing is true, then it wouldn’t be fair to judge anybody….
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71 comments:
Some of us like to believe apocryphal stories about celebrities.
'The House of the Rising Sun' is an arresting song. I can remember, as a kid, being stunned into silence by it. But it didn't ROCK - they weren't Bob Seeger.
I have a hard time seeing anyone stopping, to bang on a bonnet to it, either.
Who, on hearing something on the car radio, gets out of the car to bang on the "bonnet"?
CRAZY WOMAN HAMMERS CAR BONNET IN TERRIFYING ROAD RAGE
"Rising Sun" is a great song and Doc Watson did the best renditions. I always thought the Animals' weak point was their guitar player and that their best song was "When I Was Young". The End.
Personally I don’t trust anything related by someone named Steel(e).
Doc Watson
Steel is English, and my assumption would be that he was simply paraphrasing Dylan, using the word that an Englishman would be more conversant with.
Steel is still playing with the current version of the Animals, by the way.
Musicians frequently glad-hand each other. I suspect that Bob Dylan told John Steel that story in such a moment.
Steel Valentine to the heart.
Steel. John Steel.
The story is better when told in Russian as an example of how Dylan expressed his love for Stalin.
Q. "Who, on hearing something on the car radio, gets out of the car to bang on the 'bonnet'"?
A. Someone who's both British and high.
This may the most Boomer post in the history of the blog.
Thanks Crack.
I remember that song from high school. It doesn't seem to have gotten much airplay in the past 50+ years.
For Dylan that was obviously a life changing moment and at such times I can easily imagine him (or any creative person) stopping the car to get out and do all kinds of dramatic things, including banging on the hood. What’s hard to picture about that?
Some people live their lives a little more on the edge than some of the rest of us. Thank God for that!
She has a bee in her bonnet about it.
Means something quite different in England.
Then, one evening in 1962, I was sitting at my usual table in the back of the Kettle of Fish, and Dylan came slouching in. He had been up at the Columbia studios with John Hammond, doing his first album. He was being very mysterioso about the whole thing, and nobody I knew had been to any of the sessions except Suze, his lady. I pumped him for information, but he was vague. Everything was going fine and, "Hey, would it be okay for me to record your arrangement of 'House of the Rising Sun?'" Oh, shit. "Jeez, Bobby, I'm going into the studio to do that myself in a few weeks. Can't it wait until your next album?" A long pause. "Uh-oh". I did not like the sound of that. "What exactly do you mean, 'Uh-oh'?" "Well", he said sheepishly, "I've already recorded it
>>John Steel" sounds like the #1 fictional name of all time.
Doesn't Stalin mean steel in Russian? Sadly, he was not fictional...
I read that Dolly Parton did her own version of the song. She made it closer to the original which was about women in a whorehouse. The animals version is great, but the lyrics don't make a lot of sense.
rcocean said...
Then, one evening in 1962, I was sitting at my usual table in the back of the Kettle of Fish, and Dylan came slouching
Sound familiar. Dave von ronk? From his book?
I'm partial to his version of the song, myself.
John Henry
Crack - "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" has always been my favorite Seeger song - I used to plug the YMCA jukebox with it repeatedly while shooting pool in my teens. Many years ago I was looking to download or rip a copy of it, but could not find it anywhere. Later, some re-recorded versions of it came out in live sets, etc. from Seeger, but they just didn't have the same sound as the original version. I read that Seeger didn't like the original version because he thought that it was unprofessional and not 'polished' enough. He must have relented at some point, because I was finally able to download the original version later.
Frijid Pink had a pretty cool metal version in 1970. Long forgotten Detroit metal band actually earned a gold record for the effort.
Certainly sounds plausible. Lots of young people are passionate about music. I imagine young musicians are even more passionate about it.
Thanks a lot for the earworm! Damn, do they ever occur with good songs?
Needs a "what would Dylan do" tag.
Thanks for that link, Crack! I don't think I have ever seen Bob Seger look like that. While I am aware that he dates back well into the 1960s, I have never had the visual to go with that knowledge.
God I can't wait til Dylan dies already.
David,
When he does I figure I'll have to stay away from this blog for a week.
It will be like CNN, and the death of that princess wassernanme.
Plus the death of prince wassisname. You know, the neerdowell from massachussetts political family.
John Henry
The Blind Boys of Alabama set Amazing Grace to the tune of Rising Sun. It somehow works rather well.
Then I saw the Leopard Girl and when I did, my emotions got weak.
She must have been wearing a brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat.
God I can't wait til Dylan dies already.
How does Dylan being alive adversely effect your life? If it's because you tire of others discussing Dylan then his death won't alleviate your burden. If anything it will aggravate it for a decade or so after that event.
Van Ronk was he of the huge mustache I mentioned the other day when this song was discussed. He first did the familiar E A C D F arrangement that Dylan was asking about and we all think of as the Animals version. That’s a great little story of rock’s early days. I have never heard any other arrangement but the Van Ronk/Dylan/Animals version.
"...even though "John Steel" sounds like the #1 fictional name of all time."
Or a great porn name...
Maybe he's a friend of Buck Naked.
Or Pierre Delecto and Carlos Danger : )
If we’re talking Seger (not Seeger FFS) then my favorite is “Turn the Page” then “Main Street” for the iconic hooks, one the sax the other a sweet guitar.
Badass Bob used for several movies' theme song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20gp_dTIL4
Little deeper now.
Bob Seger: the American man Bruce Springsteen desperately pretended to be.
I am Laslo.
Yer all very welcome, but I'm over Bob Seeger now - he was a neanderthal in a cave man's vest - I'm more refined in my tastes all of a sudden.
For what it is worth, Bob Dylan wrote ""Man Gave Names to All the Animals" and included it on his 1979 album, "Slow Train Coming."
Here's a Dylan-related project I was part of that never saw the light of day. The band was called "Bump" (named after the residential road barriers in Berkeley, California) and we had a few songs built on remixes, of which this was one.
Trivia - Andy Summers, guitarist for The Police, was briefly a member of Eric Burden and the Animals in 1968.
Animal's bassist Chaz Chandler produced Jimi Hendrix' early albums.
(...listens to song linked in Crack's 12:13 post...)
Hey Crack, as a favor from one Althouse commenter to another, you might want to reconsider Seger (or the Beatles for that matter) and forget about your new-found interest. Look at how many of us are waxing nostalgic for Seger; I can't imagine anyone remembering 'A-Skillz' 50 years from now.
I just wanna enjoy my Saturday.
Animal's bassist Chaz Chandler produced Jimi Hendrix' early albums.
Don’t know about that but he was his manager.
Best Animal’s songs were “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”, IMO.
On the original Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man, one can hear a 14 or 15 year old Glenn Frey singing back-up.
It would be an odd song to make someone go electric, because the only strong "electric" sound is the electric organ. There isn't much distortion or electric guitar wailing. It would work just fine as an acoustic arrangement, provided you had an acoustic organ handy.
I don't know about that story as well. Dylan talks about making eye contact three feet away from a performing Buddy Holly. That was five years earlier.
Whiskeybum said...
"I can't imagine anyone remembering 'A-Skillz' 50 years from now."
He can't either - it's just a remix - you're taking it waaaay more seriously than it's intended. It's not in the musical canon, it's just "taking the piss". If you want your heroes deconstructed - well and for realz, we can do that, too - on "Paul's Boutique" The Beastie Boys worked with The Dust Brothers who went crate digging for:
Curtis Mayfield
The Eagles
The Beatles
Sly & The Family Stone (with a headed to Hendrix)
And The Isley Brothers.
Now - I dare you to say nobody's gonna remember them.
Oso Negro said...
Musicians frequently glad-hand each other. I suspect that Bob Dylan told John Steel that story in such a moment.
They also tend to tell interviewers what the interviewer wants to hear.
Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys became completely obsessed with the song "Be My Baby," playing it over and over again for years. The first time he heard it he was driving and he pulled over to the side of the road, yelling at his radio in amazement and ecstasy. Then again he was a major head-case.
He was later inspired by Be My Baby to write "Don't Worry Baby," hoping that Phil Spector and the Ronettes would record it. Spector passed on it and it became a major hit for the Beach Boys. I got chills when they used this song for the climactic scene in the movie Never Been Kissed, as super-hunk Michael Vartan trots out to the pitcher's mound where Barrymore awaits, and he does indeed deliver her first kiss and it's a doozy.
Looking forward to the "Althouse Of The Rising Sun" cafe post and photo du jour.
Praise Bob
JSD said...
Frijid Pink had a pretty cool metal version in 1970. Long forgotten Detroit metal band actually earned a gold record for the effort.
Thanx JSD, that was pretty good!
Not as good as Woodie Guthrie singing it as a girl, but then; not Much can match Woodie singing as a girl
The aforementioned Frijid Pink version: link
The thing that made every folkie go electric was The Beatles, right? Paul Kantner has said so, ditto Jerry Garcia, Roger McGuinn. After 1964 everybody just plugged in.
OT, but I’ve enjoyed several recent youtube interviews with Bobby Whitlock (Delaney & Bonnie, Derek and the Dominoes), who has a wealth of stories to share, though all over the place... he starts on something and you never know where he’ll end up. Very funny, sweet spirit, seems like a gentleman. Worth watching.
Will Cate nailed it.
As I said the other day one of the things I come here for is getting led down rabbit holes.
I just went to listen and compare Von Ronk and Animals versions of House. They sound different to me but what do I know about music other than how to enjoy listening?
So that led me to Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed doing Don't think Twice it's alright. I've listened to a number of Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins videos together, separtate and with others. I don[t think I'd run across this before. I like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBcKrM7g6Fo
John Henry
Blogger Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
If we’re talking Seger (not Seeger FFS) then my favorite is “Turn the Page” then “Main Street” for the iconic hooks, one the sax the other a sweet guitar.
Why the distaste, Mike?
I grew up listening to Pete Seeger, First on 78's, then on 10" discs, later 12" now on CD and streaming.
His politics are odious. He was, probably still is, an unrepentant supporter of Joe Stalin.
But I've loved his music for over 60 years.
I like His sister, Peggy and her husband Ewan McColl too.
I've always liked Bob Seger too, though I never paid that much attention to him.
John Henry
I'm not at home now so can't pull the album to check. My recollection is that in the liner notes to his first album Dylan says something like "I've known house of the rising sun all my life but I didn't realize I knew it until I heard Jack Elliott sing it."
Am I remembering correctly?
John Henry
I've listened to some of your stuff before Crack. None of it really to my taste stylistically but I could recognize the talent in it.
I like that Lay Lady Lay. I might even buy an album of it if it were available.
Very nicely done.
John Henry
I love Eric Burdon's voice, but my favorite version of House of the Rising Sun was recorded by Nina Simone at The Village Gate in 1961 and released the following year on Nina at the Village Gate.
I’m good with either Seeger/Seger musically. I can be prickly about spelling and know how Siri over corrects me. I see what you mean. It could be read as anti-folky snark, which was not my intent.
Although it was a folk song originally, for me the quintessential version of House of the Rising Sun is Joan Baez's 1960 version. My dad was a music teacher and brought it home about that times.
Guys like "Crack" deal with music on a whole different level than average people. They see all kinds of greatness and pick up subtle things we don't get. They're like painters who understand what's easy and what's difficult, what's ordinary and what's real genius.
Dylan's best performances were those with the Traveling Wilburys because George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne were able to cover for Dylan's croaking.
Darkisland said...
"I've listened to some of your stuff before Crack. None of it really to my taste stylistically but I could recognize the talent in it.".
Thank you - sincerely - but I seriously doubt that: I play too many styles for someone not to like me "stylistically" - that's my blessing/curse. Just this week, I wrote a sea shanty, re-worked the Democrat cult song, started a new Jazz number, and just got an itch for Gangsta Rap again, for some reason. It's just what I do. I just can't do it to the best of my abilities when I'm broke, limited to using old sound files, and working on a 9-year old 13 inch Apple laptop that mostly excels at showing me a spinning rainbow ball for a curser.
"I like that Lay Lady Lay. I might even buy an album of it if it were available. Very nicely done."
Thanks again, but that project's dead. (There's also a cool remix of Frampton's "Do You Feel Like I Do?" somewhere laying around,....) It was Perry Ferrel's drummer (Jane's Addiction) and another friend who got me involved, but they've moved on. One opened a recording studio in Hawaii, I think. That's usually the end of releasing records.
BTW - that sea shanty? Violins, cellos, and a bass - almost classical music - no percussion of any kind.
It's what I do.
rcocean said...
"Guys like "Crack" deal with music on a whole different level than average people. They see all kinds of greatness and pick up subtle things we don't get. They're like painters who understand what's easy and what's difficult, what's ordinary and what's real genius."
When your Father is a great artist no one's ever heard of, but all the greats looked up to him (he and Roy Ayers were a mess) and your Step-Father is Charles Mingus - who everybody's heard of and admires - you'll pick-up a thing or two about it. Especially as a foster kid roaming around South Central, Los Angeles, where almost every neighbor was in a group of some kind (the first two performers you see in that video were my actual next-door neighbors).
Anyway, yeah: put all that together - along with my life-long personal obsession, with all of it, right from the early 60s to today - and it adds-up to a heightened ability to spot charlatans doing weak work vs. true artists contributing to the culture I'm a product of, and was, obviously, created to serve.
Dylan, Baez and so much more... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUVBgN9zbTk Comedy was King
I've been having a back and forth with someone about the Uygurs and genocide - I say it is, she says it's hard to tell - and now I've got "how many deaths will it take til he knows that too many people have died" as an ear worm. The odd thing is I never really liked that song and sang it only when requested, as it seemed too saccharine. All of which is to say, I love every single one of your Dylan posts.
If Dylan was impressed by the cover The Animals did, he’d have been stunned by The Ventures cover. That said, this is a song best sung by a worldly woman. Dolly Parton will break your heart and theres lotsa good electric guitar & keyboard there. Ditto Joan Baez.
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