"'You know it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine' is genius. He’s calling her out for doing something that doesn’t make any sense, but he’s not acting like he doesn’t understand. We’re all performing, predictably, all the time, and in the most obvious ways. There’s not really an air of superiority in his commentary here, in my opinion. He’s just gifting us with an opportunity to recognize our own culpability and laugh at ourselves."
Says Samia, quoted in "80 Artists Pick Their Favorite Bob Dylan Song For Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday" (Stereogum).
I've called "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" my favorite Bob Dylan song at least twice on this blog:
December 17, 2006: "That's kind of been my favorite Bob Dylan song for more than two decades. It's surely my favorite Bob Dylan simile. I know when I think about balance, that's the image in my head."
November 1, 2009: "[T]he night after we saw Bob Dylan in Chicago, he opened with 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat' — my all time favorite Bob Dylan song (which contains my all time favorite Bob Dylan simile)."
Is that really my favorite Bob Dylan song these days? No, not that I want to go picking a new favorite at this late hour. I thought the 80 artists had some good things to say, picked out some interesting choices — "Tears of Rage," "To Ramona," "Visions of Johanna," "Tangled Up In Blue." You might want to read that.
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4 comments:
Will writes: "I celebrated Bob-at-80 Day by listening to one of my favorite albums, 2001's "Love And Theft" ... He was sixty then, the age I am now. It features a couple of loud, gut-bucket blues pieces, "Sad and Lonesome Day" & "Cry A While" which harken back to his original electric period. For dessert, topped it off with the upbeat version of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" from Bootleg Vol. 1-3."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBcHaoPFjms
Alastair writes:
So much of his music sounds amateurish. It's rough, it's unfinished, it's raw. But that's its attraction. He is like a lot of French singers who don't sing so much as talk the song. Language is important in France. I went to a few concerts in France and the song was always a conversation. That's Bob Dylan.
I was struck by how many different songs were mentioned in the article. Extraordinary!! No one mentioned my favorite "Lay Lady Lay". It's a more massaged song but he is still speaking to his audience. It has a very country feel in Bob Dylan kind of way. I would love to know the story behind it. I think it involved a beautiful and special woman. Ah you women, you captivate us but don't seem to enjoy that any more. I wish you did.
Dave writes:
Alistair, in his letter about the Bob Dylan article, mentioned that no one cited "Lay Lady Lay" as his/her favorite Dylan song. But there was an artist named Yola who cited that song. I say that not as a gotcha, but because I really liked what she said about it. I remember being shocked (as was she) to discover that "Lay Lady Lay" was a Dylan song, as his voice sounds so much different. That fact had an interesting influence on her as an artist.
I thought that my (sometime) favorite Dylan song was missed, too. But finally an artist named Joe Russo mentioned "Desolation Row." And his reasoning as to why the song is attractive is spot-on.
Bob has quite a few different voices. The "Lay Lady Lay" one is not my favorite. When I do my Bob Dylan imitations, the model I keep in mind is "Stuck Inside of Memphis." The most Bob Dylan of the Bob Dylan voices.
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