not off topic because this changed everything. Congratulations Bob Dylan 45 years ago these very days recording Highway 61 Revisited, going to electric at Newport, getting soundly booed and pilloried. DAYS later cutting these tracks with authority, and an informed rock beat rhythm section, (charlie McCoy from Nashville also called in; early version of The Hawks (later The Band) on one of the cuts at least pretty sure... the snare shot of like a rolling stone ...springsteen said something like the snare like a crack that opens up your mind to an entirely new thing...and it was...
...Positively 4th St. the SINGLE from these sessions, not on the album, was a huge pop hit. imagine pop radio when u turned on the am and you got this.
brian and mick hung with dylan as did lennon...interesting stories and histories and tales all...a lot of em....
the stones had released out of our heads, aftermath was yet to come...in those days you got two new studio releases a year...satisfaction would show up as one of few jagger richards songs amidst marvin gaye hits and other covers. things were changing...by the time of between the buttons 'who's been sleeping here' and certainly with acoustic beatles especially lennon...and EVERYBODY else...the entire game had changed. a sic minute pop hit. the stones would cut goin' home soon afterward etc...a million paralells but i just wanna say congrats do Dylan and thanks...the awkward kinda out of tune guitars, al kooper's virgin organ ride that dylan KNEW was the way to go on like a rolling stone. brian jones thought i wsa about him. mick and brian came in for some ridiculing by dylan and his crew along the say...lennon was on top of it tho...
what this album mean to you? to me, at the time, it was overwhelmingly rich...
it's a touchstone. the holy grail. one of the most important rock records of all time. certainly one of the most influential. hendrix thought so. so did stones beatles EVERYBODY ELSE. elvis ray charles...whomever...the game changer. Highway 61...

The second of Bob's going electric Big Three recordings that trumped the world and upped the ante of popular music with....words....that seemed to leap to the page from the center of his brain where dreams come from. At that time Dylan was the coolest guy on the planet. A couple years earlier when the Beatles and Stones were trying to get an album released Dylan released "Freewheelin'..." with 50 minutes of music and a monumental almost 7 minute "A Hard Rain...." A year after the release of this record was the famous "Judas" concert, one of the most compelling moments in RnR history. It still gives me chills to hear Bob's retort. Dylan changed everything in popular music.

i believe this to be the ONLY impromptu start to finish interview he EVER gave on television. well after having said it ALL, and more...what more was there to say anyway....
the bobster; ferocious tuned-in...(very relaxed here and there, uh must be tired, but....brilliant. this, to me, is all so precious. 45 years ago. as we approach the stones fiftieth it's nice for me to remember the times in context and enjoy these uber rich treasures and pleasures we've been given by these giants.








part 1





part 2











part 3




part 4





part 5






this a face if u only have time for one




beelyboy...Think About it



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-01 01:27 by Beelyboy.

Great record. Personally though, Bringing It All Back Home is my favourite.

"...this is not british music this is american music come on...."

That little chap.

He was so great and influencing in those days! And cool looking . . !

After Blonde On Blonde and the World Tour he was becoming almost "bigger than Jesus" himself, remember reading in Chronicles that he was riding a car with Robbie Robertson and he asked something like "where do you think you'll take it now"...Bob said "what?", and Robbie said "The music scene"...Bob became puzzled. 1966 was a fantastic year for music, both sides of the Atlantic...Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds, Aftermath & Revolver. I wonder what direction would Bob have taken had he not suffered that accident.

Quote
stones78
After Blonde On Blonde and the World Tour he was becoming almost "bigger than Jesus" himself, remember reading in Chronicles that he was riding a car with Robbie Robertson and he asked something like "where do you think you'll take it now"...Bob said "what?", and Robbie said "The music scene"...Bob became puzzled. 1966 was a fantastic year for music, both sides of the Atlantic...Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds, Aftermath & Revolver. I wonder what direction would Bob have taken had he not suffered that accident.

The accident probably saved his life.

[www.angelfire.com]


don't have this boot but just looking' at trackless etc circa 65 etc... various shows and recordings is to rub up against some of the best songs ever imo.





"BOB DYLAN 1965 REVISITED

Great Dane Records CD9419 14 CD box [T-480]

DISK ONE

(1) Bringing It All Back Home sessions (New York, NY); January 13-15, 1965
(2) Hawks session (New York, NY); January 27, 1966
(3) Les Crane Show (New York, NY); February 17, 1965

Tracklist: (1) I'll Keep It With Mine, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Farewell Angelina, You Don't Have To Do That, She Belongs To Me, Love Minus Zero, If You Gotta Go Go Now, If You Gotta Go Go Now, If You Gotta Go Go Now, If You Gotta Go Go Now
(2) I'll Keep It With Mine (instr.)
(3) It's All Over Now Baby Blue, interview, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

DEEP: Quality is excellent throughout, comparing favorably to other unofficial releases, except the official ones, of course. Fine quality sound on the Crane performances and interview.

DISK TWO

Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica, CA); March 27, 1965

Tracklist: To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero, Mr Tambourine Man, Don't Think Twice, With God On Our Side [cut], She Belongs To Me, It Ain't Me Babe [cut], Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll [frag], All I Really Want To Do, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

DEEP: 13 tracks cloned from Songs That Made Him Famous (which had 5 bonus trax). Sound quality is listenable but annoying. I know the historians will say any Dylan 1965 show on tape is important, but it is the standard show/setlist, and the Manchester Trade Hall is much better.

NOTE: Although apparently sharing the source tape of Songs That Made Him Famous, this disc is not an exact clone; it includes the 30-second fragment of "Hattie Carroll" that the earlier disc omitted.

DISK THREE

(1) City Hall (Sheffield, UK); April 30, 1965
(2) Don't Look Back soundtrack
(3) Levy's Recording Studio (London, UK); May 12, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Times They Are A-Changin', To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero
(2) Times They Are A-Changin', To Ramona (Sheffield, 4/30); Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll (Leicester, 5/2); Lost Highway, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Savoy Hotel, 5/3-4); Little Things (Newcastle hotel, 5/6); Don't Think Twice (Newcastle, 5/6); It's All Over Now Baby Blue (Savoy Hotel, 5/8); instrumental improvisation, Times They Are A-Changin', Talkin' World War III Blues, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Gates Of Eden; Love Minus Zero, All I Really Want To Do (London, 5/9)
(3) Miami Sales Message, If You Gotta Go Go Now

DEEP: Sheffield is lame quality, distant, historical significance be damned. The rest of the disk contains interviews/press conferences from the 1965 tour and the complete live and backstage performances found in Don't Look Back, all in excellent quality. Great to have it all in one place and in such good quality.

NOTE: This entry principally relies on the tracklist supplied by the issuer, and is not entirely consistent with the standard Dundas listing.

DISK FOUR

Free Trade Hall (Manchester, UK); May 7, 1965

Tracklist: Times They Are A-Changin, To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero, Mr Tambourine Man, Talking World War III Blues, Don't Think Twice, With God On Our Side, She Belongs To Me, It Ain't Me Babe, Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, All I Really Want To Do, It's All Over Now Baby Blue

DEEP: Absolutely essential show, available on several other releases in comparable, perhaps identical sound. If you don't get this box, do grab one of the other disks. The definitive '65 acoustic Dylan best quality available.

DISK FIVE

Royal Albert Hall (London, UK); May 10, 1965

Tracklist: Times They Are A-Changin, To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero, Mr Tambourine Man, Talking World War III Blues, Don't Think Twice, With God On Our Side, She Belongs To Me, It Ain't Me Babe, Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, All I Really Want To Do, It's All Over Now Baby Blue

DEEP: Same setlist as Manchester, but in barely listenable quality. More a curiosity piece.

DISK SIX

BBC TV (London, UK); June 1, 1965

Tracklist: Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Mr Tambourine Man, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, It Ain't Me Babe, Love Minus Zero, One Too Many Mornings, Boots Of Spanish Leather, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), She Belongs To Me, It's All Over Now Baby Blue.

DEEP: A great performance previously available on The Circus Is In Town; while the sound quality differs, it is hard to say which is better. The sound on here has a bit more hiss but appears more natural. Anyway, you need to have one or the other, if not a tape.

DISK SEVEN

Highway 61 Revisited sessions (New York, NY); June 15 - July 31, 1965

Tracklist: Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (mono), Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (stereo), Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (stereo acetate), Phantom Engineer (mono), Phantom Engineer (stereo acetate), Phantom Engineer (stereo), Like A Rolling Stone (stereo); Like A Rolling Stone (mono), Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (mono), Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (mono), Positively 4th Street (mono), It Takes A Lot To Laugh (mono), Tombstone Blues (mono), From A Buick Six, From A Buick Six, From A Buick Six

DEEP: Mono, stereo, and/or acetate versions of familiar material. A few of the acetate versions sound the same as the mono and/or stereo mixes, so you are sometimes getting the same take from a different source. Quality is excellent throughout. Many of these versions are found on other releases. A worthwhile disk, though I find it hard listening to so many takes of a song in succession.

DISK EIGHT

(1) Highway 61 Revisited sessions (New York, NY); August 2, 1965
(2) Newport Folk Festival (Newport, RI); July 24-25, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Desolation Row, Queen Jane Approximately, Highway 61 Revisited, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
(2) All I Really Want To Do, Maggie's Farm, Like A Rolling Stone, Phantom Engineer, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Mr. Tambourine Man

DEEP: Five excellent quality mono mixes available elsewhere. Quality here is excellent; "Desolation Row" is markedly different in this incarnation and has to be heard. So exhaustively reviewed I won't bother to comment other than to say that the quality here is up to snuff, which is to say very, very, good.

DISK NINE

Forest Hills (New York, NY); August 28, 1965

Tracklist: She Belongs To Me, To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, Desolation Row, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Mr. Tambourine Man, Tombstone Blues, I Don't Believe You, From A Buick Six, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

DEEP: I call this the curiosity piece of this set, much like the Elephant Man's bones. Cool to check out once or twice, but beyond that not very fulfilling. Quality is dire, though I hesitate to say unlistenable. The sound is really bad and hard to enjoy, so let's put it in the "historical significance only" category.

DISK TEN

(1) Forest Hills (New York, NY); August 28, 1965
(2) Hawks sessions (New York, NY); October 5 - November 30, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Maggie's Farm, It Ain't Me Babe, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone
(2) Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Jet Pilot, Medicine Sunday, Number One, Freeze Out

DEEP: The Hawks sessions are in excellent quality, with multiple takes and variant mixes, same quality to these ears as what is previously been available. Disk ten is a winner.

DISKS ELEVEN & TWELVE

(1) Allen Stone interview (Detroit, MI); October 24, 1965
(2) Nat Hentoff (unpublished) Playboy interview (New York, NY); October or November 1965

DEEP: Excellent quality interviews, revealing, playful, fun to listen to, no doubt. As cool as these are, how often are you gonna play 'em? A good listen, once, but better to have it in print to refer back to for specific quotes.

DISK THIRTEEN

(1) KQED Studios Press Conference (San Francisco, CA); December 3, 1965
(2) Berkeley Community Theater (Berkeley, CA); December 4, 1965

Tracklist: (1) press conference
(2) Tombstone Blues, I Don't Believe You, Baby Let Me Follow You Down

DISK FOURTEEN

(1) Berkeley Community Theater (Berkeley, CA); December 4, 1965
(2) Columbia press conference (Los Angeles, CA); December 16, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, Long Distance Operator, It Ain't Me Babe, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Positively Fourth Street, Like A Rolling Stone
(2) press conference

DEEP: The press conferences are hilarious, vintage BD. Play it for your friends!! The classic tape from December 4 is not great quality, but oh so listenable; to my ears the same quality as found on Long Distance Operator. The Hawks cook up a sizzling brew, white hot flame on top of BDs scorching vocals. The press conferences serve as nice bookends to the show.

DEEP: So, is it worth it you ask? Most of this material is available on other CDs in the same quality. Granted, there are a few takes of some outtakes which may appear here for the first time, but the "first-time on CD" release of Forest Hills, RAH '65, Newcastle '65 does not warrant the investment when you consider the quality. The interviews are cool also but can be just as enjoyable on tape. On the other hand, if you have nothing and want to get started, this would not be a bad place. Another factor in your decision might be whether or not you can get this material on tape from someone. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fine packaging job on the set. Each disk individually packaged in its own jewel case, some double slim lines. Large format 12x12 booklet with source information (how accurate it is I've yet to check) and nice photographs, all previously published. A fine overall job, yet I really believe a 10CD box with the interviews transcribed would have been better and more affordable.

AMG: A gift to Dylan archaeologists from enterprising bootleggers, 14 CDs' worth. The results are imposing, to say the least, as is the price. Nevertheless, extremely worthwhile."

The leap from BLONDE to JOHN WESLEY HARDING has got to be one of the most amazing and confounding in the history of rock'n roll. (and The Basement Tapes offer nary a clue imo).

the single contemporaneous with highway 61 right after like a rolling stone. it charted high. elegance and vehemence and nakedness and music of both rooted glow and intensity...wow...intensity. bam. the truth. hurts.

these sessions are the wild mercury bob dylan vocal sound; so full of depth and texture...and a knowingness past his young age....the directness and insight etc....what a wonderful time to grow up when music really meantt everything;( like now
and what u got straight from pop radio was this informed and lovely a soundtrack to grow up and into. mysterious and stark... that rarest of things in contemporary pop culture, regardless of him sort of "assuming" some copyrights he didn't exactly "write", were his for ownership. (and they were) long story...
nevertheless burning bright...an original.



You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you gota helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that's winning

You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"
But you don't mean it

When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them

And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-01 05:39 by Beelyboy.

These lyrics are to which song, please?

(sorry if I didn't get it. As a German I'm not that familiar with his lyrics)

Quote
Gazza

Quote
stones78
After Blonde On Blonde and the World Tour he was becoming almost "bigger than Jesus" himself, remember reading in Chronicles that he was riding a car with Robbie Robertson and he asked something like "where do you think you'll take it now"...Bob said "what?", and Robbie said "The music scene"...Bob became puzzled. 1966 was a fantastic year for music, both sides of the Atlantic...Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds, Aftermath & Revolver. I wonder what direction would Bob have taken had he not suffered that accident.

The accident probably saved his life.

and gave him the cover and tranquility to produce, for my money, his best-ever music at big pink....

Did Bob ever played Subterranean Homesick Blues with the Hawks?

Quote
stones78
Did Bob ever played Subterranean Homesick Blues with the Hawks?

no

Quote
stones78
Did Bob ever played Subterranean Homesick Blues with the Hawks?

Never played live until the start of the Never Ending Tour in June '88.

Quote
CousinC
These lyrics are to which song, please?

(sorry if I didn't get it. As a German I'm not that familiar with his lyrics)

Positively 4th Street

Quote
StonesTod

Quote
Gazza

Quote
stones78
After Blonde On Blonde and the World Tour he was becoming almost "bigger than Jesus" himself, remember reading in Chronicles that he was riding a car with Robbie Robertson and he asked something like "where do you think you'll take it now"...Bob said "what?", and Robbie said "The music scene"...Bob became puzzled. 1966 was a fantastic year for music, both sides of the Atlantic...Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds, Aftermath & Revolver. I wonder what direction would Bob have taken had he not suffered that accident.

The accident probably saved his life.

and gave him the cover and tranquility to produce, for my money, his best-ever music at big pink....

Certainly up there. For me, that 'golden era' didnt stop in July '66.

Quote
Gazza

Quote
StonesTod

Quote
Gazza

Quote
stones78
After Blonde On Blonde and the World Tour he was becoming almost "bigger than Jesus" himself, remember reading in Chronicles that he was riding a car with Robbie Robertson and he asked something like "where do you think you'll take it now"...Bob said "what?", and Robbie said "The music scene"...Bob became puzzled. 1966 was a fantastic year for music, both sides of the Atlantic...Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds, Aftermath & Revolver. I wonder what direction would Bob have taken had he not suffered that accident.

The accident probably saved his life.

and gave him the cover and tranquility to produce, for my money, his best-ever music at big pink....

Certainly up there. For me, that 'golden era' didnt stop in July '66.

i think his productivity in '67 has proven to be perhaps his best, time-tested and most revered...just based on how many of those songs have been covered....much more accessible than the wild ride he was taking people on in '66....

hmmm interesting. george all goin' country here.

bob went total country slow ballad w this in late 90's.

sorry to not leave the title w the lyrics but gazza's on the ball.
i mentioned in lead post but shudder left it.
PLEASE (i could NOT find it on youtube don't know where else to look!!@??)
PLEASE give the originally released single version a spin when u can.
cause it's just so beautiful. amazing track. and they left it OFF the album.
ha. and the album was still magnificent.

cousinc he lived on west 4th street in the village with girlfriend suze retolo (she has a very well written biography that is worthwhile imo)....
...right when he started to get big and she tells of everybody shooting an angle on him and all, the way it is when someone just rises that high and fast and leaves a lot of folks wondering' what the hell THEY are or not doin' in the world...kinda....and it freaked them out and pissed dylan off etc...as he adjusted etc...so biographaphically, according to her, that was wattup w this one. but it's themes are very universal reportage on human behaviors etc...for me dylan went deep but did it so plain and beautiful....

[www.amazon.com]



don't look back documentary. as most know, one of the most important, (and revelatory and satisfying) music documentaries ever made, ever TO be made.

this, along with the bootleg vid (that the touring drummer took which has AMAZING TOTALLY CONNECTED MAGICAL performance footage of the live full electric band)...

this is just so worthwhile. and also right in 1965.





Amazon.com essential video
Both a classic documentary and a vital pop-cultural artifact, D.A. Pennebaker's portrait of Bob Dylan captures the seminal singer-songwriter on the cusp of his transformation from folk prophet to rock trendsetter. Shot during Dylan's 1965 British concert tour, Don't Look Back employs an edgy vérité style that was, and is, a snug fit with the artist's own consciously rough-hewn persona. Its handheld black-and-white images and often-gritty London backdrops suggest cinematic extensions of the archetypal monochrome portraits that graced Dylan's career-making early-'60s album jackets.
Pennebaker's access to the legendarily private troubadour enables us to witness Dylan's shifting moods as he performs, relaxes with his entourage (including then lover Joan Baez, road manager Bob Neuwirth, and poker-faced manager Albert Grossman), and jousts with other musicians (notably Animals alumnus Alan Price and Scottish folksinger Donovan), fans, and press. It's a measurement of the filmmaker's acuity that the conversations are often as gripping as Dylan's solo performances. Grossman's machinations with British promoters, Baez's hip serenity, a grizzled British journalist's surrender to the fact of Dylan's artistry, and the artist's own taunting dismissal of a clueless sycophant are all absorbing.

With the exception of the studio recording of "Subterranean Homesick Blues," the live performances (including five newly restored, complete audio tracks excised from the original film but included on the DVD version) are constrained by crude audio gear. Their urgency, however, is timeless, as is Pennebaker's film, a legitimate cornerstone for any serious rock video collection. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description
BOB DYLAN: DONT LOOK BACK--65 TOUR DELUXE EDITION is the ultimate look at Bob Dylan's concert tour of England in the spring of 1965--one of the most intimate profiles of an artist ever put to film. This definitive set includes the remastered classic film by D.A. Pennebaker, a brand-new, hour-long look at Dylan, and the original 168-page companion book to the film. More than just a concert film, DONT LOOK BACK is a window into the spirit of the 60s, and one of the poet-musicians whose words and songs defined it.

DISC 1: BOB DYLAN DONT LOOK BACK
This digitally-remastered version of the cinema verite classic follows Dylan on his extraordinary 1965 concert tour of England--his last as an acoustic performer. With unobtrusive equipment and rare access to Dylan, legendary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker achieved an unprecedented, fly-on-the-wall glimpse of one of music's most influential figures--and redefined filmmaking along the way.

DISC 2: BOB DYLAN 65 REVISITED
Forty years after the release of DONT LOOK BACK, D.A. Pennebaker has created this new work culled from over 20 hours of never-before-seen rare footage from his personal archive of film negatives. Raw and unassuming, '65 REVISITED provides a fresh perspective of the young Dylan on the road during his 1965 English tour.

BONUS - DONT LOOK BACK COMPANION BOOK & FLIPBOOK
Originally published in 1968, the 168-page companion book features a complete transcription of the film, over 200 photos, and a new forward by D.A. Pennebaker. The collectible Subterranean Homesick Blues flipbook provides a frame-by-frame look at the film's famed 'cue-card' sequence, considered by many to be the first contemporary music video.

DVD Features Include:
Five Additional Uncut Audio Tracks; Two Commentaries by D.A. Pennebaker and tour road manager Bob Neuwirth; Alternate Version of the Subterranean Homesick Blues Cue Card Sequence; Original Theatrical Trailer; D.A. Pennebaker Filmography; Bob Dylan Discography; Cast and Crew Biographies
See all Editorial Reviews



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-01 21:13 by Beelyboy.

Quote
Beelyboy
sorry to not leave the title w the lyrics but gazza's on the ball.
i mentioned in lead post but shudder left it.
PLEASE (i could NOT find it on youtube don't know where else to look!!@??)
PLEASE give the originally released single version a spin when u can.
cause it's just so beautiful. amazing track. and they left it OFF the album.
ha. and the album was still magnificent.

cousinc he lived on west 4th street in the village with girlfriend suze retolo (she has a very well written biography that is worthwhile imo)....
...right when he started to get big and she tells of everybody shooting an angle on him and all, the way it is when someone just rises that high and fast and leaves a lot of folks wondering' what the hell THEY are or not doin' in the world...kinda....and it freaked them out and pissed dylan off etc...as he adjusted etc...so biographaphically, according to her, that was wattup w this one. but it's themes are very universal reportage on human behaviors etc...for me dylan went deep but did it so plain and beautiful....

Thanx Beely & Gazza.
The lyrics touched me. Great song.

I always wanted a deeper understanding of his writings. Just from listening its not easy for a foreigner altough this one is not that hard.
I'm shure I missed a lot of great stuff . .

just take it a couplet at a time and enjoy it! he's really plain-spoken; and who knows what any of it really means after all anyway...
,,,a great way to learn the lexicon of americanisms in folk and rock and blues music in it's way....
....but for me, he's one of the few lyricists that consistently 'read' well, as a poet...i had the Lyrics from the beginning to '85 in a really great hard-cover book but i gave it away to another music fan...
...and it was ALWAYS such a good read! even without the music. and most lyricists, as great as they are, don't seem to be able to quite do that for me...i mean i love reading lyrics as song lyrics too; wouldn't want to miss anything ray davies or van morrison was 'saying'!!! ...but for me dylan's stuff mostly reads as great story-telling and/or poetry per se...certainly back then it was!!!@ in 65!!! and even now....imo.

For anyone who knows the West Village and west 4th Street, the apartment Bob & Suze lived in when he first settled in New York is directly across the street from where it meets Jones Street - the spot where the front cover of 'Freewheelin' is taken. Think it was no. 161 they lived in.

There's a great little pub on the corner of Jones St, 'The Slaughtered Lamb'.

WIKIPEDIA reports:


'The master take of "Positively 4th Street" was recorded on July 29, 1965, during the mid-June to early August recording sessions that produced all of the material that appeared on Dylan's 1965 album, Highway 61 Revisited.[8] The song was the last to be attempted that day, with Dylan and a variety of session musicians having already successfully recorded master takes of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" and "Tombstone Blues".[1][9] The studio band on "Positively 4th Street" featured Robert Gregg (drums), Russ Savakus[10] or Harvey Brooks[11] (bass), Frank Owens[10] or Paul Griffin[11] (piano), Al Kooper (organ) and Mike Bloomfield (guitar), with the song initially being logged on the studio's official recording session documentation under the working title of "Black Dalli Rue".[12]
Although the song was recorded during the Highway 61 Revisited sessions, it was saved for a single-only release, eventually charting in the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic.[4][5] Some early copies of the "Positively 4th Street" single were mis-pressed, with an outtake version of "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" (a song that Dylan would release as his next single) appearing on the A-side in place of "Positively 4th Street".[8] Critic Dave Marsh praised the song as "an icy hipster bitch session" with "Dylan cutting loose his barbed-wire tongue at somebody luckless enough to have crossed the path of his desires."[citation needed] The song would later be included on the U.S. version of Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, as well as the compilation albums Masterpieces, Biograph, and The Essential Bob Dylan.[7] It was also used in director Todd Haynes' 2007 film, I'm Not There.
In 1989 a Bristol music promoter purchased an old KB Discomatic jukebox that had once belonged to John Lennon during the mid-1960s. A copy of Dylan's "Positively 4th Street" single was found among the 41 7" singles loaded onto the machine.[13] As a result, the song appears on the John Lennon's Jukebox compilation album, which was released to coincide with the publicity surrounding the jukebox's unveiling and a South Bank Show documentary about the jukebox.[14]
[edit]Musical structure and lyrics

The song, like most of Dylan's, is composed of a simple chordal and melodic structure; the verse has a I-ii-IV progression followed by a I-V-IV-vi-V.[citation needed] As has been pointed out by Richie Unterberger, in his review of the song on the Allmusic website, the lyrics of "Positively 4th Street" are uncompromisingly nasty.[7] Dylan begins by telling the unspecified second-person target of the song that they have a lot of nerve to say that they are his friend and then goes on to list a multitude of examples of their backstabbing duplicity.[7] While the lyrics are distinctly negative, the organ-dominated backing music is that of care-free folk-rock.[7] The melody is somewhat repetitive and does not deviate from the harmonic progression set up during the first four lines of the song.[7] Additionally, the song has no recognisable, repeating refrain, and does not feature its title anywhere in the song's lyrics.[1] Founder of Crawdaddy! magazine, Paul Williams, has noted that the song's lyrics are uncharacteristically straightforward and devoid of the rich, poetic imagry present in the majority of Dylan's contemporaneous material.[1] Thus, the song can be seen as something of an open letter to Dylan's intended target, with the Top 40 airwaves serving as Dylan's means of communication.[1]
The lyrics of "Positively 4th Street" are bitter and derisive, which caused many, at the time of the song's release, to draw a comparison with Dylan's similarly toned previous single "Like a Rolling Stone".[citation needed] Indeed, journalist Andy Gill described it as "simply the second wind of a one-sided argument, so closely did it follow its predecessor's formula, both musically and attitudinally".[15]
[edit]Inspiration and the significance of 4th Street

There is uncertainty about exactly which "4th Street" the title refers to, with many scholars and fans speculating it refers to more than one.[16] New York City's 4th Street is at the heart of the Manhattan residential district Greenwich Village, where Dylan once lived.[16] This area was central to the burgeoning folk music scene of the early 1960s, which centered around Dylan and many other influential singer-songwriters.[17] However, the song also may concern Dylan's stay at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where 4th Street S.E. is one of the two main roads crossing through the part of campus known as Dinkytown, where Dylan lived and performed.[16]
The song is generally assumed to ridicule Greenwich Village residents who criticized Dylan for his departure from traditional folk styles towards the electric guitar and rock music.[1] Many of the Greenwich Village folk crowd, who had been good friends of Dylan's, took offense and assumed that the song carried personal references.[7] Noted Village figure Izzy Young, who ran the Folklore Center, had this to say of the accusation:
"At least five hundred came into my place [the Folklore Center]... and asked if it was about me. I don't know if it was, but it was unfair. I'm in the Village twenty-five years now. I was one of the representatives of the Village, there is such a thing as the Village. Dave Van Ronk was still in the Village. Dylan comes in and takes from us, uses my resources, then he leaves and he gets bitter. He writes a bitter song. He was the one who left."[16]
Other possible targets of the song's derision are: Irwin Silber, editor of Sing Out! magazine and a critic of Dylan's move away from traditional folk styles;[1] Tom Paxton, who had criticized the emerging folk rock scene of the period in a Sing Out! magazine article from autumn of 1965, entitled "Folk Rot" (although Dylan wrote and recorded "Positively 4th Street" months before the "Folk Rot" article was published);[citation needed] Phil Ochs was also claimed to be a possible target in Michael Schumacher's book There But For Fortune: The Life Of Phil Ochs, after Dylan got angry at Ochs for his criticism of the song "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?", which supposedly prompted Dylan to throw Ochs out of his limousine (though Dylan wrote and recorded "Positively 4th Street" months before this incident occurred in September 1965);[18][19] Dylan's ex-girlfriend Suze Rotolo; and Richard Fariña (as reported by a counterculture insider in the 1960s, but like the other speculations, unverified).[citation needed] Another possibility is that "Positively 4th Street" (along with "Like a Rolling Stone") was directed at Edie Sedgwick and her association with Andy Warhol, though this seems very unlikely as Dylan recorded this song before his involvement with Sedgwick had turned sour.[citation needed]
In the book Dylan - Visions, Portraits, and Back Pages, compiled by the writers of the UK's Mojo magazine, there is some speculation that "Positively 4th Street", like other Dylan compositions of the time, was influenced by Dylan's experimentation with LSD. The book alleges that Dylan's feeling was that "LSD is not for groovy people: it's for mad, hateful people who want revenge." This allegation is supported by the derisive, attacking tone of many of the songs on Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, as well as the harsh and powerful textures of Dylan's electric sound.[20]
David Hajdu took the title of the song for his 2002 book, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina.
[edit]Cover versions

Johnny Rivers was probably the first to cover this song, using it as the closing track on his Realization album in 1968.[21] Dylan said in his best selling book Chronicles: Volume One that he preferred Johnny Rivers' version of "Positively 4th Street" to his own recording of the song.[22] "Positively 4th Street" was also covered by The Beatles during the Let It Be recording sessions but their version has never been officially released.[23]
In 1970, The Byrds included a live version of the song, recorded at the Felt Forum, on their (Untitled) album.[24] The Jerry Garcia Band have also covered the song in their live shows and a live recording appears on The Very Best of Jerry Garcia compilation album.[25] The punk band X released a version of "Positively 4th Street" on their "4th of July" single in 1987.[26] ANTiSEEN also covered this song on their 1989 LP, Noise for the Sake of Noise.[27]
Other musicians and bands that have covered the song, include Lucinda Williams, on the live compilation album In Their Own Words, Vol. 1, Charly García on his 1995 album Estaba en llamas Cuando me Acosté, the Stereophonics on their 1999 EP, Pick a Part That's New, the Violent Femmes on their 2000 album, Freak Magnet, and Simply Red on their 2003 album, Home.[28][29]"

reading new york times sunday september 5th Book Review Section and here's a new book bout bobster 'bringing it all back home' name of the piece; reading now over blended expresso and toasted gahlic bagell...ahhh new york pleasures in venice beach californigh aay. blessings to all this Labor Day Holiday weekend...beautiful @ the beach...cool breezes...late morning coffee (at two in the afternoon don't ask) and bob's in the papaahh! haven't read the book yet obviously but good a piece!...cool artwork in the drawing too. thought i'd drop other bobmaniacs here a heads-up wit it: enjoy

also KCSN 88.5 FM (california state university CSU, at Northridge)

has GREAT really GREAT dylan show every sunday afternoon!! great archival stuff. knowledgable deejays...great stuff.. check it!
dunno if they stream it but this is very worthwhile award-winning college station with music u just CANNOT find on the radio anymore in commercial broadcast markets...entire genres actually. very diversely cool programming here...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-06 06:10 by Beelyboy.