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Retort

March 31st, 2008 @ 6:27 pm - by NMC · 22 Comments

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Filed Under: Herald & Examiner

22 Responses so far ↓

  1. rogerwilco says:
    March 31, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    The favorite Dylan concert I’ve seen was in Oxford in about 1991. Before he played “Oxford Town,” he said something like “you won’t believe this, but I had a request to play this song.”

  2. duckweedpond says:
    March 31, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    that’s what i’m talkin about.

    i do like james taylor. but he has his place.

  3. lotus says:
    March 31, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    roger, my favorite (because only) Dylan concert was in Memphis in the mid-70s (can’t pinpoint which year) with The Band. Really wasn’t fair how good that was.

    Nonetheless, NMC, Philistine though you may call my ear, if I had to choose only one voice I could have for the rest of my life, Simon’s and Taylor’s would be way up the list from Dylan’s. Best Songs he wins going away, but Best Voice, nuh-uh.

  4. MSlawyer says:
    March 31, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    I agree with you, lotus, except that I’d add Don Henley (with or without the Eagles) to my list.

  5. innocentbystander says:
    March 31, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    Lotus, was that Dylan concert around 1976? I attended one and some idiots kept yelling “Play ‘Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again’”. Dylan, of course, did not play it.

  6. rogerwilco says:
    March 31, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    Lotus, I can’t even tell you how jealous I am that you saw that concert. I think that tour was in 1974, but I could be off a year or two.

  7. zen master says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:04 pm

    roger, my sources tell me that the Oxford Chamber of Commerce is planning a series of promotional TV commercials aimed at tourists featuring that song. Except the lyrics will be changed slightly: instead of “Better get out of Oxford Town,” the new version will say, “Better come stay in Oxford Town.”

  8. Sailor says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    Dylan, hands down a lyricist/poet par excellence. I am a fool for his harmonica, too!

  9. zen master says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    Even likes the harmonica playing, eh? You, sir, are a true fan. And I applaud that.

  10. wooabby says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:18 pm

    Hey Lotus , does this bring back memories?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-WqilLCPM from the Martin scorsese film “The Last Waltz”. Great movie and sound track , The Band playing in a last concert with about 20 music ledgends including Dylan, Niel Young and Muddy Waters.

  11. wooabby says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    NMC, Thankyou for your great music posts, every time I click on one of your Youtubes I find myself spending hours looking through the links and discovering old favorites and so much more thats new to me.

  12. NMC says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    The Dylan concert with the Band in Memphis was in 1974 in January. I was there. It made me into a permanent and forever fan of the Band.

    I was at the Oxford show, too RogerWilco. Dylan had never played that song before in a live show and said “Someone told me I should play this song.” He looked stunned at the ovation he got. My memory of what he said is slightly different than RogerWilco while completely consistent.

  13. NMC says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    Dylan was a great, great singer. He’s shot his voice. But for decades he was a great expressive singer. Expressive and intense. I can give you a list of recordings and challenge you to say otherwise.

    Two of the greatest concerts I ever saw were Dylan shows– the Memphis one, and a show in Jackson right after Time Out of Mind came out.

  14. NMC says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    zen master:

    There is a harmonica solo on Time Out of Mind that is breathing. Literally. Two notes. It’s brilliant. if ANYONE could get it, it’s someone tagging themselves zen master, because it revolves around two things– the music itself and breathing. So I’m a fan of the harmonica too.

  15. supergreg says:
    March 31, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    The tour in ‘74 would have been following the release of Planet Waves, which was the last album, save for Last Waltz, featuring both.

    While the album is not generally considered one of the best by most Dylan/Band aficionados, I have always liked it, a lot.
    Planet Waves-1974
    1 “On a Night Like This” … 2:57
    2 “Going, Going, Gone” … 3:27
    3 “Tough Mama” … 4:17
    4 “Hazel” … 2:50
    5 “Something There is About You” … 4:45
    6 “Forever Young” … 4:57
    7 “Forever Young (Continued)” … 2:49
    8 “Dirge” … 5:36
    9 “You Angel You” … 2:54
    10 “Never Say Goodbye” … 2:56
    11″Wedding Song” … 4:40

    http://www.last.fm/music/Bob+Dylan/Planet+Waves

  16. zen master says:
    March 31, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    NMC, I was kidding about the harmonica. I don’t have Time Out of Mind. I’ll check that out.

  17. wooabby says:
    March 31, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    How about Bluegrass? I go to a Bluegrass festival in the New York Berkshire mountians every summer. Four days of great music and so much new young talent, saw these kids playing in front of the port-a-potties, wish I had half their energy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2WW6mEGGw

  18. NMC says:
    March 31, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    wooabby, I’m a big bluegrass fan. The daily music posts are focused on Mississippi. At some point soon, I’m going to deal with country from this area, but it’s going to be hard to find stuff online. Bands like the Leake County Revelears, Narmour and Smith, and etc. just aren’t to be heard much online. I may end up having to put records of my own up on youtube, althought that begins to be a lot of work.

  19. rogerwilco says:
    March 31, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    NMC at 12, that’s interesting that you remember that comment, too. I guess it’s because he makes so few comments during a show. I always wondered whether the crowd was reacting out of familiarity with the song or because he said “Oxford Town.”

    I’m a big fan of the Band too. When my wife was pregnant we fought for several months because I wanted to name the baby Levon if it was a boy. Turned out to be a girl, so we avoided the moment of truth.

  20. rogerwilco says:
    March 31, 2008 at 9:57 pm

    Zenner at 7, I hope cooler (in more ways than one) heads prevail on that lyrical proposal.

  21. zen master says:
    March 31, 2008 at 10:12 pm

    roger, re the 1974 show, you probably shouldn’t beat yourself up too much for missing it. You were, what, four at the time?

  22. NMC says:
    March 31, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    Roger: I knew a lot of people who were hoping for that song, and I thought without any basis. At that point he was almost between bands and the show off balance. When he got a great reaction off that song, the show turned around.

    There’s always a show to miss. He premiered “Stuck Inside of Mobile” in Memphis in the North Hall Auditorium with the Band in the 60s. I missed that show in that hall (lots of memories about it both from my time and before– I have a postcard from the 30s, when the traveling record companies would use it for a recording studio, and the Carter Family and the Memphis Jug Band recorded there. Bulldozed like much else of Memphis music history in the last 20 years).