ARTSP
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, November 1, 1989 Page 7
Bob
Dylan:
Ten
musical memories
BY MARK SWARTZ
1. "in My Time of Dyin"' 1961,
Bob Dylan
We pick up the story already in
progress. Bob Dylan is the same age
I am now. But he sounds ancient,
like somebody who's already been
beaten down a hundred times by the
Delta blues. How can Bobby Zim-
merman, such a nice Jewish boy
from Duluth, sing "Meet me Jesus,
meet me," so strongly? What secret
reservoir of spirituality has been dis-
f covered? How can this nice Jewish
boy, (who wants to be an artist too)
listening to Bob Dylan in my room
with all the lights turned out, tap
.into anything so powerful in my
. own life? Can I even envision the
send so frighteningly?
r Of course, it must all be a pose:
.the corduroy cap, the hobo jacket,
the stories of the road. It's just a tal-
ented bullshit-artist who got his
,hands on some Robert Johnson
r records. But no, there's a real trem-
able in this dyin' man's boastful
, rants, something bone-true about the
.shrill bottlenecking on the frets.
(Actually, the back of the record tells
'us he used, "the lipstick holder he
borrowed from his girl, Susie Ro-
tolo, who sat devotedly and wide-
eyed through the recording session.")
2. "Blowin' in the Wind" 1963
The Freewheelin'Bob Dylan
I remember learning the E-Z Pi-
ano version when I was 11. It was
the only song they could make me
practice.
Dylan barely sings on this record-
ing; it's a cool, straight delivery. I
think he's in awe of his own com-
position, and he's afraid that if he
erhbellishes it one bit, people
wouldn't pay attention. Did they?
No wonder he still sings it in con-
cert.
3. "Lay Down Your Weary
Tune" 1963 unreleased, 1985
Biograph
"The crying rain like- a trumpet
sang and asked for no applause." Of
course, Dylan is making a personal
statement about his job as minstrel,
but there's more. A simple poem
about a complicated world. He
breaks down all the natural elements
into musical metaphors. Here we
have the ultimate artistic conceit:
oneperformer, one voice, one guitar,
asking us to imagine moaning ban-
jos, clashing cymbals, and blowing
-'1
4. "Mr. Tambourine Man"
1965 Bringing It All Back
Home
Robert Shelton, in No Directon
Home, called it "a great lyric poem
about the artist's search for transcen-
dence." Music critic Wilfred Mellers
wrote in A Darker Shade of Pale,
"The heart of the matter is that his
Pied-Piper myth encourages us to
follow the unconscious wherever it
may spontaneously lead us." But re-
ally, this song is about me. I know
it by heart, have always known it.
To me none of the images seem
crazy, not the numb toes, neither the
smoke rings nor the swirling ship.
Luckily, lots of others think it's
about them, too.
5. "Visions of Johanna" 1966
Blonde on Blonde
I'll tell you something: this one
happened to me. I was in bed with
her, the country music station was
playing soft, and every time I looked
at her I only saw her. It's not com-
forting, like you might imagine
keeping a good secret from some-
body could be. It's frightening,
alienating, like you can't count on
anything. I mean, you try so hard to
love someone, live in the present,
kl wit hat-h i haATrr'
This ain't no love song. Dylan's
collage of images: the ghost of elec-
tricity, the jewels and binoculars, the
handfuls of rain, are very personal-
ized. I even heard that the real life
"Johanna" is Joan Baez. But as a
poem it can make sense without
knowing his intimate details, espe-
cially when you have your own.
}
6
f
bugies. we're expected to wring an worK wun what you nave. iTheres
entire symphony out of a solo even that other song that says if you
acoustic tune. can't be with the one you love, love
wThe success of it depends more the one you're with, but it's a no-
on us than on him. That's what a lot go. The "Visions" conquer your
of this is about, for me. Dylan gives mind and your conscious explodes.
us interactive art: give little, get a Robbie Robertson's cruel guitar
little. Do it yourself. "Don't follow taunts and teases Dylan's voice into
leaders, and watch the parking me- a alarmingly existential cataclysm.
C //
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