Dylan

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the
key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D"
train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
How can I explain?
Oh, it's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeeze
I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for
him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and
say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and smells like veneer

I didn't know where to put this and this fucker certainly doesn't deserve his own thread but Zantzinger, don't RIP:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/us/10zantzinger.html?ref=obituaries

A lowlife to the end:

In 1991, The Maryland Independent disclosed that Mr. Zantzinger had been collecting rent from black families living in shanties that he no longer owned; Charles County, Md., had foreclosed on them for unpaid taxes. The shanties lacked running water, toilets or outhouses. Not only had Mr. Zantzinger collected rent for properties he did not own, he also went to court to demand past-due rent, and won.

He pleaded guilty to 50 misdemeanor counts of deceptive trade practices, paid $62,000 in penalties and, under an 18-month sentence, spent only nights in jail.

is Visions of Johanna seriously about having a hard on and wanting to wank in a room full of sleeping/fornicating people? damn

who knows?

Heylin

we were one JBR xpost away from the greatest first response ever

This is amusing: https://www.spin.com/2018/10/bob-dylan-lyrics-drawings-review/

he he it is indeed

Great interview with Larry Campbell about what it was like to tour/play with Dylan. As mentioned in the interview, the Larry Campbell/Charlie Sexton band (first with Kemper on drums, then Receli) is often considered the best band Dylan had on the NET, and I would agree.

https://dylanlive.substack.com/p/larry-campbell-goes-deep-on-his-eight

Thanks for posting this. I've been listening to a lot of 'Love and Theft' tour bootlegs lately. Such a great band. The Warren Zevon covers were so good.

No idea where to put this:

THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG by BOB DYLAN coming 11/8/22

60+ essays
150+ photos
350+ pages

the man is simply unstoppable pic.twitter.com/0sheWWgsQd

— Jokermen (@JokermenPodcast) March 8, 2022

I can't wait to read it. Loved "Chronicles Vol 1".

Wow!

The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from being seen
But that’s just because he doesn’t want to turn into some machine 😀

a most reasonable explanation

Splendid song & track---also the Persuasions cover---and an appealing alibi, but not for Self-Portrait, which is like a cut-rate greeting card designed by a bot.

(Thinking of that since New Morning was his return to cred after S-P)

Audiobook has an interesting selection of readers.

saw him live (for the umpteenth time) recently

setlist almost same every night, heavy on the rough & rowdy material (alas, no murder most foul)

key west was great

but really, who am I kidding, he is just the weirdest legacy live act I've ever seen, it's never really bad, but always just so weeeird... money rolling in, tour goes on forever, just the weirdness of it all, maybe this time emphasized by beeing in a big arena, and people were just applauding, happy... seem to recall people used to disappointed, which was practical, I could be enthusiastic and exegetical, now they just love it

anyway, roll on Bob

After visiting the Lou Reed exhibit at the NYPL, I checked out Light in the Attic's preview of the upcoming release of 1965 demos, and this one for "Men of Good Fortune" stuck out - it has NO relation to the song that later appeared on the 1973 album Berlin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLNnlYYhz2M

It's basically a rewrite of Dylan's "Song to Woody," which itself is a rewrite of Guthrie's song "1913 Massacre." (The same demo tape has Reed covering "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right.") It's a nice glimpse of a great artist finding his voice, absorbing one influence (in this case Dylan) and virtually mimicking that influence before finding a new path.

xp my MO with Bob shows is to just steadily lower my expectations for the weeks leading up to the show, so I'm usually pleasantly surprised with what actually transpires musically. That said, I haven't seen him in a decade or more, so no idea if that would be different.

I'm surprised how great his most recent shows have been. I almost gave up on going to anymore after the Americanarama tour. Probably a combination of three things: 1) phrasing improved after the per-rock standards project, 2) stopped changing the setlist, which meant the band was very familiar with the material and were sharper and more precise as a result (downside - if you went to multiple shows, you got the same songs over and over again), 3) on the current tour, he had the lyrics laid out for him (at least for the first leg), so instead of trying to remember, he could read them, and honest to God, he hasn't enunciated this well since the '70s. It's pretty amazing.

*pre-rock standards

yeah good points

and that men of good fortune take is hilarious!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/books/bob-dylan-book-excerpt.html

The title of Bob Dylan’s latest book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” is, in a sense, misleading. A collection of brief essays on 65 songs (and one poem), it is less a rigorous study of craft than a series of rhapsodic observations on what gives great songs their power to fascinate us.

Dylan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, worked on these for more than a decade, though they flow more like extemporaneous sermons. The chapter on Johnnie Taylor’s “Cheaper to Keep Her,” for example, is mainly an indictment of the lawyers whose profiteering of heartbreak drives the divorce “industry.”

Elsewhere, Dylan writes in oracular riddles. His one-paragraph piece on “Long Tall Sally,” by Little Richard, likens Sally to the Nephilim giants of the Old Testament, and postulates Richard as “a giant of a different kind” who took a diminutive stage name “so as not to scare anybody.”

About half the essays in the book — his first collection of new writing since “Chronicles: Volume One,” in 2004 — are accompanied by what Dylan’s publisher calls “riffs”: even shorter, even looser pieces, in which Dylan attempts to embody the spirit — the philosophy? — of the song itself. On “Poor Little Fool,” by Ricky Nelson: “She sized you up, she was captivating and shrewd and lousy with lies. Oh yeah, you were an absolute blockhead beyond a doubt.”

Dylan on "My Generation" by The Who via that NY Times article

This is a song that does no favors for anyone, and casts doubt on everything.

In this song, people are trying to slap you around, slap you in the face, vilify you. They’re rude and they slam you down, take cheap shots. They don’t like you because you pull out all the stops and go for broke. You put your heart and soul into everything and shoot the works, because you got energy and strength and purpose. Because you’re so inspired they put the whammy on, they’re allergic to you, and they have hard feelings. Just your very presence repels them. They give you frosty looks and they’ve had enough of you, and there’s a million others just like you, multiplying every day.

You’re in an exclusive club, and you’re advertising yourself. You’re blabbing about your age group, of which you’re a high-ranking member. You can’t conceal your conceit, and you’re snobbish and snooty about it. You’re not trying to drop any big bombshell or cause a scandal, you’re just waving a flag, and you don’t want anyone to comprehend what you’re saying or embrace it, or even try to take it all in. You’re looking down your nose at society and you have no use for it. You’re hoping to croak before senility sets in. You don’t want to be ancient and decrepit, no thank you. I’ll kick the bucket before that happens. You’re looking at the world mortified by the hopelessness of it all.

In reality, you’re an eighty-year-old man, being wheeled around in a home for the elderly, and the nurses are getting on your nerves. You say why don’t you all just fade away. You’re in your second childhood, can’t get a word out without stumbling and dribbling. You haven’t any aspirations to live in a fool’s paradise, you’re not looking forward to that, and you’ve got your fingers crossed that you don’t. Knock on wood. You’ll give up the ghost first.

You’re talking about your generation, sermonizing, giving a discourse.

Straight talk, eyeball to eyeball.

enjoyed that will probably read the book

Dylan on "My Generation" by The Who via that NY Times article

Is that actually Dylan's excerpt? I was confused at first, but it looks like that is actually Ben Sisario channeling Dylan's style. The actual excerpt from the book comes later, in italics, and is read by Oscar Isaac.

They’re both by Dylan. The part in italics is a “riff” on the song; the article points out that many of the essays are accompanied by these additional “riffs.”

Also, Dylan OTM. I’d be interested to hear Townshend’s reaction/response.

Because Dylan is really known for his riffs

Has Bob really been irritated by this song for nearly 60 years?

Ah now it makes sense, thanks! xxp

Was wondering how many more shows Julian Lage was going to do with Dylan. Lage is scheduled to play at the Stone next Thursday, July 2. (Smokey Hormel is playing the following night. Both shows are duos with bassist Greg Cohen.) The Stone hasn't changed the schedule, and Dylan's got a show the same night in Oklahoma, but assuming Lage keeps the Stone gig, maybe three more shows? (Hopefully he'll get some numbers where he can stretch out a bit.)

Ah, he's actually got quite a few gigs coming up. (The Stone's not listed, but if he keeps the Town Hall gig on Monday, I guess tomorrow night would be the last show?

Man, I had no idea. I love Lage's playing, I'll have to check out a few videos to hear how he fits in.

He's a nice addition, but he'll sound reigned in compared to his own shows - as much as Dylan likes to shake up the arrangements to his songs, his guitarists are usually limited to a handful of solos. I remember when he used to let them loose for at least one number, like "Honey Pie" or "Summer Days" - I honestly can't remember if he did that at the last few shows I saw, but I do remember him letting Charlie Sexton play some exquisite but brief solos on the "Sinatra" numbers I saw in the late 2010s.

Still got Lage, apparently, but two other long-time guitarists are gone---this brief report has links and show vid:
https://stereogum.com/2503777/bob-dylan-mysteriously-splits-with-two-tour-guitarists/news
Here's hoping he gets Jeff Parker in there;that could work (prob listening to the Flea album right now).

Lage is gone as of last night, replaced by Chicago jazz guy Joel Paterson. Sounds pretty good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COfTE79UsDc

show i saw last week w/ Lage was great, he definitely got in a few really nice solos.

As expected, Lage had a gig in Brooklyn last night and his own tour is about to start.

Looks like the Lage tour isn't until September? I'm going to try to catch this tour in Philly in a couple of weeks, I'll be less bummed losing Lage (who I love) for Joel Paterson (who is also good) than I will be at losing Lucinda Williams and John Doe as openers.

He’s also got two dates with Christian McBride coming up in Montreal and Rotterdam (no way he’s ditching McBride, that would be in really bad form) and he’s taking part in Jacob Collier’s Hideaway in Tuscany which is sold out and a four day commitment. That does leave time for him to rejoin some shows, but for practical reasons I don’t think that’s a good idea and would also send the wrong message if his new guitarist is indeed the new replacement and trying to settle in.

I was actually going to see him on Thursday at the Stone but I’m probably going to skip it now - I ain’t venturing out in swampy 100 plus degree weather.

Lucinda Williams, Jimmy Vaughn & the Tilt-a-Whirl Band are opening for Dylan @ outdoor but partially covered for some seats but not the lawn ones Wolf Trap near Washington DC on July 24th and 25th. July 24th is sold out.

Here's a write-up with sound clips of last night's show in Austin. Patterson is such a fluid, effortless, and genuinely memorable guitarist that it's both a total surprise and a good fit that he's in the band (I've seen him in Chicago at the Green Mill, Hideout, and the dive-bar Simon's).

I've seen Paterson play a few times at the Hungry Brain. He's really good. I'm excited to see the Chicago show next week

When was the last time Dylan toured as a quartet? Was it the first legs of the NET with G.E. Smith (after Neil Young left) at the end of the '80s?

Thanks Eazy! Does Dylan still have that backup keyboard player, maybe offstage? Golden didn't mention him, did he?

Backup keyboard player? I've never heard that.

The GE years were probably the last time he had such a small band, unless I'm forgetting something.

Think somebody mentioned it in passing, maybe on another thread, or something linked---oh well, just wondering.

my friend knows Joel Paterson, says he's a killer player. he did appear with the Cactus Blossoms in Twin Peaks

https://www.wbez.org/music/2026/07/01/bob-dylan-taps-chicago-guitarist-joel-paterson-green-mill-music

His appearance Tuesday in Austin, Texas, came in a tumultuous moment for Dylan who reportedly let go two guitarists the week prior. Peterson had received the invitation at least two weeks ago, said friend Casey McDonough. The Western Elstons, their long-time country and western swing band, was scheduled to play Simon’s in Andersonville tonight, but Paterson announced on the band’s text chain that he couldn’t make it because he “was going to work with someone named Bob.”

“I guessed that didn’t mean Seger or Saget,” said McDonough. “Everybody was really happy for him. Why wouldn’t you be? He’s our pal.” (Tony Kidonakis is filling in for Paterson at Simon’s tonight.)

FWIW Britt posted a statement making it clear he wasn't fired, he quit for reasons he prefer to keep private.

FWIW, Bob Britt's wife just posted that "he is all clear and all done" after getting checked up by his doctor at Ingram Cancer Center. Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma known as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, an aggressive blood cancer. (At the time he was playing with Delbert McClinton, not Dylan.)

Here's an old Nashville Scene article published in 2016 that reported on his diagnosis, and Britt even talks about the time he first met Dylan. (Dylan actually introduced himself to Britt after catching a show, and Britt was later one of the guitarists recruited for Time Out of Mind.)

(Just for clarification, his wife's post means his doctor says he is now cancer-free.)

It’s stunning how well Facebook’s algorithm works as it’s called up a flood of posts on Dylan’s lineup including what I posted above. Now I’m seeing day old posts from Britt’s wife saying he didn’t leave because of Lage - they got along great - but adds “word is he’s coming back” so I guess there will be more of him later during his down time.

World Gone Wrong outtake just leaked

sweeeeet

I hope they release all of those sessions.

We got both new guitarist, Lage & Patterson, last night and it was great

They did "When I Paint Masterpiece" rhumba-style a la "Jockey Full of Bourbon" and it was just incredible

Oh shit. that may settle it, I guess I'm buying a ticket to see him in Philly next week.

who knows with Bob but I really hope this two guitar lineup stays together for a bit, some really amazing moments and Bob was letting them stretch out a bit with solos

glad you guys caught a good show. Bob Dylan, what a character.

This just popped up (some of it had made its way into the world previously). Pretty cool remakes from a few years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETXZTiUXTRA

Are those "Shadow Kingdom"-era outtakes? They sound great

from roughly the same era as Shadow Kingdom, but different sessions afaik. These were produced by T-Bone Burnett for his weird "edition-of-one" ionic discs which were auctioned off to the highest bidder. i think maybe Don Was is playing bass? Not sure of the other musicians. But they sound great — apparently the only tune missing is "Not Dark Yet" which would be great to hear.

already a tape of last night's show, what a time to be alive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03004NAkJE

Joel Paterson is great, I've seen him at the Green Mill before (w/a former ilxor), and another friend of mine also knows him.

yeah, me too, lol. a good friend worked with him at jazz record mart, and I've seen him play in various contexts over the years.

listening back, Lage and Paterson have such chemistry for being thrown together like that

tbf, jazz dudes know how to play together really well, that's sort of their deal, lol

Paterson (along with Chris Ligon, also in small Chicago bars/clubs) always seems like he could pick something up on the fly.

(Whoops, Scott Ligon, I mean)

Ligon rules, he's got a lot in common with Paterson, between his Flat Five jazz/country stuff, and of course his NRBQ tenure. I could totally see him in Dylan's band, too. I think I've seen Paterson play at the same local burger place I've seen Ligon at.

Tickets procured! He's hit or miss, or requires a high tolerance for what he does, but people still take Dylan for granted, so ticket prices are nowhere near what other boomer legends command.

I've been guilty of that. I stopped going to Dylan shows for several years after a disappointing show at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL in 2013. I didn't think I was missing much because soon after he was doing standards instead of his own songs. I reluctantly went back to see him at the Beacon in November 2017, thinking I shouldn't take a chance to see Dylan for granted, and to my shock it was the best Dylan show I had ever seen. Mostly his own songs with a few standards, and even those were sung well with exquisite solos by Charlie Sexton. There were several theories for that - singing standards for several years may have improved his diction, and he stopped changing his setlist so everything was now extremely well-rehearsed with the band locked in like a high-precision machine. A year later, Rolling Stone noticed and published an article proclaiming that Dylan was doing his best shows in years. I went again in 2019 and it was even better, again at the Beacon in November, this time with a Matt Cameron on drums. Next time was his first tour after the pandemic hit, again the Beacon in November (but he hasn't been back since) with a completely new band and a setlist focused entirely on Rough and Rowdy Ways, and unbelievably that was better, one of the greatest shows I've ever seen, period. Again, having the lyrics in front of him might've been a huge factor, that and wanting to sell all-new material to a crowd that could have been restless for his older songs - we were definitely won over.

He's had so many line-up changes since then, I haven't been able to keep up. (I wish I saw those shows with Jim Keltner.) I wasn't planning to be in town for Forest Hills, but hopefully I can change my schedule around.

I saw a bunch of shows post Time Out of Mind comeback. Most were pretty good, but then I saw him in 2005 iirc (mostly to see Merle Haggard open) and I fell asleep, so figured, well, that's that. But I did hear he was better post standards run, and even if he wasn't/isn't, it's still Bob Dylan. These two guitarists are ace, so they are reason alone.

I'm really digging the way they fused the lyrics for "When I Paint My Masterpiece" to the music of "Puttin' on the Ritz."

it was really fantastic I can't believe I almost didn't go

he was wearing a plain black hoodie (hood on) at the show my dad saw a few weeks ago in Berkeley, can't find any pictures to post though.

i saw him around the time of Together Through Life. His voice was shot at the time but when he got loud it sounded like he was screaming from the depths of hell.

xxp Apparently they've been doing that arrangement since spring of 2024.

brimstead, I remember at either the 2017 or 2019 show, when he did "Thunder on the Mountain," he screamed "I've got the pork chop, she's got the PIE!" in that manner as well. It was crazy.

A fantastic show in Chicago, with the usual caveats about the crowd at an outdoor venue. (Two dudes behind me chatted through the music for a third of the show, and for all the flack that "the youth" get for phone usage, it's primarily boomers who were pulling out phones here and when I saw Patti Smith.) The band was tight, with cheers after guitar solos, and he played "Tryin' to Get to Heaven", one of my all-time favorites.

I've only seen him once before, in high school, when he toured with Phil Lesh. Before writing this post, I looked it up and saw that it was exactly 26 years ago last night. I did feel a bit of a pang; I wish I'd seen him more in the interim, since who can say how many chances I'll have to see him again. You know how it goes, though: thanks to my boomer mother (I'm 42), I got into the Sixties stuff in junior high, but my passion waned as I grew up, and my taste expanded. I didn't need to hear Blonde on Blonde for the umpteenth time.

I've reconnected with his work in the last five years after realizing how much archival stuff has been released since then, exploring the periods I'd never listened to in my first phase. It's a wonderful feeling, to think one is overfamiliar with an artist and realizing there's still years' worth of stuff to dig into. So, it was really special, aside from the quality of the show, to see him again. Even if it did make me feel old myself!

(I didn't get into the Dead until 15 years ago, so had no appreciation for Lesh at the time. I doubt I even knew who he was. I was probably some dumb kid who talked through his set.)

A fantastic show in Chicago, with the usual caveats about the crowd at an outdoor venue. (Two dudes behind me chatted through the music for a third of the show, and for all the flack that "the youth" get for phone usage, it's primarily boomers who were pulling out phones here and when I saw Patti Smith.) The band was tight, with cheers after guitar solos, and he played "Tryin' to Get to Heaven", one of my all-time favorites.

I've only seen him once before, in high school, when he toured with Phil Lesh. Before writing this post, I looked it up and saw that it was exactly 26 years ago last night. I did feel a bit of a pang; I wish I'd seen him more in the interim, since who can say how many chances I'll have to see him again. You know how it goes, though: thanks to my boomer mother (I'm 42), I got into the Sixties stuff in junior high, but my passion waned as I grew up, and my taste expanded. I didn't need to hear Blonde on Blonde for the umpteenth time.

I've reconnected with his work in the last five years after realizing how much archival stuff has been released since then, exploring the periods I'd never listened to in my first phase. It's a wonderful feeling, to think one is overfamiliar with an artist and realizing there's still years' worth of stuff to dig into. So, it was really special, aside from the quality of the show, to see him again. Even if it did make me feel old myself!

(I didn't get into the Dead until 15 years ago, so had no appreciation for Lesh at the time. I doubt I even knew who he was. I was probably some dumb kid who talked through his set.)