Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 2006…
#3 – Modern Times – Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan’s 32nd studio album, released 44 years after his debut, was the most critically-acclaimed album of 2006. And it capped off an unofficial trilogy (following Time Out of Mind and “Love and Theft”) as celebrated as his great work in the 60s and 70s.
That’s pretty extraordinary, even taking into account that plenty of music critics are in the bag for Dylan no matter what he does. How many artists put out some of their best work past retirement age?
Of course, Dylan has a dozen or so albums that can be considered his “best work.” But I certainly believe Modern Times qualifies.
This is a rich and thoughtful album, harnessing the folk tradition and reimagining it for Dylan’s concept of the 21st century. It’s apocalyptic but light on its feet, mischievous when it isn’t deadly serious.
I’d put about half of this album’s songs on a list of late-era Dylan favorites: ‘Nettie Moore,’ ‘Spirit on the Water,’ ‘Thunder on the Mountain,’ and ‘Ain’t Talkin’,’ for starters. But everything here swings and rocks with the same devil-may-care attitude.
Dylan was accused of plagiarism on Modern Times, doe to lyrical similarities to the work of Civil War poet Henry Timrod and Roman poet Ovid. The implications were creative, not legal, because the works are in the public domain. He didn’t seem to be hiding it, though, given that the album’s first song features the lyric “I’ve been sitting down and studying [Ovid’s] The Art of Love.”
Dylan has spent his whole career studying great works of the past and refracting them through the prism of his fevered imagination. He did it on his earliest recordings and he does it here, either unaware or more likely unbothered by the criticism.
“You think I’m over the hill, you think I’m past my prime,” he sings on ‘Spirit in the Water.’ “Let me see what you got. We can have a whoppin’ good time.”
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
Everybody saying this is a day only the Lord could make
[Verse 1]
Well I worked on the levee Mama, both night and day
Well I worked on the levee Mama, both night and day
I got to the river and I threw my clothes away
I paid my time and now I’m as good as new
I paid my time and now I’m as good as new
They can’t take me back, not unless I want them to
[Verse 2]
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
Some of these people gonna strip you of all they can take
I can’t stop here, I ain’t ready to unload
I can’t stop here, I ain’t ready to unload
Riches and salvation can be waiting
Behind the next bend in the road
[Verse 3]
I picked you up from the gutter and this is the thanks I get
I picked you up from the gutter and this is the thanks I get
You say you want me to quit ya, I told you no, not just yet
I look in your eyes, I see nobody else but me
I look in your eyes, I see nobody other than me
I see all that I am and all I hope to be
[Verse 4]
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
Some of these people don’t know which road to take
When I’m with you I forget I was ever blue
When I’m with you I forget I was ever blue
Without you there’s no meaning in anything I do
[Verse 5]
Some people on the road carrying everything that they own
Some people on the road carrying everything that they own
Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones
Put on your cat clothes, Mama, put on your evening dress
Put on your cat clothes, Mama, put on your evening dress
A few more years of hard work
Then there’ll be a thousand years of happiness
[Verse 6]
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
I tried to get you to love me, but I won’t repeat that mistake
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
Plenty of cheap stuff out there still around that you take
[Verse 7]
I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed
I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed
I ain’t got enough room to even raise my head
Come back, baby, say we never more will part
Come back, baby, say we never more will part
Don’t be a stranger without a brain or heart
[Outro]
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
If it keeps on raining’ the levee gonna break
Some people still sleeping’, some people are wide awake
Meet Me In Montauk 