Category Archives: dylan weekends

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Song of the Day #679: ‘When He Returns’ – Bob Dylan

I could have gone with any of the remaining eight tracks on Slow Train Coming to finish off this weekend.

‘Slow Train’ and ‘Gonna Change My Way of Thinking’ are two fine examples of how Dylan does the blues better than most (the latter boasts a guitar lick straight out of the Clapton songbook).

‘I Believe in You’ is a beautiful gospel ballad with a melody that sounds so familiar to me that I’m sure it was either stolen or has been stolen, though I’m not sure which.

‘When You Gonna Wake Up?’ is the funkiest white-boy Christian rock song you’ll ever hear.

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Song of the Day #678: ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’ – Bob Dylan

In 1978 and early 1979, following the negative critical reaction to his recent work and the personal turmoil stemming from his divorce, Dylan was at the end of his rope and looking for answers.

When a fan threw a silver cross onstage during one difficult show, Dylan pocketed it.

He found himself holding onto it during the next show and its deeper meaning began to sink in. So began the conversion that shook up his fan base even more than the moment he went electric: Bob Dylan, evangelist and Christian rock musician.

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Song of the Day #672: ‘Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)’ – Bob Dylan

Street Legal is only nine songs long, and five of those songs have quickly jumped up my list of favorites after just a few listens. The remaining four are solid as well, though their strength is hidden a bit beneath the distracting production. I believe if this same batch of songs were rerecorded with the band and production style Dylan used in the 00’s, this album would number among his very best.

It’s a pretty great thing to discover new music by an artist you already know so well. Dylan’s discography is so deep that I’ve been able to unearth quite a few hidden gems (hidden to me, anyway) through writing these blog entries. My appreciation for his extraordinary career has only deepened through this process.

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Song of the Day #671: ‘New Pony’ – Bob Dylan

In 1978, two years after Desire, Bob Dylan released one of the most divisive albums in his catalog. I’ve read fans and critics alike describe Street Legal as both his best album and his worst.

I don’t share either of those opinions, but I definitely lean more toward the former. This is by no means a bad collection of songs — on the contrary, it contains some tracks that number among Dylan’s finest compositions.

Street Legal is the second album I bought and heard for the first time for the purposes of this blog series (the first was Planet Waves). I don’t know why I had those particular holes in my Dylan collection (less name recognition, I suppose, and spottier reputations than his other work) but I’m very glad I finally own these albums.

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Song of the Day #665: ‘Sara’ – Bob Dylan

Desire is packed with great songs, including epic true stories of boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter and gangster Joey Gallo (in the songs ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Joey,’ respectively).

I will always associate ‘Hurricane’ with the fabulous scene from Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused in which Wooderson and company enter The Emporium in slow-mo as Dylan’s song plays. If you haven’t seen Dazed and Confused, shut down your computer and make it happen right away. One of my favorite movies of all-time; a true American classic.

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