Tag Archives: Bob Dylan

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Song of the Day #637: ‘Mr. Bojangles’ – Bob Dylan

Did I say Self Portrait was considered Bob Dylan’s worst album? Let me take that back. 1973’s Dylan is actually the album that would likely earn that title.

Self Portrait has the worse reputation because it came out of nowhere and flew in the face of high expectations. But Dylan is an album of outtakes from Self Portrait… so basically, these are the songs that weren’t good enough to be on Dylan’s worst album. You do the math.

Dylan wasn’t involved in the creation or release of this album. It was pushed out by Columbia after he briefly left the label, some say as a deliberate attempt at sabotage (an official album was due to be released just a few months later).

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Song of the Day #636: ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ – Bob Dylan

This weekend I’ll highlight two albums that Bob Dylan released in 1973, three years after New Morning. The first is the soundtrack album for the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, in which Dylan appeared as an actor.

Both the film and soundtrack marked a difficult time for Dylan, creatively. His first foray into acting resulted in a sketchy role that was mostly left on the cutting room floor and the music has largely been forgotten over time.

With one exception.

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Song of the Day #630: ‘The Man in Me’ – Bob Dylan

“Sometimes, there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place.”

Yes, I am in fact talking about The Dude, here. If anybody is qualified to steal the spotlight from Bob Dylan on a Dylan Weekend, it’s Jeffrey Lebowski.

Thanks to The Dude —and his creators, the Coen Brothers — the other best-known track on New Morning is ‘The Man in Me,’ which played over the opening credits of The Big Lebowski.

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Song of the Day #629: ‘If Not For You’ – Bob Dylan

Just four months after Self Portrait left Bob Dylan’s fan and the critical community scratching their collective heads, he released an album that pretty much quieted the storm. New Morning was a simple, warm album that marked the return of Dylan as a songwriter and, even more important, the return of Dylan’s trademark voice.

For all of the complaints about Dylan’s lack of vocal ability, it’s funny how a couple albums of his much smoother country croon had people longing for the nasally whine.

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Song of the Day #623: ‘Days of ’49’ – Bob Dylan

So, exactly how bad is Self Portrait? Well, the thing is, I don’t really know. I’ve been so affected by the legend surrounding this album’s awfulness that I’ve never taken the time to listen to it. Until now, that is.

And I have to say, based on the clips I’ve heard… it’s actually pretty good.

Certainly that conclusion owes a lot to the power of expectations, and you can ask for no lower expectations than those attached to an album that’s famous for sucking. But I also think the negative consensus around Self Portrait has a whole lot to do with how and when it was released.

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