Liberal Arts Blog — Bob Dylan: (Part II) “Hey Mr. Tambourine Man” (1964), “Just Like a Woman” (1966), “I Threw It All Away” (1969)
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic: Bob Dylan (Part Two) “Hey Mr. Tambourine Man” (1964), “Just Like a Woman” (1966), “I Threw It All Away” (1969)
Last time, “Blowin in the Wind” (1963), “The Times They Are a Changin,” (1964), and “Like a Rolling Stone” (1964). Today, three more Dylan classics from the 1960s. What are your favorite Dylan songs? album? Does the trinity of harmonica, the nasal voice, and guitar touch your soul or leave you cold? Are the lyrics inspired or banal? Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
HEY MR. TAMBOURINE MAN (1964) — “made famous by the Byrds who took it to #1 in the US and the UK” (photo below from The Newport Folk Festival, 1964, live performance, where he was introduced by Pete Seeger)
1. Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me \\ I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to \\ Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me \\ In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you
2. Though I know that evening’s empire has returned into sand \\ Vanished from my hand \\ Left me blindly here to stand, but still not sleeping \\ My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet \\ I have no one to meet \\ And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.
3. Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship \\ My senses have been stripped \\ My hands can’t feel to grip \\ My toes too numb to step \\ Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering \\ I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade \\ Into my own parade \\ Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it
NB: Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun \\ It’s not aimed at anyone \\ It’s just escaping on the run \\ And but for the sky there are no fences facing \\ And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme \\ To your tambourine in time \\ It’s just a ragged clown behind I wouldn’t pay it any mind \\ It’s just a shadow you’re seeing that he’s chasing \\ And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind \\ Down the foggy ruins of time \\ Far past the frozen leaves \\ The haunted frightened trees \\ Out to the windy beach \\ Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow \\ Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky \\ With one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea \\ Circled by the circus sands \\ With all memory and fate \\ Driven deep beneath the waves \\ Let me forget about today until tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeP4FFr88SQ
I THREW IT ALL AWAY (1969) — from the album, Nashville Skyline — “Building on the rustic style he experimented with on John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline displayed a complete immersion into country music. Along with the more basic lyrical themes, simple songwriting structures, and charming domestic feel, it introduced audiences to a radically new singing voice from Dylan, who had temporarily quit smoking — a soft, affected country croon.” In the clip below, he is introduced by Johnny Cash.
1. I once held her in my arms, \\ She said she would always stay, \\ But I was cruel I treated her like a fool \\ I threw it all away.
2. Once I had mountains \\ in the palm of my hand \\ and rivers that ran through every day \\ I must have been mad \\ I never knew what I had until I threw it all away
3. Love is all there is, \\ it makes the world go round, \\ Love and only love it can’t be denied no matter what you think about it \\ you just won’t be able to do without it \\ Take a tip from one who’s tried.
NB: So if you find someone that gives you all of her love, \\ Take it to your heart, don’t let it stray, \\ for one thing that’s certain \\ You will surely be a-hurtin if you throw it all away, \\ if you throw it all away
Bob Dylan — I Threw It All Away (Live On The Johnny Cash TV Show)
JUST LIKE A WOMAN (1966) “The song has been criticized for supposed sexism or misogyny in its lyrics, and has received a mixed critical reaction” (Wikipedia)
1. She takes just like a woman \\ Yes, she does, she makes love just like a woman \\ Yes, she does, and she aches just like a woman \\ But she breaks just like a little girl
2. Nobody feels any pain \\ Tonight as I stand inside the rain \\ Everybody knows that baby’s got new clothes \\ But lately I see her ribbons and her bows \\ Have fallen from her curls
3. Queen Mary, she’s my friend \\ Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again \\ Nobody has to guess that baby can’t be blessed \\ ’Til she finally sees that she’s like all the rest \\ With her fog, her amphetamine, and her pearls
NB: It was raining from the first \\ And I was dying there of thirst \\ So I came in here \\ And your long-time curse hurts \\ But what’s worse is this pain in here I can’t stay in here \\ Ain’t it clear that I just can’t fit \\ Yes, I believe that it’s time for us to quit \\ But when we meet again, introduced as friends \\ Please don’t let on that you knew me \\ when I was hungry and it was your world
Bob Dylan — Just Like A Woman [LIVE FOOTAGE / HQ AUDIO] (Dublin, 1966)
BACKGROUND
Mr. Tambourine Man — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Threw_It_All_Away
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
“Be thine own palace or the world’s thy jail.” - John Donne
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, 11/17/20
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music. Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
