That was the song that turned me on, Rashmon. Here's a pretty good article on the book from the Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/story/238884p-204863c.html Memoir of his back pages is brilliant, baffling Dylan Tackling "Chronicles, Volume 1," Bob Dylan's riveting look at Bob Dylan, is like turning on your computer for the first time. The better you speak its language, the greater its rewards. Fortunately, anyone who enjoys Dylan's songs will have a basic fluency, because the book is kissing kin to the songs. On Hank Williams: "When I heard Hank sing, all movement stopped." On Woody Guthrie: "It was like the record player itself had picked me up and flung me across the room." On Joan Baez: "Cleopatra living in an Italian palace." Who else would say that he liked Barry Goldwater because he reminded him of Tom Mix? "Chronicles," which comes out today, is vintage Dylan: occasionally puzzling, often quirky and enchanting on multiple levels, starting with his breathtaking skill at words. "Roy Orbison was singing in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff," writes Dylan. "He sang like a professional criminal." The book is also drenched with song references and history that's loving, true and probably as close as we'll get to a window into Dylan's guarded soul. He talks about Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash and Robert Johnson. He also talks about Ricky Nelson, "Pistol" Pete Maravich and Gorgeous George. Want to know what forces fueled Dylan's mid-'60s sunburst? Easy, he says: Woody, Hank, the poet Arthur Rimbaud and the Brecht/Weill song "Pirate Jenny." Needless to say, no reader should approach "Chronicles" thinking it will establish one definitive Bob and dismiss all the others who have been sighted over the years. Doesn't happen. Probably can't. If "Chronicles" never feels dishonest, neither does it feel complete. His breakup with early-'60s girlfriend Suze Rotolo, for instance, was clearly more painful than the one sentence here suggests. But if "Chronicles" includes misdirection, it also suggests some truths: He's a sponge. He's an observer. He knows where music came from. He likes the past better than the present. He's not always right or consistent. But he's the dealer, and if he wants to recount album "Oh Mercy," his early Village days and select memories of Minneapolis and Woodstock, that's all to the good. It's more information than Mr. Jones had when we started.
I even loved the movie "Masked and Anonymous." Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son" Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on" God say, "No." Abe say, "What?" God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but The next time you see me comin' you better run" Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?" God says, "Out on Highway 61."
I loved Masked and Anonymous too. I tried to buy the book today, but my local Barnes and Noble didn't have it yet, the bastards! Definitely getting it tomorrow.
You Masked & Anonymous fans are kind of nuts as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad you guys liked it, but it was painful for me to watch. The live numbers in it were great though -- especially I'll Remember You. Okay, back to the book. I was trying to read this slow so I wouldn't finish it too fast, but I wound it up last night. I am not even exaggerating when I say this is my favorite thing he's put out since Blood on the Tracks (And I loved Love and Theft, Time Out of Mind, World Gone Wrong, Good As I Been to You, Oh Mercy, Empire Burlesque, Slow Train Coming, Infidels, Street Legal and Desire. This is better than all that.). This is a great book even if you don't give a damn about Dylan. Somebody finish it already and tell me what you think.
Ha ha, I understand. I viewed it (no pun intended) as another Dylan tune. Open to interpretation and impenetrable, yet ultimately revealing of Dylan's overall conceptual continuity. Oh yeh, and the performance footage was worth the price of admission. Probably be a while before I read the book but am looking forward to it. Thanks for the reviews.
this song worked me over after a particularly sad breakup: I've seen love go by my door It's never been this close before Never been so easy or so slow. Been shooting in the dark too long When somethin's not right it's wrong Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go. Dragon clouds so high above I've only known careless love, It's always hit me from below. This time around it's more correct Right on target, so direct, Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go. Purple clover, Queen Anne lace, Crimson hair across your face, You could make me cry if you don't know. Can't remember what I was thinkin' of You might be spoilin' me too much, love, Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go. Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy, Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme, Blue river runnin' slow and lazy, I could stay with you forever And never realize the time. Situations have ended sad, Relationships have all been bad. Mine've been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud. But there's no way I can compare All those scenes to this affair, Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go. Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm doin', Stayin' far behind without you. Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm sayin', Yer gonna make me give myself a good talkin' to. I'll look for you in old Honolulu, San Francisco, Ashtabula, Yer gonna have to leave me now, I know. But I'll see you in the sky above, In the tall grass, in the ones I love, Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.
