Blood on the Tracks :: Bob Dylan

Choosing one album to write about has been almost more difficult than choosing one song - perhaps because this, as of yet, the only chance we've had to write about an entire album, so it feels more important to choose something really good... I thought a lot about formative albums in my life: The Beatles' The White Album; Luck of the Draw or Nick of Time by Bonnie Rait, anything by Peter, Paul & Mary; Weezer's blue album; Ani DiFranco's Out of Range or Educated Guess; and of course, Middle of Nowhere, and later, their third studio album, made while trying to leave their major label, Underneath, by Hanson. I also thought about writing about Jayber Crow's EP The Farmer and the Nomad or their new disc, Two Short Stories, because I've thoroughly enjoyed their music for as long as they've been making it. These are all worthy albums, but as I remember sitting around the record player with my dad when I was a child, I think it is most important to pay tribute to the granddaddy of modern folk-rock, Bob Dylan. As a singer-songwriter, I can't think of another modern musician more important. A song I wrote in college makes reference to the days when I "danced to Dylan records and watched them turn." I continue to find inspiration in his music every time I listen.

Blood on the Tracks, released in 1975, is a long-time favorite album of mine and my dad's. I spent many nights falling asleep to these songs - either listening to the record, or listening to my dad playing "Buckets of Rain" for me on the guitar.

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One of the things that makes this record so important is the manner in which it was made. Half of the songs were recorded in a New York City studio, but the other five were recorded at a farmhouse near Minneapolis. Those "Minneapolis" tracks were laid down live. The band musicians on those tracks are just regular folk - local Minnesotan session musicians. The recording is rumored to have been completed in a weekend. Essentially, this album is an excellent example of records made they way they should be - to loosely quote an Ani lyric - "a record of people in a room, making music." Digital technology has made it possible to make incredibly polished, if over-produced, recordings - the kind of stuff we hear on the radio. Multi-layered electronic tracks, vocal effects and the like abound, which isn't to say that those things are all bad... But in some ways, I think the true art of making a record - making music with people, playing it live together - the art of really writing and performing songs, has died a bit. That's why I love this record.

The songs themselves, aside from the way they were produced, are classic Dylan, and some of my favorites of his. The album was a Billboard No. 1 hit in the United States. "Tangled Up in Blue," recorded during the Minneapolis sessions, is evidence of the ways in which the music business has changed in recent years. "Tangled" was a Top 40 Billboard hit in 1975.



There are plenty of other Dylan classics on the record, including "Idiot Wind" and "Shelter From the Storm," and also some of his (relatively) less-famous songs, like "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," which has long been one of my favorite Dylan songs. And of course, the quintessential folk lullaby, "Buckets of Rain."





I have yet to acquire a working record player, a quest I embarked upon after hauling home a pile of old albums from our neighbors' "free" box last summer, but as soon as I do, I'm sure I'll be breaking out my dad's old vinyl copy of "Blood on the Tracks" to sing, dance and watch it turn. I'd encourage everyone who can to do the same.

Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks, 1975

Side one
"Tangled Up in Blue" – 5:42 (Minneapolis)
"Simple Twist of Fate" – 4:19 (NYC, Sept 1974)
"You're a Big Girl Now" – 4:36 (Minneapolis)
"Idiot Wind" – 7:48 (Minneapolis)
"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" – 2:55 (NYC, Sept 1974)

Side two
"Meet Me in the Morning" – 4:22 (NYC, Sept 1974)
"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" – 8:51 (Minneapolis)
"If You See Her, Say Hello" – 4:49 (Minneapolis)
"Shelter from the Storm" – 5:02 (NYC, Sept 1974)
"Buckets of Rain" – 3:22 (NYC, Sept 1974)

Paradise :: John Prine

Oh friends, what a joyous event occurred yesterday! I arrived home from work and my roommate told me some neighbors down the street had left a box of old records out in their front yard with a "FREE" sign on them. I went down to check them out and found a wealth of awesome old albums. I made two trips to the free records box, ending up with some Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Randy Newman, The Doobie Brothers, John Prine, half a dozen Arlo Guthrie albums, and a whole host of other good stuff. We have yet to acquire a record player (my parents' old one is broken, or I would have stolen it years ago), but are working diligently on that project! In honor of this fantastic find, I am posting, "Paradise," my favorite song by John Prine, from his 1971 self-titled album. So sit back, grab some lemonade, open a window and pretend you're hearing the sweet crackling of vinyl n the turntable as you listen to this song.


Paradise



Paradise by John Prine
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat Chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat Chorus:

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.