Today being the beginning of this new year, 2014, I was thinking about songs that really get me going in the morning, songs that when I hear them, I feel an energy and I want to get things rolling. Or songs that make me laugh, or smile, or dance around the room.
Bob Dylan has quite a few of those kinda songs, and today I feature a selection of them. Enjoy.
“New Morning” always makes me smile. It’s one of Dylan’s most upbeat songs, a great way to start any day and certainly a great way to kick off the new year:
“Black Crow Blues” off Another Side of Bob Dylan starts off a bit down and out but it’s filled with Dylan’s humor. I dig his honky tonk piano the most, and there’s a drive to it that energizes me:
“Girl From the North Country” off Nashville Skyline always blows my mind because the song itself is a classic and both Dylan and Johnny Cash deliver terrific vocals. Their voices go together so well here. I always smile at the end when they trade off and repeat the line “true love of mine”:
“Country Pie,” also from Nashville Skyline, is a throwaway, but what the hell, it’s upbeat and fun and if I get this one playing in the morning no way can things go any way but right:
“Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” from Bringing It All Back Home false starts with Dylan and his producer cracking up, before Dylan launches in to a shaggy dog story that presents a surreal view of pre-Columbus America. This one nails it on so many levels:
“Romance In Durango” off Desire is a beautiful Spanish-flavored song with a great ragged vocal; this one makes me want to dance around the room:
“Please, Mrs. Henry,” from the “Basement Tapes” is so much fun. How can the new year be anything but great when music this good exists:
“Open the Door, Homer,” another crazy track from the “Basement Tapes” that is more fun than two barrels of monkeys:
“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” off Blonde On Blonde is the perfect way to end this mix of Dylan songs to start off the new year with an oomph. Dig it!
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Nirvana, Kiss and Cat Stevens are among the six artists/bands that will be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 10th, 2014.
Also to be inducted are Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates and Cat Stevens.
The Beatles manager Brian Epstein (who died of an overdose in August 1967) and Andrew Loog Oldham, who worked with the Rolling Stones, will each be given the Ahmet Ertegun Award. Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band will be given the Award for Musical Excellence.
Nominees who didn’t make it in this year: Chic, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Deep Purple, LL Cool J, the Meters, N.W.A., the Replacements, Link Wray, Yes and the Zombies.
For what it’s worth, I would have liked to see these artists inducted: Nirvana, the Replacements, the Meters, N.W.A., Link Wray, Peter Gabriel and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
Oh well.
Cat Stevens, “Wild World”:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
