Beginning in 1975, Bob Dylan and a superstar troupe of folk and rock musicians hit the road as the Rolling Thunder Review. As the tour progressed a camera crew filmed some of the concerts as well as fictional scenarios that Dylan dreamed up, and real off-stage events.
One of my favorite performances from the tour (included in “Renaldo & Clara”) is the Dylan and Joan Baez version of Johnny Ace’s 1954 R&B hit, “Never Let Me Go” (written by Joseph Scott).
Video clip from “Renaldo & Clara”:
Full song:
“Never Let Me Go”:
Another version from the Rolling Thunder Review tour:
Joan Baez sings “Diamonds and Rust” at L’Olympia, Paris, France, on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2014.
Sept. 30, 2014:
Oct. 1, 2014:
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
The other day I posted a huge chunk of Bob Dylan and his Rolling Thunder Review.
Today I’ve got some more clips.
Some of these are from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, May 23, 1976.
Others are from other dates on the Rolling Thunder Review tour.
“Mozambique”:
“The Times They Are A-Changing”:
“Knocking On Heaven’s Door”:
“Mr. Tambourine Man”:
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
I believe these first three clips are from the Rolling Thunder Review show at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, May 23, 1976.
This is a moving and beautiful version of “Just Like A Woman” with Scarlet Rivera on violin.
“Just Like A Woman”:
“Isis”:
“Blowin’ In The Wind”:
“I Don’t Believe You,” War Memorial Auditorium, Plymouth, MA, USA, October 31, 1975:
Here are a bunch of songs recorded during the tour including “Maggie’s Farm,” “One Too Many Mornings,” “You’re A Big Girl Now” and plenty more.
And here’s 50+ minutes from the April 22, 1976 show at the Starlight Ballroom in Clearwater Florida:
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
The other day I did a post featuring the live Bob Dylan/ Joan Baez duet on Bob Dylan’s “Troubled And I Don’t Know Why,” a song that never appeared on an official Dylan album or single, but did make it onto a Joan Baez album.
My post prompted Dylan fan Ron Chester to post the following essay in the Facebook Dylan group, EDLIS Cafe.
I thought Chester wrote a wonderful essay and asked if I could repost here and he said that was cool.
So check it out, and give the song a listen.
“Troubled And I Don’t Know Why”:
“Troubled And I Don’t Know Why”
Bob Dylan with Joan Baez
Forest Hills, 17 August 1963
By Ron Chester
This three minute recording shows, better than most, I think, why the folkies loved Dylan so much from the very beginning.
A song title that points to a condition we have all experienced.
A simple tune that I’m still singin’ to myself an hour after I heard it.
Literate, expressive, succinct lyrics that go right to the heart of big subjects in our everyday experience, yet performed like he just thought of them, as he was rolling out of bed that morning. (And he may have!)
When was the last time you heard the word “squall” used in a sentence; as a VERB, not a noun?! Quickly followed by a brilliant visual image: “it roared and it boomed and it bounced around the room,” then concluding with his biting six word commentary: “it never said nothing at all.”
The recording captures the laughter of the audience, just like with the recording of his first performance of Desolation Row. And by the second line of the last verse, Dylan is cracking himself up too!
History captured in 3:10 with this invaluable recording. Apparently the only known performance of the song?
The Dylan website lists the song, but without the lyrics. Did it fail to get properly copyrighted? As it does not appear in either the 1973 or 1985 lyrics books. My guess is that Christopher Ricks won’t miss it. And in fact the 1986 knaff production, “Some Other Kinds of Songs . . . ” didn’t miss it. [An amazing gift presented to me on 22 Apr 1997 by an old friend from rec.music.dylan, Ben Taylor. Some of you may remember him. He he]
It bears repeating:
History captured in 3:10 with this invaluable recording, plus 20 seconds of thunderous applause at the end.
Do we have any history captured in this way from the life work of Mozart or Bach? Of course not. Pause and give silent thanks to the dedicated work of all our tapers over more than fifty years. Did they know they were doing Important Work? Yes, I think mostly, they did. It is too bad that aggressive enforcement at some venues, such as the Santa Barbara Bowl, caused some brilliant performances to not be so available. Well perhaps even those are properly preserved in Jeff Rosen’s vaults.
And thanks to the Michael Goldberg blog for reminding us of this gem.
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
Joan Baez sings the Bob Dylan classic, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” at TakeRoot De Oosterpoort, Groningen, Netherlands on September 13, 2014.
Her voice is still as beautiful as ever.
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
Joan Baez performed at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, New York, in 1963.
Bob Dylan sang two songs with her.
“Troubled And I Don’t Know Why”:
“Blowin’ In The Wind” (excerpt):
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
On August 28, 1963 Bob Dylan was at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. for the “March On Washington,” performing “When The Ship Comes In” with Joan Baez and “Only A Pawn In Their Game” solo before Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his remarkable “I have a dream” speech.
The video below not only shows Dylan performing the first song with Baez and the second alone, but lets us get a sense of what the event was like.
This was “one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history,” according to Wikipedia.
Peter, Paul & Mary sing “Blowin’ In The Wind” at the March On Washington”:
Peter, Paul & Mary sing “If I Had a Hammer”:
This video includes some of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech:
If you just want to hear Dylan’s songs, here they are:
“When The Ship Comes In,” August 28, 1963 (performed with Joan Baez at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.):
“Only A Pawn In Their Game,” August 28, 1963 (performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.):
Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, “Ye Playboys and Playgirls”
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.
Or watch an arty video with audio of me reading from the novel here.
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
These videos are from a rejected TV special that was shot at the Starlight Ballroom of the Biltmore hotel in Clearwater, Florida on April 22, 1976 during Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review tour.
Here’s nearly an hour of the Rolling Thunder Review:
And some individual songs:
Bob Dylan, “Lay Lady Lay”:
Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn, “Knocking On Heaven’s Door”:
Bob Dylan, “Just Like A Woman”:
Bob Dylan, “Isis”:
Bob Dylan, “Like A Rolling Stone”:
Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin'”:
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, “Blowin’ In The Wind”:
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine”:
Joan Baez, “Diamonds and Rust”:
Bob Dylan and Bobby Neuwirth, “When I Paint My Masterpiece”:
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
