Tag Archives: Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes

Exclusive: Bob Dylan’s Hand-Written Lyrics For ‘Nothing To It’ – Check ‘Em Out Now!

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Copy of the handwritten lyrics to ‘Nothing To It.’

Last year a box of lyrics that Bob Dylan had written during the summer of 1967 for songs that he never wrote music for, or recorded, was given to producer T Bone Burnett.

Now, for the first time, we get to see what the original page on which Dylan wrote the lyrics to one of the songs that will appear on the Burnett-produced album Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes, looks like.

That song, “Nothing To It,” was released as a lyric video the other day.

Examining Dylan’s page of lyrics, we can see how Jim James rearranged the order of the verses and chorus for his version of the song.

The lyrics, as written by Bob Dylan:

You don’t have to turn your pockets inside out
But I’m sure you can give me something
You don’t have to go into your bank account
but I’m sure you don’t have to give me nothing

I knew that I was young enough
And I knew there was nothing to it
for I’d already seen it done enough
And I knew there was nothing to it

There was no organization I wanted to join
So I stayed by myself and took out a coin

There I saw sat in with my eyes in my hand –
contemplating killing a man – for
Greed was one thing I just couldn’t stand

If I was you, I’d put back what I took
A guilty man has got a guilty look

Heads I will and tails I won’t
So the decision wouldn’t be my own

The lyrics as sung by Jim James:

Well I knew I was young enough
And I knew there was nothing to it
‘Cause I’d already seen it done enough
And I knew there was nothing to it

There was no organization I wanted to join
So I stayed by myself and took out a coin

There I sat with my eyes in my hand –
just contemplating killing a man – for
Greed was one thing I just couldn’t stand

If I was you, I’d put back what I took
A guilty man’s got a guilty look

Heads I will and tails I won’t
Long as the call wouldn’t be my own

Well you don’t have to turn your pockets inside out
But I’m sure you can give me something
Well you don’t have to go into your bank account
but I’m sure you can give me something

Well I knew I was young enough
And I knew there was nothing to it
‘Cause I’d already seen it done enough
And I knew there was nothing to it

Well I knew I was young enough
And I knew there was nothing to it
‘Cause I’d already seen it done enough
And I knew there was nothing to it

And I knew there was nothing to it
And I knew there was nothing to it
And I knew there was nothing to it
And I knew there was nothing to it

So the changes Jim James made amount to starting the song with the chorus, then singing what follows after the chorus, then singing what for Dylan is the first verse, and then a return to the chorus.

And there’s one other change.

As Dylan wrote it, the first verse ends with the line:

but I’m sure you don’t have to give me nothing

But James repeats the second line of the first verse instead:

but I’m sure you can give me something

Check it out:

I’m looking forward to seeing what Burnett and his crew did with the rest of the lyrics. This one is an auspicious first song.

[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” I’ve got a Goodreads. book giveaway going right now. Click here and enter.]

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Exclusive: For ‘New Basement Tapes’ Album, Musicians Completed Bob Dylan’s Unfinished Lyrics – ‘…folks have added to them.’

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Producer T Bone Burnett and the New Basement Tapes band.

Last November we first learned that a batch of song lyrics that Bob Dylan had written during the summer of 1967, had been turned over to producer T Bone Burnett so that Burnett could record them for an album. Dylan wrote the lyrics while the recordings that became known as the ‘Basement Tapes’ were made at the house known as ‘Big Pink.’

Since then I’ve wondered how this was going to work.

Were these lyrics finished? If not, who would have the balls to finish them? Or would the lyrics be sung as written, even if they weren’t complete?

Burnett invited Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Marcus Mumford to be involved in writing music for the lyrics and recording the completed songs.

The album is called Lost On the River: The New Basement Tapes and it will be released on November 20, 2014.

In March of this year, Burnett said this to the L. A. Times:

“These are not B-level Dylan lyrics. They’re lyrics he just never got around to finishing.”

Aha! So the lyrics weren’t finished, I thought. Well then who was going to finish them? Or were Costello and the others musicians going to sing these unfinished lyrics, and how would that work?

As it turns out, most of the lyrics were completed by Dylan at the time he wrote them.

“When T Bone gave that quote,” said Larry Jenkins, who is involved with the project, “the context was that Dylan never got around to finishing them as full songs (with music) or recording them.”

Well it turns out that, according to both Jenkins and a second source, in some cases the musicians who wrote music to the songs also added their own words.

“In some instances, the lyrics were used verbatim,” said my second source.,”In other ones, folks have added to them.”

“Most of the lyrics appeared to be complete and were sung by the artists as they were written on the page by Bob in 1967 (maybe with a small word change here or there),” Jenkins said. “Some lyrics were unfinished and were fair game for the artists to complete if they wanted to.”

So far, I haven’t been able to get specifics regarding which songs had additional lyrics added to them, but stay tuned.

But think about what that means. Who has the guts to add their words to a Bob Dylan song? What if Dylan doesn’t like the words that were added?

“I will tell you that ‘Nothing To It’ is word-for-word as Bob wrote it on the page,” Jenkins said.

Check out this post, which contains a copy of Dylan’s hand-written lyrics for “Nothing To It.”

So give another listen to this great new Dylan song, “Nothing To It,” sung by Jim James with help from Elvis Costello and Marcus Mumford.

[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” I’ve got a Goodreads. book giveaway going right now. Click here and enter.]

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Video: Jim James Sings Bob Dylan’s New ‘Basement Tapes’ Song, ‘Nothing To It’

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Jim James; photo via Jim James’ Facebook page.

T Bone Burnett has produced an album based on unfinished lyrics Bob Dylan write while recording the songs that became known as the ‘Basement Tapes’ in 1967.

This song is called “Nothing To It.”

Jim James sings with musical help from Elvis Costello and Marcus Mumford.

Check out more info here.

[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” I’ve got a Goodreads. book giveaway going right now. Click here and enter.]

— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —

New ‘Basement Tapes’ Album, ‘Lost On the River,’ Due in Autumn

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The ‘Lost On the River’ band.

Recording is nearing completion for Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes, an album of songs based on lyrics that Bob Dylan wrote in 1967 during the time he recorded the original “Basement Tapes” with the future members of The Band, according to a press release from Big Hassle Media.

“These are not B-level Dylan lyrics,” T Bone Burnett, who is producing the album, told The Los Angeles Times Monday. “They’re lyrics he just never got around to finishing.”

Artists involved in the new album are Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops) Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) and Burnett.

The album is being recorded at Capitol Studios. The musicians have had to write new music to go with the two-dozen lyrics that Dylan wrote.

As of Monday Burnett told the Times that they’d cut 48 tracks including the title song, “Lost On the River,” “Florida Key,” “Card Shark” and “Hi-De-Ho.”

Burnett said he and Costello are going for the magic of the original “Basement Tapes” sessions, which took place in a house in upstate New York, in terms of its creative process.

According to the L. A. Times:

One intriguing facet of the current project is the collaboration among the participants. Each has come up with his or her own music for many of the lyrics, resulting in multiple versions of the same songs and allowing a perspective on the ways different artists respond to Dylan’s lyrics. Each artist takes the lead on the tracking of his or her song, and all provide suggestions and whatever instrumental and vocal support the others require, with Burnett overseeing final production.

“It runs the gamut from everybody having a blast in the studio to being really serious about doing things right,” Giddens told the Times.

Dylan gave Burnett, who was part of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review back in 1975, his blessing to make an album with the lyrics. “Great music is best created when a community of artists gets together for the common good,” Burnett said in the press release. “There is a deep well of generosity and support in the room at all times, and that reflects the tremendous generosity shown by Bob in sharing these lyrics with us.”

There will be a Showtime documentary titled, “Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued,” directed by Sam Jones (the Wilco documentary, “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”). The film will focus on the making of Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes and provide context regarding the original “Basement Tapes.”

“The discovery of these previously unknown Bob Dylan songs that were thought lost since 1967 is the stuff of Hollywood fiction and a find of truly historical proportions,” Jones said in the press release. “It is a unique opportunity to film T Bone and these great artists as they collaborate with a young Bob Dylan, and each other, to create new songs and recordings. These days and nights in the studio have been nothing less than magical.”

“Lost On the River,” interestingly enough, is the title of a Hank Williams song.

Dylan, of course, has long been a huge Hank Williams fan.

– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post –