So much of The Band’s essence can be found in the instrumental introduction to ‘Tears of Rage’—the lead voice of the guitar so integral to the whole; the floating sustained organ; the interplay of the bass and the drum and the rhythm piano providing an implicit rhythm created as much by the gaps as by the beats, as intimate as lovers, as self-effacing as monks, as synchronized as guys who have been on the road together for six years.
Continue reading...Bob Dylan
126: Bob Dylan, ‘Tears of Rage’ (The Basement Tapes)
‘Tears of Rage’ is Dylan’s “King Lear”, a brutally painful description of a daughter’s love denied. The Basement Tapes, recorded in 1967 as he convalesced from his motorpsycho accident, lay underground for decades. But their impact on the way we perceive the world is greater than any other pop music, including “Sgt Pepper”.
Continue reading...152: Sam Cooke, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’
Sam Cooke wrote ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ as a black response to ‘Blowing in the Wind’. It was only released a week after he was killed by a motel manager, and has become the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement. Second in a series of three death-premonition songs.
Continue reading...008: ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’, Fairport Convention (Bob Dylan)
An early, little-known gem of Dylan’s that he never quite figured out how to play. But it was nailed by Fairport Convention.
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