Brady Campbell, get out of my head

He writes:

Jazz set me free from the tyrrany of the lyric and irrevocably modified the lens through which I view music. However, Martin Scorsese's new documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan inspired me to break out the Dylan CDs and LPs.

That pretty well describes the evolution of my own musical tastes, and I've been going through much the same process of re-discovering Dylan ever since catching the documentary.

Brady was also particularly taken by Dylan's performance of "Visions of Johanna," made all the more poignant in the London performances by Garth Hudson's icy organ fills. My own Dylan favorite -- unfortunately not much featured in the film -- is this little chestnut from the late acoustic period:

Oh, I'm sailin' away my own true love,
I'm sailin' away in the morning.
Is there something I can send you from across the sea,
From the place that I'll be landing?

No, there's nothin' you can send me, my own true love,
There's nothin' I wish to be ownin'.
Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled,
From across that lonesome ocean.

Oh, but I just thought you might want something fine
Made of silver or of golden,
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coast of Barcelona.

Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest night
And the diamonds from the deepest ocean,
I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss,
For that's all I'm wishin' to be ownin'.

That I might be gone a long time
And it's only that I'm askin',
Is there something I can send you to remember me by,
To make your time more easy passin'.

Oh, how can, how can you ask me again,
It only brings me sorrow.
The same thing I want from you today,
I would want again tomorrow.

I got a letter on a lonesome day,
It was from her ship a-sailin',
Saying I don't know when I'll be comin' back again,
It depends on how I'm a-feelin'.

Well, if you, my love, must think that-a-way,
I'm sure your mind is roamin'.
I'm sure your heart is not with me,
But with the country to where you're goin'.

So take heed, take heed of the western wind,
Take heed of the stormy weather.
And yes, there's something you can send back to me,
Spanish boots of Spanish leather.

Comments

[Kevin O'Reilly]

Welcome back! You've got a lot of catching up to do. "Boots of Spanish Leather" is great. "One Too Many Mornings" is also heartbreaking -- the version on "Live 1966" is just blistering.

[Brady Campbell]

Mr. Lehmann! I am humbled to have had some small effect on your consciousness, being a mere mortal and all.

There is another scene in No Direction Home, where Dylan is playing Hank Williams' I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry in a very slow tempo on the piano and dragging Johnny Cash along on harmony. Cash seems confused at first, but struggles through and finally gets it exhibiting some hilarious facial expressions.

I first heard Boots of Spanish Leather on Nanci Griffith's (whom my wife saw in Charlottesville two nights ago)Other Voices Other Rooms. That C#minor is rough on those of us who have let our barre chords get rusty.

Cheers!

[Eleanor Barrett]

Dylan rocks! I caught him in Ft. Lauderdale back in the early 80's. His roadies were handing out Christian tracts in the parking lot, people were smopking pot everywhere and and big hairy guys were hawking $5 concert T-shirts between acts. Now, my very cool daughter is into him -- thankfully, minus the weed, man.

[R.J. Lehmann]

Thankfully?! Sheesh, that's the best part.