Bob Dylan All the Songs
Page 38
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: November 6, 1967
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston Sound Engineer: Charlie Bragg
Genesis and Lyrics
Bob Dylan named his song and album after a late nineteenth-century Texas outlaw and gunfighter named John Wesley Hardin. He added a g to Hardin, presumably in error. But the outlaw has nothing to do with the character in the song. Hardin killed about forty people before being shot to death by John Selman Sr., an El Paso lawman. He was not the “friend of the poor… / [who] was never known / To hurt an honest man” as described in Dylan’s song. A certain analogy can be made with the protagonist of Woodie Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd.” Dylan is not trying to idealize Hardin, but rather to have a new look at an outlaw, as filmmaker Arthur Penn did in Bonnie and Clyde, released a few months earlier, and as Sam Peckinpah also did two years later with The Wild Bunch and George Roy Hill with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Of “John Wesley Harding,” Robert Shelton wrote, “The song has an open-range roll, the feel of caked mud on the boots.”7
Dylan told Jann Wenner in a 1969 Rolling Stone magazine interview that there is no meaning behind this song, although some critics suggest that the initials JWH may refer to Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God in the Old Testament. “Well, I called it that because I had that song, ‘John Wesley Harding.’ It didn’t mean anything to me. I called it that, Jann, ’cause I had the song ‘John Wesley Harding,’ which started out to be a long ballad. I was gonna write a ballad on… like maybe one of those old cowboy… you know, a real long ballad. But in the middle of the second verse, I got tired. I had a tune, and I didn’t want to waste the tune; it was a nice little melody, so I just wrote a quick third verse, and I recorded that.” Dylan told Rolling Stone that he chose “John Wesley Harding” because “it fits in tempo. Fits right in tempo. Just what I had at hand.”20 His explanation tends to minimize the value of the text and to desecrate it in the eyes of some critics. But Dylan thinks and writes in a musical way; his lyrics work with the rhythm of the song.
Production
The album opens with “John Wesley Harding,” a light and catchy country song, which contrasts with the intensity of Blonde on Blonde, his previous album, but is close enough to the songs just recorded for The Basement Tapes, except for the arrangements. The song marked Dylan’s return to acoustic music and traditional sound roots. Only multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy on bass and the excellent Kenneth Buttrey on drums backed Dylan. Despite all Buttrey’s qualities, he oddly chose to perform a complicated rhythmic progression during the second chorus. This resulted in him entangling the drumsticks at 1:43, something unusual for Buttrey. Dylan sings in a calm tone of voice and plays acoustic guitar by strumming, presumably a Martin 0-18, and harmonica in F. The song “John Wesley Harding” was recorded in two takes on November 6, 1967, at Columbia’s Recording Studios in Nashville. The second take was chosen for the album. Curiously, Dylan has never performed this song onstage.
COVERS
“John Wesley Harding” has been covered by Wesley Willis (Black Light Diner, 1997), Tom Russell (Tom Russell, 2004), Michel Montecrossa (Michel & Bob Dylan Fest 2006, 2006), and Thea Gilmore (John Wesley Harding, 2011).
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
Dylan may also have been inspired by Eva Davis’s song “John Hardy,” a folk song recorded for the first time in 1924. Almost all blues, folk, and country singers have incorporated it into their repertoire—everyone from Dock Boggs to the Carter Family, Doc Watson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Pete Seeger. “John Hardy” is based on the life of a black railroad worker in West Virginia, who was found guilty of murder in the first degree and hanged on January 19, 1894.
As I Went Out One Morning
Bob Dylan / 2:50
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: November 6, 1967
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineer: Charlie Bragg
Genesis and Lyrics
With this song, inspired by the famous love poem “As I Walked Out One Evening” by W. H. Auden, Dylan once again prompts intense speculation about his intent. “As I Went Out One Morning” is indeed a piece that has given rise to countless interpretations.
The narrator gets up one morning and decides “to breathe the air around Tom Paine’s.” Did he wish to breathe the air of the revolution or the air of reason? Then he meets an attractive “lady” in chains. He offers her his hand. She takes him by the arm. But when he wants to leave and take back his freedom, she does not listen. He insists. She begs and promises to fly south. “Just then Tom Paine, himself / Came running from across the field,” commanding her to release her grip, and she apologizes to the narrator for what she has done.
The reference to the early American pamphleteer Thomas Paine is certainly not made lightly. It is likely that this song refers to the memorable banquet in December 1963 organized by the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee during which Dylan received the Tom Paine Award for his actions supporting freedom and equality. For fear of being flagged as a leader of the protest intelligentsia because of this nomination, Dylan, under the influence of alcohol, delivered an acceptance speech attacking the audience of progressive intellectuals, driven less by conviction than by opportunism. His statements caused a scandal. He was booed and rushed from the stage. Dylan was always suspicious of institutions and movements, feeling that they sought, by indoctrination, to abrogate the individual’s free will. The theory of Thomas Paine, who placed the rights of man at the center of revolutionary thought, is affirmed. Paine’s “My own mind is my own church” echoes Dylan’s “I believe that the best things get done by individuals.”24
But, as always with Dylan, there are many interpretations of this wonderful text. The lyrics can be understood as a denunciation of slavery, a sermon championing freedom, an allegory about temptation and seduction, an evocation of the emancipation of women, and as referring to his relationship with Joan Baez. As long as Dylan does not offer up the secrets of his text, interpretations will not cease.
Production
“As I Went Out One Morning” does not have the same lightness as “John Wesley Harding.” Dylan uses the minor key for the harmony to express a dark thoughtfulness. The intonation of his voice is different from that on previous albums, expressing a new maturity. This song is also one of the first times he sings with vibrato. Despite the difference in tone between “John Wesley Harding” and “As I Went Out One Morning,” both songs have a similar rhythm and tempo. McCoy played bass and Buttrey drums, demonstrating a true symbiosis between these two excellent musicians. With only the harmonic support of Dylan’s guitar and harmonica (in F) in the chorus, they succeed in performing the entire piece without any loss of intensity. The only small error comes from McCoy mistaking a chord change on the second verse after no choice at 1:20.
After two unsuccessful takes, an interrupted take, and a false start, the fifth attempt was successful and chosen for the album. Dylan has performed this song only once onstage on January 10, 1974, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
COVERS
“As I Went Out One Morning” was covered by Stan Ridgway (Black Diamond, 1995), Dirty Projectors (As I Went Out One Morning, 2010), and Jason Simon (Jason Simon, 2010).
I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine
Bob Dylan / 3:55
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: October 17, 1967
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineer: Charlie Bragg
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nbsp; Genesis and Lyrics
For this piece, Bob Dylan was inspired by and paraphrases “Joe Hill,” a poem written by Alfred Hayes in 1936 and set to music by Earl Robinson. The first two couplets of the song, “I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night / Alive as you and me,” are practically identical to Dylan’s song. In this song, the dream is not of the union organizer Joe Hill, viewed as a martyr after he was convicted on weak evidence and sentenced to death in 1915, but of St. Augustine. Dylan’s St. Augustine is far from the bishop-philosopher of the fourth century, who was never martyred. St. Augustine, born in Tagaste (now Souk Ahras in Algeria) converted to Christianity in 354 at the age of thirty-three, after a debauched youth redeemed by grace, and became one of the great Christian philosophers. Dylan is interested in this idea of the Christian philosopher. For his whole life Augustine bore a sense of guilt that carried at the same time a sense of hope and was foreign to any form of Manichaeism. He believed that God, via Christ, intervened on earth for the redemption of humanity.
In the song, St. Augustine, wearing “a coat of solid gold” and “searching for the very souls / Whom already have been sold,” may denounce the wealth of institutionalized religions, while the fathers of the Church preach poverty and asceticism. When Dylan sings “Oh, I awoke in anger / So alone and terrified / I put my fingers against the glass / And bowed my head and cried,” it is about somehow returning to the precepts of St. Augustine, to feelings of humility and guilt.
The American singer and guitarist Joseph Arthur remembers being impressed listening to the song. “When I first heard this, it blew my mind. First it was the production, so stripped down and bare, so radically different to what he had done before. Then there was the lyric which revealed him to be so vulnerable. I took the St. Augustine character to be a metaphor for Dylan himself, him feeling this immense guilt and this was killing him somehow.”56 Maybe Dylan simply wanted to point out the parallel between St. Augustine’s debauchery, followed by years of redemption, and his own exalted rock-star status, called into question by his motorcycle accident.
Production
Dylan recorded “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” during the first session of the LP John Wesley Harding on October 17, 1967. Four takes were made; only the first was interrupted. The last take was chosen for the album. The song is a pensive ballad, harmonically close to Earl Robinson’s folk song. Joan Baez and Pete Seeger both included the title in their repertoire; it is probably through them that Dylan discovered Joe Hill. The atmosphere of “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” is serene, despite a very tormented lyrical content. Dylan sings with a fragile expression in his voice, enhanced by a strong reverberation. He played harmonica (in F) and guitar by strumming, and was backed on rhythm by Charlie McCoy and Kenneth Buttrey, with the same formula for the orchestration and delivery. McCoy played bass with a more sober tone than on the previous two titles on the album.
Dylan performed “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” for the first time live in a slow waltz arrangement at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969. He also played the song live on the Rolling Thunder Revue (1975–1976), and later with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in the 1980s.
COVERS
“I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” was covered by many artists, including Joan Baez (Any Day Now, 1968), Thea Gilmore (Both Sides Now: The Spirit (of Americana, 2002), and Ryan Kulp Positively Pikes Peak: The Pikes Peak Region Sings Bob Dylan, 2011).
All Along The Watchtower
Bob Dylan / 2:33
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: November 6, 1967
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineer: Charlie Bragg
Genesis and Lyrics
“All Along the Watchtower” is another example of the influence of the Old Testament on the writing of Bob Dylan. This song echoes lines from the book of Isaiah, referring to the exile of the Jewish people in Babylon, their return, and the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. In chapter 21, verses 5 through 9: “Prepare the table, watch in the watchman, eat, drink: Arise, ye princes, and prepare the shield. For thus hath the Lord said to me: ‘Go, set a watchman; let him declare what he seeth.’ And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed. And the watchman shouted, ‘Day after day, my Lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post, and, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen.’ And he answered and said, ‘Babylon is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.’”
In Dylan’s song, the two main characters—a joker and a thief—are two horsemen talking together while riding to a watchtower. It is easy to guess who they are and what they symbolize. The joker is the songwriter himself, entertaining the crowds and the one who not long ago was the spokesman for a protest movement of complacent progressives. The thief is Albert Grossman (and the music industry as a whole), who sees Dylan only as a moneymaking machine. In the first chorus, Dylan sings, “Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth.” The “laborers” could be the critics with their sharp pens.
For Dylan, nothing is ever simple. “There’s too much confusion,” he admits. Thus, the joker and the thief share the same goal, getting out of the watchtower. This can be interpreted as a need for people to find a way out of the social and political conditions of American society in the 1960s. The text of the three verses is confusing, as Dylan told John Cohen: “The same thing is true of the song ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ which opens up in a slightly different way, in a stranger way, for we have the cycle of events working in a rather reverse order.”20
The narrative does indeed follow an unusual structure. The last two verses, “Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl / Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl,” seem to be the beginning of the story, not the end. Apparently, just before recording, Dylan changed the order of the verses, creating a sense of willful disorder. Thus it is necessary to see these last two lines of the song as an introduction and then continue with the first two lines of the last verse, “All along the watchtower, princes kept the view / While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too,” and only then the current start of the text: “There must be some way out of here.” As he mentioned on the Biograph booklet, “It probably came to me during a thunder and lightning storm. I’m sure it did.”12
Whatever interpretation is given to this song—existentialism, biblical metaphor, quest for truth, an imperfect and perverted world—“All Along the Watchtower” intrigues us by the hermetic power of the text, and, as Dylan himself says, “See, on the album, you have to think about it after you hear it.”20
Production
The menacing character of the song is obvious from the beginning. It is based on only three chords and captivates the listener by its incessant and hypnotic harmonic structure (reminiscent of “Hurricane,” released on Desire in 1976). Dylan told Jonathan Cott in 1978 that this album is a restless disc that reflects fear. This wonderful song gets its strength thanks to the interpretation of three extraordinary musicians. Dylan’s vocal has an edge of panic, emphasizing the climate of insecurity. His harmonica playing (in E) in a high-pitched register is reminiscent of a saturated guitar sound, perhaps a sound that Dylan unconsciously had in mind, such as in Jimi Hendrix’s version. The rhythm section is perfect: Buttrey reveals his talent with a subtle and remarkable drumbeat, backed up by McCoy’s excellent bass part. Just listen to the combination of bass and drums backing Dylan’s second harmonica solo (starting at 1:29) to measure the full extent of their talent. Note: As in a majority of the tracks on the album, the song’s ending was abrupt, without fade-out. Dylan wrote a masterpiece that does not leave the listener untouched. “All Along the Watchtower” was the
first song recorded on November 6. It was cut in five takes. The album track resulted from two different takes, the third and fifth (which is an insert). In fact, the cut is so smooth that it is very difficult to hear it.
Bob Dylan first performed “All Along the Watchtower” live on January 3, 1974, in Chicago Stadium for the opening night of his comeback tour. Since then he has performed it more than 2,100 times, more than any of his other songs, which shows how much this song means to him. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, Dylan has sung the first verse again at the end of the song. Critic Michael Gray states in his book, “Dylan chooses to finish in a way that at once reduces its apocalyptic import and hugely cranks up its emphasis on the artist’s own centrality. Repeating the first stanza as the last means that Dylan now ends with this: ‘Businessmen they drink my wine / Plowmen dig my earth / None of them along the line / Know what any of it is worth’ (and this is sung with a prolonged, dark linger on that word ‘worth’).”30
COVERS
Jimi Hendrix recorded the most personal adaptation of “All Along the Watchtower.” Other artists recorded covers of Dylan’s song as well, including Bobby Womack (The Facts of Life, 1973), U2 (Rattle and Hum, 1988), Neil Young (The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, 1993), Dave Matthews Band (Recently EP, 1994), the Grateful Dead (Dozin’ at the Knick, 1996), Taj Mahal (Hanapepe Dream, 2001), Bryan Ferry (Dylanesque, 2007), and Chris de Burgh (Footsteps, 2008).
When the Student Surpasses the Teacher