Bob Dylan All the Songs
Page 42
Dylan has never performed this song in concert. On the other hand, there is a version with Johnny Cash on the bootleg Dylan-Cash sessions.
COVERS
“Peggy Day” was recorded by Steve Gibbons (The Dylan Project, 1998) and Steve Lane (If Not for You: Tribute to Bob Dylan, 2011).
Lay, Lady, Lay
Bob Dylan / 3:21
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Charlie Daniels: guitar
Norman Blake: guitar
Kelton D. Herston: guitar (?)
Wayne Moss: guitar (?)
Pete Drake: pedal steel guitar
Bob Wilson: organ
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums, bongos, cowbell
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 14, 1969
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Charlie Bragg and Neil Wilburn
Genesis and Lyrics
“Lay, Lady, Lay” was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy (1969) directed by John Schlesinger, but because Dylan did not submit it on time, the director and United Artists officials opted for the ballad “Everybody’s Talkin’” by Harry Nilsson.
Dylan admitted he composed the music for “Lay, Lady, Lay” before writing the lyrics, which is quite atypical. “The song came out of those first four chords. I filled it up with the lyrics then, the la la la type thing, well that turned into ‘Lay, Lady, Lay.’”12 As for the lyrics, they are unusually suggestive, even erotic, describing a night of love, full of promises and desires, “Whatever colors you have in your mind / I’ll show them to you and you’ll see them shine” or “Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead / I long to see you in the morning light / I long to reach for you in the night.”
Dylan sang “Lay, Lady, Lay” for the first time at Johnny Cash’s house in Nashville. “We were a bunch of songwriters, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Harlan Howard, Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury and others. We formed a circle, each playing a song, and then passed the guitar to the next one.” Dylan performed the song live for the first time on the Isle of Wight. Curiously, Dylan never felt really attached to it. When Clive Davis, president of Columbia Records at the time, wanted to release the song as a single, Dylan was firmly opposed to that. Davis insisted, but Dylan was still opposed, saying, “I never… thought it was representative of anything I do.”1 Nevertheless, he recognized the perceptiveness of his boss, since “Lay, Lady, Lay” reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of his biggest hits. However, the popularity of the song did not stop him from changing the lyrics in concert. In 1978, he explained to Ron Rosenbaum, “I rewrote ‘Lay, Lady, Lay,’ too. No one ever mentioned that… A lot of words to that song have changed.”20 He added that he was never satisfied with the original version: “I always had a feeling there was more to the song than that.”20 Happily, he did not alter the first two lines, which are a good example of Dylan’s alliteration: “Lay, lady, lay” and “big brass bed.”
Production
After a first attempt on February 13, “Lay, Lady, Lay” was recorded the following day. But drummer Kenneth Buttrey had difficulty coming up with a drum part. He told this to Dylan, who “just kind of looked back, he didn’t really know either, he was just trying to think of something and he said, ‘Bongos.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Bongos.’”89 Surprised, Buttrey immediately asked the opinion of Bob Johnston: “What do you hear as regards drums on this thing? And he just sort of rolled his eyes back, he didn’t have any answers ready either.”89 Johnston finally suggested cowbells. Buttrey then asked Kris Kristofferson, who worked as a guard at Columbia Studios in Nashville, to bring him a pair of cheap bongos lying in a corner and a cowbell. He continued, “We started playing the tune and I was just doodling around on these bongos and the cowbell and it was kinda working out pretty cool.”89 It also sounds like he played the bongos with drumsticks instead of using his hands. Buttrey switched back to the drums for the choruses. “There were no mikes on the drum, it was just leakage.”89
The harmony of “Lay, Lady, Lay,” atypically for Dylan, wasn’t very interesting. The strength of this song lies rather in the atmosphere that emerges, in part due to the tone of the instruments. Besides the Buttrey rhythm part, the sound of the pedal steel guitar riff provided by Drake is catchy and brings a dreamy touch to the song. Similarly, Wilson’s organ playing provides a mysterious floating feel. Dylan’s vocal has an unusual intonation, warm and low sounding, conferring a nostalgic and moving aspect to the song. He plays guitar backed by two other guitarists, probably Daniels and Blake; one plays by strumming, the other arpeggios. The studio record notes include Kelton D. Herston and Wayne Moss, who had impressed Al Kooper in “I Want You” on Blonde on Blonde. They also mention two additional guitarists, but they are inaudible in the mix. Note that an overdub session was held on February 20, but the result is unknown.
“Lay, Lady, Lay” was released as a single in July 1969 with “Peggy Day” on the B-side. The single reached number 7 on the Billboard charts on August 2, 1969, and did better in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 5 on September 13. In France, it reached an unexpected tenth position in December 1969. In the United States, it was Dylan’s biggest commercial success since “Like a Rolling Stone.” Since the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, with the Band (a version released on The Bootleg Series Volume 10), Dylan has sung the song onstage more than four hundred times. Note the versions on Before the Flood (1974) and Hard Rain (1976).
COVERS
Many artists have recorded “Lay, Lady, Lay.” Among the most famous versions are by the Byrds, released as a single and on their seventh studio album Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969), Duran Duran (Thank You, 1995), and Ministry (Filth Pig, 1996). Other artists who have covered the song include Melanie (Garden in the City, 1971), Isaac Hayes (Tangled Up in Blues: Songs of Bob Dylan, 1999), Cassandra Wilson (Glamoured, 2003), and Buddy Guy (Bring ’Em In, 2005).
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
The Everly Brothers rejected “Lay, Lady, Lay,” before recording the song for the album EB 84 (1984). When Dylan sang the song, Phil and Don thought he said, “Lay lady lay, lay across my big breasts, babe” instead of “Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed,” imagining that it was a lesbian song!
One More Night
Bob Dylan / 2:25
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Charlie Daniels: guitar
Norman Blake: guitar
Kelton D. Herston: guitar (?)
Bob Wilson: piano
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 13, 1969
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Charlie Bragg and Neil Wilburn
Genesis and Lyrics
If more evidence was required to prove that Hank Williams influenced Bob Dylan, it would have been called “One More Night.” The call of Nashville! There were several Williams touches in this song: the bouncy rhythm that referred to classics like “Lovesick Blues” and “Hey, Good Lookin’” and simple, expressive poetry, such as “One more night, the stars are in sight / But tonight I’m as lonesome as can be / Oh, the moon is shinin’ bright / Lighting ev’rything in sight / But tonight no light will shine on me.” Rock critic Andy Gill: “The song is also notable as another example of Dylan’s changing attitude toward women. Although the reason for the breakdown of his relationship—the singer’s inability to be what his lover wants him to be—echoes that of earlier songs like ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe,’ he acknowledges here that’s it’s not just a lover he has lost, but his best pal.”24
Production
Long forgotten was the rock of Highway 61 Revisited, the protest songs of The Times They Are A-Changin’, and the halluci
nations of Blonde on Blonde. Dylan was in Nashville to play simple, straightforward music. With “One More Night,” the songwriter had no qualms about singing rather basic country, and he had surrounded himself with the ideal team to achieve this. His voice accomplishes the feat of reaching the high notes in the last verse. The mood is curiously light and detached in contrast to lyrics that suggest solitude and abandonment. Once again Charlie Daniels opens the piece with a small introduction on acoustic guitar, followed by Norman Blake, who performs a very good part on dobro, including a solo that really takes off. With Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenneth Buttrey on drums, the rhythm section provides the perfect support for the other musicians, who are backed up by the irreproachable Bob Wilson on piano. A song with no glitches or problems, it expresses the tranquility of the country life.
“One More Night” was the third and last song kept from the first session on February 13, 1969. To date, Dylan has sung it twice onstage: on June 6, 1990, at the O’Keefe (now Sony) Center for the Performing Arts in Toronto, and on September 29, 1995, at the Sunrise Musical Theater in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
COVERS
“One More Night” was recorded by Ronnie Hawkins (Ronnie Hawkins, 1970) and Johnny Mathis (All About Love, 1996).
Tell Me That It Isn’t True
Bob Dylan / 2:44
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar (?), organ (?)
Charlie Daniels: guitar
Norman Blake: guitar
Kelton D. Herston: guitar (?), organ (?)
Bob Wilson: piano
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 14, 1969
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Charlie Bragg and Neil Wilburn
Genesis and Lyrics
After wandering happily along the trail of Hank Williams in “One More Night,” Bob Dylan turned to Elvis Presley and country rock for inspiration. “Tell Me That It Isn’t True” was one of the most musically successful songs on the record. The story is about a lover who has to face a rumor: everyone in town tells him that the apple of his eye has been seen with another man. Could it be that Dylan had become naïve? But the song was more likely an imitation of the King himself, Elvis Presley, who a few months later produced the last number 1 single of his huge career with a similar song, “Suspicious Minds.” What were the songwriter’s motives in writing a text that was hardly representative of his great talent? Was it a post-accident shock? Amorous euphoria? Tongue in cheek? Humor? Or, more simply, joie de vivre?
Production
The introduction of “Tell Me That It Isn’t True” resembles “Like a Rolling Stone” or “Desolation Row,” due to the guitar riff and the sound of echo on the organ. But who played this organ, since Bob Wilson was on piano? Dylan? Herston, who was mentioned on the studio sheets (but as a guitar player)? Was it added as an overdub? A classic nylon-string guitar played by Charlie Daniels (or Norman Blake?) opens the piece with a very catchy riff and later a very good solo. Two other acoustic guitars are also heard. One of the song’s surprises is its instrumental ending, played simultaneously on piano, classical guitar, and bass. It stands out from the musical style of the rest of the song and is obviously an insert placed exactly at 2:24. Since it was written for piano, it would not be surprising if it had been written by Bob Wilson. “Tell Me That It Isn’t True” was recorded right after “Peggy Day,” on February 14, 1969. Dylan later confided to Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner that it was one of his favorite songs on the album, even though the final results were very different from his original intention. “It came out real slow and mellow. I had written it as a sort of jerky, kind of polka-type thing.”20
It was odd that Dylan only performed this song onstage for the first time on March 10, 2000, during the second concert at the Sun Theater in Anaheim, California. Afterward, he played it dozens of times.
COVERS
Robert Forster added this tune to his repertoire for the sessions for I Had a New York Girlfriend (1995).
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
Speaking with Jann Wenner, Dylan said, “I wrote it in F. I wrote a lot of songs on this new album in F. That’s what gives it kind of a new sound. They’re all in F… not all of them, but quite a few. There’s not many on that album that aren’t in F… I try to be a little different on every album.”20 While this song is in F, only two of them out of the ten are in that key.
Country Pie
Bob Dylan / 1:39
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Charlie Daniels: guitar
Norman Blake: guitar
Kelton D. Herston: guitar (?)
Pete Drake: pedal steel guitar
Bob Wilson: piano
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 14, 1969
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Charlie Bragg and Neil Wilburn
Genesis and Lyrics
Dylan used the flavor of comfort food to express how country-and-western music inspired him. Eating red fruit and legumes, apples, squash, or prunes gave him as much satisfaction as listening to old Joe on the sax or the fiddler when the day breaks. “I don’t need much and that ain’t no lie / Ain’t runnin’ any race,” he sings in the fifth verse. From now on the songwriter, who had had a close brush with death in a motorcycle accident, was looking forward to the simple pleasures of life, such as living with his own family, far from the artificial glitter and glamour of the city. In a sense, the spirited “Country Pie” lets the curtain fall on the Dylan of the mid-sixties who was inspired by Rimbaud’s poetry and the stream-of-consciousness writing of the Beats, and by surrealism and nonsense as well.
Production
“Country Pie” was recorded on February 14, 1969, during the same session as “Peggy Day” and “Tell Me That It Isn’t True.” After “To Be Alone with You,” this is the second time the sound of an electric guitar is heard. It is hard to guess who is playing. Is it Charlie Daniels, Norman Blake, or Kelton D. Herston? In any case, this guitar player is enjoying himself, as evidenced by some very good solos. This country-rock piece gives Bob Wilson a chance to express all his talent on the piano, as well as showcasing the talent of Charlie McCoy on bass. Dylan provides a very good vocal part, echoing at times the accents of his former tone and managing to add a soul side to his performance as he lists his favorite fruits. “Country Pie” is the shortest song on the album, and a certain stiffness and hurry can be noticed in the fade-out, perhaps to cover up a mistake.
This song was chosen as the B-side of the third single taken from Nashville Skyline (the one that included “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” on side A). Since March 10, 2000, the day of the first of the two concerts at the Sun Theater in Anaheim, California, Dylan has played “Country Pie” more than 130 times. Note that there is an alternate take on The Bootleg Series Volume 10.
Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You
Bob Dylan / 3:23
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Charlie Daniels: guitar
Norman Blake: guitar
Pete Drake: pedal steel guitar
Bob Wilson: piano (?)
Hargus Robbins: piano (?)
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 17, 1969
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Charlie Bragg and Neil Wilburn
Genesis and Lyrics
Bob Dylan wrote most of “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” at the Ramada Inn, where he lived during the sessions for Nashville Skyline, but finished the tune at the last minute in
the studio. Charlie Daniels told Manfred Helfert, “[He] wrote most of ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You’ after we started the session.”36 This last track on the album reflects Dylan’s state of mind in the late 1960s. The song shows a change from his more sentimental songs, expressing a restless search for ideal love, and thousands of reasons to break up. “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” reflects the basic happiness of falling in love and one’s devotion to staying with one’s lover. Consequently, the narrator no longer feels the need to travel, but expresses his willingness to stay put with her: “Throw my ticket out the window / Throw my suitcase out there, too / Throw my troubles out the door.” Obviously, the narrator is Dylan, who found peace and a sense of fulfillment with Sara and his children. “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” is a song about happiness regained, allowing Dylan to draw a line under his past and to cast aside his image as the spokesman of the protest generation.
Production
“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” was the second title recorded on February 17. Country with a pop-rock sound, it is reminiscent of “Down Along the Cove” from Dylan’s previous album, John Wesley Harding. It emphasizes electric guitars, probably performed by Charlie Daniels on the lead, alternating between rhythm and solo. Among the other six-strings, there are two acoustic guitars (Dylan and Blake). Pete Drake plays pedal steel guitar and provides the first solo. As usual, Bob Wilson plays honky-tonk piano style, or maybe it was Hargus Robbins, as he is mentioned in the studio notes. Dylan’s interpretation is excellent. His voice mixes his new vocal style with soulful accents, an intonation already featured in other songs on the album.