Bob Dylan All the Songs
Page 64
Genesis and Lyrics
Bob Dylan was again inspired by the New Testament—in this case, the Epistles to the Corinthians, specifically 15:51 of the First Epistle: “Listen! I will unfold a mystery: we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet call. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise immortal, and we shall be changed.” Dylan, guided by Saint Paul, wrote on his typewriter, “In a twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet blows / The dead will arise and burst out of your clothes / And ye shall be changed.”
No doubt it is Dylan who has changed. He is fundamentally transformed since his path was enlightened by Jesus Christ. He sings as if he no longer bears a burden. Evil tongues said that he wanted to fight the same Manichean fight as Hal Lindsey, for whom only Christians can see God!
Production
“Ye Shall Be Changed” combines rock and gospel with apocalyptic lyrics. Musically, the tone is simple. The instrumental arrangements are still by the fabulous Muscle Shoals Sound Studio team and by two Dire Straits musicians, guitarist Mark Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers. Dylan’s vocals proclaim his newfound faith in Christianity with confidence and conviction. His vocals are enriched by a delay (the only time on the entire album). Mark Knopfler distinguishes himself once again with his talented playing on his Stratocaster, including the solo at the end (around 3:44). Although Dylan is credited as a guitarist on the Bootleg Series liner notes, he does not seem to play guitar on this song. “Ye Shall Be Changed” was recorded on May 2, and a bass overdub was done on May 4. The song was excluded from the final track listing of Slow Train Coming. Dylan has never played the tune in public.
Trouble In Mind
Bob Dylan / 4:06
SINGLE
DATE OF RELEASE
Gotta Serve Somebody / Trouble in Mind
August 15, 1979
on Columbia Records
(REFERENCE COLUMBIA 1-11072)
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar (?)
Mark Knopfler: guitar
Barry Beckett: keyboards
Tim Drummond: bass
Pick Withers: drums
Carolyn Dennis, Helena Springs, and Regina Havis: backup vocals
Recording Studio
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama: April 30, 1979 (Overdubs May 5 and 6, 1979)
Technical Team
Producers: Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett
Sound Engineer: Gregg Hamm
Genesis and Lyrics
“Trouble in Mind” is one of many songs written by Bob Dylan containing implicit references to the Old Testament. It is inspired by Psalms 13:1: “How long, O Lord! Wilt thou quite forget me? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?”
Like King David, the character in Dylan’s song feels abandoned. He fears that, against his will, he is under the power of Satan, described in the Epistle to the Ephesians as “the commander of the spiritual powers of the air, the spirit now at work among God’s rebel subjects” (2:2). “Trouble in Mind” seems to be the result of Dylan’s conversion to Christianity after years of a “wandering mind,” and is the expression of sincere belief and the desire to escape eternal damnation.
Production
“Trouble in Mind” was the first song recorded on April 30, 1979. There were eight takes during the sessions for Slow Train Coming. The seventh was used as the basic rhythm track for overdubs. “Trouble in Mind” is based on a Southern blues riff played by Knopfler on his Telecaster. The riff is doubled by Beckett on piano and Drummond on bass. “Trouble in Mind” is a slow-tempo song, with a dense and threatening atmosphere. Dylan offers a superb vocal performance. The intonation is reminiscent of his great albums from the time of Highway 61 Revisited. The backup vocals are irresistible and strengthen the dark, soulful feeling of the piece, emphasized by Beckett’s playing; he provides numerous organ and piano licks worthy of the masters of the genre. In addition, Knopfler’s guitar solo part is superb. Once again he demonstrates his talent on his Stratocaster with an exceptional touch (overdubs on May 5 and 6). Musically it is a great moment, and it is surprising that “Trouble in Mind” was released only as the B-side of a single. Note that an additional verse about mistaking kindness for weakness was removed.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
“Trouble in Mind” was released on the B-side of “Precious Angel” in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Holland, and Brazil, and of “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” in France.
Saved
A Satisfied Mind
Saved
Covenant Woman
What Can I Do For You?
Solid Rock
Pressing On
In The Garden
Saving Grace
Are You Ready?
DATE OF RELEASE
June 19, 1980 (according to some sources, June 20, 1980)
on Columbia Records
(REFERENCE COLUMBIA FC 36553)
Saved:
A New Covenant
The Gospel Tour
Two and half months after the release of Slow Train Coming, Bob Dylan began the Gospel Tour of the United States and Canada. From November 1, 1979, to May 21, 1980, he gave seventy concerts across North America, from California to Ohio, through the Southern states and into Quebec. The public saw a Dylan completely transformed—a Dylan who had “discovered” Jesus Christ and converted to Christianity. The three-leg tour was an opportunity for him to express his newfound faith, appearing at each concert with a pilgrim’s staff. The tour lineup besides Dylan included Spooner Oldham (keyboard), Terry Young (keyboard), Fred Tackett (guitar), Tim Drummond (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), and three female backup vocalists, Helena Springs, Mona Lisa Young, and Regina Havis. For the first leg of the tour, from November 1 to December 9, Havis opened the show with a fiery sermon on Christian faith. For the second leg of the tour, from January 13 to February 9, 1980, Helena Springs was replaced by Carolyn Dennis. For the third leg of the tour, from April 17 to May 21, 1980, Dylan was accompanied by a new group of female vocalists: Regina Peeples, Clydie King, Gwen Evans, and Mary Elizabeth Bridges. In an interview conducted by Scott Marshal, keyboardist Spooner Oldham described the atmosphere during the tour: “Backstage the band would gather together for a minute and hold hands in a circle and someone, it would depend on the moment, someone would say a prayer.”124
During the Gospel Tour, Dylan and his band performed songs from the album Slow Train Coming and new Christian compositions, such as “Covenant Woman,” “Solid Rock,” “Saving Grace,” “Saved,” “What Can I Do for You?,” “In the Garden,” “Are You Ready?,” and “Pressing On.” These new songs were written between the end of the sessions for Slow Train Coming and the beginning of the Gospel Tour (except for “Are You Ready?”). Dylan resumed recording just after the second part of the tour. Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett were once again approached to produce the new LP, again at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama.
The Album
Saved was the second album of Dylan’s Christian trilogy. It continues what he started with Slow Train Coming. The new opus exalted his personal faith, his tremendous debt to Jesus Christ, who had suffered for him and opened his eyes to this world and beyond. Once again, his new compositions contained explicit references to biblical texts. Without a doubt, Dylan was also influenced by the American Christian author Hal Lindsey (The Late Great Planet Earth). Lindsey, like many Christian eschatologists of previous centuries, saw the restoration of the land of Israel to the Jewish people as the beginning of an end, an “end” that would see the Jews acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Steven Soles and T-Bone Burnett, future converts, remarked on the difference in Dylan’s attitude since his conversion, “He’s excited by the fact that he feels he’s been rescued.”
The album was released on June 23, 1980. Saved only reached number 24 on the US charts and did not go gold because Dylan’s public did not understand it. In the United Kingdo
m, however, this twentieth studio album hit number 3, which was quite remarkable, considering that in June 1980 the following were available in the UK record bins: Uprising by Bob Marley, Emotional Rescue by the Rolling Stones, Flesh and Blood by Roxy Music, and Hold Out by Jackson Browne.
The Cover Art
The original cover of the album Saved was a pastel in russet shades by Tony Wright representing Jesus Christ’s hand pointing his index finger down to touch the hands of believers who are reaching out to him. However, in 1985, Columbia, which did not like the illustration, replaced it with another pastel representing the songwriter performing with his harmonica onstage at a concert in Montreal in April 1980. Columbia’s goal was to downplay the album’s religious nature. On the inner sleeve of Saved there is a quotation from Jeremiah 31:31: “Behold, the days come, sayeth the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.”
Tony Wright has illustrated many album covers for artists as diverse as Steve Winwood, the B-52s, Bob Marley, Chic, the Ramones, Marianne Faithfull, and others. The other photographs on the album cover were taken by Arthur Rosato, Don DeVito’s former assistant on Street Legal in 1978.
The Recording
Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett produced Saved, Dylan’s twentieth studio album. The recording sessions started at Muscle Shoals on February 11, 1980, two days after ending the second part of the Gospel Tour. Arthur Rosato, who was also a member of the technical team, said, “We didn’t go home. We went straight into the studio. [We thought,] ‘We’re never gonna get home.’ ’Cause Muscle Shoals is as far away as you could possibly be from anything. It was tiring.”89
Producer Jerry Wexler also commented on one significant difference between Slow Train Coming and Saved: “The arrangements [for Saved] were [already] built in, because the band had been playing songs live. Most of the licks are their own licks, which they perfected on the road, as opposed to the Dire Straits confections on the last album, which were all done in the studio.”125
Dylan always wanted the sessions to be mostly live. The number of takes per song was quite low. There were only two overdubs made in the wake of the sessions. Saved was recorded in a mere five days, from February 11 to February 15. The last day is not mentioned on the official studio recording sheets, but the musicians’ contracts include it. Only a total of five sessions were needed for musicians who had performed the same songs for months. Spooner Oldham remembers, “But this time it was a traveling road tour band recording, so we essentially went in there and repeated our live performances. It went pretty smoothly.”124
Besides Barry Beckett, who had played keyboards as a guest on Slow Train Coming, Tim Drummond (bass) was the only musician who had appeared on that previous album. The other musicians included Jim Keltner, the talented drummer who had already offered his sticks to Dylan for the albums Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid and Dylan; Fred Tackett (Rod Stewart, Little Feat) on guitar; Spooner Oldham (Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin) on keyboard; Terry Young (Ray Charles) on keyboard and vocals; and the vocalists Clydie King, Regina Havis, and Mona Lisa Young.
Technical Details
The album was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama. Dylan and his band worked again with sound engineer Gregg Hamm. The recording material was essentially the same as for the previous album, Slow Train Coming.
The Instruments
Dylan probably played the same guitars as on Slow Train Coming, however, it is hard to confirm this. In this new album, he played harmonica on two songs, in C and E-flat.
A Satisfied Mind
Red Hayes / Jack Rhodes / 1:57
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar (?)
Fred Tackett: guitar (?)
Spooner Oldham: electric piano
Tim Drummond: bass
Jim Keltner: snare drum
Terry Young: piano, backup vocals
Clydie King, Mona Lisa Young, and Regina Havis: backup vocals
Recording Studio
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama: February 12, 1980
Technical Team
Producers: Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett
Sound Engineer: Gregg Hamm
Genesis and Lyrics
“A Satisfied Mind” was written by Joe “Red” Hayes and Jack Rhodes, both well known in the world of country music. The lyrics were inspired by the book of Proverbs 30:7–8: “Two things I ask of thee; do not withhold them from me before I die. Put fraud and lying far from me; give me neither poverty nor wealth, provide me only with the food I need.” This means that satisfaction does not come from wealth, which can neither buy youth nor resurrect a lost friend. As a precept, this has paid off. The song was popular in the United States in the mid-fifties. In 1973, Red Hayes explained the origin of the song in an interview: “The song came from my mother. Everything in the song are things I heard her say over the years. I put a lot of thought into the song before I came up with the title. One day my father-in-law asked me who I thought the richest man in the world was, and I mentioned some names. He said, ‘You’re wrong. It is the man with a satisfied mind.’”83
Production
Since the 1950s and the first recordings by Porter Wagoner (Hayes/Rhodes version), this song has been covered with a country sound by many well-known artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Willie Nelson, the Byrds, and Johnny Cash. Bob Dylan added the song to his repertoire for the first time during the famous “Basement Tapes” recordings in collaboration with the Band in 1967, subsequently released on The Bootleg Series Volume 11: Bob Dylan and the Band: The Basement Tapes Complete in 2014. Another version was recorded for the album Saved. This time Dylan gave it a totally gospel color, different from its original country-music feeling. For the opening track he could not have done better. The message is clear: he wants to talk about spirituality. The wailing vocal delivery by his backup vocalists is rather unusual in his discography. Dylan was accompanied by only one electric guitar (perhaps played by Tackett), a bass, and very discrete riffs on keyboard, demanding careful listening and contemplation. Only Jeff Buckley’s version is close to this intimate vision. Curiously, it was one of the few songs on Saved that was not played during Dylan’s Gospel Tour. Only one take was necessary to record the tune on February 12, 1980.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
In the booklet in the Bear Family compilation Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music: 1955, Colin Escott relays another explanation for the origin of “A Satisfied Man”: “In one [story of the song’s genesis], Red Hayes had an encounter with a UFO. A quasi-magnetic force pulled his arm up against the extraterrestrial object, inflicting a burn, and, after the burn healed, Red realized that the aliens had given him a song by way of compensation.”
Saved
Bob Dylan / Tim Drummond / 4:03
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar; Fred Tackett: guitar; Spooner Oldham: electric piano; Terry Young: piano, tambourine, backup vocals; Tim Drummond: bass; Jim Keltner: drums; Clydie King, Mona Lisa Young, and Regina Havis: backup vocals / Recording Studio: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama: February 12, 1980 (Overdub February 14, 1980) / Producers: Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett / Sound Engineer: Gregg Hamm
Genesis and Production
“Saved” was one of the first songs Dylan wrote for his second Christian album, most likely during the Gospel Tour. As he had already done for his album Slow Train Coming, the songwriter took the text almost word for word from the Epistles of Saint Paul to the Corinthians in the New Testament. “Saved” refers to the second letter, specifically the fourth verse of the fourth chapter: “Their unbelieving minds are so blinded by the god of this passing age, that the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the very image of God, cannot dawn upon them and bring them light.” He acknowledges that “I was blinded by the devil / Born already ruined,” until he was saved “by the blood of the Lamb.” The lamb has an obviously messianic dimension: Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who offers himself in sa
crifice for the salvation of men. Dylan sings, “Yes, I’m so glad / I’m so glad / So glad / I want to thank you, Lord.”
On February 12, Dylan and his band recorded three takes of “Saved.” The last was retained as a base rhythm track. The song is strongly influenced by the famous Muscle Shoals Sound. “Saved” demonstrates the unity of the group that had toured together for months. The rhythm section is killer, Keltner and Drummond ensuring a strong groove, allowing guitars, keyboards, and backup singers to deliver their parts with vigor. Dylan sings his lyrics loudly and offers a very good vocal performance. On February 14, the backup singers added harmonies and Young added tambourine.
Covenant Woman
Bob Dylan / 6:05
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar; Fred Tackett: guitar; Spooner Oldham: organ; Barry Beckett: electric piano; Terry Young: piano; Tim Drummond: bass; Jim Keltner: drums / Recording Studio: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama: February 11 and 15, 1980 (?) / Producers: Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett / Sound Engineer: Gregg Hamm
Genesis and Production
On the inner cover of the original release of Saved, Dylan cites a passage from the book of Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, sayeth the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” This is a reference to the schism between the twelve tribes of Israel. On one side, ten tribes originally formed the kingdom of Israel, while the other two tribes became the kingdom of Judah. Dylan, who was born Jewish, converted to Christianity, and because of this he became a symbol of reconciliation. Perhaps the songwriter also refers to the woman who guided him on the path to Jesus Christ, actress Mary Alice Artes, the one “who knows those most secret things of me that are hidden from the world,” the covenant woman.