FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
A line of the second verse, “I’m an old boll weevil looking for a home,” in “Silvio” was inspired by a Leadbelly blues song titled “De Ballit of De Boll Weevil.”
Ninety Miles An Hour (Down A Dead End Street)
Hal Blair / Don Robertson / 2:56
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar (?), piano (?); Madelyn Quebec: vocals, keyboards, tambourine (?); (?): acoustic guitar; Jack Sherman: electric guitar (?); Larry Klein: bass (?); Willie Green and Bobby King: backup vocals / Recording Studio: Sunset Sound / Studio 2, Hollywood, California: April 3, 1987 (Overdubs June 17 and 23, 1987) / Producer: Bob Dylan / Sound Engineer: Stephen Shelton
Genesis and Production
Hal Blair and Don Robertson wrote, together or separately, a large number of country and pop songs. Elvis Presley, among others, included “I Met Her Today,” “I Really Don’t Want to Know,” and “There’s Always Me” in his repertoire. After the King, Bob Dylan covered a song by the duo. “Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)” recounts the misadventures of a motorcyclist. Dylan seems to be thumbing his nose at his own motorcycle accident in Woodstock almost twenty years before.
In 1963 Canadian country music singer Hank Snow hit number 2 on the country charts with “Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street).” In his own song, Dylan abandons the country treatment and records a kind of smooth gospel with backup vocalists Willie Green and Bobby King (overdub June 23) and an organ played by Madelyn Quebec as the dominant sound. Dylan provides a great vocal. The album’s liner notes are unclear, as it seems that he accompanied himself not on guitar but on piano. Other instruments not mentioned can be heard, including a synthetic bass, solo acoustic guitars, and an electric guitar with vibrato.
Shenandoah
Traditional / Arrangement Bob Dylan / 3:39
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; (?): electric guitar; (?): mandolin; Nathan East: bass; Madelyn Quebec, Carolyn Dennis, Peggi Blu, and Alexandra Brown: backup vocals, handclaps, tambourine / Recording Studio: Sunset Sound / Studio 2, Hollywood, California: April 1987 (Overdubs June 17, 1987) / Producer: Bob Dylan / Sound Engineer: Stephen Shelton
Genesis and Production
“Shenandoah” is a traditional American folk song from the nineteenth century, when pioneers, specifically trappers and traders, first ventured west of the Mississippi. Some of them married Native Americans. This folk song tells the tale of a pioneer who fell in love with the daughter of an Algonquin chief, Shenandoah, and had to cross the wide Missouri River. The story of this song has changed over time: the love of a young Native American woman was replaced by the nostalgia of a pioneer or a Confederate soldier from Virginia.
Dylan recorded a good cover of this traditional song, although without the solemn feeling of other versions, such as those by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits. However, even if it appears simplistic, it is nevertheless successful. Alongside Dylan’s guitar, a mandolin or electric rhythm guitar (played by unidentified musicians) can be heard. The chorus has a country-gospel sound, especially late in the song where the backup singers clap and play tambourine (overdubs June 17). Although Mike Baird is credited as drummer on the liner notes, his performance was not retained for this version. The recording probably dates from April 1987.
The songwriter has so far played the song only three times onstage. The first time was in Athens, Georgia, on October 28, 1990.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
Due to its strategic position, the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia was the scene of violent confrontations during the American Civil War. Beginning in 1862, a series of campaigns were launched there by both the Confederate and Union armies.
Rank Strangers To Me
Albert E. Brumley / 2:57
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar; Madelyn Quebec: backup vocals (?); Larry Klein: bass / Recording Studio: Sunset Sound / Studio 2, Hollywood, California: June 16, 1987 / Producer: Bob Dylan / Sound Engineer: Stephen Shelton
Genesis and Production
The last song on Down in the Groove is a composition by Albert E. Brumley, a musician and a gospel music publisher. Among the eight hundred songs Brumley wrote, Dylan chose “Rank Strangers to Me,” a song previously covered by many artists, including the Stanley Brothers and Charlie Mussel-white. The tale concerns a man who, after a long journey, returns to his home in the mountains and discovers that his friends and those he once knew well are all total strangers to him and he himself is a stranger to them: “They knew not my name and I knew not their faces.” In the third verse, with hope reborn he sings, “Some beautiful day I’ll meet ’em in heaven / Where no one will be a stranger to me.”
“Rank Strangers to Me” was recorded during the session of June 16. Dylan deliberately chose a different treatment than the Stanley Brothers’ cover: no reference to bluegrass, but a dip into the heart of folk song with a gospel flair. In this very simplistic version, Dylan plays guitar, backed most likely by Madelyn Quebec on harmony vocals (although she is not credited on the album) and the excellent Larry Klein on bass. Klein has worked with artists such as Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, and Robbie Robertson. He was influenced, like many other bass players of the time, by the great Jaco Pastorius, who played a fretless bass. Klein did not hesitate to use this instrument on a second track where, lost in reverb, it gave the song a sense of depth.
Oh
Mercy
Political World
Where Teardrops Fall
Everything Is Broken
Ring Them Bells
Man In The Long Black Coat
Most Of The Time
What Good Am I?
Disease Of Conceit
What Was It You Wanted
Shooting Star
THE OUTTAKES
God Knows
Dignity
Three Of Us Be Free
Series Of Dreams
Born In Time
DATE OF RELEASE
September 12, 1989
on Columbia Records
(REFERENCE COLUMBIA OC 45281 [LP] / COLUMBIA CK 45281 [CD])
Oh Mercy:
An Album Crafted by a Magician of Sound
The songs collected on the Oh Mercy album were mostly written in the small painting studio Bob Dylan had set up at his Malibu, California, property in early 1988. And what songs they were! After a series of relatively minor albums that were rejected by the critics and abandoned by much of the public, the songwriter came back full force with ten gems, among the best of his repertoire, putting an end to all doubts about his future. “Most of them are stream-of-consciousness songs, the kind that come to you in the middle of the night, when you just want to go back to bed. The harder you try to do something, the more it evades you.”140
The Album of Renewal
The history of this album began one night in the spring (or the summer) of 1988. Dylan had let U2 frontman Bono listen to several of his compositions. Bono was enchanted and suggested that Dylan contact Daniel Lanois, who had just produced U2’s The Joshua Tree (1987). Said Dylan, “Bono picked up the phone and dialed the man, put him on the phone with me and we spoke for a moment. Basically, what Lanois said was that he was working out of New Orleans and told me that if I was ever there, I should look him up.”1 Some weeks later, Dylan landed in Louisiana, where he met Lanois, who was then working on Yellow Moon by the Neville Brothers. The producer played him two covers of his songs that the Neville Brothers had just recorded, “With God on Our Side” and “The Ballad of Hollis Brown,” carried by the angelic voice of Aaron Neville. “That sounds like a record,”141 commented Dylan. According to Lanois, “From Bob Dylan, that’s a big compliment.” It was exactly the sound Dylan wanted, a sound that came from the depths of the Louisiana bayou.
The songs on Oh Mercy had the same poetic glow as Dylan’s masterpieces of the sixties. If “Political World” blasted the powerlessness of politics and called for a return to spirituality, “Everything Is Broken” wa
s a reflection of this same modern society in total collapse. Spirituality was still the word that best defined “Where Teardrops Fall” and “Ring Them Bells,” which were, respectively, inspired by the Psalms and the Gospel according to Matthew. To a certain extent, so was “Man in the Long Black Coat” (even though the character in this song can also be interpreted exemplifying a person on a voyage and/or one consumed by solitude). As for “Disease of Conceit,” it was inspired by the scandal involving Jimmy Swaggart, a televangelist who was caught twice in the company of a prostitute.
The other songs on the album, while successful, were of a much more temporal order. “Most of the Time” told the story of a couple’s breakup. The same could be said for “Shooting Star”—although it contained an allusion to the three wise men and the birth of Christ. “What Good Am I?” was much more introspective: the narrator questioned himself about his love relationship, especially his behavior toward his companion (or his ex). Finally, “What Was It You Wanted?” was possibly addressed to the critics and the public, who always wanted to know much more about and analyze every detail of the artist’s life.
Although the songs of Oh Mercy reflected themes that were familiar to the songwriter, the music sounded like a rereading of Louisiana swamp blues with a hint of rockabilly. The atmosphere was wooly, wrapped up in mystery, with an instrumental eclecticism that punctuated Dylan’s deep voice. It was definitely an album of renewal.
As soon as it was released, on September 12, 1989, it was unanimously acclaimed by both the critics and the public. It was rated number 44 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Best Albums of the Eighties” and reached number 30 in the United States and number 6 in the United Kingdom on the charts—a great album to launch the new contract between Bob Dylan and Columbia.
The Album Cover
During a motorcycle trip through the streets of New York City, Dylan discovered graffiti that he decided to use as an illustration for the cover of his new album. The couple dancing was the work of a street artist known as Trotsky. On the cover, the name Bob Dylan is written in white capital letters on a black banner above the drawing, while the title of the album is below in red letters. The back cover shows a photo of the songwriter wearing a hat, credited to Suzie-Q, who was probably his longtime clothing manager Suzie Pullen. The record cover design was done by Christopher Austopchuk, an artist who worked with many musicians, such as Aerosmith, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen, and who designed the artwork for The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3: Rare & Unreleased, 1961–1991.
The Recording
When Dylan chose Daniel Lanois to produce his new album, he was at an impasse. Mark Howard, the sound engineer, said, “He had actually recorded this whole record before it came to us. With Ron Wood. There’s a whole version of Oh Mercy that was recorded with Ron Wood already. But I think Dylan had maybe decided he didn’t like what had happened.”139 By hiring the Canadian producer, the songwriter hoped to save his record. He let Lanois choose the team. Lanois then gathered musicians he knew and liked. Apart from helping with the sound engineering, Malcolm Burn provided the bass and keyboards. By his side was Mason Ruffner, one of the best guitar players in New Orleans; he had played with Jimmy Page and Crosby, Stills & Nash. From among the musicians who were involved in recording Yellow Moon, he recruited guitar player Brian Stoltz (the Meters, Linda Ronstadt), bass player Tony Hall (Harry Connick Jr., Zachary Richard), drummer Willie Green (Brian Eno, the Grateful Dead), and Cyril Neville, percussionist and singer with the Neville Brothers. A local group also participated in the record, Rockin’ Dopsie and his Cajun band.
The sessions for the recordings and overdubs spread over four months, from the end of February until early July 1989, on roughly thirty dates. While initially based in an apartment rented on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans where the Yellow Moon album had been recorded, Dylan and Lanois decided to change work locations. Dylan wrote in Chronicles, “Lanois had set things up in one of his patented ‘pick up and move’ studios—this one in a Victorian mansion on Soniat Street not far from Lafayette Cemetery No. 1—parlor windows, louvered shutters, high gothic ceilings, walled-in courtyard, bungalows and garages in the back. Heavy blankets soundproofed the windows.”1 In these unusual settings, the producer chose to record the songwriter in a way that at first frustrated Dylan. He made Dylan sit on a stool in front of a mic with his guitar, while Lanois sat in front of him in the same position. They were both connected to a small amplifier with a simple pattern on a rhythm box as rhythm base. Only afterward would Lanois bring in different musicians to complete this recorded base. He believed that this way Dylan could better concentrate on his vocals.
The relationship between writer and producer was difficult at first. Mark Howard commented on the early sessions, “[T]here came this one point when Dan finally really lost it with him, and had a bit of a freak out. He just wanted Dylan to smarten up, and it became—not a yelling match, but it became uncomfortable in the studio. So Malcolm [Burn] and me, we walked out and let them sort it out. And then, when we got back, from then on, Dylan was just really pleasant to work with. He started calling me by my name, and I kind of hit it off with him.” It must be mentioned that Lanois, exasperated and raging, did not hesitate to smash one of the dobros on the ground.
The album was a renaissance for the songwriter. The arrangements are very reminiscent of Yellow Moon by the Neville Brothers, and Dylan eventually got familiar with this peculiar atmosphere. Lanois claimed Oh Mercy was a record you listen to at night, because it was “designed at night”: “Bob had a rule, we only recorded at night. I think he’s right about that: the body is ready to accommodate a certain tempo at nighttime. I think it’s something to do with the pushing and pulling of the moon. At nighttime we’re ready to be more mysterious and dark. Oh Mercy’s about that.”141 He added that if there was one lesson he learned from Dylan, it was working relentlessly while searching first and foremost for efficiency and speed. And he concluded, “Oh Mercy was two guys on a back porch, that kind of vibe.” As for the songwriter, he recognized “There’s something magical about this record”1 and felt sincere admiration for the work of the Canadian producer.
Technical Details
Lanois recorded Oh Mercy in a mobile studio set up in a blue Victorian-style manor located at 1305 Soniat Street in New Orleans. After his successful experience with the Neville Brothers, Lanois wanted Dylan to understand that this type of production highlighted feeling over technique. His philosophy was to place the singer’s vocals at the center of the recording and not let the instruments ever take over. In order to get the best out of the singer’s voice, he chose a Sony C37A microphone. Invented by the Japanese to compete with the Neumann U47, it was quickly adopted in 1958 by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.
Malcolm Burn was the sound engineer. Working with Lanois, he recorded Us by Peter Gabriel (1992) and Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris (1995). He has worked alone on many projects, but also as a producer (Iggy Pop, Patti Smith). The second engineer was the twenty-one-year-old Mark Howard. He later worked with many great artists, including U2 and Neil Young. The console on which Burn and Howard recorded Oh Mercy appears to be an API.
The Instruments
Dylan played a Gibson SG Standard on January 20, 1988, during the ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, held in New York City. The songwriter explained in Chronicles that he had not brought his own guitars to the studio, and borrowed an old Fender Telecaster from Lanois, which he kept afterward(!). Finally, he used his harmonicas on four songs, in E and A.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
Jimi Hendrix also used a Sony C37A mic to record his vocals on “All Along the Watchtower.”
Daniel Lanois:
The Record Maker
The search for emotion is the ambition of Daniel Lanois, the renowned Canadian music producer who shaped Bob Dylan’s twenty-sixth album Oh Mercy. Lanois describes himself as a “studio rat,” someone who is “not a career builder [but a] record maker,” serving m
usicians with his talents. For Dylan, he “wanted to make sure that his voice was captured powerfully, rendered with sincerity, and be viewed as great as it ever was… I knew that I was only there to enhance what he did. I acted as a bodyguard to his music.”142 The master producer of Dylan’s comeback album had more than one arrow in his bow. Lanois was not only a producer, but also a songwriter, singer, and musician, playing multiple instruments such as dobro and pedal steel guitar.
Lanois was born in Hull, Quebec, Canada, on September 19, 1951, and raised in a family of musicians, his mother a singer, his father and grandfather violinists. Consequently, he and his siblings had no choice but to be musicians. His sister Jocelyne was a bassist for the new wave band Martha and the Muffins, and his brother a sound engineer. In 1963, after the divorce of his parents, the Lanois children moved with their mother to Hamilton, Ontario. Daniel learned guitar, while his brother Bob recorded on a rudimentary tape recorder in the basement of the family home. Seven years later, the two brothers bought a four-track recorder, improvised a small recording studio, and worked with a number of local groups. Ten years later, the reputation of the young sound engineers spread, and in 1981 they co-produced the third album of Martha and the Muffins, This Is the Ice Age. In 1982, Daniel started a fruitful collaboration with the British ambient musician Brian Eno, crowned by the albums Ambient 4: On Land (1982) and Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983). Eno invited Lanois to co-produce the fourth album of the Irish rock band U2, The Unforgettable Fire (1984).
Bob Dylan All the Songs Page 75