I will make a confession, I am a profiteer. Since my youth, I have tended to stick with people who are older and more cultured than me. It allows me to take paths that I wouldn’t otherwise take. And save time.
Published at 3:16 am. Updated at 8:15 a.m
I don’t remember exactly who gave me this advice, but when I was about 20 years old, an “elder” told me that I really needed to listen to Bob Dylan. I received the Live at Budokan CD that he recorded during the 1978 tour with the musicians from the Street Legal album released a few months earlier.
The arrangements are confusing, the musicians are hand-picked (as always with Dylan) and the electric guitar triumphs, which caused folk purists to go apoplectic one evening in June 1965 at the Newport Festival when Dylan carried on his shoulder instead of his acoustic guitar.
While the Beatles were watching Dylan, Dylan was actually watching the Beatles…
PHOTO WILLIAM C. ECKENBERG, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVE
Bob Dylan in 1963, in his early days
Poetry for folk, bluettes for rock’n’roll, that was often the case in the 1960s. Dylan proved that poetry had the right to be electrified. And electrifying.
During that famous tour in 1978, Dylan decided to do whatever he wanted and decided to treat his audience to gems: Mr. Tambourine Man, Shelter from the Storm, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Like a Rolling Stone, I Shall Be Release, Blowin’in the Wind, Just Like a Woman, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Forever Young, The Times They Are a-Changin’…
I had a nice time! This double disc became the one I put on my record player most often. I learned some of his songs on the guitar. My girlfriend at the time even translated her texts so I could better understand their meaning (she rarely loved me!!!).
I wanted to hear everything about him. I ended up with about twenty records (which I still have). Among my friends who were more likely to listen to Duran Duran, The Cure or The Stray Cats, there was always a moment when I would get up to change the record and slip into Blood on the Tracks or Slow Train Coming without them knowing. Then I was entitled to cries of disapproval.
Oh no ! You and your damn Dylan!
I didn’t care! Bob’s guitar playing, his nasal voice and his thunderous harmonica all enchanted me. Above all his poetry, that of a portrait painter of his time who uses a social, authentic, highly controlled writing. Dylan convinced me that Gainsbourg was completely wrong when he said that singing was an inferior art.
At 14 you need idols. But at 20 we look for lighthouses. Dylan was one of those lanterns for me.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY COLUMBIA RECORDS
Hard Rain album cover
To look like him, I drew a thick line under my eyes in black pen, like he did back then, especially on the cover of the Hard Rain album. It had some effect in the bars of Hull.
And then I went to his performance. I discovered his legendary way of presenting his shows. During his Steppes performances, Dylan doesn’t give a monologue about his life, but rather offers his songs. Point bar.
Yes, I admit, I was unfaithful to him for many years, like many other fans. However, that didn’t stop him from continuing to make records and tour. And winning a Nobel Prize for Literature (which he wanted to accept in the strictest privacy).
Bob Dylan is coming to Montreal on October 29th at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. Of course I have my ticket (thanks to a friend I bless). And of course, I couldn’t resist the urge to consult the list of songs he offers during this tour entitled “Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour”, inspired by the record of the same name.
I warn those who visit: Dylan is not showing us the “Live at Budokan” trick. There are zero hits on this show. But the program is demanding, coherent and rich. The album Rough and Rowdy Ways, one of the best in his impressive discography, makes up the bulk of the program (put it between your ears tonight and you’ll tell me some news).
Otherwise he does some older songs. However, I read that the old man has been causing a surprise for a few months now by paying homage to the Grateful Dead. Who knows what he’ll do in Montreal?
The rare images and sound clips that are circulating (viewers have to leave their phones at the entrance to the theaters) show us an archiminimalist production. Dylan and his musicians spend most of their time standing in front of the stage curtain and are illuminated by the spotlights. Depending on the evening, he puts on his guitar or not.
At 82, Dylan is still going strong. He has been leading this tour for almost two years now. And it’s not finished yet. He still has other cities to visit.
I know very well that it is risky to visit an artist in the autumn of his career. So I will see Dylan without any expectations. This means going there with the firm intention that you like it. We cannot allow ourselves to judge God the Father.
An album and a film
Note that Columbia Records will be releasing a remastered and expanded version of the Live at Budokan CD, which will be titled Bob Dylan – The Complete Budokan 1978. The release is scheduled for November 17th.
And that a film about Bob Dylan directed by James Mangold is in preparation. The story revolves around a specific episode: Dylan, then 17, travels to New York to meet Woody Guthrie, who is in the hospital due to a nervous disorder. Bob Dylan read the script and even commented on it. Timothée Chalamet will play Dylan. It seems that the young actor is nervous. We would be fewer.