I’ve been unfortunately unfamiliar with probably the most acclaimed songwriter of all time, Bob Dylan. I listened to “Blowin’ in the Wind” as a kid, I sometimes listen to “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “End of the Line”, the latter fueled by my love of George Harrison. Some other songs of course can make their ways to my ear, but overall I’ve lacked the Dylan Fix. Why not give him a shot? And why not jump in line with people just like me, those from 1962 who weren’t familiar because he hadn’t before cut a record? Why not start with an album that features very little material written by Bob Dylan? This is Bob Dylan’s eponymous first album.
This album starts well with “You’re No Good”. This is a pretty sharp tune. The sound is very rough and raw, accentuated by the harmonica, which was awesome. The line’s paint a vivid and clear picture of a very unlikeable woman. My favorite lyrics are “Well you’re the kinda woman makes a man lose his brains” and “You give me the blues, I wanna lay down and die”. The latter line is then said again and it cements much harder the kind of woman this is. It’s brilliant.
Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to be a trend. The first of two songs on this album written by Bob Dylan, “Talkin’ New York” is very frustrating. The harmonica here is very awkward, appearing sharply after words, killing good flow. It did improve at the end with an effective, though quaint last line, “So long, New York. Howdy, East Orange.” The next song doesn’t do much good either, “In My Time of Dyin’”. The song comes off like a madman losing his mind near the end of life, singing about death, not making sense or coherence, and also not playing the guitar very well. It often sounded out of tune. The rambling of a man with death on the mind continues with “Man of Constant Sorrow”. It’s pretty forgettable, but there is one alright line, “I’m a-bound to ride that mornin’ railroad, Perhaps I’ll die on that train.” There was one point where it sounded like Dylan forgot what he was supposed to play on the guitar. “Fixin’ to Die” completes the death trilogy. It’s just more unprofessional-appearing playing and singing with a good line, “Feeling funny in my eyes, Lord”. Those good lines have a nice punch in ‘em, stirring a little emotion.
“Pretty Peggy-O” is a slight improvement. It’s not great, but the guitar playing is competent and upbeat. It got me moving and grooving. There’s a good, high energy ending with instrumental only and Bob shouting “Wee-hoo”. I suppose the death trilogy needed an epilogue at the end of side-A with “Highway 51 Blues”. The instrumentation is easy to forget as the lyrics are terrible. There’s no flow or character to the words. They could basically just be the shoutings of a drunken man. The lines suddenly focus on death near the end, despite being about a girl and a road before. A particularly disliked lyric is “I know that highway like I know the back of my hand”. Every word of that is so boring. Get us in the story, let me care about Highway 51.
Side-b starts with another baby step in the right direction. “Gospel Plow” is fast and also quite short. It can get you grooving with some solid guitar playing. It’s a little too fast throughout, but it works in comparison to the gruellingly slow death songs. Amusingly, most of the songs on this album, including this one, mention death and/or Jesus and heaven. We continue crawling up with “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down”. The lyrics are pretty bad, but the instrumentation is great. The lyrics are mostly “Baby let me follow you down” and “Well I’d do anything in this god almighty world”. Tell us what you’d do. Why and how are you following your baby down? This song’s lyrics are all surface.
Well, we know what Dylan would do at the “House of the Risin’ Sun”. This is the only song on the album I was familiar with before listening to it. Not the Dylan version, but the famous Eric Burdon and the Animals version. It makes sense this song is famous. The story, lyrics, and music are excellent. They’re filled with juicy detail and character. This version isn’t bad. It’s too slow and the lyrics are sung without any life, but we get some of this album’s best instrumentation. The singing matched the guitar with the great lines “Oh tell my baby sister not to do what I have done, but shun that house in New Orleans they call the Risin’ Sun”. There’s so much character and life in how it’s sung. You can feel the pain and desire to warn his sister. The next track comes off like a novelty. “Freight Train Blues” is sung really fast, except for when the word “blues” is sung once for fourteen seconds. The snappy, fast, and great guitar playing make it sound like a breather, a song you shouldn’t take seriously. It doesn’t fit with the rest of the album, but I ain’t complaining.
Next is the last song written by Dylan. “Song to Woody” is instantly excellent and entrancing, making the whole album worth it. It’s sincere and poignant. The song’s so peaceful and calming. You forget your problems while it plays. It’s a little bit of kindness thrown at “Woody”. It’s a little bit of kindness thrown at the listener. “Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song”. The lyrics are clever and hearty. It’s a passionate bit of love for Dylan’s influences, music, the world, and so much more shoved in under three minutes. This is topped off by more excellent guitar playing. The wholesome peak comes with the phenomenal line, “Here’s to the hearts and the hands of the men that come with the dust and are gone with the wind.” The flow of the lyrics in absurdly good. This song caught me off guard and thank God for it!
The death songs come back with “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”, written by Blind Lemon Jefferson. It takes until the end of the first paragraph to be about death, but it’s foreshadowed by morbid and forlorning guitar playing. There’s a cold acceptance of death and the inevitability of it. This one puts all the other death songs to shame. I was moved by the lines, “Well my heart stop beatin’ an’ my hands turn cold. An’ my heart stop beatin’ an’ my hands turn cold. Well my heart stop beatin’ an’ my hands turn cold. Now I believe what the Bible told.” It’s very powerful when the first paragraph is repeated at the end. It hits you so hard with the weight of the whole song behind it. See That My Grave has lots of feeling and weight to it.
OVERVIEW
Unfortunately, a lot of this album lacks definition or a unique character, with most songs being bad or passably okay, but the two last songs are so meaty and heavy, it makes it all feel worth it. Those two can’t be praised enough and the genius from Dylan and Jefferson leave your eyes open and your mind feeling a little weird, but in a good way.
The Filme Diary 