Expecting Rain

Hello Jesus, nice to see you. I am very much looking forward to hearing your interpretation of this song. Do you like the Jerry Garcia version on the Masked & Anonymous soundtrack? I love that version, it really hits to the depths of the heart.

yes and Willie Nelson's cover on I'm not there,....

Looking forward to hearing it Senor Castro!

I hope one day the mythical Street Legal Piano demos are released so we can get a greater insight into Dylan's creative process in this period. As has been discussed it's fascinating to hear a man on such at such a turning point in his life.

Wasn't Sony hacked and countless music files stolen the other day? I only heard about it on the side.... I don't know if any Dyan material was involved. I read several times that his songs are stored in a save vault that very few people have access to. Does Sony store all that stuff on PCs? I always imagined things being on tapes or some such.

Great thread. Interesting, especially since I just got Street - Legal (:) ) in the mail a few days ago, so I can't add a lot yet. I'll need to listen a bunch more. I did enjoy the live version that someone posted of Is Your Love In Vain? Really, if we are being completely honest, hasn't everyone felt that way at least momentarily? Bob is just daring enough to say it.

'I'm determined to stand whether God will deliver me or not'?

^This reminds me of something Job (a biblical figure that lost everything, including his family) said about God to his friends that were criticizing his steadfast devotion. Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.

My favorites so far are:

Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
New Pony
Changing Of The Guards
Where Are You Tonight

That's a good thought to take to the religion thread - it's like sth Jesus could have said.

Have you read Pedro Páramo? or has anyone here?
I think I said it before... but somehow Señor reminds me of Pedro Páramo.

Hello, topu.

Who is it, and what does he write? Have his books been widely translated? Do you think Bob could have read them?

Pedro Páramo is the title of the book. The author is Juan Rulfo

It reminds me in the way of "waiting hopelessly". I read it many years ago but there's an image that pops in my mind... a mind waiting for nothing at dusk

It is well known, this book... at least in the Spanish speaking world

I will make sure to see if this book has been translated. I'm always interested in Dylanesque things, whether or not there really is a relation.

"The novel has been translated twice into English."

Street-Legal is a dirty, mean, lowdown angry beast of an album. Listen to it when you're a dirty, mean, lowdown angry beast and you'll dig it.

It's the antithesis of a summertime-stroll-in-the-meadow-with-a-girl-in-a-flowery-dress album, being a waking-face-down-in-the-ashtray-naked-and-bruised-your-wallets-been-stolen-and-you-got--the-clap type gig. Only full or part time miserable bastards need apply.

You mean it really should have been called "Mr Goldsmith"?

I'm listening now and I've decided I'm adding No Time To Think to my list.

It could be reasonably argued that it isn't in any way more of a bad album than any other album Bob made that had him exploring new artistic paths. It has been reported how much he loved singing with the girls (yes, I'm talking about actually singing), and also including different instruments.

When he first played Germany in 1978, people threw eggs and flour at him for playing with a big band, but really they were probably just having their own little Judas revenge. After all, other than the mid-'60s audiences, those people actually brought things to throw at the stage, so they must have predetermined their opinion of the performance.

More probable is they read reports of the show beforehand and thought he'd sold out to Vegas. This was 1978, barely a year after Punk's Year Zero. Before you were born, I know, but its worth contextualising. Read Nick Kent's Apathy For The Devil if you want a great primer.

I have always loved this album deeply - what does that say about me ?

You could argue the same about 1966. People could have read reports and just not bought tickets, but instead they staged walkouts. Just being vain enough to think they know better what the artist ought to be doing than the artist himself does, thinking they're important enough for him to change because they say so.

I've always enjoyed the cheesy, "Can't Help Falling In Love" chord descent of "Love In Vain." (It would turn up in the other cheesy-as-all-hell "Emotionally Yours.") By no means do I think it's an amazing artistic achievement, but it sure is great hearing Dylan singing like that with so much heart. "Alllllll right, I'll take a chance." He really stretches out on the entire album and that's probably why I consider it a fine one.

Features one of his best songs lyrically in "Where Are You Tonight?" My favorite verse continues to change. Right now it is:

I left town at dawn, with Marcel and St. John
Strong men belittled by doubt
I couldn’t tell her what my private thoughts were
But she had some way of finding them out

Brilliant.

That you like rhyming dictionaries and Tarot symbolism? Just kiddin'. There are so many sides to Bob Dylan's art, and different people are going to prefer different things.

I think this is a key to the album, and the rancor and disagreement over it which has continued to this day. The main character, the person singing, is not in any way attractive, and one winces to identify with him.



Wot he said.

Why do you say he used a rhyming dictionary. Has he said this somewhere?

BTW, my verdict is in. True Love Tends To Forget and Baby Stop Crying were the only two that were just okay but I didn't dislike them. Overall, I really love the album a lot.

edit: Just saw Smoke's post. I think people tend to feel (sometimes) they have to agree with what the artist is saying to completely embrace it. I try not to approach art that way, if I can help it. I'm sure my own prejudices have kept me from appreciating what some people have to offer.

I don't think I wouldn't identify with the narrator of Senor. Everybody's life takes weird twists and turns sometimes, I guess. Personally, I sometimes find myself wishing someone could answer my doubts as to where it will all lead to.

It's been said that Roger McGuinn first pointed out to him, or gave him, a rhyming dictionary. Bob said he didn't even know before they existed. McGuinn was on the Rolling Thunder tours, so it must have been around that time. I don't recall where I read this, but I think No Time To think esp goes some way towards suggesting it's very well possible Bob used such a device.
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/no-time-to-think

The Bob's voice on this album is simply superb, better even that his voice on "Desire".