Expecting Rain

I love this one. I may be in the minority, but I love the MTV unplugged version. It gets me on my feet grooving & hopping every time. He leaves out 1 or 2 verses though. I wish he'd bring this one out again. A classic great song ,The Mez thinks. Any favorite renditions or general comments on this song for track talk?

The suns not yellow, its CHICKEN!! CLASSIC!! I agree, i love this song as well. Bloomfields playing really gets me on this one.

An all time great.

He should do this one live instead of the deeply mediocre version of Highway 61 he's peddling these days...

Go to the local carnival and there he is with a megaphone, "Anyone want to hear a song?"

One bitch of a song. Slaps the face of all that speak with authority, all those that follow that authority, and everyone in between. It throws all the priests, doctors, politicians, soldiers, and patriots into one messy picture and has them feed off one another like the parasites they are. But at its core, it is a blues, for the verses paint the picture of the world surrounding our singer and his parents, the all-American family, the shoeless Mother working in a factory, the father looking for food, and the hungry son with the Tombstone Blues or in other words Death. It's Dylan's great paranoid angry treatise on American life. Or more appropriately...The Blues.
I went to the Hollywood Bowl recently and saw Jenny Lewis (who was amazing) and I was reminded by the great aura of the place. The Beatles played here. More importantly, Bob & his first rock band played in this great place in 1965. i went home and pulled out my boot of this show. I hadn't heard it in awhile since the 65 shows are always crapped on. I threw it on and loved it, especially the electric set. Granted not all of the songs work with this band. But they're feeling things out. They're certainly a groovier band than 66. Where 66 was big, loud, majesterial, 65 is tight, laid-back, more fun-loviin, kinda like the early Beatles. The difference may be Levon on drums instead of Mickey giving them more of a gut-bucket Basement feel; could be Al Kooper instead of Garth. But the first song is Tombstone and you notice most the absence of Bloomfield on the song replaced by the more refined Robbie, whose fills are more bluesy than Bloomfield's sonic booms. Once you get into it though the song sort of takes over and the performance feels organic and natural. Bob sounds relaxed and fun and the song's a little looser and more chill than the album. No one boos thereafter and they must've realized this was gonna be a good show. Check it out.

Sept. 3 1965

http://www.sendspace.com/file/n8eb4i

Great song .. was listening to it today a few times on repeat.

Bump

We seem quite divided... is this one of the best songs on H61 or is it not? I've always found it a standout, at first because the discord of the instruments made ballads like "Queen Jane" and "Tom Thumb" so difficult

At times he says "I'm in the kitchen with the tombstone blues" and other times it's "I'm in trouble with the tombstone blues." You never know what he'll do next!

This may be my favourite Bob Dylan song.

Always a rocker when he performs it. MtV was good be left out good lines. 2002, and 2003 were good yeard. 2005 did well.

this song to me is about the pointless knowledge. people getting involved in things that have no reason for a self image and stuggling for that power and representing that power all the while the normal people who don't give it to that greed of power and corruption of the self suffer.

well sounds like you have a 50 50 chance of choosing the right option.

I love the MTV Unplugged version, too, Mez! It's probably (at the moment) my favorite rendition of this great song.

Yeah very cool version Mojo. Doesn't often get much love when MTV unplugged get's discussed. Odd MEZ

I don't know if it is the best song on highway 61. that's a hard choice. they are all good. the one thing stopping it is the wildness of it (as great as it is) becomes overwhelming and the structure falls off. but that is it's joy aswell. I hated it at first. but like i said. i love it now and really enjoy lyrics(whatever i may think they mean) And like all the songs on the album his voice is perfect for the "Stories" very lean and cut throat.

Though I generally enjoy Richie Havens when he does Bob Dylan songs, his version on I'm Not There was the biggest disappointed of the album. Rather lifeless despite Havens' soulfulness. One of those songs I'm not sure of anybody but Dylan can do.

I love this song, and I love the change in 'Lyrics', where his dad is now looking for the fuse. It kind of changes the dynamic of the song. Now it's a nice middle-class family, mama hasn't a suitable pair of shoes for the rotary dinner, and dad's basically assing around with the fusebox, while young teenage Bobby is sitting at the kitchen table with all his school books spread out on the table, his history and bible stories and math-book and science project...

Made for quite an interesting delivery in 1995

^
Link, please?
I wanna hear '95 Bob say "my advise is to not let the boys in"

That's funny. I actually loved Ritchie's version!

I, too, really like the Mtv Unplugged version. My favorite will always be the one that appears on Highway 61 Revisited. The alternate take from No Direction Home is really good. Unfortunately, when I saw Dylan in concert, he left out quite a few verses and even repeated the first. It was a disaster. Musically, the performance I saw was reduntant and lacked the energy that I love about this song.