Expecting Rain

Thought I was going to start a light-hearted thread - hope it remains that way.

So, I was just out about town here, and passed the old primary school, build 189[?], forgot the exact year, anyway, old stone wall running around it, and it reminded me that that's the picture that always comes up in my mind when listening to the line about the old school yard in Life Is Hard. As with a lot of songs, scenes appear in my mind without me wondering what the image in the song would look like - they're just there. Usually though, they don't involve real places that I know. I was wondering if the same has happened for others - do you locate scenes from songs in your immediate world / life / surroundings?

I got convicted for murdering some geezers a few years back. Of course, it was a right stitch up. Thanks to a bunch of mates who campaigned for me, I got out eventually.

That song 'Lay Lady Lay' always reminds me of that dark period.

I never saw my primary school friends again (Bob Dylans Dream"

I have been confused "Mixed Up Confusion"

I have an idea that I should have written "Love Minus Zero"
And of course many of his songs are universal and speak to us all as we have experienced them .
To me these songs include " Don't Think Twice Its Alright" , "It Ain't Me Babe", "One Of Us Must Know", "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", , "I Threw It All Away", One More Nght" and a whole lot more.

I meant this more as a visual type thing - pictures you see in your mind as you listen to the songs, as opposed to sharing the narrator's destiny.

For over 20 years, I have written nearly 100 Spanish versions of his songs .. in them is my whole life.

For some reason I'm always reminded of Subterranean Homesick Blues whenever I pass Savoy Steps.

Do you translate directly, or write your own stories to the theme? And if you read or listen to the words, do they remind you of places you know in your own life?

The topic leaves itself open to my interpretations

Once I was intendingto pump some mineral water but when I got to the pump I saw that the handle had been broken so natually I felt like I was living out the final lines of "Subterranean Homesick Blues"

My daily walk to work is just like 'Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall'

I just feel, because I do not understand English, and then I write.

Great thread JP! Most Bob Dylan songs I get images or story's in my mind. Some I can think of at the minute are;

"Temporary Like Achilles" = Reminds me of a man with in an art gallery at night, with a man looking at self portraits of himself.
"Ballad Of A Thin Man" = I get a big story in my head, which i probably won't be able to explain in detail here. But I get the picture of a man in France at night, With loads of people walking around going their day to day lifes, but one man (possibly me) is up to something, and in the distance you can see a nice little river with little boats and the moon shines on the sea giving it a nice shade.
"As I Went Out One Morning" = The lyrics come in a lot here, and I get the image of a old man walking an Irish setter, very early morning around 6:00 am, with the fog still there, and dew on the grass, the setting is an old english village like something from Midsomer Murders and he's just doing his day to life, going to the shops, passing old friends, going to the pup, walking past a big church, and a statue of Tom Paine. etc ...

All I can think of at the minute...

@jcastro: That sounds like the best way to do it. I wish I knew Spanish, I would read your poetry.

I shot a man in Reno once just to watch him die, but unfortunately I just can't seem to find any Dylan songs that quite capture that moment.

Like JP, there's a lot of places in his songs I get the feeling of knowing, such as; Ballad Of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest, I get an image of old pup I know, from when I lived in England.

I believe that Bob stole my life story and wrote Tweeter and the Monkey Man.

Was it you who shot him down in the cantina?
Was it your hand that held the gun?

So were you Tweeter or were you the Monkey Man?

Puts me in mind of an entirely different experience. And it was quite bright. But in the interest of good taste, and any youngsters in the audience, I'll keep it to myself.

Both, it's one of those songs where the past, present, and future are all in one room.

I have to admit I have very seldom connected to these songs on a personal level. Strangely enough I think that's a good thing. In some weird way I find it comforting to imagine how other people feel and live instead of seeing my own feelings reflected by his music.

I started a sort of similar thread a while ago, talking about how people visualise Dylan songs, and I copped to the fact that I often tend to just imagine myself singing the songs at various people from my life, as if it's TREV : THE MUSICAL.
When I went to New York, I had a wander around one hot day, storing the images to replay when I listened to the appropriate songs once I got back home, in much the way you might try to commit a particularly torrid one night stand to memory.
Like fellow KOLLECTIVE member The Gunfighter, I'm a big fan of Brownsville Girl, which plays out sweepingly cinematically in my mind - but the edge is always slightly taken off by the fact that I went to school with a guy called Henry Port, nice slightly geeky kid, and my subconscious has cast him as Henry Porter.

I believe in natural response to art.
I'm not saying this is the case with you, but many people enjoy sad songs, presumable mostly because they can tell themselves they are better off - Bob famously talked about people enjoying BOTT.

I LOVE how footage from the film "Thelma & Louise" is used here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra1RKgYx ... page#t=90s

It's PERFECT.


"Blood on the Tracks" makes me feel miserable. Even though I don't understand the depth of his emotions, I feel tremendous empathy.

You work?!