Expecting Rain

Once Upon A Time....My Dylan Story!

I was driving down a highway in the San Fernando Valley on my way home from work one afternoon I heard a song on the radio that was vaguely familiar but suddenly sounded so magnificent. I thought to myself this must be that Bob Dylan guy I hear so much about and asked myself; why haven’t I come across him sooner in my search for great music? The song was ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ it was May of 1998 and I was 28 years old…it was at this moment that the first seed was planted in my brain that would lead me to spend not only the next 7 years but thousands of dollars devouring everything that had anything to do with Bob Dylan.

Prior to this the only thing I knew about Dylan was that he was an old guy that influenced many great artists. The only song that I knew he sang was ‘Everybody Must Get Stoned’, or so I thought that was the title, and I did not even like that song very much. I grew up listening to Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue and I shunned anything that was recorded before the first Black Sabbath album, with the inevitable exception of Jimi Hendrix!

My first step towards enlightenment came when a friend of mine in the early 90’s introduced me to The Rolling Stones, it was then that I realized that older can actually be better! Once that door was opened I expanded my CD collection to include not just a few Stones albums but also the Beatles, Neil Young, CCR and The Doors. I was even intrigued enough to read a thick biography on Mick Jagger but as amazing as it sounds, throughout this process I was never introduced to any Dylan, he was to remain a mystery to me for a while longer.

After moving from Dallas to California I continued to foster my love for classic rock by buying up everything I could find by Mark Knopfler….I believe this gave me an appreciation for subtlety that is a prerequisite for Dylan lovers. It was shortly after this time that I became (unknown to me) somewhat prepared for the revelation that was about to hit me squarely in the face as I drove home from work that non eventful day!

After listening to ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ on the car radio and before I had a chance to buy my first Dylan CD I moved once again, this time back home to Atlanta. It was here in Atlanta that I moseyed into a local music store and flipped through the Bob Dylan section for the first time, little did i know that I would do the same thing countless other times. I had always believed, at least as far as heavy metal goes, that a bands earliest albums were there best, they always seemed to get worse as time went on. So I began looking for what I believed were Dylan’s earliest recordings and was shocked to find that one of the covers was in black and white…I quickly put that one back…The times were surely changin' for me but they hadn’t changed that much yet! After looking at the covers and trying to find copy write dates I finally settled on one that looked old but not too old, plus it was released in 1969, the year I was born so I felt good about my choice…until I got up to the counter and the guy working the register asked me if I was a big Dylan fan. I think I probably blinked a few times and said something like…â€￾well I don’t really know, I’ve never listened to him before!â€￾ Then he replied, “Well in that case I would not start with that one if I was you, that is a country album.â€￾ This guy must have been sent to me because if I had bought ‘Nashville Skyline’ that day the rest of this story would never have happened. We went back to the CDs and he proceeded to tell me a little bit about each one and a short while later I walked out of that store with not only my first ever Dylan CD (Blonde On Blonde), but it was also the first time I had never bought anything so blindly in my life and I am very particular about music.

Much to my chagrin the first thing I heard when I popped in my car stereo was that darn “Everybody Must Get Stonedâ€￾ song, only now I knew it was actually called ‘Rainy Day Women #12&35’. With a tinge of disappointment I proceeded to scan through the rest of the songs not really finding anything that immediately jumped out at me…I started to think this was going to be a dead end for me. Over the next day or so I became fond of track #3, ‘Visions of Johanna’ and before the end of the week another 2 or 3 songs joined in on the endless cycle playing in my car. Even though I wasn’t blown away like I was that time hearing ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, I found myself back in that same music store about a week later but this time there was nobody to help me out. Always being a penny pincher I decided this time to go with the 3 disk special they had, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, The Times They Are a-Changin’, and Another Side of Bob Dylan all in one pack, looked like a bargain to me. But again I was disappointed when I put it in my CD player and found out that there was no band or even an electrical instrument of any kind…not even a drum for heavens sake! What was I doing listening to folk music…and why was I still compelled to go back and buy more of it?

This time I used my brain and went in looking only for the album that had ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ on it. Bingo! This was what I was looking for… not to mention that by this time I was now completely in love with every song from ‘Blonde On Blonde’, except for ‘Rainy Day Women’. A few days later I was back in the music store buying ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ and was not at all disappointed. I had a sense that I was onto something big but I needed more information, so I bought my first Dylan biography ‘Dylan’ by Bob Spitz. As I read through Dylan’s early career in New York I began to appreciate the 3 folk CDs and I used them as a soundtrack for the book and everything began to come together. All this in less than one month since that first purchase!

I eventually made my way through not only all of his studio albums, bootleg series and most of the live releases as well. It took me a while to get used to Dylan’s old man voice, but it did grow on me and his more recent songs are some of my all time favorites. I am still learning to appreciate his work from different perspectives; however, I still don’t like listening to Rainy Day Women #12&35, maybe one day I will come around!

ah, keep going back, back, back!

thinnk of the music Dylan listened to before his first album came out and, well, there is no limit to the pleasures to be found in American music history.

Good stuff big Joe,

My own moment of enlightenment hit me when I was about 14 or 15 hearing Mr. Tambourine Man. I was vaguely aware of the Byrds version which I'm frankly ambivalent about, but when I first heard Dylan's version, it was a sudden awakening. "THAT's how it's supposed to sound!" LIke the difference between a lightning bug and lightning. Funny thing is I had the same feeling when Love and Theft came out, and Mississippi was on it. I'd heard Sheryl Crow's version and even the DIxie Chicks version, and, well, the less said about that the better. People who say they llke Dylan's songwriting skills but don't like his voice are either idiots or poseurs.

Agreed!

It's exciting to know that young men and women can still experience the same rush when they hear this particular song on the radio for the first time, much like the young kids during the summer of 65'. Actually I dont think that was the first time that i heard the song but it was just the first time i HEARD the song!

Enjoyed your post Big Joe.

I'm 41 and got into Dylan from around 1978 when I was 14 (Neil Young, Stones) and have been listening to him consistently since then. I walk to a from work everyday with portable music (40 mins total walking) and I still go through, after 27 yrs, weeks on end when I listen to nothing but Dylan on these walks. So many great songs and so incredibly dynamic.

I too do not like Rainy Day Woman. One of only two of his songs that I don't really like.

And Drake,

Your post mentioned The Byrds and their Mr TAmbourine Man. It reminds of how much I dislike that band and cannot stand their covers.

Anyway else feel the same way abotu The Byrds?

Ealing Broadway, West London, UK. WH Smith's. (Store's still there). I was about 13, I think. Saw the cover of "Highway 61 Revisited" on the racks. Vaguely heard of him. Loved the title. Loved the cover. Bought it with my pocket money. That was it. Never looked back.

WOAH coincidence, i live in ealing broadway. but i bought my first dylan album from the hmv just around the corner from wh smith (essential, followed the very next day by freewheelin and highway 61 in one fell swoop.) ahhhh...i was 15. and in one year i had broken the bank and bought EVERY single album. even the christian ones. even self portrait, even knocked out loaded. not to mention numerous bios.
my mum kinda flipped when she calculated how much it all cost! now she goes around saying "i used to be a dylan fan...."
first songs i heard were in this order directly after the other: hurricane, blowin, lay lady lay, one more cup of coffee, tangled and just like a woman. and i listened over, and over, and over. i was going through a massive william blake phase at the time, thought he the absolute best.....but he had no chance after i heard dylan. i felt so much awe that i couldn't even think of those songs without crying -at their beauty and perfection. "maybe i'm too sensitive, or else i'm getting soft...."

i can't be the only one here who admits to finding tears in their eyes at dylan (oh dear...there were floods for a week when i heard BOTT)! whenever i bring it up, no one else says "yeah me too"! come on -admit it! i don't believe you if you say you haven't....

OMG! I don't believe it!

HMV wasn't there when I was growing up. Think it was a department store called John Saunders or Bentall's. WH Smith's is still standing, though.

I can't get over this! Serendipity? Synchronicity? Carl Gustav Jung's introduction to the I Ching? (badword) me!

It may interest you to know that diagonally opposite Ealing Broadway station (to your left) is one of the shrines of Rock n Roll. What is now an estate agent's used to be the ABC tea shop, The squalid alleyway next to it was the entrance to Alexis Korner's Ealing Rhythm and Blues Club. That's where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first encountered Brian Jones. That's where the likes of Eric Clapton used to hang out long before they made it. (The late Alexis Korner was THE catylst for the British Blues Boom of the 1960's). I was a child when all this was going on, but I've researched the local history.

I now live in East London (Docklands) but I return to my roots occasionally. If you ever fancy a drink and a meal in the North Star (foot of the hill), let me know. Better tell your mother first, though. God knows what she'd make of you meeting this strange middle-age man you met through a website. On second thoughts, bring her along! we'd be of the same generation, and we'd probably have a lot in common.

my mother bought the Essential a year and a half ago.
I only knew Mr Tambourine man and didn't really like his voice, but when my mother made me listen to Hurrican and handed me the CD, I could only trust her

Broots

And your trust was justified, I presume?

The stories all make sense; but there are 2 question I keep wondering about:

-- If you hear Bob's early hits for the 1st time 30 years after they first came out, do they sound out of date musically? Or do they still sound fresh and innovative?

-- Also, can you explain the dislike for "Rainy Day Women?" It was one of Bob's biggest hits in the 60s, but people who hear it for the first time 30 years later seem to dislike it. What is it that grates on the nerves?

No, I hate Bob Dylan, I don't even know what I'm doing here and why I have created a french forum about him.

I guess it depends on the person. Some jerks think that 10 years is super old for a song.
Because of my parents I've always been used to the sound of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones (for example) so it sounded like the 60s, but I never considered it to be old.
But I might be an exeption, I never really gave a shit about fashions.


I think it's the psychedelic orchestra in the background that gets on everybody's nerves.

Hard to say, but when I discovered Dylan he pretty much sounded like music should sound. Not the poppy clean music that dominated (and still does) the radio stations when I was young. 'til my 16th I didn't care for music, except a few classical pieces. I just knew that I hated the modern pop sound.

It's not Dylan's style in my opinion. Sounds too much like a wannabe-hippie song.

If there is still any doubt of Dylan's timelessness, let my take a katana to it here and now:

Many of you recall discovering Dylan at 14, 15, 16, 17... Teenage years. Musically, these years are the most formative for the conscious mind, and the music you listen to then will define what you have a taste for. 4-6 are the most subconsciously formative, and the music you listen to then will define what your basic idea of what music is. Thankfully, my parents played me Sargeant Pepper's and lulled me to sleep every night by playing the full length of Tommy for me... [My middle name is Townsend... I can recite--and to some extent play--the entire opera perrty much by heart. I'll give you one guess for my favorite band.]

Now, see how this grabs you:
I'm 16 now.

And Bob Dylan still rocks.
"Out-of-date" is an odd term for music, since I liken it to wine...
I can't think of a reason Bob Dylan isn't worshipped by more of my generation as much as Hendrix, Marley, Lennon, the Ramones, The Doors... Oh wait... That.

Trust me, Bob Dylan sounds better to me than any of the new stuff out. My popular music is just that; Music tailored and kicked in the gut and forced into gilded giddy forms by a panel of experts who know what sells, know who buys it, and are very, very ,very scared of taking risks. The same things have been used and subliminally controlled so permeantly that they have lost meaning. I cringe when I hear the words "love", "Wonderful", "Most", "Forever", "True" and "Never". Why? Because they've been sold to me so hard they've lost all meaning.

Dylan isn't the voice of a generation.
He is the voice of a species.

It's not a put-down; 18th century music sounds very 18th century, which is not a bad thing at all.

By the mid-1960s, performers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard were starting to sound like they were from a different time, but they still sounded very good.

I might ask the question a different way: when you listen to Bob's 60's recordings, is it like mining treasures from a bygone era? Or does he sound like he belongs in 2005?

great question pin!
i think i know what what you're asking pin -can someone who doesn't know anything about dylan date his music and tell immediately they're 60s.

it's a bit of both, mining past treasures AND yet also sounding as if he recorded it yesterday. when i first heard times they are a changin one of the reasons i loved it is because it felt like i'd been transported to another time BUT probably because i associated him so much with the 60s at the time. the very next time i heard it it didn't sound so old - i wasn't thining of it as a "protest" song, and i just sat down to enjoy it. so it partly depends on your forehand knowledge, as you're mind will tell you: ah yes, this is 60s.
there are only a few songs to which this applies. i'd say times, the hour that the ship comes in, rainy day women (unmistakeably 60s!), masters' of war (perhaps the one that has dated the most. yet the second listen you forget this....)......this is really tricky question, i'm trying to dig my memory for feelings. when i heard like a rolling stone for the first time, it was like WOAH, it just hit me, even though subconciously i could immediately tell it was from the 60s. same with the whole of highway 61.

but the OVERWHELMING feeling i had when i first heard dylans 60s stuff was that it was unbelievable, fresh, like nothing i'd heard. so there's your real answer -the effect is exactly the same now as when they heard him in the 60s: he rescued music in the 60s, and to anyone listening in 2005 he appears as if he rescues modern music too. as someone else here said, it was how music should sound.
bit rambling, so pardon me!

It's because his music is timeless, you can't really associate it with a time period just by listening to it because it's so different from any other music it can't be compared.Of course there could be social situations that you could pin point a time, for instance the lonesome death of hatti caroal, but how could anyone listen to a song like desolation row and asssociate it with a time, it is a classic that crosses boundaries of time.

I honestly can say, that I don't recall the first hit over the head for me and Bob, I just don't remeber a time without him, actually. He has always been there in my muxic realm, and usually right up front, except for my huge crush on Roger Daltry and Robert Plant, when I was say, about 16, but Bob was still there, its just w/ Bob it wasn't a crush, true love, once I got out of the puppy love stage.

I don't believe that Bob's songs are ever dated, they are so timeless and it is quite clear that pieces he wrote 40 years ago still apply today. Except for a few songs out of most bands repetoire, like "Won't Get Fooled Again", can you say that about.

His music really does have a timeless quality at least most of it does. To me the early folk records still sound old but in a good way...some of that stuff sounds older than it really is which I would still consider timeless.

A lot of his 80's stuff is inmistakably 1980's, no doubts about it! His more recent stuff has a very fresh sound but at the same time seems to be coming to us from some forgotten time...he talks alot about trains and heat...give you the feeling that there are no cars or air conditioning yet!

If Like A Rolling Stone came out today instead of 1965 I think it would have much the same effect as it did back then...there would be some differences of course because of all that has come and gone in between. We should also consider the fact that there was generally much better music being made back then....today it would have no competition at all!

I do not know how he pulls this stuff off, its truly unbelievable!

I remember going to see Bob, February, 1999, after a long hiatus from Bob shows. The crowd was so diversified and I didn't know quite what to expect. Natalie (yawn) Merchant was the first act, and I came in at the end of her show. I sat there, really, really, stoned, and started to get nervous for Bob, with all the young kids that were there I was so afraid they wouldn't get it. Well.....Bob came on and it was just like it was yesterday, he looked great, he sounded great, he opened with TUIB, I cried. Anyway, the crowd was really strating to enjoy the show, and he came out with The Times they are a-changing. You could have heard a pin drop throughout the whole song. I couldn't beleive it after all these years, I cried harder. The crowd went crazy when he left the stage and he came back out and did Blowin in the Wind, well, I had finally gotten myself back together, until then, I totally lost it. The HARMONIES, WERE SSOOOOO FANTASTIC. It sounded like the harmonies on "Hard Rain" Goosebumps just thinking about it. It was the most beautiful thing I had experienced in such a long time. The crowd was stunned, speechless, it was like they were suspended in time. They finally came out of their trance and they practically brought the house down with applause. I remeber thinking that first, Bob is truly timeless, and second, Merchant had at least 12-15 musicians on the stage, and Bob came out with four guys and brought the house down. Well, needless to say I vowed never to leave Bob again.

Thanks for letting me share.

Thank you for the story, Joe.

As I've written here previously, I had the priviledge of delighting in each of these albums as they came out; they've been the soundtrack of my life.
It is a delight to read about how someone a generation younger came to love them.

Your research into music a generation older than yourself was similar to my experience delving into Woody Guthrie and the folk singers of his generation.

Peace.

thank you...sometimes these things work backwards...i am currently ihn the process of trying to get my dad into Dylan!

Hell yes. That David Crosby guy just gives me the creeps....

I can't believe most people prefer their version of Mr.Tambourine
Man...it is SHITE.