John Wesley Harding – Bob Dylan's 60s Wildcard

This week, Laura and Robert are dedicating the hour to an album that has a special place in Bob Dylan’s back catalogue: John Wesley Harding. We discuss what the album is and, crucially, what is isn’t, and how the album sits in the context of the rest of Bob Dylan’s 1960s output.

As mentioned in the episode, if you feel like making a direct comparison, here’s a video of Bob Dylan performing live acoustic in 1966.

Playlist:

1. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine

2. Sign On The Cross

3. As I Went Out One Morning (Take 1)

4. I Pity The Poor Immigrant (Live at the Isle Of Wight Festival, 1969)

5. All Along The Watchtower

6. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight

Post-Apocalyptic Jams?

This week’s Definitely Dylan features a sweet selection of songs (this time chosen by Robert), which we then talk about. The theme is post-apocalyptic but hopeful - “we’ll meet again”, but also, there’s no strict theme, we were just having fun listening to music and chatting.

If you’re in the mood for some in-depth lyric analysis, don’t forget to subscribe to Definitely Dylan on your podcast platform of choice, because the next chapter in my Rough And Rowdy Ways series is coming soon!

Here’s the link to the episode where we talk about Moonlight being potentially a murder ballad.

And here’s a previous episode where we discuss Where Teardrops Fall further.

Playlist:

1. This Wheel’s On Fire

2. Death Is Not The End

3. Farewell (WFMT Radio Studio-Studs Terkel Wax Museum, 26 April, 1963)

4. Where Teardrops Fall

5. Moonlight

6. Isis (Live at Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 20 November, 1975)

Bob Dylan's Creative Process in Performance

After taking a look at Dylan’s creative process in the studio last week, Laura and Robert turn their attention to Bob Dylan’s performances on the stage for this week’s episode.

One thing I didn’t get to mention - if you enjoy diving into expansive universe of Dylan live recordings, you MUST check out the series Pretty Good Stuff, curated by one of our favourite Dylan experts James Adams for Aquarium Drunkard. A true connoisseur of Bob Dylan’s bootlegs, his selections are simply inspired and not to be missed.

The performance of One More Cup Of Coffee that I was referring to was from the 4 April 2009 in Munich Germany, and you can listen to it here. However, I misremembered how often Bob Dylan had played it since the seventies: he did play it once in 1988 and a few times during the 90s, as well as once in 2007 before reviving it for two shows in 2009 (in Stockholm and Munich).

If you’d like to check out the episode on the significance of twins and doubles in Bob Dylan’s songs, you can find the Gemini episode here.

Lastly, something he probably wouldn’t let me say on air, but Robert has just released a beautiful song last week called “Whatshisname”, and you can find it on Spotify, as well as on Bandcamp. If you like great songwriting (why else would you be here) and sad country songs, this one might be right up your street.

Playlist:

1. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) (Live at Philharmonic Hall, New York City, NY, 31 October 1964)

2. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below) (Live at Memorial Auditorium, Worcester, MA, 19 November 1975)

3. One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below) (Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 28 February or 1 March, 1978)

4. Cover Down, Pray Through (Live at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY, 1 May, 1980)

5. Handsome Molly ( Live at The Gaslight Café, New York City, NY, 1962)

6. I And I (Live at Le Forum, Dijon, 1 July, 1998)

Bob Dylan's Creative Process in the Studio

On this week’s Definitely Dylan Live we’re talking process! Laura and Robert speculate on Bob Dylan’s writing and recording process by listening to some early takes of well-loved songs - some closely resembling the released studio version, some wildly different!

Playlist:

1. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Take 1, Complete (6/15/65))

2. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Takes 2-3, Fragments)

3. Simple Twist Of Fate (Take 1A)

4. Covenant Woman (Take 3)

5. It Ain't Me Babe (Take 1)

6. Just Like a Woman (Take 4, Alternate Take)

7. Born In Time (Alternate Version #2)

"Everything Passes, Everything Changes" – Bob Dylan's Life Philosophy?

“Everything passes, everything changes, just do what you think you should do” - This week’s radio hour is inspired by a sentiment that we see appear and reappear in various Dylan songs over the years. Laura and Robert talk about this nugget of wisdom, and discuss in what ways it is expressive both of Dylan’s style of writing and performance, and even his career as a whole.

Related to our discussion, especially regarding the song Up To Me, here’s a link to the episode where we talked about songs in which Dylan reflects on being a performer in the spotlight.

If you’d like to support Definitely Dylan, you can now symbolically buy us a coffee here! Thank you!

1. To Ramona (Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California - September 3, 1965)

2. Buckets Of Rain (Take 5, Remake 2)

3. Up To Me (Take 2, Remake)

4. Shooting Star

5. Key West (Philosopher Pirate)