Hello
everybody! Time for the continuation of The Bob Dylan
Top 125 Countdown with three more songs. Today we start with number 69!
At #69, it's one of the rare times that
Dylan didn't write the song all by himself, but co-wrote it with The Band's
Rick Danko instead. This Wheel's on Fire was originally recorded by Dylan and
The Band during their 1967 sessions, portions of which (including this song)
comprised the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes. The Band's own version appeared
on their 1968 album, Music from Big Pink.
A
kaleidoscopic evocation of chaos that can suggest anything from the Vietnam War
to Dylan's 1966 motorcycle crash, This Wheel's on Fire is actually a song of
lethal, disciplined fury. It is Dylan's sneering promise – in his original 1967
Basement Tapes vocal –
that the betrayal implied in the first two verses and made plain in the third
("You're the one/That called on me to call on them/To get you your favors
done") will be avenged in full in the future. Compressing that wrath into
tight, mocking cadence must have exhausted him; Dylan asked the Band's Rick
Danko to come up with the melody, a slow and forlorn thing that also managed to
catch the despair of abandonment. "I was teaching myself to play piano,"
Danko recalled. "Some music I had written just seemed to fit with Dylan's
lyrics." This Wheel's on Fire got a shot of adrenaline and a funky
keyboard part (played on a repurposed telegraph key) when the Band recorded it
for their 1968 debut album, Music From
Big Pink. But the Byrds cut the definitive cover for their 1969
album, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde:
Clarence White's searing fuzz guitar sounds like apocalypse arrived.
Here's
the orginal version by Dylan & The Band:
Here's
The Band's version:
Here's
The Byrds' version:
In
1968, a version by Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and The Trinity became a hit
in the United Kingdom, peaking at #5 on the UK Singles Chart. With its use of
distortion, phasing, the evocative imagery of the song's title and the group's
flamboyant dress, this version is closely associated with the Psychedelic era
in British music. The arrangement featured prominent use of both Hammond organ
and mellotron. Here it is:
At
#68 is a song from the 1978 album Street Legal. Baby, Stop Crying was a
surprise hit for Bob, peaking at #13 in the UK and cracking the Top 10 in much
of Europe, although it failed to chart in the US. Dylan plays the role of
consoler to a despairing woman in this song, even asking for a pistol in the
opening verse, claiming he "can't tell right from wrong." Commenting
on the content of this song, Dylan once said that "the man in that song
has his hand out and is not afraid of getting it bit." Like many of the
tracks from Street Legal, Baby,
Stop Crying features a saxophone and a trio of female backup singers.
I'm
afraid that this is the only audio for the original song that I could find in
the Internet:
Finally
for today, at #67 we find Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You. It's the
closing track of Dylan's ninth studio album, Nashville Skyline, released on April 9, 1969.
"I
was on the road for almost five years. It wore me down. I was on drugs, a lot
of things. ... I don't want to live that way anymore," Dylan told Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner in 1969.
He sounds content to settle down into domestic bliss on Nashville Skyline's laid-back closing track (a close cousin to John Wesley Harding's I'll Be Your
Baby Tonight), showcasing his smooth country croon between twangy guitar fills.
Here's
the original:
And
here's an Unplugged Outtake, recorded in November 1994:
Now, let's move on to the weekly statistics. Not much
happened this week:
The full Top 10 is as follows:
1.
the United States
2.
Greece
3.
Germany
4.
the United Kingdom
5.
France
6.
the United Arab Emirates
7.
Cyprus
8.
the Netherlands
9.
Italy
10.
Brazil
Here
are the other countries that graced us with their presence this week
(alphabetically): Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China,
Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Faroe
Islands, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines,
Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore,
South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Zambia. Happy to have you
all!
In
the all-time Top 10, the US increased their lead, passing the 50% threshold
again, for the first time in 6 weeks. Also for the first time in many weeks,
Greece had a healthy increase of its visits rate. The UK did OK, while the UAE did
more than OK, overtaking Italy and taking over #7. Cyprus did great too,
replacing Brazil at #10. The other Top 10 occupants all have had small falls of
their visits rate. Here's the all-time Top 10:
1.
the United States = 50.6%
2.
Greece = 9.7%
3.
Germany = 7.7%
4.
France = 6.8%
5.
Russia = 5.1%
6.
the United Kingdom = 3.2%
7.
the United Arab Emirates = 1.13%
8.
Italy = 1.11%
9.
the Netherlands = 0.74%
10.
Cyprus = 0.71%
That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!
Three of Dylan's greats! I thought you might enjoy seeing this video of "Baby, Stop Crying" for the cheesy dancing. Otherwise a really good audio, and I learned that Dylan once billed himself as Elston Gunn!: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjI1ODM0NzUy.html
ReplyDeleteAFHI, you're a darling for providing this link! I think that my link may not be universally accessible, so the addition of your link is very valuable. I'm so glad that you enjoyed all three songs, as we're getting nearer to the top the songs keep getting better. (In my humble opinion, anyway.)
DeleteElston Gunn, also Lucky Wilbury, and then Boo Wilbury. They all liked their little fun and games; Lennon was Dr. Winston O'Boogie, Wonder was Eivets Rednow.