I'm
not happy with the lack of Dylan videos on YouTube. I mean, one can find the
most obscure song by the most niche artist in 10 different versions and one
can't find the original versions of Bob's masterpieces? Something is happening
here and I don't know what it is, do I, Mr. Jones?
I've
decided not to embed any third rate live version that is available on YouTube.
I'd rather give you the link to a good version. Such is the case with You’re a Big Girl Now, the song in #122. It
is one of five songs on Blood On The Tracks (1975) that Dylan initially
recorded in New York City in September 1974 and then re-recorded in Minneapolis
in December that year, the later recording becoming the album track. One of the
September 1974 outtakes was included on the 1985 compilation Biograph. Here is
the link to it:
One
of the more desperately lovesick moment in Dylan's entire catalog, he talks of
"pain that stops and starts, like a corkscrew to my heart." "I
read that this was supposed to be about my wife," Dylan wrote in the Biograph liner notes, hoping
to clarify the matter. "I don't write confessional songs… It only seems
so, like it seems that Laurence Olivier is Hamlet."
The
song was covered by many an artist. Here are My Morning Jacket with their 2012
version:
At
#121, we find I Am a Lonesome Hobo, released in 1967 on his eighth studio album, John
Wesley Harding.
The
lyrics to I Am A Lonesome Hobo tell of the typical riches to rags tradition,
where a man openly admits to being a hobo having "tried my hand at
bribery, blackmail and deceit", yet has "served time for ev'rything
'cept beggin' on the street". Dylan's style of writing often leans towards
writing ballads that present his listeners with a chance to get inside the
minds of social outcasts, a perspective that everyday people may overlook or
misunderstand. This "hobo" has seen it all, once being an affluent
yet selfish man unable to trust anybody, including his own brother. The hobo's
isolation began not with his loss of wealth but with the effect that wealth had
upon him in the first place. As the song reaches its final verse, the hobo
offers advice to the common people as he plans to continue his misinterpreted
wandering, asking them to, "stay free from petty jealousies, live by no
man's code, and hold your judgment for yourself lest you wind up on this
road". Within his solitariness, the hobo has found a certain philosophical
stability, leaving him standing in the garb of a prophet rather than a beggar.
This hobo's warning before his departure holds true to the writing style Dylan
approaches with the ending of many of his songs, offering a lyrically and
vocally driven picture of a life that is not typically lived or even
considered.
The
haunting harmonica, assertive drum beat and acoustic guitar incorporates well
with the clearly pronounced and elongated wordplay. The song features some of
Dylan's most controlled singing, most likely being a rhetorical decision on
Dylan's part because hobos are typically known for being wanderers lacking any
insight or socially acceptable manners. Dylan, however, seems to put this
character on a level socially where one would not typically place a vagabond,
providing the idea that a hobo can be a wise man rather than some socially
awkward bum.
Now, let's move on to this week's statistics. We've had
a return to English-speaking artists after a while. Also, the Rolling Stones
countdown was replaced by that of Bob Dylan's songs. Has this affected the
week's visits?
Well, it was a good healthy week as far as the total
number of visits was concerned. Some countries benefited more than others: for
the US, Greece and Germany it was a good week. The UK and France had a very
good week, as well as the Netherlands and Cyprus. Mexico, Singapore and
Australia also did great and they are new additions to our visitors' weekly Top
10. A most hearty welcome!
The
full Top 10 is as follows (there is a 2-way tie at #8):
1.
the United States
2.
Greece
3.
the United Kingdom
4.
France
5.
Germany
6.
the Netherlands
7.
Cyprus
8.
Mexico
8.
Singapore
10.
Australia
Here
are the other countries that graced us with their presence this week
(alphabetically): Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada China, Croatia, Denmark,
Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia,
Oman, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, South
Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the
United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Happy to have you all!
In
the the all-time list, there have been no changes. However, Germany is
shortening its distance from Russia, the UK is inching closer to France and
Cyprus has already caught up with Ireland. If the trend continues, it'll
overtake it in a week or two. Here is the list:
1.
the United States = 46.9%
2.
Greece = 18.7%
3.
Russia = 9.2%
4.
Germany = 3.6%
5.
France = 2.6%
6.
the United Kingdom = 2.4%
7.
Canada = 1.04%
8.
Ireland = 0.98%
9.
Cyprus = 0.91%
10.
Italy = 0.60%
That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!
The simple answer is either Dylan's camp or Columbia has removed most of his studio recordings from youtube a la The Beatles. We've gone through this with various artists or labels over the tears. Sometimes they make a comeback, sometimes not. Free downloading is the main bone of contention.
ReplyDeleteI guess you're right, RM. However, I can see companies doing that with highly sought after brand new work, but with catalogue numbers that are 40 and 50 years old? I mean, I had trouble finding Frank Ocean's latest a day after it was released, but I eventually did. How many sales do they think they gain by preventing You're A Big Girl Now existing on YouTube? Unless it's a matter of having an exclusive contract with some streaming service like iTunes or Spotify. That would make slightly more sense, I think.
DeleteI won't try to second guess the reasoning but all you have to do is look at sales numbers for albums that debut at #1 to know that physical records now sell at a fraction of what they used to even 5 or 6 years ago. Nowadays only a very few can manage numbers that were common then. Sure, streaming services have cut into the pie but illegal downloading is huge and everyone is scrambling now. I'm surprised cds are still around since most proper record stores are a thing of the past. Even I don't buy much anymore, choosing to just listen on the computer. It's great for my wallet but not so for the artists and musicians.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read, and heard from friends in the business, RM, illegal downloading hurts the record companies much more than it hurts the artists. The artists' main revenue comes from the concerts, which if anything are helped by illegal downloading, because more people are exposed to their music this way.
DeleteAlso, even if illegal downloading was completely eradicated, CD purchasing would still have to battle it out with streaming. As an example, before compiling my Bob Dylan list, I made it a point to listen again to all of Dylan's LPs. Instead of going to the trouble of digging out my own LPs and CDs, I listened to them all on Deezer, a streaming service to which I subscribe. Why would a young person want to buy any of them when he can listen to them any time he likes, at a quality that's good enough for any computer's sound specifications?
Exactly.
ReplyDelete