This is my favorite Bob Dylan song, by a mile. Maybe it’s Scarlet Rivera’s violin that grabs me. Maybe it’s Emmylou Harris’ harmonies. Maybe it’s the fearsome chord hook when he sings “To the valley below”. It’s just great.
In fact, I’ve liked it so long that I wrote a whole blog piece on it twelve years ago. In the unlikely event you want words by Bray on Dylan, there are plenty there. Let’s skip ahead straight to the links.
This is part of the Song of the Day series (background).
Links · Spotify playlist. This tune on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify. Here’s a 1975 live take with Ms Rivera but without Ms Harris. It’s cool, but not on the same plane of reality as the recording.
Comment feed for ongoing:
From: jim gislason (Aug 23 2018, at 15:41)
That is also a favourite song of mine from Desire Tim, second only to Romance in Durango. Such a funny album to come along so close on the heels of Blood on the Tracks, was always my thought. To go from such starkly autobiographical work to an album comprised of so many myth-like tales that we are parachuted into and left to decipher. Just the other day I was listening to something called Political Beats Podcast: Bob Dylan
Part Three, which deals with later Dylan in depth with a fairly interesting and insightful guest panel I thought (which means they think like me), and of course, there's a part two which would likely focus a fair amount of energy on Desire if you happened to be interested, as I am, in all things Bob.
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