New clips from the doc. available to view on VH1.com!

[Johnny Stew]

Originally posted by dissention
I'm not dissing you at all, doll. If I was, I wouldn't have said great. We've had enough good conversations and talks that I would think you knew I thought of you as a wonderful person with very well thought out opinions. I have the utmost respect for you because you can actually back up your opinions and present them in a good manner.

I'd never assume that someone thinks I'm "wonderful," but I thought we at least had a mutual respect. But with the wording of "even the great Johnny Stew," I wasn't sure what the "even" was supposed to mean.
Hard to get a read on these things sometimes, so I was a bit confused! (Wouldn't be the first time.)

Anyway, I had hoped it wasn't a diss... but thought I'd respond anyway to make sure.
I'm glad I did, and I'm glad it wasn't.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally posted by 4Buck
>>>> I saw the same as you. And the thing that got the biggest laugh from me was Nicks comparing herself to Bob Dylan. I mean she's good....BUT she's no Bob Dylan!

Just to add a different perspective... I don't think Stevie was necessarily putting herself in league with Bob Dylan, in regards to the quality of the writing, but rather making a comparison as to the style of writing.

After all, she's the woman who once said, "I'm not Bob Dylan, but every once in a while I've gotta say something."

[Gazza]

She was clearly using Dylan to make a point rather than compare herself to him. I think he's overrated personally, even if one of my favourite songs is one of his

Otis Redding got him right... Too many lyrics.

[CarneVaca]

Originally posted by chiliD
It's been my observation that those under the age of 40 just don't "get" Bob Dylan. You kind of have to have "been there" when he was at his early peak to really understand him. If there's anyone who is a BIG Bob Dylan fan and you're under 40, let me know.

Uh, Chili, I'm not there yet. I may look 40 , but I ain't.

Incidentally, at one of the open mics I do regularly, there was kid recently doing Dylan covers. He was college-age.

[CarneVaca]

Originally posted by strandinthewind
Being the horrible typist I am, I misspelled "shrug" as shurg in an earlier post Carne picked on it in a friendly attempt to haze me a little

Yeah, but it's a mute point now...

[CarneVaca]

Originally posted by Gazza
She was clearly using Dylan to make a point rather than compare herself to him. I think he's overrated personally, even if one of my favourite songs is one of his

Otis Redding got him right... Too many lyrics.

BLASPHEME!!

[strandinthewind]

Originally posted by Johnny Stew
I'd never assume that someone thinks I'm "wonderful" . . .

Don't worry - It shines through!!!!!

[Bella Figura]

ugh, since forty(40) looms for me this October,I guess later this year I will become a Dylan fan!!

[cliffdweller]

Originally posted by Gazza
Otis Redding got him right... Too many lyrics.

That is too hilarious. I love Otis Redding, but I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with that comment.

[Gazza]

I agree with Otis... At least to a point... When you're singing about something that is carving you up, it just seems a little false to include so many lyrics. That's something I always loved about Go Your Own Way... It's just a guy saying it like it is, and not hiding behind anything fancy.

I would guess, that if you were to ask most people who aren't big Dylan fans to name their favourite song of his, you'd probably end up with songs like Lay Lady Lay or Knockin' On Heavens Door.

[CarneVaca]

Originally posted by Gazza
I agree with Otis... At least to a point... When you're singing about something that is carving you up, it just seems a little false to include so many lyrics. .

Why do you think that? I agree with your assessment of Go Your Own Way, but would you say Positively Fourth Street doesn't ring true?

Who hasn't felt like this once or twice:

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that's winning

You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"
But you don't mean it

When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them

And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you

[strandinthewind]

Sheryl Crowe told an interviewer once that the best thing about meeting Bob Dylan other than just being able to meet him was that he told her to srite a truly great song, everyline must sound like it is so interesting it could be the opening line of a song. I think alot of Dylan's work is like that. It is very heady, but cool at the same time. He is a genius amongst many IMO. Just look at the song Carne quoted - genius (the song not Carne )

Also, Dylan, like Stevie, is a genius at phrasing and he and she can make seemingly awkward phrases on paper come to life IMO.

[Cristian]

That song is simply one of the greatest things that has ever been recorded. The lyrics are just perfect for that state of mind. It's my favorite Dylan tune.



Song of the moment - Don't Look Down

[Gazza]

It's a great song, but to give an example of what I don't like with Dylan...

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

When I was younger the video for this bollocks would come on, and I'd cry. You've got to be smacked up your tits to want to listen to that one.

I think "Whatever colours you have in your mind, I'll show them to you, and you'll see them shine" is worth so much more.

I've always had a love/hate thing with Dylan though... I remember when I was very young my Dad would be playing stuff like Love In Vain, Like A Rolling Stone or I Want You, but then they'd be followed by the aptly titled Desolation Row.

Saying that, I'll probably have it played at my funeral - just to let everyone know what misery really is before I go.

[face of glass]

Originally posted by Gazza
I've always had a love/hate thing with Dylan though... I remember when I was very young my Dad would be playing stuff like Love In Vain, Like A Rolling Stone or I Want You, but then they'd be followed by the aptly titled Desolation Row.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues”, like many of Dylan’s early songs, are beat poetry. They’re not trying to say anything clear to us; they’re not something that you can simply interpret and toss away. I believe even Dylan isn’t sure of what the meaning of some of his songs is. It’s just something that flows to him naturally.

I think something like “SHB” or “Desolation Row” is trying to tell us in general how meaningless life is. It’s a set of random images from a fractured mind that’s trying to get a hold of the reality and yet fails to do so. Streams of emotion coming out of nowhere, meeting for a moment and then disappearing into nothingness, that’s what some of his songs are about. And thank God those were captured for posterity.

That’s how I see it anyway. I love it when he can be very vague sometimes yet he still doesn’t come off as if he’s trying to be intentionally incomprehensible. That’s something I get out of Stevie’s lyrics sometimes, and also of Lindsey’s music (and some of the recent lyrics).

Originally posted by chiliD
It's like being a teenage Beatle fan...sure I can see where you'd like their music, but how can you REALLY be into the Beatles, when you weren't "there" to first hand feel the musical & sociological events as they happened?

I understand that but I also believe that great art can be timeless. If something survives the changes of the times and still has something to say to us then it’s worthy. If music can’t live outside all the sociological baggage then it isn’t anything but a curiosity to me.

Dylan hasn’t really had a “comeback” period of sorts (except in 1974 with Planet Waves), he’s always kept on making albums. When FM did the Dance they gained a lot of new fans. I think that’s the main reason to why there aren’t as many fanatical young Dylan fans as there are with Fleetwood Mac. Dylan hasn’t needed publicity stunts for a long time.

Originally posted by strandinthewind
Also, Dylan, like Stevie, is a genius at phrasing and he and she can make seemingly awkward phrases on paper come to life IMO.

This I agree with completely. Dylan and Stevie have both written great songs. They have written their share of great lyrics (although I think Dylan has been more diverse in that area than SN). They both have great voices that have gone through a lot of changes. (I think they both operate under similar principles; no wonder both can generate such total love/hate reactions from people.)

Yet I don’t think anyone can really be a fan of theirs and thoroughly separate the lyrics and the music from the performance itself. It’s all about the way they sing it, the way they phrase, the way those lyrics are under their complete control. Listen to that seven minute poem “Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie” on the Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3. It’s completely mesmerizing to listen to even though you can’t decipher all of the lyrics at once.

While there have been good Dylan covers, the originals will always be the definitive for me. Or then there would have to be radical reinventions, like Hendrix’ “All Along The Watchtower”. And the same goes to SN.

Stevie and Bob will always be essential parts of my life.