»I can recognise things. It’s like looking at a diary. It brings it all back. And what’s hard is that you remember being unsure of how life was going to go - his, mine, anybody’s. So, from the perspective of an older person looking back, you enjoy them, but also think of them as the pain of youth, the loneliness and the struggle that youth is, or may be.«
»I was a young girl of my time. I was shy and timid, and I would be envious of men who could go to a cafe and sit and draw and read or write songs or do whatever they could do. If a girl did that it would mean that she was alone, she wasn’t with somebody, she was an easy woman. It would take a lot of courage to do it, and when you did it, you took a chance.«
Suze Rotolo (1943 - 2011), A Freewheelin’ Time
may I present the best press conference in the history of ever
for my girls lookfar and yumirox (and also yveinthesky because I know she likes him, too)
“Dave [van Ronk] was not like others around the Village, both musicians and friends, who resented the attention focused on Bob [Dylan] - that was not his style. The only serious bad time and bad feeling that ever developed between Bob and Dave was over ‘House of the Rising Sun’, a blues song out of New Orleans. It was a woman’s lament but men tended to sing it. When Dave sang it, he gave the song such desolation and sorrow that no one else around the Village clubs sang it anymore. It was Dave’s song. He owned it. His unique raspy, bluesy voice and the arrangement he created for the song added to its effectiveness. When Bob was recording songs for his first album on Columbia Records, he included ‘House of the Rising Sun,’ in Dave’s version.
When Dave asked how the sessions were going at Columbia, Bob told him they were going fine. Then Dave told him about his plans for his own upcoming recording session.
I’m finally recording ‘House,’ he said.
Oops, said Bob, and confessed to Dave that he had just recorded it.
That did not go over well. Bob had done a traitorous thing, breaking the code of honor among thieves. He went to the session and sang the song he knew, had recently learned, and just loved to sing. He insisted he did it all without thinking. He hadn’t realized the error. Now he sorely did, but there was nothing to be done. The record had gone to press.
We were close with Dave and Terri [his wife] by then. We hung out a lot together. Terri and I were intent on fixing the friendship because we knew it was important to both of them. We worked at it, going back and forth between them. It was a serious affront on Bob’s part and Dave was angry for a long time.
Bobby felt really bad. The situation made him very nervous. Whether he was standing or sitting, his knees were bouncing, pumping the air as if he wanted to take off. He was not talking much, his brow was furrowed, and he was chain-smoking. He knew he’d crossed a line.
Eventually Terri and I prevailed and the rift was resolved via booze and food and poker games where Bobby lost often, as penance. Dave, however, had a bead on the new kid.
Once Bob’s album came out, Dave stopped singing the song. He never recorded it. Personally, I think that is a loss. Bob’s version on his first LP isn’t bad at all, but all things considered, it’s a copy of a lost original.”
— Suze Rotolo “A Freewheelin’ Time”, pg. 115-116
for shelloiljunior.
#Bob Dylan #I did not know he was your major bias
thank you ;_____; <3
he is. I could talk hours about him. Studying his music and his lyrics is one of my favorite past-time things.
and he’s a snarky quirky asshole. patterns
Dave van Ronk #1. Because he was the one whose arrangement Bob Dylan used and whose version in turn all the others after him used (aka your list). I can also recommend Dolly Parton’s version. Perfect person to interpret such a song :’)Thanks for the names! I will look them up as I am currently obsessed with this song.:)
I also had lsitened to Libby Holmann, which had 1940s flair.:)
oooh, I in turn didn’t know about Libby Holmann’s version at all! Thank you.
and I just found on youtube an excerpt from Scorsese’s “No Direction Home” about van Ronk’s version. it’s a nice little anecdote.
and I remember either Joan Baez or Suze Rotolo being sad that there was never a proper recording made of van Ronk’s take on the song (as he explains in the clip), because apparently according to her nobody sang it as heartbreakingly as he did. one recording does exist but it’s considered to be non-comparable to the “real thing”.
;)
Thanks for the linky! I will read that! Well I listened to version of van Ronk he sand it really sad way (it reminded me of “hurt” covered by Johnny Cash, the way he sang it).
I wish more bands would cover it. Like MUCC is the only Japanese band I know who covered it. Imagine L’ arc en ciel..:)
or Changmin.
yes, he did. and I’ve found the quote I was looking for in my copy of Suze Rotolo’s “A Freewheelin’ Time” (a book I can recommend to anyone - not only Dylan enthusiasts - who is interested in the time of 1960s New York City’s Greenwich Village). I will post it in a separate entry :)
and now that you point it out, I can totally see it (comparing it to Cash’s “Hurt” cover). It’s just something I really like about these folk songs.. when they’re sung with simply a guitar and a.. hm.. raw voice. when it’s more feeling, emotion > vocal technique. (see Houston’s “I will always love you” compared to Parton’s original version.)
omg L’Arc doing it ;~; and Changmin would be so sexy, I have to admit.
YOU SEE I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS! <3
Bob Dylan - Sara (1975, live)
Sara, Sara
So easy to look at, so hard to define
Sara, Sara
Lovin’ you is the one thing I’ll never regret
Sara, oh Sara
Scorpio Sphinx in a calico dress
Sara, Sara
You must forgive me my unworthiness
Sara, oh Sara
Don’t ever leave me, don’t ever go
one of my most favorite songs, ever.
written as an attempt of reconciliation with his wife Sara who was about to divorce him. (and he had cheated on many times.)
it’s also one of the few occasions he admits writing a song about/for someone (Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands).
