"he would pull these songs out of nowhere," robbie robertson said. "we didn't know if he wrote them or if he remembered them. when he sang them, you couldn't tell." that, in the basement tapes laboratory, is the alchemy, and in that alchemy is an undiscovered country, like the purloined letter hiding in plain site.
from
greil marcus',
the old, weird america: the world of bob dylan's basement tapes, 1997.
highway 61 revisited 1965
...you never understood that it ain't no good, you shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you....
like a rolling stone.
blonde on blonde 1966
...and your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul, oh, who among them do you think could destroy you sad-eyed lady of the lowlands, where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes, my warehouse eyes, my arabian drums, should I leave them by your gate, or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?....
sad-eyed lady of the lowlands.
john wesley harding 1967
i dreamed i saw st. augustine, alive as you or me, tearing through these quarters, in the utmost misery, with a blanket underneath his arm, and a coat of solid gold, searching for the very souls whom already have been sold....
i dreamed i saw st. augustine.
nashville skyline 1969
...please see for me if her hair hangs long, if it rolls and flows all down her breast. please see for me if her hair hangs long, that's the way I remember her best....
girl of the north country.
almost went to see elvis nashville 1969, new york 1970
(bootleg, 1969 material includes:
carl perkins,
johnny cash,
billy wotten,
marshall grant,
w.s. holland.)
(1970 sessions include:
george harrison,
charlie daniels,
billy mundi,
*bob johnson).
self portrait 1970
all the tired horses in the sun, how'm i supposed to get any ridin' done?....
all the tired horses.
new morning 1970
...time passes slowly when you're lost in a dream....
time passes slowly.
pat garrett & billy the kid 1973
mama, take this badge off of me i can't use it anymore. it's gettin' dark, too dark for me to see....
knockin' on heaven's door.
planet waves 1974
...on a night like this, i can't get any sleep, the air is so cold outside, and the snow's so deep....
on a night like this.
blood on the tracks 1975
...in a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes, i bargained for salvation an' they gave me a lethal dose. i offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn. "come in," she said, "i'll give you shelter from the storm."...
shelter from the storm.
the basement tapes 1975
...it was all very painless, when you went out to receive, all that false instruction, which we never could believe. and now the heart is filled with gold, as if it was a purse. but, oh, what kind of love is this, which goes from bad to worse? tears of rage, tears of grief, must I always be the thief? come to me now, you know, we're so low, and life is brief....
tears of rage with
richard manuel.
desire 1976
...i can still hear the sounds of those methodist bells, i'd taken the cure and had just gotten through, stayin' up for days in the chelsea hotel, writin' "sad-eyed lady of the lowlands" for you....
sara.
the bootleg series, vols. 1-3 : rare and unreleased, 1961-1991 1991
...farewell angelina, the sky is on fire, and I must go....
farewell angelina.
world gone wrong 1993
...he layed his head on a pillow of down. kisses she gave him three. with a penny knife that she held in her hand, she murdered mortal he....
love henry.
time out of mind 1997
...last night I danced with a stranger, but she just reminded me you were the one, you left me standing in the doorway crying, in the dark land of the sun...i'll eat when I'm hungry, drink when i'm dry....
standing in the doorway.
love and theft 2001
...the dusky light, the day is losing, orchids, poppies, black-eyed susan, the earth and sky that melts with flesh and bone, won't you meet me out in the moonlight alone?....
moonlight.
no direction home: the soundtrack (the bootleg series vol. 7) 2005
modern times 2006
...as I walked out tonight in the mystic garden, the wounded flowers were dangling from the vines, i was passing by yon cool and crystal fountain, someone hit me from behind. ain't talkin', just walkin', through this weary world of woe, heart burnin', still yearnin', no one on earth would ever know....
ain't talkin'.
return to me (dean martin), from the sopranos
return to me, oh, my dear i'm so lonely, hurry back, hurry back, oh my love, hurry back, i am yours....
dylan listening to donovan in dont look back 1967 (d.a. pennebaker)
