Monday Music: Hard Times (Dylan Covers Stephen Foster)

As I  searched for songs from Dylan performances to celebrated his 80th birthday this month, my most delightful find was his rendition of Stephen Foster's, "Hard Times," written in 1854. Bob performed this one at Willie Nelson's 60th birthday television special. He is accompanied by John Jackson (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), Bucky Baxter (accordion) & Marty Stuart (mandolin).

 

 

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Dylan Duets: Celebrating Bob Dylan's 80th Birthday

Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Tom Petty at Farm Aid, 1995

During the month of May, I've been celebrating Bob Dylan's 80th Birthday (May 24) by featuring videos of Bob as he is accompanied by another artist in a duet. If you missed any, or want to hear one again, here is the list:

With God on Our Side (with Joan Baez)

Crossroads (with Eric Clapton)

One Irish Rover (with Van Morrison)

The Times They Are a-Changin' (with a fan from the audience)

The Sound of Silence (with Paul Simon)

Abraham, Martin, and John (with Clydie King)

Pancho and Lefty (with Willie Nelson)

Dark Eyes (with Patti Smith)

One Too Many Mornings (with Johnny Cash)

Knockin' On Heaven's Door (with Tom Petty)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES/HULTON ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

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Dylan Duets: Knockin' On Heaven's Door (with Tom Petty)

We're celebrating Bob Dylan's 80th birthday this month by highlighting a few duets. This one was the final number in the Hard to Handle concert film. Bob Dylan was backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during their Australian tour in 1986.

 

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Saturday Haiku*: Sing

if all is not lost
and nothing is guaranteed
we can always sing 

                              ~ CK

*Author's note: The poem featured this week, though in the traditional format of a haiku, is actually a senryu. Senryu tend to be about human traits and foibles while haiku are centered upon nature and have a seasonal reference.

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Image Choir singing, stock photo

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Dylan Duets: "One Too Many Mornings" (Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash)

A great song from Bob Dylan's Nashville recording sessions. Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings" is a natural for Johnny Cash in this duet by two American songwriting icons.

 

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Dylan Duets: "Dark Eyes" (Bob Dylan and Patti Smith)

Patti Smith joins Bob Dylan in a 1995 concert to perform "Dark Eyes." Years later, Patti Smith would go to Stockholm in 2016 to accept Dylan's Nobel Prize for him. 

 

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Dylan Duets: Pancho and Lefty (Willie Nelson & Bob Dylan)

 Continuing our feature of duets during Bob Dylan's birthday month

Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson  perform "Pancho And Lefty" (recorded April 28,1993 for Willie Nelson's birthday television special, The Big Six-0). The song, written by country music artist Townes Van Zandt, tells the story of a Mexican bandit named Pancho and a more enigmatic character, Lefty. The lyrics tell of Pancho's death, implying that he was betrayed by his associate Lefty who was paid off by the Mexican federales.

 

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Dylan Duets: Abraham, Martin, and John

"Abraham, Martin, and John," written in 1968 by Dick Holler and first recorded by Dion, is a moving tribute to three heroes who "died young" in their efforts to promote the better angels of our nature.  The song came out during that troubling year in which both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. Bob Dylan included the song in his 1980 tour, "Trouble No More," and performed it with the famous backup singer, Clydie King. Ms. King died in 2019 at the age of 75.

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Monday Music: "My Back Pages" (30th Anniversary Concert)

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now." 

Today is Bob Dylan's 80 birthday. To mark the occasion here is a clip featuring Dylan's song, "My Back Pages." A veritable Who's Who of musicians were on hand to celebrate Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary in the music industry back in 1992. Almost another 30 years later and the man is still at it with his latest record album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, having been released just last year.

 

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The Sound of Silence (Dylan and Simon)

Another duet: Bob Dylan joins Paul Simon to perform the Simon & Garfunkel hit,  "The Sound of Silence."

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Saturday Haiku: Dylanesque

In honor of Bob Dylan's 80th Birthday on Monday, here is a haiku inspired by a painting by Dylan himself:

a distant railway

traces of Woody and Pete

songs that stir the soul

                                            














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Image: Train Tracks
Artist: Bob Dylan
Date: 2009
Medium: Acrylic

Author's Note: This haiku was first posted July 25, 2015

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"Come gather 'round, people" An Unusual Dylan Duet

This month I'm featuring some Dylan duets to celebrate Bob Dylan's 80th birthday month. This one is unusual in that an audience member was able to walk up on stage in The Netherlands and join Bob in singing "The Times They Are a-Changin'." 

 

The lady from the audience was Liz Souissi from Bern, Switzerland. From the YouTube notes: 

"...All the time there are big cheers and lots of applause from the crowd. When the song is over, she starts to walk off stage, but then returns, giving Bob a big hug and kiss. This was front-page news in the local newspaper: 'A Kiss for Swiss Liz'. Her comments: 'This is what I always dreamed of. I almost didn't dare, but still I took a chance on it. Of course I expected to be taken away immediately. To me this is the most beautiful thing I ever experienced.' And it was beautiful for many people in the crowd. Bob even smiled when all this happened. "

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One Irish Rover (Dylan and Van Morrison)

Continuing our feature of  duets during Bob Dylan's birthday month

 "Bob Dylan and Van Morrison Sing Together in Athens, on Historic Hill Overlooking the Acropolis"

Comments from Open Culture about the following video:

On a summer day in 1989, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan met up in Greece and brought their acoustic guitars to the place in Athens where the ancients believed the muses lived. Philopappos Hill, traditionally known as the Hill of the Muses, rises high above the Athens Basin and has a commanding view of the Acropolis. It was June 29. Dylan had just wrapped up a European tour the night before at Panathinaiko Stadium, and Morrison was traveling with a BBC crew for an Arena documentary that would be broadcast in 1991 as One Irish Rover: Van Morrison in Performances.

Here then are the two legends, back in 1989.

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Monday Music: Crossroads (Dylan and Clapton)

Another Dylan duet. This one is from the 1999 benefit concert by Eric Clapton and Friends at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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Saturday Haiku: A Different Light

 

in a different light
the bright can become subdued
and a new thing seen

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Photo by Charles Kinnaird

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Friday Funnies: Dylan Goes Electric

 

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Dylan the Welder

I wrote and posted the following poem back in 2013 when I heard about Bob Dylan's projects of turning scrap pieces of metal into iron gates. It struck me as the perfect metaphor. I am reposting it here in honor of his upcoming 80th birthday.

Here's to the subterranean fires and the luminous eye of Bob Dylan!  ~ CK

 

Dylan the Welder*

Bob Dylan is a welder

Taking words

That have been scattered

Abused

And misused

And putting them through the fires

Of humanity’s forge.

It takes a hot pen

To bind mythic thoughts to modern ways;

And a fiery riff

To weld common chords to forsaken phrases,

Fashioning a memorable song of love or theft or ruin.

It takes a spark that was lit by subterranean fires

To ignite the passions

Of a restless generation

Until they gather on the streets

Or courthouse lawns

Or the National Mall

To sing of how many roads.

It takes the fire of human consciousness

Erupting without summons or awareness

To fashion songs that can

Shake a tambourine

Survey a watchtower

Foretell a hard rain

Or catch a slow train.

It takes old embers

To join hands with

Woody

Blind Willie

Hattie Carroll

And the sad-eyed lady.

It takes new fire

To speak to the hopes of a young woman

In a world that is spinning

Or the dreams of an old man

When shadows are falling.

Bob Dylan is a welder

Fashioning new gates

From worn-out words,

Burning old hopes

Onto new frames.

It takes ancient fire

To fashion timeless tales

Of joy and struggle,

And a luminous eye

To forge a song that is true.

                              ~ Charles Kinnaird

*The inspiration for this poem came from an online article telling about how Bob Dylan keeps welding supplies at his home in Malibu where he creates iron gates from scrap pieces of metal. Some of his welding work has been on display at London’s Halcyon Gallery.

(photos by John Shearer via Daily Mail)



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Monday Music: With God on Our Side (Dylan and Baez)

This month, as we look toward Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, I am looking at some of his duets. This one is from the 1963 Newport Folk Festival with Joan Baez joining Bob singing "With God on Our Side."

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Saturday Haiku: River Morning

 

golden lantern sun
shines in river morning fog
greeting the boatman

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Photo by Michele Molstad "Sunrise over the train bridge in Riverside"

Retrieved from Alabama the Beautiful Facebook site and used with permission from the photographer.

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Monday Music: Dylan Live at the Grammy Awards

It was in 1991 that Bob Dylan was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. Jack Nicholson gives a spot-on introduction followed by a video retrospective and then a performance by the man himself. 

 

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Saturday Haiku: Pathways

new green leaves on trees
arching over the pathway
where journeys begin

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Photo by Jilda Watson "Walking in the rain"

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