Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast

In this weird Episode, Henry veers off course to talk to Bob Dylan scholar, writer & expert, Ray Padgett, about Weird Al Yankovic's 2003 pastiche of a Bob Dylan song, "Bob." Come for Ray Padgett, stay for the best palindromes you'll hear today! I promise, next month, back to a Bob Dylan song! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIty7RqbF9o 

I, man, am Regal, a German am I

Never odd or even

If I had a Hi-Fi

Madam, I'm Adam

Too hot to hoot

No lemons, no melon

Too bad I hid a boot

Lisa Bonet ate no basil

Warsaw was raw

Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir

Do geese see God?

Do nine men interpret? Nine men I nod

Rats live on no evil star

Won't lovers revolt now?

Race fast safe car

Pa's a sap

Ma is as selfless as I am

May a moody baby doom a yam

Ah Satan sees Natasha

No devil lived on

Lonely Tylenol

Not a banana baton

No X in Nixon

O stone, be not so

O Geronimo, no minor ego

"Naomi" I moan

A Toyota's a Toyota

A dog, a panic, in a pagoda

Oh no, Don Ho

Nurse, I spy gypsies, run!

Senile felines

Now I see bees, I won

UFO tofu

We panic in a pew

Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo

God, a red nugget, a fat egg under a dog

Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog

 

Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Nancy Cobb over on Substack.
Email us at songsofbobdylan@gmail.com
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. Henry brings in Professor Jon Lasser to teach us all about the early 60's Bob Dylan song that didn't see the light of day till the mid 90s, "John Brown."

Learn more from Jon at @teachingbobdylan!

Listen and follow along with the song here:

John Brown

Written by: Bob Dylan

John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore

His mama sure was proud of him!

He stood straight and tall in his uniform and all

His mama’s face broke out all in a grin

“Oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mine

You make me proud to know you hold a gun

Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get

And we’ll put them on the wall when you come home”

As that old train pulled out, John’s ma began to shout

Tellin’ ev’ryone in the neighborhood:

“That’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know”

She made well sure her neighbors understood

She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile

As she showed them to the people from next door

And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun

And these things you called a good old-fashioned war

Oh! Good old-fashioned war!

Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come

They ceased to come for about ten months or more

Then a letter finally came saying, “Go down and meet the train

Your son’s a-coming home from the war”

She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around

But she could not see her soldier son in sight

But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last

When she did she could hardly believe her eyes

Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off

And he wore a metal brace around his waist

He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know

While she couldn’t even recognize his face!

Oh! Lord! Not even recognize his face

“Oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done

How is it you come to be this way?”

He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly move

And the mother had to turn her face away

“Don’t you remember, Ma, when I went off to war

You thought it was the best thing I could do?

I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud

You wasn’t there standing in my shoes”

“Oh, and I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here?

I’m a-tryin’ to kill somebody or die tryin’

But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close

And I saw that his face looked just like mine”

Oh! Lord! Just like mine!

“And I couldn’t help but think, through the thunder rolling and stink

That I was just a puppet in a play

And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke

And a cannonball blew my eyes away”

As he turned away to walk, his Ma was still in shock

At seein’ the metal brace that helped him stand

But as he turned to go, he called his mother close

And he dropped his medals down into her hand

Copyright © 1963, 1968 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1996 by Special Rider Music

Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Nancy Cobb over on Substack.
Email us at songsofbobdylan@gmail.com
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time.
Henry finally welcomes the iconic Queen of Bob Dylan Podcasting, Laura Tenschert aka "Definitely Dylan!" In this episode Laura brings our first "Love & Theft" song to the podcast with, "Mississippi" for a lively and fun discussion!

Mississippi
Written by: Bob Dylan

Every step of the way we walk the line

Your days are numbered, so are mine

Time is pilin’ up, we struggle and we scrape

We’re all boxed in, nowhere to escape

City’s just a jungle, more games to play

Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away

I was raised in the country, I been workin’ in the town

I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down

Got nothing for you, I had nothing before

Don’t even have anything for myself anymore

Sky full of fire, pain pourin’ down

Nothing you can sell me, I’ll see you around

All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime

Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme

Only one thing I did wrong

Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

Well, the devil’s in the alley, mule’s in the stall

Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all

I was thinkin’ about the things that Rosie said

I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie’s bed

Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees

Feeling like a stranger nobody sees

So many things that we never will undo

I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry too

Some people will offer you their hand and some won’t

Last night I knew you, tonight I don’t

I need somethin’ strong to distract my mind

I’m gonna look at you ‘til my eyes go blind

Well I got here following the southern star

I crossed that river just to be where you are

Only one thing I did wrong

Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

Well my ship’s been split to splinters and it’s sinking fast

I’m drownin’ in the poison, got no future, got no past

But my heart is not weary, it’s light and it’s free

I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me

Everybody movin’ if they ain’t already there

Everybody got to move somewhere

Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow

Things should start to get interesting right about now

My clothes are wet, tight on my skin

Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in

I know that fortune is waitin’ to be kind

So give me your hand and say you’ll be mine

Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay

You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way

Only one thing I did wrong

Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Copyright © 1996 by Special Rider Music

Check out https://www.definitelydylan.com/ and Laura's Patreon, for more content! https://www.patreon.com/c/definitelydylan/posts Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,

If you would like to support hosting my  podcasts, please check out my
Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your
choice.  Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and
Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a
surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is
already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of
fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda
Maultsby and Nancy Cobb over on Substack.

Email us at songsofbobdylan@gmail.com

Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. 

In this episode, Chicago Filmmaker and author, Michael Glover Smith returns to discuss 1997's Grammy award winning, Cold Irons Bound and its placement in 2003's Masked & Anonymous. Michael also talks about his book, "Bob Dylan As Filmmaker: No Time To Think. 

Check out www.michaelgloversmith.com

Listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics: 

Cold Irons Bound

Written by: Bob Dylan

I’m beginning to hear voices and there’s no one around

Well, I’m all used up and the fields have turned brown

I went to church on Sunday and she passed by

My love for her is taking such a long time to die

I’m waist deep, waist deep in the mist

It’s almost like, almost like I don’t exist

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

The walls of pride are high and wide

Can’t see over to the other side

It’s such a sad thing to see beauty decay

It’s sadder still to feel your heart torn away

One look at you and I’m out of control

Like the universe has swallowed me whole

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

There’s too many people, too many to recall

I thought some of ’m were friends of mine, I was wrong about ’m all

Well, the road is rocky and the hillside’s mud

Up over my head nothing but clouds of blood

I found my world, found my world in you

But your love just hasn’t proved true

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

Oh, the winds in Chicago have torn me to shreds

Reality has always had too many heads

Some things last longer than you think they will

There are some kind of things you can never kill

It’s you and you only I been thinking about

But you can’t see in and it’s hard lookin’ out

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

Well the fat’s in the fire and the water’s in the tank

The whiskey’s in the jar and the money’s in the bank

I tried to love and protect you because I cared

I’m gonna remember forever the joy that we shared

Looking at you and I’m on my bended knee

You have no idea what you do to me

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

 

Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Nancy Cobb over on Substack.
Email us at songsofbobdylan@gmail.com
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Henry welcomes professional opera singer and cantor, Mezzo Soprano, Amy Maude Helfer, to talk about 1975's Blood On The Tracks song, Lily Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts.
Listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics:
https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/lily-rosemary-and-jack-hearts/
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
Written by: Bob Dylan
The festival was over, the boys were all plannin’ for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin’ in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin’ wheel shut down
Anyone with any sense had already left town
He was standin’ in the doorway lookin’ like the Jack of Hearts

He moved across the mirrored room, “Set it up for everyone,” he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin’ before he turned their heads
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
“Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?”
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts

Backstage the girls were playin’ five-card stud by the stairs
Lily had two queens, she was hopin’ for a third to match her pair
Outside the streets were fillin’ up, the window was open wide
A gentle breeze was blowin’, you could feel it from inside
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts

Big Jim was no one’s fool, he owned the town’s only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance lookin’ so dandy and so fine
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts

Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin’ like a queen without a crown
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
“Sorry, darlin’, that I’m late,” but he didn’t seem to hear
He was starin’ into space over at the Jack of Hearts

“I know I’ve seen that face before,” Big Jim was thinkin’ to himself
“Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody’s shelf”
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the houselights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Starin’ at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts

Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled
She’d come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere
But she’d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts

The hangin’ judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined
The drillin’ in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind
It was known all around that Lily had Jim’s ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king
No, nothin’ ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts

Rosemary started drinkin’ hard and seein’ her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin’ the role of Big Jim’s wife
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide
Was lookin’ to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazin’ to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts

Lily washed her face, took her dress off and buried it away
“Has your luck run out?” she laughed at him, “Well, I guess you must
    have known it would someday
Be careful not to touch the wall, there’s a brand-new coat of paint
I’m glad to see you’re still alive, you’re lookin’ like a saint”
Down the hallway footsteps were comin’ for the Jack of Hearts

The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
“There’s something funny going on,” he said, “I can just feel it in the air”
He went to get the hangin’ judge, but the hangin’ judge was drunk
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts

Lily’s arms were locked around the man that she dearly loved to touch
She forgot all about the man she couldn’t stand who hounded her so much
“I’ve missed you so,” she said to him, and he felt she was sincere
But just beyond the door he felt jealousy and fear
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts

No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin’ there, ya couldn’t say surprised
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin’ to the Jack of Hearts

Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it’s said that they got off with quite a haul
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town
But they couldn’t go no further without the Jack of Hearts

The next day was hangin’ day, the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn’t even blink
The hangin’ judge was sober, he hadn’t had a drink
The only person on the scene missin’ was the Jack of Hearts

The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, “Closed for repair”
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair
She was thinkin’ ’bout her father, who she very rarely saw
Thinkin’ ’bout Rosemary and thinkin’ about the law
But most of all she was thinkin’ ’bout the Jack of Hearts
Copyright © 1974 by Ram's Horn Music; renewed 2002 by Ram’s Horn Music

Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Nancy Cobb over on Substack.
Email us at songsofbobdylan@gmail.com
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.