Dylan Christmas Songs
TIM...@aol.com
REGARDING
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 22:56:13 GMT
From: johnkirkbride <johnki...@YARBOROUGH.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Christmas songs
> I know this is a stupied question but is there anything out there with
> bob dylan siging christmas songs???
>
> jesse
>Even during his religious phase I don't remember any references to
>Christmas.
>However one track that always inspires me at Christmas is When He Return=
s
>(Slow Train Coming)
>Teresa
Isn=92t that more an easter song?
Actually, There is a Dylan Christmas song. WINTERLUDE. That=92s the Dylan=
song
I play during the holidays. And, while he might not have a christmas song=
,
NEW MORNING is an excellent New Years Day Song.
BOB reminds me of Chrstimas, just cause it was like a christmas gift to m=
e
when I was like 14 or something.
Hey, speaking of the holidays could somebody repost the SNOW ON INTERSTAT=
E 80
thing. That was so amazing, it=92s like the holy grail of Dylan releases.=
Does
it exist? Is it myth? I have been thinking about it since I read it last
year.
In fact, making its positng an annual christmas event is a great idea.
PS, I could figure out to use that archive thing I would.
PLEASE REPOST ON SNOW ON INTERSTATE 80.
Seth Kulick
In article <97120408432...@mrin40.mx>, <TIM...@AOL.COM> wrote:
>REGARDING
>Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 22:56:13 GMT
>From: johnkirkbride <johnki...@YARBOROUGH.DEMON.CO.UK>
>Subject: Re: Christmas songs
>
>> I know this is a stupied question but is there anything out there with
>> bob dylan siging christmas songs???
>>
>> jesse
>
>>Even during his religious phase I don't remember any references to
>>Christmas.
Guthrie's 1913 Massacre, which Dylan used to perform, mentions Christmas.
But there's about a zero chance of hearing this song on any Christmas
collection.
But it's now the season to start listening for Burl Ives singing "Have a Holly
Jolly Christmas".
--
------------------------------------------------------------
Seth Kulick "There are no kings inside the
University of Pennsylvania gates of Eden" - Bob Dylan
sku...@linc.cis.upenn.edu http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~skulick/home.html
jsk
Seth Kulick <sku...@muzungu.cis.upenn.edu> wrote:
> In article <97120408432...@mrin40.mx>, <TIM...@AOL.COM> wrote:
> >REGARDING
> >Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 22:56:13 GMT
> >From: johnkirkbride <johnki...@YARBOROUGH.DEMON.CO.UK>
> >Subject: Re: Christmas songs
> >
> >> I know this is a stupied question but is there anything out there with
> >> bob dylan siging christmas songs???
> >>
> >> jesse
> >
> >>Even during his religious phase I don't remember any references to
> >>Christmas.
> Guthrie's 1913 Massacre, which Dylan used to perform, mentions Christmas.
> But there's about a zero chance of hearing this song on any Christmas
> collection.
> But it's now the season to start listening for Burl Ives singing "Have a Holly
> Jolly Christmas".
On the album, Good as I been to you, there is a reference to
Christmas on the song, Arther McBride.
WT Pfefferle, Ph.D.
>REGARDING
>Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 22:56:13 GMT
>From: johnkirkbride <johnki...@YARBOROUGH.DEMON.CO.UK>
>Subject: Re: Christmas songs
>
>> I know this is a stupied question but is there anything out there with
>> bob dylan siging christmas songs???
Can You Please Crawl Down My Chimney
Ho Ho Ho,
WT
Bob Stacy
TIM...@AOL.COM wrote:
> Hey, speaking of the holidays could somebody repost the SNOW ON
> INTERSTATE 80
> thing. That was so amazing, it’s like the holy grail of Dylan
> releases. Does
> it exist? Is it myth? I have been thinking about it since I read it
> last
> year.
>
> In fact, making its positng an annual christmas event is a great idea.
>
> PS, I could figure out to use that archive thing I would.
>
> PLEASE REPOST ON SNOW ON INTERSTATE 80.
Well -- I dunno about the holy grail of Dylan releases. But the rumor
of that LP did seem to raise the ante on the Dylan myth a degree or two
(even with tongue in cheek). And that newspaper(?) article did bring a
chuckle even in the old days. Ah well, since some of us really have
been good boys & girls this past year -- and I can't make that archive
thing work too well either -- we'll just slog down another cup of
Christmas cheer and let fly with a good old reposting. For it 'tis the
season ....
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Oh my! 'Tis it once again the season to dredge up a Ghost of Christmas
Past? Move over Marley, here comes Ebeneezer Bob.
Please pardon if this has been posted previously or is elsewhere on the
net, but from [God-knows-where, December 1975], Dean Te Dios did write:
-------------------------------------------------------------
DYLAN - the missing Christmas album
At last, definite evidence has come to light that confirms that, in the
autumn of 1965, Bob Dylan *did* record a Christmas Album.
The existence of the Dylan Christmas Album has always been hotly denied
by Dylan himself, his management, and his record company. Even the most
determined bootleggers and Dylanologists have been unable to obtain
extant copies of the record, the master tapes of which were allegedly
destroyed when the project was suddenly nixed by Dylan himself at the
eleventh hour.
Now, "Thrills" has obtained a copy, rumoured to be one of only seven
copies in the world, the other copies being in the possession of Dylan
himself, his then manager Albert Grossman, ex-CBS president Clive Davis
and anonymous French collector said to have paid $100,000 for it in
1966.
How this copy of the album - which was entitled "Snow Over Interstate
80" - came into our hands, must of course, remain the darkest of
secrets. But here, for your delight, are the true facts.
The sessions which produced "Interstate" took place in New York City,
between the completion of "Highway 61Revisited" and the commencement of
the "Blonde On Blonde" sessions. Considering the album comes from
Dylan's 'classic' middle period, most of the tracks are, frankly,
disappointing.
It has been said that the idea of a Christmas Album was forced on Dylan
against his will by commercial pressures and a previously unnoticed
clause in his recording contract. Dylan seems to have treated the idea
with an intriguing mixture of enthusiasm and commercial cynicism.
The album had apparently been completed, mixed, and several thousand
copies pressed before Dylan reversed his decision and cancelled the
whole project, after threatening never to perform again if the album
were released. Even the cover artwork had been tentatively completed
[when Dylan announced his decision], the rough of which "Thrills" shows
for the first time.
Side one kicks off with a dynamic up-tempo version of "Visions Of
Johanna", in which the "Nightingale's Code" version of the lyrics is
laid over a rocking Kooper/Bloomfield workout on what is at root, a
standard Jimmy Reed riff. The track runs to some seven minutes and
tends to slide over the edge towards the end when Bloomfield and Kooper
indulge in a lengthy pre-"Super Session" trading of solos.
Track two is a studio recording of "Tell Me Mama" that Dylan performed
regularly during the 1966 tour with The Band and is already preserved on
the "Live At The Albert Hall" bootleg.
The third track is the most bizarre on the record. Would you believe
"Frosty The Snowman" in the style of the Ronettes on Phil Spector's
Christmas album with The Zim giving a three year advance preview on his
"Nashville Skyline" voice? Fantastic, but true. Dylan drawls out the
lyrics, and at one memorable juncture after yelling ".... and two eyes
made out of co-a-l" adds a spontaneous whoop of "believe me mama".
The production credit for "Frosty" is mysteriously given to one "Delmore
Nis Won", which, according to more than one reliable source, was Phil
Spector and Brian Wilson working in uneasy harness at Dylan's personal
and adamant insistence.
The first side closes with a massed female chorale of dubious pitch
singing "I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas" against an almost mournful
background of strings, with an occasional overdub of some lazy slide
guitar, sounding suspiciously like early Ry Cooder. The chorale was
apparently made up of youthful Greenwich Village folkies, including
(according to some sources) the anonymous and bespectacled eighteen year
old Patti Smith, and the Warhol model Edie Sedgwick.
Dylan occurs nowhere on the entire cut unless it is he strumming lazy
twelve string rhythm guitar. Production here, however, is credited to
Dylan.
Side Two opens with the title track, "Snow Over Interstate 80" - which
is possibly as magnificent as anything on "Blonde On Blonde", with
lines like:
"Arabella talks so sweetly
Her Chevy's broken down
As the snow piles on her windshield
Winston's back in town ... "
Backing is the 'jingle jangle' sound of numbers like "Stuck Inside of
Mobile With Thee" supplemented at the end with some heavily echoed
sleigh bells.
It's followed bv "Farewell Angelina", which is frankly, just not that
good. It seems to have been left over from an earlier session -
possibly from "Another Side" - and features Dylan playing acoustic and
singing halfheartedly. Joan Baez did it better.
Then we are confronted by another sop to a 'Dylan Christmas Album', as
he recites, with no instrumental accompaniment, the relevant part of St.
Matthew's gospel - "And there came a great light, etc."
It takes a little over a minute. There is nothing else to say.
Those of you still reading this will probably be familiar with the
widely bootlegged "She's Your Lover Now", which is the next cut. In
fact, none of the bootleg versions has a completely mixed ending like
the version presented here, which has a fade-out time of some two
minutes.
Next up is an eight minute marathon cut, called "Freewheelin'", never
previously bootlegged or published. It's a slow acoustic number
supplemented with spartan bass and drums and a sinewy guitar from what
must be Robbie Robertson, and seems to be another diatribe against Suzy
Rolloto [sp.] whom enthusiasts recall is pictured walking down
snow-bound streets of New York with Dylan on the cover of "Freewheelin"'
album.
The album then swings back in its schizoid fashion to a final stab at a
seasonal offering with "Silent Night" with what sounds like Michael
Bloomfield playing primo tacky acoustic and Dylan's almost consistently
out of tune singing.
It's easy to see why Dylan insisted on the whole thing being scrapped
despite the outstanding magnificence of a handful of the cuts. The
title track was also being considered for a Christmas Single by all
accounts.
A later Dylan Christmas single rumoured to be called "Woodstock Yule",
and alledgedly arising from the "Self Portrait" sessions, has never come
to light.
---------------------- End of 1975 article ----------------------
The article shows a cover for the album - a head and shoulders shot of a
1965-ish Dylan on an all-white background. Full title is "Bob Dylan:
Snow Over Interstate 80". A CBS emblem appears in the upper right hand
corner (no other labeling or identifiers are visible).
Oh mama, could this have really been the end? ;-)
Happy Mickelmass!
-Bob Stacy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wake us up again next year 'round about this time, supply another a cup
or two of Christmas cheer, and once again we'll bring down the snow over
Interstate 80. Damn, I just love annual Christmas events, don't you?
;-)
-Bob Stacy
Alan Fraser
Like A Rolling Snowball?
ka...@cp.duluth.mn.us
In article <97120408432...@mrin40.mx>,
TIM...@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> REGARDING
> Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 22:56:13 GMT
> From: johnkirkbride <johnki...@YARBOROUGH.DEMON.CO.UK>
> Subject: Re: Christmas songs
>
> > I know this is a stupied question but is there anything out there with
> > bob dylan siging christmas songs???
> >
>
> >Even during his religious phase I don't remember any references to
> >Christmas.
> s
> >(Slow Train Coming)
>
> >Teresa
>
> Isn=92t that more an easter song?
>
> Actually, There is a Dylan Christmas song. WINTERLUDE. That=92s the Dylan=
> song
> I play during the holidays. And, while he might not have a christmas song=
> ,
> NEW MORNING is an excellent New Years Day Song.
>
>
Don't forget "Three Angels" - If you play that song to someone
who doesn't have an opinion about Bob Dylan, they right away start
to take him seriously.
Three angels up above the street,
Each one playing a horn,
Dressed in green robes with wings that stick out,
They've been there since Christmas morn.
The wildest cat from Montana passes by in a flash,
Then a lady in a bright orange dress,
One U'Haul trailer, a truck with no wheels,
The Tenth Avenue bus going west.
The dogs and pigeons fly up and they flutter around,
A man with a badge skips by,
Three fellas crawlin' on their way back to work,
Noooobody stops to ask why.
The bakery truck stops outside of that fence
Where the angels stand high on their poles,
The driver peeks out, trying to find one face
In this concrete world full of souls.
The angels play on their horns all day,
The whole earth in progression seems to pass by.
But does anyone hear the music they play,
Does anyone even try? from 'new morning'
To me that song perfectly captures the dichotomy between the
sacredness of Christmas and the meaningless bustle attached to it.
Anne
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Biffyshrew
Don't forget the Santa Claus reference in "On The Road Again."
(And maybe those "reindeer armies" in IAON,BB count, too...)
Your pal,
Biffy the Elephant Shrew @}-`--}----
Visit me at http://members.aol.com/biffyshrew/biffy.html
Hope I buy before I get sold.