Aggie87

From the NY Times ... The Ballad of Henry Timrod By SUZANNE VEGA Published: September 17, 2006 I AM passionate about Bob Dylan. As a songwriter, I find there is nothing like singing “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).” It is nearly eight minutes of cascading images, rich language and the coolest, most unexpected metaphors. My synapses light up in little fireworks, making connections they don’t get to make in ordinary life. So I read with curiosity about the similarities between some lyrics on his new album and the verses of a forgotten Civil War-era poet. Who is Henry Timrod? Is it true that Mr. Dylan has been borrowing from his poetry? I ran out and bought the CD — not downloading it, because I wanted the lyric booklet. I wanted to see the evidence. And, of course, I discovered that he includes no lyrics in the CD package. No words at all, not even liner notes. Bob isn’t making this easy. It’s modern to use history as a kind of closet in which we can rummage around, pull influences from different eras, and make them into collages or pastiches. People are doing this with music all the time. I hear it in, say, Christina Aguilera’s new album, or in the music of Sufjan Stevens. So I had an open mind when approaching this Dylan album — which is called “Modern Times,” by the way. Does this method of working extend to a lyric? To a metaphor? To Bob Dylan’s taking an exact phrase from some guy we never heard of from the middle of the 19th century without crediting him? That’s what I needed to satisfy myself about. For example, recently I saw a poem on the subway that startled me. It is by the 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi. One of my own songs says: I’d like to meet you In a timeless, placeless place Somewhere out of context And beyond all consequences I won’t use words again They don’t mean what I meant They don’t say what I said They’re just the crust of the meaning With realms underneath Never touched Never stirred Never even moved through. Rumi’s poem says: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, There is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other Doesn’t make any sense. Sorry for that chunk of text right there, but I want to make sure everyone is credited properly. So, I sat on the subway staring at the words, wondering — how did that happen? I had never even heard of Rumi, and I thought the resonance of ideas was a remarkable coincidence. I felt vaguely guilty and wondered if I should be paying royalties to someone. But back to Bob Dylan. Is it part of the “folk process” to lift a few specific metaphors or phrases whole from someone else’s work? I really don’t think it is. Being influenced by a text and reworking it is not the same as directly quoting, which is what he has done here. Still, Bob Dylan doesn’t have to steal from anybody. Go into any club that still has hoot night, and you will hear someone at the mike stealing from Bob Dylan. His singing and writing style is one of the most influential and recognizable of the last century. And the phrases that he lifted were only details in the scope of this new album. Did he do this on purpose? I doubt it. Maybe he has a photographic memory, and bits of text stick to it. Maybe it shows how deeply he had immersed himself in the texts and times of the Civil War, and he was completely unconscious of it. These days if a sample of music is taken, you have to acknowledge the original artists and pay them. (See: “Tom’s Diner.”) Shouldn’t the same courtesy be extended to all intellectual property? In other words, is he really “a thieving little swine” as one “fan” puts it? Well, I guess he is. But I am trying to imagine a Bob Dylan album with footnotes, asterisks, ibid.’s and nifty little anecdotes about the origins of each song. It’s not going to happen. He’s never pretended to be an academic, or even a nice guy. He is more likely to present himself as, well, a thief. Renegade, outlaw, artist. That’s why we are passionate about him.

so where does the scarf go?

Just picked this up today, and haven't spun it yet. But I did notice that according to the booklet (after some more fun Mehldau notes), that this was recorded in Dec 2006 Them Blue Note Quality Control folks must have been subcontracted on this release...

update - I went to check my order status today, only to find that there was no order status. Amazon cancelled my order (and didn't tell me). I called their customer service, and spoke to a rep there, who explained it was a "pricing error" on Amazon's part, and at their discretion they cancelled my order. I griped about them not honoring a price that was legitimately listed on their site, but couldn't get past the "our pricing error" argument. Apparently they don't have any supervisors available to speak with at this hour, either. I also told her if it was actually a mistake (which I suspect), wouldn't it make better sense to suck it up and honor the offer anyway (and continue the goodwill with this customer) rather than lose any of my future business? Oh well. Their loss. I very rarely purchase any new, regular-priced items from them anyway.

Happy B-day, dude!

I know this band doesn't really fit the timeframe that applies to this thread (15 yrs old or younger), but if anyone's interested in R.E.M.'s 80's stuff, they have a new compilation of the IRS years, as well as an IRS years DVD that just came out. Best Buy has the 2-cd set (1 disc best of, 1 disc of rarities) for $14.99, and the DVD for $16.99 or thereabouts. They are priced comparably at Amazon.com. However, if you put both of them in your cart at Amazon, and proceed to the checkout, it somehow gives you a discount of $24.98 on your purchase, and shipping is free too. So you get BOTH the 2-cd set plus the DVD for a total of $14.99 shipped to your door. Great deal for those who like this band's earlier output.... edit - so is r.e.m. considered modern rock or classic rock now?

A few that I've noticed that I don't think have been mentioned in this thread: Elvis Costello/Alvin Toussaint - River in Reverse Medeski Martin & Wood - Note Bleu (CD/DVD deluxe edition) Vijay Iyer/Rudresh Mahanthappa - Raw Materials Regina Carter - I'll Bee Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey Jane Monheit - The Season Dead Man Walking Soundtrack (Deluxe Edition w/concert DVD) Harry Nillson - Everybody's Talkin'/Very Best of Jefferson Airplane - The Worst Of (remaster) v/a - Strummin' with the Devil (click the sound samples to hear some unintentionally (?) funny David Lee Roth) Hot Tuna - Keep on Truckin'/Best of Boston - Boston & Don't Look Back (remasters) Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (Legacy Ed.) Depeche Mode - Violator (CD/DVD)

I like the Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall. Will have to check this one out sometime, thanks for the heads up!

This is now about the 4th thread on this beer. <sigh>

Don't forget about his latest, "Sonny Please", which is currently available exclusively through his website, but is to be available through normal retail sources shortly.

Cowboys have some receivers this year, but need a QB who can tell which jerseys belong to which team. MF Bledsoe threw 3 INTs yesterday to cost us the game v. Jacksonville. One more game like that and I think the Tony Romo era will begin in Dallas.

Let's give the chipmunk a first class ticket to NYC to address JLarsen's squirrel problem...

Friendly insults tossed around? Tossed around? Don't you mean thrown with high velocity??

<rant on> ...snip.... <rant off> edit - sorry about that, not my place to do this. Drive along, nothing to see here!

Saban got screwed during the game last night, when he threw the replay flag but none of the refs caught it. Miller clearly was out of bounds before he scored, so the TD shouldn't have counted. However, I suspect the Steelers would have scored on that drive anyway, since it would have been 1st and Goal on the 2 yard line or wherever he went out, so I'm not sure the ref's missing that call affected the outcome. Saban should have been more forceful throwing the flag, for sure. I don't like T.O. either, Al, but I can't give up my allegiance to the Boys - been with them too long now. Plus I think they've been developing a quality team for the most part, regardless of bringing Owens in this year. The D looks to be pretty damn good, and with a little more firming up on the O-Line, I think they've done a pretty good job on that side, too. edited for spelling mistake - "through" vs "threw"...sheesh, you'd think at this age I wouldn't mess stuff like that up!

He was just here in Corpus Christi this past Sunday, though I couldn't make the show. I like Lyle's sound and combination of styles into a cohesive "thing". I saw him last year, and they brought out a gospel choir on a couple of numbers, too. Since it was an electric bassist, I guess it wasn't Viktor Krauss?

I believe it's the Japanese word for "sash", as in kimono sash (also the "belt" on a karate uniform). I believe it's been discussed/explained on the board before, though a search for "obi" will be impossible, as it's just 3 letters.

You're not Greg Maltz are you? I don't remember him ever using a smiley...

Or else tell them that this year we're giving them the gift of music, i.e., that we're going to let them listen to our new Concord CDs. Our buy 100+, and give out two or three as presents. "See, I did spend that money on presents." I like the way you think!

Is this actually music that can be downloaded as MP3's or something? Or is there some sort of proprietary software or something that only allows you to listen to their tracks while on their website? Either way, I'm not really interested. Love me them real shiny silver discs!

As Ron knows, Wolf Bierman IS the German Bob Dylan. Coincidence that these two were sent together? I think not!

Now you're talkin, buddy! Bier + Musik Laden + Essen =

Either a big box (or two), or a large order of single cd's, where you can spread the shipping cost over the 20 or more cd's. You can still get a very good deal doing this. They had/have a large number of Concord titles for sale that Concord didn't, in the last go round.

I would step back slowly, so as not to disturb Nene. I wouldn't want one mad at me.

I tend to agree with Ron. I had a bad experience with them earlier this year, but part of it was a case of poor timing (2001 warehouse relocation), and the rest (I believe) was a shipping company failure. Initially I ordered about 5 box sets, only one of which was ultimately shipped, and that got lost in transit, and had to be re-sent. Ultimately because of their "good" customer service I ended up with a Dexter Gordon Prestige box completely free, as a result of the problems. Initially they refunded the shipping cost, then the cost of the box itself. Since 2001 doesn't deal with "normal" in print items, but limited batches of merchandise (at GREAT prices), when things do get lost in shipment, I think generally their only recourse is to give you a refund, as they likely won't have any replacement items. It doesn't ease the frustration when you don't get something you order, but at least they try to make amends. I have ordered from them since with no problem whatsoever, and will again.