Girl From The North Country
Paul from Pun Salad loaned me Dylan’s collection for Victoria’s Secret, a project which has to be one of Bob’s most cryptic and mysterious gestures to date. Victoria’s Secret? They could not have been the only company that approached him last year. A guy like Dylan can choose carefully, and artists often make a game of this.
Victoria’s Secret. It is as though he is saying, “Here are a bunch of deep songs. But they’re basically about sex.”
Just continuing the tradition of reading way too much into Dylan’s every word and move.
But assuming he was saying something like that, this would be a jaded man with a sick sense of humour.
On the collection is a song I never listened to much, “Boots of Spanish Leather.” I never noticed what a total Part Two it is to “Girl From The North Country,” which would move me to tears consistently in high school and college. I’d usually start leaking around “… please see for me if she’s wearing a coat so warm…”
It could probably move me to tears now, if I would let it.
But I am just as jaded and hardened as old Bob these days. My feelings are apparently buried very deep, although I can articulate their ebb and flow. I am like a sports announcer commenting on the action down below.
A later tune of his on the collection: “Things Have Changed“. Yeah.
Also on the collection… one I’d like to learn: To Ramona. Might be singing that a lot. Maybe this whole thing is a journey back to feeling again, and once I do, it’ll be far too late. Then it’ll just be me and Bob again.
on July 13th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
I like the whole concept of communication through song. Maybe troubled couples, troubled people, should consider using this tactic in lieu of counseling. It’s like art therapy without the crayons.
The first time, I saw Dylan live, Ani Difranco opened for him. The following lyrics are from “Slide.” I posted the full lyrics on The Zucchini Patch, May 11, 2006.
she lay down in her party dress
and never got up
needless to say
she missed the party
she just got sad
then she got stuck
she was wincing
like something brittle
trying hard to bend
she was numb
with the terror
of losing her best friend
we never see things changing
we only see them ending
and some vicious whispering voice kept saying
you have no choice
you have….
Who do you think is more jaded: Bob or Ani?
on July 13th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
I don’t know… I can’t connect with Ani for some reason. Her stuff feels adolescent to me– I think she’s just a symbol of female anger for me.
Reading the first line about the “party dress” I immediately started hearing Elvis Costello’s “Alison” in my head. And preferred it.
on July 13th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
“But i heard you let that little friend of mine
Take off your party dress.” - Elvis Costello “Alison”
Use it if it makes you feel better.
on July 13th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
Elvis’s “Sneaky Feelings”, also from his first album, is another gem. Check it out:
Now everybody’s breakin’ up somebody else’s home,
before somebody else starts breaking up their own.
I get you in my dreams.
You should hear the things you say.
It’s not that it’s so much fun,
but it’s safer that way.
Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,
you can’t let those kind of feeling show.
I’d like to get right through the way I feel for you,
but I’ve still got a long way to go.
Why don’t we call it a day, and we can both confess.
You can force me to use a little tenderness.
White lies, alibis, anything but say that it’s true.
Now we could sit like lovers, staring in each other’s eyes,
but the magic of the moment might become too much for you.
Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,
you can’t let those kind of feeling show.
I’d like to get right through the way I feel for you,
But I’ve still got a long way to go.