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| Första skivomslaget, 1962 |
Tria Carmina
med
Bob Dylan (f. 1941)
*
Bob Dylan fick sin musikaliska näring via radiosändningar. Favoriterna var bluesen och countrysångerna.
Under skoltiden startade han olika band som spelade rockmusik. Utvecklingen fortsatte sedan på universitetet i Minneapolis. Det var under den perioden som han tog sig namnet Bob Dylan. Det nya efternamnet sägs vara inspirerat av den walesiske författaren Dylan Thomas, som ofta var på "turné" i USA och gjorde uppläsningar.
Han gav sig av till New York för att prova lyckan. Han upptäcktes av skivproducenten John Hammond, och 1962 gav han ut sitt debutalbum "Bob Dylan".
Song to Woody, by Bob Dylan
(From album Bob Dylan. Label: Columbia/Capitol, 1962.)
I’m out here a thousand miles from my home
Walkin’ a road other men have gone down
I’m seein’ your world of people and things
Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings
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| Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) |
Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
’Bout a funny ol’ world that’s a-comin’ along
Seems sick an’ it’s hungry, it’s tired an’ it’s torn
It looks like it’s a-dyin’ an’ it’s hardly been born
Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know
All the things that I’m a-sayin’ an’ a-many times more
I’m a-singin’ you the song, but I can’t sing enough
’Cause there’s not many men that done the things that you’ve done
Here’s to Cisco an’ Sonny an’ Leadbelly too
An’ to all the good people that traveled with you
Here’s to the hearts and the hands of the men
That come with the dust and are gone with the wind
I’m a-leavin’ tomorrow, but I could leave today
Somewhere down the road someday
The very last thing that I’d want to do
Is to say I’ve been hittin’ some hard travelin’ too
***
Redan efter sitt andra album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), var han på mångas läppar. Det första spåret "Blowin' in the wind" blev en verklig hit.
Men i Tria Carmina hoppar vi fram till 1981 och den då 40-årige Bob Dylan. Han ger ut albumet "Shot of love", vilken är hans tredje platta med kristna förtecken. Även om plattan också innehåller en låt om den kontroversielle komikern Lenny Bruce. Skivan ger en rätt dystopisk bild av världen, och kritikerna var rätt ljumma i sina recensioner. Jag har valt det avslutande spåret.
Every grain of sand, by Bob Dylan
(From album Shot of love. Label: Columbia, 1981.)
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There’s a dyin’ voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair
Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay
I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand
***
Den musikaliska resan slutar med albumet "Love and theft", från 2001. Skivans titel är ett medvetet val, för att Bob Dylan den här gången lånar referenser och fraser från andra artister (och från sina tidigare plattor). Även om låtarna inte kan räknas som några covers. Den fick ganska bra mottagande från kritikerna. Jag tycker inte om den och jag slutade i princip att lyssna på Dylan efteråt.
Den 60-årige Bob Dylan har färdats eoner av tid (känns det som) från 60-talet och svaren som kom med vinden, till en hes rockabilly som gör avkall på sina grundläggande avsikter - att vara/låta unik. Dessutom har han mage att kalla en av låtarna, "Honest with me". FY!
Honest with me, by Bob Dylan
(From album Love and theft. Label: Columbia, 2001.)
Well, I’m stranded in the city that never sleeps
Some of these women they just give me the creeps
I’m avoidin’ the Southside the best I can
These memories I got, they can strangle a man
Well I came ashore in the dead of the night
Lot of things can get in the way when you’re tryin’ to do what’s right
You don’t understand it—my feelings for you
You’d be honest with me if only you knew
I’m not sorry for nothin’ I’ve done
I’m glad I fought—I only wish we’d won
The Siamese twins are comin’ to town
People can’t wait—they’re gathered around
When I left my home the sky split open wide
I never wanted to go back there—I’d rather have died
You don’t understand it—my feelings for you
You’d be honest with me if only you knew
My woman got a face like a teddy bear
She’s tossin’ a baseball bat in the air
The meat is so tough you can’t cut it with a sword
I’m crashin’ my car, trunk first into the boards
You say my eyes are pretty and my smile is nice
Well, I’ll sell it to ya at a reduced price
You don’t understand it—my feelings for you
You’d be honest with me, if only you knew
Some things are too terrible to be true
I won’t come here no more if it bothers you
The Southern Pacific leaving me at nine forty-five
I’m having a hard time believin’ some people were ever alive
I’m stark naked, but I don’t care
I’m going off into the woods, I’m huntin’ bare
You don’t understand it—my feelings for you
Well, you’d be honest with me if only you knew
I’m here to create the new imperial empire
I’m going to do whatever circumstances require
I care so much for you—didn’t think that I could
I can’t tell my heart that you’re no good
Well, my parents they warned me not to waste my years
And I still got their advice oozing out of my ears
You don’t understand it—my feelings for you
Well, you’d be honest with me if only you knew
***
Nästa veckas poet: Harry Martinson
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