Leamington Letters #110: Negativity don't pull you through
My morning ritual seldom varies: espresso, a vape or three, the delivery of Jill's hot lemon to her bedside. And then, in season, the baseball box scores, Bob's set lists from the previous night, and finally a perusal of the Dylan Daily and Expecting Rain.
Expecting Rain is the website that, each day, provides links to the huge number of Bob references, news items and reviews that are published daily throughout the world. Its founder, Karl Erik Andersen, runs this massive project from somewhere in north Norway. It is a source of endless delight, fascination and information: a series of running updates to Michael Gray's masterly Dylan Encyclopœdia.
A couple of days ago, it flagged up a short piece by Andrew Muir, the exemplary chronicler of the Never Ending Tour, who expressed his surprise at the recent "negativity in fandom": "I am a little taken aback at the amount and strength of the gripes over the as yet unheard Fallen Angels" he wrote, pointing out that much of this negativity "seems to come especially from guys in their 60s who saw Bob in the '60s and are forever complaining that Bob isn't doing what they want him to do".
We are, of course, talkin' about my generation. I am one of those guys. I am well into my 60s and first saw Bob in 1964. I have embraced (almost) every musical and cultural move that he has made, defying the party line in '65 to welcome – even relish - the thin wild Mercury music, and then to learn to love the country pie, the rolling thunder, the Christianity, and on and on until we reach today and the 'Sinatra period'.
Sinatra is pretty important to us baby-boomers. Sinatra was what was playing on our parents' gramophones when we were small. We absorbed the songs and the style through osmosis. We know them just as we know Bob's lyrics because, to borrow George Steiner's distinction, we did not learn them by rote, but by heart.
Is this why so many of my contemporaries have such a problem with Bob doing Frank? Or is it because 'covers' are not regarded as 'creative'? But Bob has always done 'covers' – one of the highlights, for me, of the Never Ending Tour was his London Calling at Brixton Academy in 2005. And of course, he 'covers' his own songs constantly, reinventing and recreating them. That's what those of us who love 'the song and dance man' as well as the recording artist love. That's what makes us schlep hundreds of miles to see and hear him.
I haven't attended as many shows as Andy Muir, but I've been hittin' some hard travellin' too. Only once have I been profoundly disappointed, at Birmingham in 1987. Which means Bob has an approval rating from me on a par with Don Bradman's test average. And I am confident that, when I see him this year, the vibe will be positive and passionate. I for one want to hear him sing Melancholy Mood and That Old Black Magic. I want to hear his take on them.
Of course, talkin' about my generation, there is a broader point to be made about Bob and us. Andy makes it succinctly: it is "a resentment at once being so in thrall".
We are, in so many ways, a failed generation. And there is a temptation to project our sense of failure on those who epitomized and articulated our hopes and ambitions, our sense of ourselves in the days "when we were thin" (thanks CP Lee!). I suspect this is where many of my friends and contemporaries sit today.
But one thing I know: When your gravity fails and negativity don't pull you through, don't put on any airs. Wherever you are.
Today from the everysmith vaults: Bob at Earl's Court in 1978, one of five nights as part of the Alimony Tour. Brilliant.
Hey, we have all lived our lives vicariously through Bob. Measured out our lives in Dylan shows. But this Sinatra stuff is just boring, and more importantly, it has taken over the shows. A little goes a long way. A lot goes nowhere. Sorry.
The broader point is the more important. The baby boomer generation thought we could and would change the world and are now becoming our parents.The 'negativity' regarding Bob doing Sinatra is a symptom of that: we hate what we have become.
I was there for London Calling. It was the Tuesday show. It was not that it was a good cover - it wasn't very. It was the fact that he did it!
Max, Bob isn't perfect despite what you think. I actually love the crooning but to pretend that he hasn't delivered some dross over the years is crazy. I won't list everything but early 90s? Dreadful.
Good piece. And right, too.
Gotta believe Bob had a laugh knowing he was going to ruffle some feathers with this decision. He and Frank posed a type of mutual antithesis in the minds of most of his fans, at least during the outset period of the 60's.
Now that we've become acquainted with Bob's deep connection to both songcraft and marrow-deep Americana, an approach to Sinatra's catalog would seem to make sense.
Yes! I'm not clear why covering Blind Willie McTell, for example, or Willie Brown is acceptable, even praiseworthy; while covering Sinatra provokes such criticism. See you in a month!
Failed generation? Speak for yourself.
I regret to say that I am doing so.
Those Earls Court shows, followed by Blackbushe, were magnificent and the Alimony Tour as a whole was poorly represented by the Budokan release. He was on fire. Two and a half hour shows, lots of banter, Scarlet, Mason. Check out the Paris shows too. As for the negativity surrounding current Bob, well if you don't like it, don't go. He never did what he was supposed to do. He will just shrug and say, 'you go your way and I'll go mine'. I'm with Bob.
Simon L
You and/or Andy Muir are right. He's seldom done what we wanted him to do, and that is why we want him. For my taste, there were too many Sinatras in the '15 tour, but that's an issue with the balance of the shows rather than the quality of the performances. I still emerged on a high and like you fully expect to do so again this year.
Mike Gibson
It's the critics - self-appointed or otherwise who have the problem, not Dylan fans or fanatics. Bob shows will continue to sell out because there is a huge audience for current Bob. They should not criticise what they don't understand. You're right. Why should a cover of a Sinatra song be less good than a cover of an old blues man?
Yes. There's no money in saying he was brilliant. Editors want him slagged off. It makes for better copy.
I find it odd that the only time I've ever seen Bob live was in Birmingham in 1987. Supported by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, no?
That's the one. Bob was out of it. I was so embarrassed I left before the end: first and only time. The story goes that, as Bob launched into something or other, one of the Heartbreakers said to petty: 'What the hell is this?' Petty responded, 'Dunno, but it's in D'. Which is now a family saying whenever we don't know an answer! xx