Category: Music

Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece

In this interview with Bob Dylan published June 12, 2020, there is a discussion of his 1971 song “When I Paint My Masterpiece”.

“Out of all your compositions, “When I Paint My Masterpiece” has grown on me over the years. What made you bring it back to the forefront of recent concerts?

It’s grown on me as well. I think this song has something to do with the classical world, something that’s out of reach. Someplace you’d like to be beyond your experience. Something that is so supreme and first rate that you could never come back down from the mountain. That you’ve achieved the unthinkable. That’s what the song tries to say, and you’d have to put it in that context. In saying that though, even if you do paint your masterpiece, what will you do then? Well, obviously you have to paint another masterpiece. So it could become some kind of never ending cycle, a trap of some kind. The song doesn’t say that though.”

I have always thought it was a great song and maybe his best song from the 1970s. The first version to be released was The Band’s on Cahoots (released 9/15/71). Dylan’s version was on Greatest Hits, Vol. II (released 11/17/71).

Here are the lyrics.

Dylan has changed them right from the beginning. The Band version has “a date with a pretty little girl from Greece”. Dylan’s version has “a date with Botticelli’s niece”. The live version by Dylan and the Band from December 1971 which is on the expanded Rock of Ages has the line as “pretty little girl from Greece”. This was after he had recorded it with “Botticelli’s niece”. The official lyrics have “Botticelli’s niece”. I saw him perform most recently in November 2019 and there were other changes. I don’t recall what they were but I didn’t think they were improvements.

There are covers, too.

This version at the 1992 Dylan tribute has “Greece”.
Her father, Levon Helm, sang the original version.

Neil Young again objects to Trump use of his music

Several musicians have wanted Trump to stop using their music but he doesn’t listen or care.

So does Steve Perry, formerly of Journey:

Rolling Stones threaten legal action against Trump

The Rolling Stones are so old that only Ron Wood is younger than Trump.

They are hardly the only musicians who have asked Trump to stop using their music. He just ignores them like the bills he gets from cities after his rallies.

Big Star

Big Star was one of the best bands of the 1970s. Unfortunately, many of us (including me) didn’t know about them because of record label distribution problems. I first became aware of them from an import CD in the 1980s.

Keep An Eye On The Sky is a four CD set from Rhino.

A Man Called Destruction is a fine book about Alex Chilton, the most prominent member of Big Star.

From Stax Records:

Jody Stephens, legendary drummer and CEO of Ardent Studios, spends 30 minutes with host, Tom DeSavia. Jody shares what he’s up to right now and reflects on early days with Memphis’ legendary rock band Big Star. From upcoming new music, to his appreciation of the recent Craft Big Star reissues, Jody’s grace and gratitude solidify his standing as the undisputed nicest guy in rock ‘n’ roll.

The show is here

There’s a book about their second album.

TV’s influence on elections

Television has had a huge influence on elections starting with the Kennedy-Nixon debates. Kennedy obviously came across better on TV. Charisma and excellent public speaking helped Clinton and Obama win. We have elected a movie star (Reagan) and reality TV star (Trump).

This applies to music too. Most successful musicians are attractive. The exceptions are those who are obviously or deliberately unattractive like Meat Loaf or Alice Cooper. Because of video, you don’t see average looking folks become successful musicians.

I am discussing this because of Tom Nichols’s tweets.

Bonnie Pointer

Bonnie Pointer, one of the Pointer Sisters who left the group for a solo career, died recently. In the late 1970s, she released two albums on Motown of mostly 1960s Motown covers backed by musicians including James Jamerson and Eddie Hazel. Both albums were called Bonnie Pointer.

I am not a disco fan but many of the tracks were excellent because of her singing. “Heaven Must Have Sent You”, a 1978 cover of a song originally recorded by the Elgins, was the most popular. There are two mixes including a disco 12″ version.

This is the second album. Great early Motown songs.

Adam Schlesinger

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne died from the coronavirus yesterday. He was 52. Check out “Red Dragon Tattoo”, “Stacy’s Mom”, and “Mexican Wine” from links in the article you can access from the first tweet below. Fountains of Wayne were a power pop band with a great sense of humor and compassions for the people who populated their songs. They performed on a Kinks tribute album and they have some of the same attributes as them.

The last link in the Rob Tannenbaum tweet is to Robbie Fulks’s hilarious “Fountains of Wayne Hotline””.