A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I mean, you know, people enjoying that kind of pain?” – Bob Dylan
I’m listening to Dylan and man, this really is a perfect album. There aren’t many and this is one of them. It’s post-divorce apocalypse, which does tend to bring out the greatness in artists (see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “Shoot Out The Lights”, Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear”). How can the raw, bloody pain of “You’re A Big Girl Now” not resonate with anyone who’s ever hit emotional bottom?
Bird on the horizon, sittin’ on a fence
He’s singin’ his song for me at his own expense
And I’m just like that bird, oh, oh
Singin’ just for you
I hope that you can hear
Hear me singin’ through these tears.
Then there’s the wounded, still-beating heart of “If You See Her, Say Hello”:
We had a falling-out, like lovers often will
And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill
And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart
She still lives inside of me, we’ve never been apart.
It just tears me up every time I hear it. I’ve been there. Haven’t we all?
The album ends on a philosophical note with “Buckets of Rain”, with Dylan looking to fall in love again:
Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must
You do what you must do and ya do it well
I’ll do it for you, honey baby
Can’t you tell?
Great fucking album.
I know Gregg Inhofer, who played keys on that album. Great guy, Susie, you might check out some of his stuff.
I played this all during the summer of 1975, traveling through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas with a wagon train…
I will, thanks!