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Comrades From The North

Welcome to another year and to the next round of the so-called Never-Ending Tour which rumbles on relentlessly. After a four month break Dylan has embarked on yet another US tour when, it is to be hoped, we will be treated to some further debut performances of cuts from Tempest. Wonder how many fans think that he will roll out the title track? Seems unlikely, given its length and word count but that was true of Highlands and he did give that a whirl, albeit very seldom. If you make it to any of these shows, enjoy them.

The most recent edition of the UK music magazine, Mojo (issue 233, April 2013) contained a feature entitled “100 greatest music films ever”. Included in the list were both Dont Look Back and Eat The Document together with a four page feature on those movies including a good sprinkling of stills. In an interview with D A Pennebaker Mojo asks him to comment upon what might yet be unseen, notwithstanding Pennebaker’s own cut of the movie and the outtakes provided to Martin Scorcese for No Direction Home. The reply is intriuging:

"I sat up one night with Bob and Robbie. And in the course of that night they wrote 10, maybe 20 songs. The songs were really interesting and I never heard them again. They were just things that happened. They never became songs officially, as far as I know. And I still remember them and I recorded some of them."

The article then goes on to list Dylan’s best screen performances since 1978 which consist of five interviews spanning the years 1984 to 1993. You make up your own mind!

Now we all know that Dylan references have percolated all areas. They turn up in the press, literature, TV and radio quizzes and TV programmes. Occasionally there is one that takes you by surprise..Recently Channel 5 broadcast a detective show called Jack Taylor. The programme is set in Galway and the main character is an ex-Garda man who has become a PI having been kicked out of the force. In the first episode, on befriending a young WPC, and sharing a drink with her he reflects on life:

" Life is sad, life is a bust
All you can do is do what you must."

to which the WPC replies

"Dylan. Blood On the Tracks"

In the second episode, having been away from Galway for some time, he meets up with the WPC and gives her a present which he describes as “A copy of Dylan’s debut album with four deleted tracks. It’s rare” Even thouigh it’s incorrect, it is relatively obscure stuff for mainstream audiences. Want to bet that the writer is a Dylan fan?

We hope that you enjoy this issue and that it’s all good.

May you climb on every rung ..........



Mike & John


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