Crossing The River: 'Key West' and Bob Dylan's Heavenly Album Closers

"Key West is the place to be

If you're looking for immortality

Key West is Paradise divine"

Like most Dylan fans, I've spent a lot of time lately listening to Rough and Rowdy Ways. It's a remarkable album, but I've been going back to one song more than most: 'Key West (Philosopher Pirate)', which acts as a sort-of album closer at the end of disc 1, separated as it is from the towering 'Murder Most Foul' on disc two. Listening to 'Key West', I can't help but picture Bob as he appears on the back cover of Tempest - with shades on in his top-down convertible - taking a sunset drive down the Overseas Highway from Miami to Key West, the musings on life and mortality that make up the lyrics drifting through his mind as he drives. 

The song's position as an (almost) album closer, combined with it's content of a narrator seemingly looking toward the world beyond, reminded me of several other songs that appear on Dylan albums, usually as the final song. 'Heaven Songs', I call them, and they're something of a recurring trend.

The first one is 'Rank Strangers to Me' from Dylan's 1988 album Down in the Groove. 'Rank Strangers', written by Albert E. Brumley and first published in 1942, was a signature song for The Stanley Brothers, and is described by Cary O'Dell of the Library of Congress as "a song about death, the transcendence and an afterlife". Dylan's version of the track - which, like 'Key West', is preceded by a song about crossing a river - places the singer in a barren, desolate landscape, as he returns to his former "home in the mountains" and reminisces about a time when he was "happy and free." To his dismay, he finds that so much time has passed that he no longer knows anyone in his hometown; even his friends and family are nowhere to be found. As he explains in the final verse:

They've all moved away, said the voice of a stranger

To a beautiful home by the bright crystal sea

Some beautiful day I'll meet them in heaven

Where no one will be a stranger to me

'Lone Pilgrim', the second in this series of 'Heaven Songs', appears at the end of World Gone Wrong, Dylan's 1993 album of folk and blues songs. In his liner notes for the album, Dylan reveals that he based his version of the song - credited here to B.F. White but apparently based on an 1838 poem by Elder John Ellis - on Doc Watson's interpretation, probably from the 1963 Folkways album The Watson Family. The song starts off being narrated by a visitor to the grave of the titular 'lone pilgrim', but soon switches to the voice of the pilgrim's ghost, who speaks of his contentment in the afterlife. The last verse is my favourite:

Go tell my companion and children most dear

To weep not for me now I'm gone

The same hand that lead me through scenes most severe

Has kindly assisted me home

 

The next song is, besides 'Key West', the only track on this list penned by Bob himself: the mighty 'Highlands' from 1997's Time Out of Mind. 'Highlands', the way I hear it, is a song about being directionless; the narrator drifts "from scene to scene" aimlessly (for 17 minutes), with his only comfort being the thought of the Highlands off in the distance. Does he get there? No, but that's okay, because like he says in the final line - as if realising it for the very first time - "I'm already there in my mind, and that's good enough for now." You can almost hear one corner of his mouth curling into a wry smile as he trudges off on his way. 

Elsewhere in the song, Bob refers to the Highlands as "where the Aberdeen waters flow". While Aberdeen itself is not in the Scottish Highlands, the sources both of its rivers - the River Don and the River Dee - can be found there.

The final song in this group is one that Bob has a long history with. His first performance of 'That Lucky Old Sun' was in 1985, a full thirty years before it appeared as the closing song on his 2015 standards album Shadows in the Night. Featured semi-regularly during Dylan's 1986 tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, it has since made rare, Bigfoot-like appearances over the course of the Never Ending Tour, showing up as a one-off in 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The song, written by Beasley Smith and Haven Gillespie in 1949, finds the narrator reflecting on his life of hard work and toil, and envying "that lucky old sun" who has "nothing to do but roll around heaven all day". There's another river reference here, too:

Show me that river, lift me across,

And wash all my troubles away

Like that lucky old sun, give me nothing to do

But roll around heaven all day

(On a side note, a very similar song called 'Walk Around Heaven All Day' - written in 1964 by Cassietta George - was a regular feature of Bob's shows in 1980 and 1981, initially sung by Mary Elisabeth Bridges before being taken on by Carolyn Dennis)

So what's with all the rivers? Well, several religions and cultures, including Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as the ancient Greek and Norse civilisations, feature the idea of a river that must be crossed in order to reach the afterlife. The same concept appears in John Bunyan's 1678 novel, The Pilgrim's Progress (or, to to give the book it's full title, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come): 

Now, I further saw, that between them and the gate was a river, but there was no bridge to go over: the river was very deep. At the sight, therefore, of this river, the Pilgrims were much stunned; but the men that went in with them said, You must go through, or you cannot come at the gate.

Darren Hirst, writing for crossrhythms.co.uk, suggests that the The Pilgrim's Progress might have been an influence on Time Out of Mind, and describes that album as "a journey which climaxes in the transition from this world into the city of God". That description could also be applied to Rough and Rowdy Ways.

All of this brings us back to 'Key West', the enchanted land of Bougainvillea, Truman's White House, innocence, purity, and immortality, where even if you get that bleedin' heart disease, the healing virtues of the wind will restore you to full health. What's the difference between the Highlands, the Lowlands and the Flatlands? There isn't any - it's all the same place, and you only have to cross the river to get there.

Under The Red Sky: A 30th Anniversary Celebration

This year marked the 30th anniversary of Bob Dylan's 1990 album Under The Red Sky, and the celebrations were muted - if there were any celebrations, that is. And that's a shame, because I like this album. It belongs to a select group of Dylan records I think of as being 'light and breezy'; the ones you put on when you aren't in the mood for heavy stuff like Blood on the Tracks or Time Out of Mind. 'Saturday Morning Dylan' might be another name for this group (which, for the record, also includes Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait, New Morning, Good as I Been to You, Together Through Life and maybe a couple of others).

I'm not meaning to disparage Under The Red Sky, or any of those other albums. It just that they have a carefree, easy-going vibe about them, as if - even if it was just for the time he was physically in the studio - Dylan was able to cast any worries out of his mind and just have some fun. There's no agenda here, no grand statement or specific goal in mind, just a feeling of 'go in, hit record and see what happens.'

Under The Red Sky is occasionally described as a children's album, but I don't quite subscribe to this viewpoint - at least in the sense that you won't find this album in the children's section of your local record store (do record stores have children's sections? Well, you know what I mean). I do think, as Paul Williams writes in the third volume of his Performing Artist series, that these songs were written by an active father, with the result that some of the language of children's stories, children's films and nursery rhymes couldn't help but find their way into the lyrics. 

On the other hand, this album has a pretty strong line in apocalyptic imagery, starting with the title (not to mention lines like "God knows there's gonna be no more water but fire next time"). But then again, aren't fairy tales often kind of scary? (Although even Bob had his limits: there's a great, truly sinister outtake of 'TV Talkin' Song' floating around - featuring an evil, muttering vocal from Bob - that might have been a little too frightening to be included on this album.)

Having just come off the success of Oh Mercy in 1989, I get the sense that Dylan was keen to distance himself somewhat from that heavily Daniel Lanois-influenced effort. Sure, he might have thought to himself, the reviews are good, but are they reviewing me or the production? The only way to find out was to change course, and to see if the good reviews and strong sales followed. Don and David Was of  the band Was (Not Was) got the gig as producers, going for a polished, radio-ready rock sound.

Although Bob was not yet comfortable bringing his live band into the studio, the general style of Under The Red Sky is not far removed from what Dylan was doing onstage circa 1990. Seat-of-your-pants rock 'n' roll featuring searing lead guitar breaks, insistent drums, and road-worn vocals from the lead singer. Bob's voice is rough and ragged after two years of heavy touring, but the cracks and imperfections add an extra vulnerability to the likes of the title track and '2x2', and extra grit to rockers like 'Wiggle Wiggle' and 'Unbelievable'. The vocals sound like the aural equivalent of Die Hard's John McClane at the end of the movie: bloody, battered bruised, but still hanging in there.

There's also a few examples of the type of reaching into the past that would become commonplace on Bob's 21st Century albums. If you squint, the opening to 'Wiggle Wiggle' sort of resembles Howlin' Wolf's 'Evil'; the intro to 'Unbelievable' calls to mind Carl Perkins' 'Honey Don't'; and the hip-shaking rhythm of 'Cat's In The Well' conjures Little Richard's 'Lucille'. In an interview years later, Don Was speculated that Dylan might have been attempting to road-test the approach he would later use on albums like "Love & Theft", which may very well have been the case.

Did the album, with its about-face from Oh Mercy and slightly incongruous plethora of A-list guest stars (including Elton John, George Harrison and Slash), bring in the plaudits that Dylan had hoped for? Unfortunately, no. But who cares: a Bob Dylan album is something that needs to be lived with for years, even decades, before all of its hidden charms are revealed. For example, it's fun trying to pick out Dylan's accordion (that's right: accordion) throughout the album; he's only credited on 'Born in Time', but it turns up on other songs too. And what about that horn section on 'Cat's In The Well', or David Crosby's backing vocals on '2x2'? Like most Dylan albums, new things jump out at you with each listen.

Under The Red Sky is often compared unfavourably to Time Out of Mind, Dylan's celebrated 1997 return to original material. However, I would argue that the key to enjoying this album (or any Dylan album, for that matter) is not to compare it to anything. Approach it on its own terms, then sit back and let Uncle Bob guide you into a world where nursery rhymes and the apocalypse go hand in hand.

Related reading:

* A great analysis of 'Wiggle Wiggle' by Sigismund Sludig on his Grain Sparrow blog

* Ray Padgett's essay on Bob's famous Toad's Place concert in January 1990,  from his newsletter Flaggin' Down The Double E's . Amongst many other perculiarities, this show featured the live debut of 'Wiggle Wiggle', a full nine months before it's release.

Finally, here's Bob playing 'Wiggle Wiggle' in October 1990:

"Just Then a Bolt of Lightning...": Bob Dylan in Jerusalem, 1987

"It was if the Almighty had suddenly caught a glimpse of what this occasional disciple was brewing in His city and decided to call a halt to the proceedings before things got out of hand." - Glenn Frankel in The Washington Post, 9th September 1987

7th September 1987. In front of a full house waiting to see the great Bob Dylan, a begraggled-looking figure shuffles onto the stage of Jerusalem's Sultan's Pool - an arena dating back to the times of King Herod - and begins singing 'The Times They Are A-Changin'', unnaccompanied, in a voice that sounds extremely the worse for wear. The band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, tentatively fall in behind him, only for the singer to vanish into the wings to fix a problem with his guitar. He returns momentarily, just about getting the song back on track before bringing it to a merciful close. "That wasn't really Bob Dylan," says a member of the audience, presumably trying to reconcile the man onstage with the various iconic Dylans of years past.

It is Bob Dylan, but one in a very bad mood. The previous show of the tour - opening night in Tel-Aviv -  has received poor reviews due to Dylan not performing a greatest hits set, while Bob has also been scolded in the press for allegedly skipping a talk show appearance and a dinner in his honour (it later transpires that no such appearances were ever scheduled).

Nevertheless, he soldiers on. A half-hearted 'Man of Peace' leads into cruise-control performances of 'Like A Rolling Stone' and 'Rainy Day Women', before Bob delivers an 'Emotionally Yours' where most of the lyrics except the title escape him. Thankfully, however, he's about to turn things around. 

"That was a little request that we played tonight, because we didn't play it the other night. Some people wanted to hear that," announces Bob, apparently alluding to the reviews of the previous show. "Here's another one people said we didn't play last time - we'll play it for you tonight."

The Tel Aviv concert's cold reception must have been on Dylan's mind during the first half of the show, because as soon as he addresses it things improve dramatically. A scorching 'Shot of Love' is followed by equally inspired takes of 'Ballad of a Thin Man', 'You're A Big Girl Now', 'John Brown', 'License to Kill', and 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue'. Dylan is suddenly in the zone. The Heartbreakers, hesitant at first - this is, after all, a very different Dylan to the jovial character they backed on tour in 1986 - are now fully warmed up, with Benmont Tench (keyboards) and Mike Campbell (lead guitar) reacting immediately to Bob's every syllable.

On a roll, Bob proceeds to the religious material. 'Gotta Serve Somebody', with its reworked lyrics and interplay between Bob and the backing singers, is a lot of fun, but it's the final song, 'Slow Train', that makes the biggest impression. Beginning with Bob on acoustic guitar accompanied only by Benmont on piano, the song gradually brings in the backing singers and the rest of the band, building in intensity until you can almost hear Dylan transforming back into the fire and brimstone preacher of 1979-81. It's an eerie and unsettling performance, even more so when - at the precise moment Dylan sings 'the enemy I see' - there is a sudden ZAP! and everything goes silent. A power cut, complete with cartoon sound effect. In the words of The Washington Post: "Dylan stood strumming in disbelief for a moment, then dropped his guitar to the stage floor and stormed away."

The 1987 Temples in Flames Tour is remembered for being ragged and unpredictable, with the quality of the performances varying almost as wildly as the ever-changing setlists. Sultan's Pool - a show that starts terribly, suddenly becomes brilliant and ends with what could easily pass for a bolt of lightning - is a perfect representation of this aesthetic. Despite all the chaos (maybe even because of all the chaos), it's one of my favourite Bob Dylan shows.

Centre Stage: Larry Campbell

If we think of Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour as a company - which I guess it is - then a job with that company seems to be a pretty good gig. Just look at the turnover rate: the current band contains a multi-instrumentalist who has been on the payroll for fifteen years, a guitarist who is eleven years into his second stint, and a bass player who recently completed three decades of service. Furthermore, the last two people to leave the band had served for fourteen and seventeen years each. Whoever's in charge of this Dylan organisation is definitely doing something right.

Someone else who put in an admirable shift with Dylan Inc. was Larry Campbell. Already an industry veteran when he replaced John Jackson as lead guitarist in April 1997, Campbell's role soon expanded to that of multi-instrumentalist, allowing the native New Yorker to showcase his abilities on fiddle, pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, and cittern. Campbell's partnership with fellow guitarist Charlie Sexton quickly proved fruitful, with the duo also  contributing powerful backing vocals to Dylan's acoustic sets. In 2001, Campbell-Sexton band - which also included David Kemper on drums and Tony Garnier on bass - joined Dylan in the studio to record the acclaimed "Love & Theft".

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Charlie Sexton left the band following the Fall Tour of 2002, and in his stead - following the very brief tenure of initial replacement Billy Burnette - arrived maverick guitarist Freddy Koella. Although he often seemed to light a fire under Dylan, Koella's wild, improvisational solos frequently left Larry playing a supporting role. Even worse, the new stage setup, which featured Dylan stage right on keyboard, left Campbell marooned at the opposite end of the stage from the boss. 

Campbell left the Dylan band at the end of 2004, and almost immediately received a call from Levon Helm. Levon, the legendary drummer formerly of The Band, was looking for a musical director, and Larry accepted. Here was a job that allowed Campbell to use the full range of his talents. As well as acting as bandleader onstage, Larry was also responsible for working out arrangements, and - thanks to the revue format of Levon's shows - often found himself centre stage singing lead for a song or two. In the studio, Campbell produced Levon's records and encouraged the drummer to collaborate on writing songs. In sharp contrast to his final years with Bob, Larry's demeanor onstage with Levon radiated pure joy.

Meanwhile, Bob took the unprecedented step of hiring not one, not two, but three people to replace the departed Campbell for the Spring 2005 leg of the NET. The new recruits were Texas blues guitarist Denny Freeman, Hot Club of Cowtown violinist Elana Fremerman, and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron of BR549. This tour is an oft-overlooked chapter in Dylan's touring history; having two guitarists, a violinist and a pedal steel player jostling for position made for a fascinating dynamic, which unfortunately didn't last long as Fremerman left the band before the end of the tour. 

After Levon Helm's death in 2012, Larry Campbell began performing as one half of a duo with his wife Teresa Williams, also a former member of Helm's band. Their first album was released in 2015, and a second followed in 2017. I caught one of their shows in January 2018, and was blown away by Campbell's musicianship and Teresa's singing. Sharing the stage with his wife, Campbell looked - for lack of a better term - as happy as Larry. A job with Dylan Inc. might be great gig, but it's comforting to know that there's life after it too.

 

Here's Larry playing and singing with Bob in 1998:

Welcome!

Hi there! My name is Tim and I've decided to start a blog about Bob Dylan. Does the world need another blog about Bob Dylan? Maybe it doesn't, but I'm not going to let that stop me...

Before getting started, I want to recommend a couple of other Dylan sites that have been of particular inspiration to me:

Ray Padgett's Flagging Down the Double-E's, an excellent newsletter featuring essays inspired by Bob Dylan's concert performances over the years. Ray has kindly allowed me to contribute a couple of guest articles over the past few months, which ultimately set me on the path to starting this blog. 

Also, Sigismund Sludig's Grain Sparrow blog, which is the home of his ongoing '100 Favourite Bob Dylan Songs' series. These insightful, personal analyses of Dylan's songs are always a great read.

I'd also like to acknowledge Andrew Muir's book One More Night: Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour, and the late Paul Williams' three-volume Performing Artist series, both of which have shaped my understanding of Bob Dylan's work. There are countless other great Dylan books and resources out there too; far too many to list here.

Finally, I'd like to thank Bob Dylan, and everyone who has made it possible for him to do what he does.