Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs

 

A couple of weeks ago, Bob Dylan gained a measure of notoriety for giving a speech in which he sprayed buckshot in the direction of Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, and the classic songwriting team, Leiber & Stoller. In an age where internet comment sections are like speed dating for suicide bombers, it wasn’t particularly harsh judgment that Dylan doled out. However, it was clear that grudges were held. His issues with critics struck me as far more self-serving than his vague issues with Hag and Hall, but given the stature of a Merle Haggard, it’s not surprising that Bob’s apparent dis quickly went viral.

That Bob had opinions and delivered those opinions wasn’t particularly remarkable. He’s been doing that since Bob Dylan was invented. What made his snark noteworthy was that it took the shine from an otherwise brilliant valedictory speech. He was being honored as “Person Of The Year” by MusiCares, the charity wing of the Grammy organization, and he took the audience on an extended travelogue of his early career, his influences (both professional and musical), and how old songs made new songs. When he discussed the importance of rhythm in rock ‘n’ roll and how his songs are part of an existing songwriting continuum, he was basically making arguments I’ve made for the past 7 years. And while the personal jabs were clickbait, less headline-grabby were Bob’s heartfelt tributes to Jimi Hendrix, The Staple Singers, Kris Kristofferson, and Sun Records alumni, Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, and Billy Lee Riley.

 

Its few flaws aside, Dylan gave a riveting talk that’s well worth the Adios Lounge microscope. Therefore, what follows is an annotated version of his speech featuring most of the songs and artists he addressed. It’s a revealing window into the mind and prevailing philosophy of arguably the greatest songwriter and most important musician of the 20th century. (It’s a short list of artists who could vie for that top spot. Dylan’s on the list.)

Where this annotation differs from my past annotations is that my counterarguments are in video form. As much as I love the sound of my own voice, I thought it would be a fun experiment to let the songs do the talking. If I have to defend a Haggard or Hall, “I’m A Lonesome Fugitive” and “Mama Bake A Pie” make for solid rebuttals. Plus, my brilliant observational prose is only gonna get in the way. FYI, I’ve added recording dates, release dates, and musicians where possible because I nerd out on that shit.

 

One final point before we head into the post proper. Dylan’s dense, high-wire surrealism, command of language, versatility, longevity, and evolution into americana shaman are hard to beat. He probably is the greatest songwriter ever. But, as a licensed American musicologist — recognized in most southern and western states — I’m compelled to note that country songwriters like Haggard, Hall, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Townes Van Zandt (more of a country-blues-folk amalgam), and my favorite American songwriter, Hank Williams, could hold their own with Bob.

Maybe Dylan has more A level material, but their best is as good as his best. The main difference is that country songwriting is generally about distilling the human experience into a few plainspoken verses. Less is more, never Dylan’s wheelhouse. There’s a class distinction as well in that country music was traditionally created for the working and lower classes, whereas Bob Dylan was the avatar of the educated postwar middle class. Those divisions have blurred since the 1980s, but at Dylan’s mid-’60s peak they were very much in evidence. I say this not to discredit the Bobster, but to level the historical playing field on behalf of the best country songwriters.

OK, preamble ambled. Come all ye good people, listen while Bob tells …

Transcript of Bob Dylan’s MusiCares “Person Of The Year” acceptance speech

It’s been a long night, and I don’t want to talk too much, but I’ll say a few things. I’m glad for my songs to be honored like this. But you know, they didn’t get here by themselves. It’s been a long road and it’s taken a lot of doing. These songs of mine, I think of as mystery plays, the kind that Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. I think you could trace what I do back that far. They were on the fringes then and I think they’re on the fringes now. And they sound like they’ve been traveling on hard ground.

I need to mention a few people along the way who brought this about. I know I should mention John Hammond, the great talent scout, who way back when brought me to Columbia Records. He signed me to that label when I was nobody. It took a lot of faith to do that and he took a lot of ridicule, but he was his own man and he was courageous. And for that, I’m eternally grateful. The last person he discovered before me was Aretha Franklin, and before that Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and a whole lot of other artists. All non-commercial artists. Trends did not interest John and I was very noncommercial, but he stayed with me. He believed in my talent and that’s all that mattered. I can’t thank him enough for that.

 

Lou Levy ran Leeds Music, and they published my earliest songs, but I didn’t stay there too long. Levy himself, he went back a long ways. He signed me to that company and recorded my songs and I sang them into a tape recorder. He told me outright: there was no precedent for what I was doing, that I was either before my time or behind it. And if I brought him a song like “Stardust,” he’d turn it down because it would be too late.

He told me that if I was before my time – and he didn’t really know that for sure – but if it was happening and if it was true, the public would usually take three to five years to catch up – so be prepared. And that did happen. The trouble was, when the public did catch up I was already three to five years beyond that, so it kind of complicated it. But he was encouraging, and he didn’t judge me, and I’ll always remember him for that.

Artie Mogull at Witmark Music signed me next to his company, and he told me to just keep writing songs no matter what, that I might be on to something. Well, he too stood behind me, and he could never wait to see what I’d give him next. I didn’t even think of myself as a songwriter before then. I’ll always be grateful for him also for that attitude.

I also have to mention some of the early artists who recorded my songs very, very early, without having to be asked. Just something they felt about them that was right for them. I’ve got to say thank you to Peter, Paul and Mary, who I knew all separately before they ever became a group. I didn’t even think of myself as writing songs for others to sing but it was starting to happen and it couldn’t have happened to, or with, a better group.

They took a song of mine that had been recorded before that was buried on one of my records and turned it into a hit song. Not the way I would have done it – they straightened it out. But since then, hundreds of people have recorded it and I don’t think that would have happened if it wasn’t for them. They definitely started something for me.

Peter, Paul and Mary – Blowin’ In The Wind

L-R: Paul Stookey, Mary Travers, Peter Yarrow

The Byrds, The Turtles, Sonny & Cher –- they made some of my songs Top 10 hits, but I wasn’t a pop songwriter and I really didn’t want to be that. But, it was good that it happened. Their versions of my songs were like commercials, but I didn’t really mind that, because 50 years later, my songs were being used in the commercials. So, that was good too. I was glad it happened and I was glad they’d done it.

Pervis Staples and The Staple Singers. Long before they were on Stax, they were on Epic, and they were one of my favorite groups of all time. I met them all in ’62 or ’63.

Staple Singers – Sit Down Servant
Swing Low, 1961
Amazon

Mavis Staples – lead vocal, handclaps
Pops Staples – background vocals, swamp guitar
Cleotha & Pervis Staples – background vocals, handclaps

They heard my songs live and Pervis wanted to record 3 or 4 of them and he did with the Staple Singers. They were the type of artists that I wanted recording my songs, if anybody was going to do it.

Staple Singers – Masters Of War
Recorded January 1964
Amazon

Pops Staples – lead vocal, swamp guitar
Mavis, Yvonne, Pervis Staples – background vocals
Phil Upchurch – bass
Al Duncan – drums

Nina Simone. I used to cross paths with her in New York City in the Village Gate nightclub. She was an artist I definitely looked up to. She recorded some of my songs that she learned directly from me, sitting in a dressing room. She was an overwhelming artist, piano player and singer. Very strong woman, very outspoken and dynamite to see perform. That she was recording my songs validated everything that I was about. Nina was the kind of artist that I loved and admired.

Oh, and can’t forget Jimi Hendrix.

Jimi Hendrix Experience – Like A Rolling Stone
Monterey Pop Festival
June 18, 1967
Amazon

Jimi Hendrix – lead vocal, electric guitar
Noel Redding – bass
Mitch Mitchell – drums

I actually saw Jimi Hendrix perform when he was in a band called Jimmy James and The Blue Flames – something like that. And Jimi didn’t even sing. He was just the guitar player. After he became famous, he took some small songs of mine that nobody paid any attention to and pumped them up into the outer limits of the stratosphere (Stratosphere?) and turned them all into classics. I have to thank Jimi, too. I wish he was here.

(LD: I know I’m supposed to play “All Along The Watchtower,” but this is easily my fave Dylan cover by Hendrix, and I know you’ve probably heard his “Watchtower” a million times more than his “Like A Rolling Stone.”)

Johnny Cash recorded some of my songs early on, too. I met him in about ’63, when he was all skin and bones. He traveled long. He traveled hard. But he was a hero of mine. I heard many of his songs growing up. I knew them better than I knew my own. “Big River,” “I Walk The Line.”

Johnny Cash – Five Feet High And Rising
Probably filmed 1959-60

“How High’s The Water, Mama?” I wrote “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” with that song reverberating inside my head. I still ask, “How high is the water, mama?”

Johnny was an intense character. He saw that people were putting me down playing electric music and he posted letters to magazines scolding people, telling them to shut up and let (me) sing. In Johnny Cash’s world –- hardcore Southern drama –- that kind of thing didn’t exist. Nobody told anybody what to sing or do. They just didn’t do that kind of thing where he came from. I’m always going to thank him for that. Johnny Cash was a giant of a man. The Man In Black. And I’ll always cherish the friendship we had until the day there is no more days.

Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Joan Baez. She was the queen of folk music, then and now.

Joan Baez – Percy’s Song/Love Is A Four-Letter Word
Bob Dylan – Lost Highway/I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Don’t Look Back, 1967
Amazon

She took a liking to my songs and brought me with her to play concerts, where she had crowds of thousands of people enthralled with her beauty and voice. People would say, “What are you doing with that ragtag scrubby-looking waif?” And she’d tell everybody in no uncertain terms, “Now you better be quiet and listen to the songs.” We even played a few of them together. Joan Baez is as tough-minded as they come. Loyal, free minded, and fiercely independent. Nobody can tell her what to do if she doesn’t want to do it. I learned a lot of things from her. A woman of devastating honesty. And for her kind of love and devotion, I could never pay that back.

These songs didn’t come out of thin air. I didn’t just make them up out of whole cloth. Contrary to what Lou Levy said, there was a precedent. It all came out of traditional music: traditional folk music, traditional rock & roll and traditional big-band swing orchestra music.

I learned lyrics and how to write them from listening to folk songs. And I played them, and I met other people that played them, back when nobody was doing it. Sang nothing but these folk songs, and they gave me the code for everything that’s fair game, that everything belongs to everyone.

Bob Dylan – Man Of Constant Sorrow
Recorded March 1963, broadcast May 1963
NOTE: Bob Dylan’s first television appearance

For 3 or 4 years all I listened to were folk standards. I went to sleep singing folk songs. I sang them everywhere: clubs, parties, bars, coffeehouses, fields, festivals. And I met other singers along the way who did the same thing and we just learned songs from each other. I could learn one song and sing it next in an hour if I’d heard it just once.

If you sang “John Henry” as many times as me:

Johnny Cash – Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer
At Folsom Prison
Recorded January 13, 1968
Amazon

Johnny Cash – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Carl Perkins, Luther Perkins (no relation) – electric guitar
Marshall Grant – bass
W.S. Holland – drums
June Carter – vocals
Statler Brothers – background vocals

John Henry was a steel-driving man
Died with a hammer in his hand
John Henry said a man ain’t nothin’ but a man
Before I let that steam drill drive me down
I’ll die with that hammer in my hand

If you had sung that song as many times as I did, you’d have written, “How many roads must a man walk down?” too.

Big Bill Broonzy had a song called “Key to the Highway.”

Phil & Dave Alvin – Key To The Highway
SXSW 2014, Austin, TX

Phil Alvin – lead vocal, harmonica
Dave Alvin – resonator guitar, co-lead vocal
Brad Fordham – standup bass
Lisa Pankratz – brush drums

I’ve got a key to the highway
I’m booked and I’m bound to go
Gonna leave here runnin’ because walking is most too slow

(LD: Check out Dave & Phil Alvin – Common Ground)

I sang that a lot. If you sing that a lot, you just might write:

Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare Department they wouldn’t give him no clothes
He asked poor Howard where can I go
Howard said there’s only one place I know
Sam said tell me quick man I got to run
Howard just pointed with his gun
And said that way down on Highway 61

You’d have written that too if you’d sang “Key to the Highway” as much as me.

Dave Alvin – Highway 61 Revisited
Highway 61 Revisited Revisited, 2005
Comp curated and produced by Uncut Magazine
Amazon

Dave Alvin – lead vocal, electric guitar
Greg Leisz – electric guitar
Greg Boaz – bass
Craig Adams – drums

Over the years I’ve crossed paths a few times with perhaps our greatest living songwriter, Bob Dylan. I’ve even had the great fortune to play music with Dylan a couple of times. I’ve always felt that he picked up where Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, and Jack Kerouac left off and moved American music and culture into the future. He’s still doing that. When Uncut Magazine asked me to record “Highway 61” for their Bob Dylan tribute CD insert, I was scared to death.
–Dave Alvin, August 29, 2007

Ain’t no use to sit ‘n cry
You’ll be an angel by and by
Sail away, ladies, sail away
I’m sailing away my own true love

“Boots of Spanish Leather.” Sheryl Crow just sung that.

Roll the cotton down, aw yeah, roll the cotton down
Ten dollars a day is a white man’s pay, roll the cotton down
A dollar a day is the black man’s pay, roll the cotton down

If you sang that song as many times as me, you’d be writing “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more,” too.

Bob Dylan – Maggie’s Farm
Newport Folk Festival, Newport, Rhode Island
July 25, 1965

Bob Dylan – lead vocal, electric rhythm guitar
Mike Bloomfield – napalm guitar
Al Kooper – organ
Barry Goldberg – piano
Jerome Arnold – bass
Sam Lay – drums

If you had listened to Robert Johnson singing, “Better come on in my kitchen, ’cause it’s gonna be raining outdoors,” as many times as I listened to it, sometime later you just might write, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.”

Robert Johnson – Come On In My Kitchen
Recorded November 23, 1936
Single released July 1937
Amazon

Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Originally released on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, May 1963
Amazon

I sang a lot of “come all you” songs. There’s plenty of them. There’s way too many to be counted.

Woody Guthrie – Chisholm Trail
The Asch Recordings, 1944
Amazon

Woody Guthrie – lead vocal, acoustic guitar

Come along boys and listen to my tale
Tell you of my trouble on the old Chisholm Trail

Or:

Phil Alvin – Collins Cave (aka The Death Of Floyd Collins)
Un “Sung Stories,” 1986
Discogs (vinyl only)

Phil Alvin – guitar
Richard Greene – violin

Come all ye good people, listen while I tell
The fate of Floyd Collins a lad we all know well
The fate of Floyd Collins, a lad we all know well

Or:

Carter Family – Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies
The Johnny Cash Show, March 31, 1971
NOTE: Final episode of the series
http://youtu.be/ewvQv3bFXPs

Carter Family L-R: Robbie Harden, Mother Maybelle Carter, Helen Carter & Anita Carter

Come all ye fair and tender ladies
Take warning how you court your men
They’re like a star on a summer morning
They first appear and then they’re gone again

Or:

Bob Dylan – Pretty Boy Floyd
Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
December 5, 1988
Studio version available on A Vision Shared: A Tribute To Woody Guthrie And Leadbelly, 1988
Amazon

Bob Dylan – lead vocal, acoustic guitar

If you’ll gather ’round, people
A story I will tell
‘Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw
Oklahoma knew him well

If you sung all these “come all ye” songs all the time, you’d be writing:

Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’
From the TV movie, The Times They Are A-Changin’
1964

Come gather ’round people where ever you roam
Admit that the waters around you have grown
Accept that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
And you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone
The times they are a-changin’

You’d have written that too. There’s nothing secret about it. You just do it subliminally and unconsciously, because that’s all enough, and that’s all you know. That was all that was dear to me. They were the only kinds of songs that made sense.

Levon Helm Band – Deep Ellum Blues
Newport Folk Festival, Newport, Rhode Island
August 3, 2008

Larry Campbell – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Levon Helm – mandolin, vocals
Jimmy Vivino – electric slide guitar, vocals
Amy Helm – acoustic guitar, vocals
Brian Mitchell – keyboards, vocals
Lincoln Schluyfur – bass
Shawn Payton – drums
Little Sammy Davis – harmonica, vocals
Clark Gayton – trombone
Steven Bernstein – trumpet
Eric Lawrence – saxophone
Howard Johnson – tuba, saxophone
Theresa Williams, Katherine Russell – background vocals

When you go down to Deep Ellum keep your money in your socks
Women in Deep Ellum put you on the rocks

Sing that song for a while and you just might come up with:

Bob Dylan And The Band – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Manchester Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England
May 17, 1966
Amazon

Bob Dylan – lead vocal, electric guitar
Robbie Robertson – lead electric guitar
Garth Hudson – organ
Rick Danko – bass, vocal
Mickey Jones – drums

When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez and it’s Easter time, too
And your gravity fails and negativity don’t pull you through
Don’t put on any airs when you’re down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there and they really make a mess outta you

All these songs are connected. Don’t be fooled. I just opened up a different door in a different kind of way. It’s just different, saying the same thing. I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. Well you know, I just thought I was doing something natural, but right from the start, my songs were divisive for some reason. They divided people. I never knew why. Some got angered, others loved them. Didn’t know why my songs had detractors and supporters. A strange environment to have to throw your songs into, but I did it anyway.

All these songs are connected. Don’t be fooled. I just opened up a different door in a different kind of way.

Last thing I thought of was who cared about what song I was writing. I was just writing them. I didn’t think I was doing anything different. I thought I was just extending the line. Maybe a little bit unruly, but I was just elaborating on situations. Maybe hard to pin down, but so what? A lot of people are hard to pin down and you’ve just got to bear it. In a sense everything evened itself out.

Leiber and Stoller didn’t think much of my songs. They didn’t like ’em, but Doc Pomus did. That was all right that they didn’t like ’em, because I never liked their songs either. “Yakety yak, don’t talk back.” “Charlie Brown is a clown.” “Baby I’m a hog for you.” Novelty songs, not serious. Doc’s songs, they were better. “This Magic Moment.” “Lonely Avenue.” “Save The Last Dance For Me.” Those songs broke my heart. I figured I’d rather have his blessings any day than theirs.

Drifters – Save The Last Dance For Me
Single released August 1960
Lead vocal: Ben E. King
Producers: Leiber & Stoller (true story)
Amazon

Buck Owens And His Buckaroos – Save The Last Dance For Me
Recorded April 18, 1962
Together Again/My Heart Skips A Beat, July 1964
Discogs (vinyl only)

Buck Owens – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Don Rich – guitar, harmony vocal
Ralph Mooney – pedal steel guitar
George French, Jr. – piano
Bobby Austin – bass
Moose Stone – drums

Ahmet Ertegun didn’t think much of my songs, but Sam Phillips did. Ahmet founded Atlantic Records. He produced some great records: Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, just to name a few.

There were some great records in there, no question about it. But Sam Phillips, he recorded Elvis and Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Radical artists that shook the very essence of humanity.

Jerry Lee Lewis – You Win Again
1964

Revolutionaries with vision and foresight. Fearless and sensitive at the same time. Revolution in style and scope. Heavy shape and color. Radical to the bone. Songs that cut you to the bone. Renegades in all degrees, doing songs that would never decay, and still resound to this day. Oh yeah, I’d rather have Sam Phillips’ blessing any day.

Merle Haggard didn’t think much of my songs, but Buck Owens did, and Buck even recorded some of my early songs.

Buck Owens And His Buckaroos – Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Recorded at Buck Owens Studios, Bakersfield, December 1970
Bridge Over Troubled Water, February 1971
Amazon

Buck Owens – lead vocal
Don Rich – guitar
Jim Shaw – keyboards
Doyle Kurtsinger – bass
Jerry Wiggins – drums, percussion

Now, I admire Merle. “Mama Tried” …

Merle Haggard – Mama Tried
Billy Walker’s Country Carnival
October 1968

Merle Haggard – vocals, acoustic guitar

Hag in a rare television appearance without The Strangers. Instead, Merle plays with Billy Walker’s house band.

… “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down” …

Merle Haggard & The Strangers – The Bottle Let Me Down
Single recorded June 28, 1966
Single released August 1966
Amazon (twofer)

Being filmed are the original Strangers:

Merle Haggard – lead vocal, guitar
Roy Nichols – lead electric guitar
Norman Hamlet – pedal steel
George French – piano
Jerry Ward – bass
Eddie Burns – drums
Bonnie Owens – harmony vocal

But they’re faking it for the cameras. They’re air steel guitaring to the recording, which features these musicians:

Merle Haggard – lead vocal, guitar
James Burton – lead electric guitar (creator of opening riff)
Glen Campbell, Jack Collier – guitar
James Ellington – piano
Jerry Ward – bass
Jim Gordon – drums
Bonnie Owens – harmony vocal

… “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive” …

Merle Haggard & The Strangers – I’m A Lonesome Fugitive
Austin City Limits
January 1978

Merle Haggard – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Roy Nichols – lead guitar
Ronnie Reno – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Norman Hamlet – pedal steel
Mark Yeary – piano
Wayne Durham – bass
Biff Adam – drums
Bonnie Owens – backing vocal

I understand all that but I can’t imagine Waylon Jennings singing “The Bottle Let Me Down.”

Waylon Jennings & The Waylors – The Bottle Let Me Down
Grand Ole Opry, Nashville
August 12, 1978
Featuring Ralph Mooney – pedal steel guitar

I love Merle but he’s not Buck. Buck Owens wrote “Together Again” and that song trumps anything that ever came out of Bakersfield. Buck Owens and Merle Haggard? If you have to have somebody’s blessing – you figure it out.

Buck Owens And His Buckaroos – Together Again
Buck Owens Ranch Show
March 15, 1966

Buck Owens – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Don Rich – electric guitar, harmony vocal
Tom Brumley – steel guitar
Doyle Holly – bass
Willie Cantu – drums

A few days after the MusiCares speech, Dylan gave a follow-up interview to Bill Flanagan where he essentially gave a mea culpa about Hag. I’d be a dick if I didn’t include this:

Bill Flanagan: What was that thing about Merle? Sounds like you were dissing him. What was that about?

Bob Dylan: No, not at all, I wasn’t dissing Merle, not the Merle I know. What I was talking about happened a long time ago, maybe in the late sixties. Merle had that song out called “The Fightin’ Side Of Me” and I’d seen an interview with him where he was going on about hippies and Dylan and the counterculture. It kind of stuck in my mind and hurt, lumping me in with everything he didn’t like.

But of course, times have changed and he’s changed, too. If hippies were around today, he’d be on their side and he himself is part of the counterculture. So yeah, things change. I’ve toured with him and have the highest regard for him, his songs, his talent. I even wanted him to play fiddle on one of my records and his Jimmie Rodgers tribute album (Same Train, A Different Time, 1969, Discogs) is one of my favorites that I never get tired of listening to.

He’s also a bit of a philosopher. He’s serious and he’s funny. He’s a complete man and we’re friends these days. We have a lot in common. Back then, though, Buck and Merle were closely associated. Two of a kind. They defined the Bakersfield sound. Buck reached out to me in those days and lifted up my spirits when I was down. I mean, really down. Oppressed on all sides and down, and (it) meant a lot, that Buck did that. I wasn’t dissing Merle at all, we were different people back then. Those were difficult times. It was more intense back then and things hit harder and hurt more.
—Bob Dylan to Bill Flanagan, February 2015

What I’m saying here is that my songs seem to divide people. Even people in the music community.

People in the critical world too. Critics have been on my tail since day one. Seems like they’ve always given me special treatment. Some of the music critics say I can’t sing. I croak. Sound like a frog. Why don’t these same critics say similar things about Tom Waits? They say my voice is shot. That I have no voice. Why don’t they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment? Critics say I can’t carry a tune and I talk my way through a song. Really? I’ve never heard that said about Lou Reed. Why does he get to go scot-free? What have I done to deserve this special treatment? Why me, Lord?

No vocal range? When’s the last time you’ve read that about Dr. John? You’ve never read that about Dr John. Why don’t they say that about him? Slur my words, got no diction. You have to wonder if these critics have ever heard Charley Patton or Son House or Howlin’ Wolf. Talk about slurred words and no diction. Why don’t they say those same things about them? “Why me, Lord?”

Charley Patton – Going To Move To Alabama
Recorded in Grafton, Wisconsin, October 1929
Single released early 1930
Amazon

Charley Patton – lead vocal, guitar

Critics say I mangle my melodies, render my songs unrecognizable. Oh, really? Let me tell you something. I was at a boxing match a few years ago seeing Floyd Mayweather fight a Puerto Rican guy (Miguel Cotto). And the Puerto Rican national anthem, somebody sang it and it was beautiful. It was heartfelt and it was moving.

After that it was time for our national anthem. And a very popular soul-singing sister was chosen to sing. She sang every note that exists and some that don’t exist. Talk about mangling a melody. You take a one-syllable word and make it last for 15 minutes? She was doing vocal gymnastics like she was a trapeze act. But to me, it was not funny.

Marsha Ambrosias – Star Spangled Banner
Sung before Mayweather-Cotto fight
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
May 5, 2012

Where were the critics? Mangling lyrics? Mangling a melody? Mangling a treasured song? No, I get the blame. But I don’t really think I do that. I just think critics say I do.

Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice: He said, “Well that’s very kind of you, but voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.” Think about that the next time you are listening to a singer.

Sam Cooke – Blowin’ In The Wind
Shindig! (Episode 1)
September 16, 1964

Times always change. They really do. And you have to always be ready for something that’s coming along and you never expected it. Way back when, I was in Nashville making some records and I read this article, a Tom T. Hall interview. Tom T. Hall, he was bitching about some kind of new song, and he couldn’t understand what these new kinds of songs that were coming in were about.

Now Tom, he was one of the preeminent songwriters of the time in Nashville. A lot of people were recording his songs …

Jeannie C. Riley – Harper Valley P.T.A.
The Wilburn Brothers Show, August/September 1968
Featuring Harold Morrison – dobro
Amazon

… and he himself even did it. But he was all in a fuss about James Taylor, a song James had called “Country Road.” Tom was going off in this interview, “But James don’t say nothing about a country road. He’s just says how you can feel it on the country road. I don’t understand that.”

Now some might say Tom is a great songwriter. I’m not going to doubt that.

Tom T. Hall – Mama Bake A Pie (Daddy Kill A Chicken)
One Hundred Children, 1970
Amazon
http://youtu.be/CWsnaFsO47Y

Tom T. Hall – lead vocal
Jerry Kennedy, Ray Edenton, and/or Chip Young – guitar
Pig Robbins – piano
Harold Bradley, Bob Moore, or Henry Strzelecki – bass
Buddy Harman – drums

Tom T. Hall – The Year That Clayton Delaney Died
Heart To Heart Classics
Filmed 1986-87
Host: Stan Hitchcock

At the time he was doing this interview I was actually listening to a song of his on the radio. It was called “I Love.”

Tom T. Hall – I Love
Single released October 1973
Amazon
http://youtu.be/jk64JluO4CI

I was listening to it in a recording studio, and he was talking about all the things he loves, an everyman kind of song, trying to connect with people. Trying to make you think that he’s just like you and you’re just like him. We all love the same things, and we’re all in this together. Tom loves little baby ducks, slow-moving trains and rain. He loves old pickup trucks and little country streams. Sleep without dreams. Bourbon in a glass. Coffee in a cup. Tomatoes on the vine, and onions.

Now listen, I’m not ever going to disparage another songwriter. I’m not going to do that. I’m not saying it’s a bad song. I’m just saying it might be a little overcooked.

But you know, it was in the Top 10 anyway. Tom and a few other writers had the whole Nashville scene sewed up in a box. If you wanted to record a song and get it in the Top 10 you had to go to them, and Tom was one of the top guys. They were all very comfortable, doing their thing.

This was about the time that Willie Nelson picked up and moved to Texas. About the same time. He’s still in Texas. Everything was very copacetic. Everything was all right until –- until –- Kristofferson came to town. Oh, they ain’t seen anybody like him. He came into town like a wildcat that he was, flew a helicopter into Johnny Cash’s backyard, not your typical songwriter. And he went for the throat. “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Morning Coming Down
Looks mid-to-late ’70s

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet
Found my cleanest dirty shirt
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything. That one song blew ol’ Tom T. Hall’s world apart. He couldn’t see it coming. It might have sent him to the mad house. God forbid he ever heard any of my songs.

Bob Dylan – Ballad Of A Thin Man
May 1966
Amazon

Bob Dylan – lead vocal, piano
Robbie Robertson – lead electric guitar
Garth Hudson – organ
Rick Danko – bass
Mickey Jones – drums

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
You say, “Who is that man?”
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you’re gonna say
When you get home
You know something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?

If “Sunday Morning Coming Down” rattled Tom’s cage, sent him into the loony bin, my song surely would have made him blow his brains out, right there in the loony bin. Hopefully he didn’t hear it.

I just released an album of standards, all the songs usually done by Michael Bublé, Harry Connick Jr., maybe Brian Wilson‘s done a couple, Linda Ronstadt done ’em. Rod (Stewart) of course, even Paul (McCartney) has done some of this kind of material. But the reviews of their records aren’t like mine. In their reviews no one says anything. In my reviews, they’ve got to look under every stone and report about it. In the review they get, you seldom see any of the songwriters’ names. Unlike mine. They’ve got to mention all the songwriters’ names.

Well, that’s OK with me. After all, they’re great songwriters and these are standards. I’ve seen the reviews come in, and they’ll mention all the songwriters in half the review, as if everybody knows them. Nobody’s heard of them, not in this time, anyway. Buddy Kaye, Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh, to name a few.

But, you know, I’m glad they mention their names, and you know what? I’m glad they got their names in the press. It might have taken some time to do it, but they’re finally there with importance and dignity. I can only wonder why it took so long. My only regret is that they’re not here to see it.

Traditional rock ‘n’ roll, we’re talking about that. It’s all about rhythm. Johnny Cash said it best: “Get rhythm. Get rhythm when you get the blues.”

Johnny Cash – Get Rhythm
Tex Ritter’s Ranch Party TV Show, circa November 1958

Johnny Cash – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Luther Perkins – lead electric guitar
Marshall Grant – standup bass

Very few rock ‘n’ roll bands today play with rhythm. They don’t know what it is.

Rock ‘n’ roll is a combination of blues and it’s a strange thing made up of two parts. A lot of people don’t know this, but the blues, which is an American music, is not what you think it is. It’s a combination of Arabic violins and Strauss waltzes working it out. But, it’s true.

The other half of rock ‘n’ roll has got to be hillbilly. And that’s a derogatory term, but it ought not to be. That’s a term that includes The Delmore Brothers, Stanley Brothers, Roscoe Holcomb, Gid Tanner And The Skillet Lickers — groups like that. Moonshine gone berserk. Fast cars on dirt roads. That’s the kind of combination that makes up rock ‘n’ roll, and it can’t be cooked up in a science laboratory or a studio.

Roscoe Holcomb – John Hardy
Legends Of Old Time Music DVD, 2002
Originally filmed early 1960s
Amazon

Delmore Brothers – Brown’s Ferry Blues
Recorded December 1933
Single released early 1934
Amazon

Rabon Delmore – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Alton Delmore – lead guitar, harmony vocal

You have to have the right kind of rhythm to play this kind of music. If you can’t hardly play the blues, and you don’t have the hillbilly feeling, you’re not really playing rock ‘n’ roll. It might be something else, but it’s not that. You can fake it, but you can’t make it.

Doug Sahm & Bob Dylan – Blues Stay Away From Me
Recorded October 9, 1972
Doug Sahm And Band, January 1973
NOTE: #1 country hit for the Delmores in January 1950
Discogs

Doug Sahm, Bob Dylan, Atwood Allen – vocals, guitar
David Bromberg – dobro
Augie Meyers – piano
Dr. John – organ
Flaco Jimenez – accordion
Jack Barber – bass
George Rains – drums

Read more about the Dylan/Sahm connection:
Doug Sahm & Bob Dylan: Amigos de Musica, May 15, 2009
Just Like Doug Sahm’s Blues, May 21, 2009
Bob & Doug: Obviously Quintet Believers, April 30, 2011

Critics have said that I’ve made a career out of confounding expectations. Really? Because that’s all I do? That’s how I think about it. Confounding expectations. Like I stay up late at night thinking about how to do it.

“What do you do for a living, man?”

“Oh, I confound expectations.”

You’re going to get a job, the man says, “What do you do?” “Oh, confound expectations.” And the man says, “Well, we already have that spot filled. Call us back. Or don’t call us, we’ll call you.” Confounding expectations. I don’t even know what that means or who has time for it.

“Why me, Lord? My work confounds them obviously, but I really don’t know how I do it.”

The Blackwood Brothers have been talking to me about making a record together. That might confound expectations, but it shouldn’t. Of course it would be a gospel album. I don’t think it would be anything out of the ordinary for me. Not a bit. One of the songs I’m thinking about singing is “Stand By Me” by The Blackwood Brothers. Not “Stand By Me” the pop song. No. The real “Stand By Me.”

The real one goes like this:

Staple Singers – Stand By Me
Swing Low, 1961
Amazon

Mavis Staples – lead vocal, handclaps
Pops Staples – background vocals, electric guitar
Cleotha, Pervis Staples – background vocals, handclaps

When the storm of life is raging
Stand by me
When the storm of life is raging
Stand by me
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship upon the sea
Thou who rulest wind and water
Stand by me

In the midst of tribulation
Stand by me
In the midst of tribulation
Stand by me
When the hosts of hell assail
And my strength begins to fail
Thou who never lost a battle
Stand by me

In the midst of faults and failures
Stand by me
In the midst of faults and failures
Stand by me
When I do the best I can
And my friends don’t understand
Thou who knowest all about me
Stand by me

That’s the song. I like it better than the pop song. If I record one by that name, that’s going to be the one. I’m also thinking of recording a song, not on that album, though. “Oh Lord, Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” But I don’t know, it might be good on the gospel album too.

Ray Charles & Johnny Cash – Why Me Lord
Recorded in 1981
Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters, 2010
Written by Kris Kristofferson
Amazon

Anyway, I’m proud to be here tonight for MusiCares. I’m honored to have all these artists singing my songs. There’s nothing like that. Great artists who all know how to sing the truth, and you can hear it in their voices.

I’m proud to be here tonight for MusiCares. I think a lot of this organization. They’ve helped many people, many musicians who have contributed a lot to our culture. I’d like to personally thank them for what they did for a friend of mine, Billy Lee Riley. A friend of mine who they helped for 6 years when he was down and couldn’t work. Billy was a Sun rock ‘n’ roll artist.

Billy Lee Riley And The Little Green Men – Flyin’ Saucer Rock ‘n’ Roll
Recorded December 11, 1956
Single released January 23, 1957
Amazon

Billy Lee Riley – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Roland Janes – lead guitar
Jerry Lee Lewis – piano
Marvin Pepper – bass
J.M. Van Eaton – drums

He was a true original. He did it all: played, sang and wrote. He would have been a bigger star but Jerry Lee came along. And you know what happens when someone like that comes along. You kind of have to take a step back. You just don’t stand a chance.

So Billy became what is known in the industry — a condescending term, by the way — as a one-hit wonder. But sometimes, just sometimes, once in a while, a one-hit wonder can make a more powerful impact than a recording star who’s got 20 or 30 hits behind him. And Billy’s hit song was called “Red Hot,” and it was red hot. It could blast you out of your skull and make you feel happy about it. Change your life.

Billy Lee Riley And The Little Green Men – Red Hot
Recorded January 30, 1957
Single released September 14, 1957
Amazon

Billy Lee Riley – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Roland Janes – lead guitar
Jimmy Wilson – piano
Marvin Pepper – bass
J.M. Van Eaton – drums

He did it with style and grace. You won’t find him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s not there. Metallica is. ABBA is. Mamas and the Papas, I know they’re in there. Jefferson Airplane, Alice Cooper, Steely Dan — I’ve got nothing against metal, soft rock, hard rock, psychedelic pop. I got nothing against any of that stuff. But, after all, it is called the Rock and Roll Hall of FAME. Billy Lee Riley is not there. Yet. And it’s taking too long.

I’d see him a couple times a year and we’d always spent time together. He was on (the) rockabilly festival nostalgia circuit and we’d cross paths now and again. He was a hero of mine. I’d heard “Red Hot.” I must have been only 15 or 16 when I did and it’s impressed me to this day.

I never grow tired of listening to it. Never got tired of watching Billy Lee perform, either. We spent time together just talking and playing into the night. He was a deep, truthful man. He wasn’t bitter or nostalgic. He just accepted it. He knew where he had come from and he was content with who he was.

And then one day he got sick. And like my friend John Mellencamp would sing –- because John sang some truth today –- one day you get sick and you don’t get better. That’s from a song of his called “Life is Short Even on Its Longest Days.” It’s one of the better songs of the last few years, actually. I ain’t lying.

John Mellencamp – Longest Days
Life, Death, Love And Freedom, 2008
Amazon

John Mellencamp – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Andy York – acoustic guitar
Troye Kinnett – melodica

And I ain’t lying when I tell you that MusiCares paid for my friend’s doctor bills, mortgage and gave him spending money. They were able to at least make his life comfortable, tolerable to the end. That is something that can’t be repaid. Any organization that would do that would have to have my blessing.

I’m going to get out of here now. I’m going to put an egg in my shoe and beat it. I probably left out a lot of people and said too much about some. But that’s OK. Like the spiritual song, “I’m still just crossing over Jordan, too.” Let’s hope we meet again. Sometime. And we will, if, like Hank Williams says, “The good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise.”

Hank Williams And The Drifting Cowboys – When God Comes And Gathers His Jewels
Recorded October 1949
Amazon
Health & Happiness: Show 3

Hank Williams – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Don Helms – steel guitar
Bob McNett – electric guitar
Jerry Rivers – fiddle
Hillous Butrum – bass