Saturday, November 7, 2009

Albums We Missed, Because We Weren't Born Yet -- Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline












I just bought a vinyl this week, and it contained an insert that said "Long Live Physical Media!" -- which got me thinking. As a way to incorporate physical media into this other-wise mp3/video-laden website, I thought I'd occasionally write about some old vinyls of mine which have cool characteristics that people who bought the album on itunes may not know.

This week's selection is Bob Dylan's 1969 masterpiece, Nashville Skyline. The album features Johnny Cash, on what I consider to be the album's best song, Girl From the North Country. What you might not know if you bought this album off itunes, however, is that the back of album has some kind words (really a poem) about Bob Dylan -- written by Johnny Cash. People just don't write like this anymore.

"Of Bob Dylan" (an excerpt)

This man can rhyme the tick of time
The edge of pain, the what of sane
And comprehend the good in men, the bad in men
Can feel the hate of fight, the love of right
And the creep of blight at the speed of light
The pain of dawn, the gone of gone
The end of friend, the end of end
By math of trend
What grip to hold what he is told
How long to hold, how strong to hold
How much to hold of what is told.
And Know
The yield of rend; the break of bend
The scar of mend
I'm proud to say that I know it,
Here-in is a hell of a poet.
And lots of other things
And lots of other things.

-- Johnny Cash



1 comment:

  1. The two enjoyed themselves on "The Dylan Cash Sessions" bootleg...Compare Cash's opening lines with the last lines of Bob's liner notes for Eric von Schmidt's, "Who Knocked the Brains Out of the Sky?"

    " Eric Von Schmidt Of course, we had heard about EricVon Schmidt for many years. The name itself had becomea password. Eventually, after standing in line to meet him, thereit was -- his doorstep, a rainy day, and he greeted his visitors,inviting them in. He was told how much they liked Grizzly Bear and he theninvited the whole bunch to the club, where he was about to perform thething live. "C'mon down to the club" he said -- "I'm about to perform it live."

    We accepted the invitation. And that is what his record is. Aninvitation. An invitation to the glad, mad, sad, biting, exciting, frightening,crabby, happy, enlightening, hugging, chugging world of Eric VonSchmidt. For here is a man who can sing the bird off the wireand the rubber off the tire. He can separate the men from the boys andthe note from the noise. The bridle from the saddle and the cow fromthe cattle. He can play the tune of the moon. The whyof the sky and the commotion from the ocean. Yes he can."

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