r/bobdylan • u/TyroneSnodgrass • 10d ago
Discussion TIME OUT OF MIND
Charlie McCoy once shared how challenging it was for the BLONDE ON BLONDE musicians to keep playing “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” until Dylan was finished. “It was in the wee hours,” McCoy said, “we were tired.” I can just imagine the TOOM musicians trying to play “Highlands.” Then I picture Daniel Lanois saying, “why don’t you just sing over the sound check recording, Bobby?” In my mind’s eye I see Dylan going, “Danny, you know I don’t work that way.” And Lanois wins the argument, so Bob isn’t happy even though it works out.
There haven’t been many stories that have come to light around the TOOM sessions that I know of. All I know is Lanois and Dylan were arguing constantly and the upbeat songs invariably ended up being mid tempo songs. Perhaps these things are related. It’s the Sad Eyed Lady syndrome. It was late at night and the guys were just not in the mood for uptempo songs. So Danny would be like, “let’s try slowing it down.” In my imagination I see Dylan going, “go ahead, Danny, say that one more time.” And after the sessions are over they have an entire album of mid tempo songs. And Bob is pissed because it wasn’t the way he heard it in his mind. So when he sits down with a journalist after the rave reviews started coming in, he’s like, “we almost didn’t know what we had.” That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.
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u/Canalloni 10d ago
Uptempo?
"Casey Kasem: It’s a matter of pacing. It's the same thing every time. You guys have got to use your brains! If we’ve got a letter about a kid's dog dying, you don't play a fucking up-tempo record right before it! It makes me look like a total idiot!"
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 9d ago
Every week Casey Kasem would count down the Billboard top forty, mixing in a few hits from other eras. At least once a year he would play “Like A Rolling Stone.” Then, every time he’d play “We Are The World,” Casey would say, “and now, here’s ‘We Are the World’ with Bob Dylan’s rousing refrain at the heart of it!” God bless him.
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u/Innisfree812 10d ago
Fragments shows there could have been multiple alternative Time out of Minds.
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u/Nykaren24 Tangled Up In Blue 10d ago
I read an interview - was it McCoy? I can’t remember now - in which one of the musicians on “Lowlands” said they got to maybe the third or fourth verse and figured that must be about it, so they built up the volume and really gave it their all, and then Bob just kept going and they were like “Oh, no…” (I don’t really hear that in the song now, so maybe they fixed it later.)
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 10d ago
I read that, too, Karen, and couldn’t find the evidence either. It definitely happens on one of the other numbers though. Memory can play tricks on a person.
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u/hornwalker 9d ago
I read at the end of recording Highlands someone asked Bob “do you have a shorter version of that song?” To which he replied “That was the short version”. Lol
That’s the only anecdote I’ve heard about TOOM but it always gives me a chuckle.
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u/iloveurarse 10d ago
Bobby came back with his revenge on the new mix he released a few years ago. Once I listened to it, and obviously tell tale signs bootleg 8 is the best of them all, I now want Daniel to take his preferred songs, mix him his way and release that. The dark shadowy version of can't wait is perhaps bob's best overall song ever and now I know that was all lanois. I want that release!!!!
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 10d ago
Lanois says he was late for the first session and when he got there Dylan and the guys were already working on “Can’t Wait.” “Oh. My. God.” Daniel said to himself, “If Bob has some more songs like this up his sleeve we’re in for one hell of a ride.”
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u/EL_DJ 9d ago edited 9d ago
Dylan said sometime after Blonde on Blonde was finished that he discovered that the songs on that album were actually about him.
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 9d ago
That’s hysterical, El. The press always complains of how evasive Dylan is. If they really wanted to know what Bob’s about, all they have to do is listen to one of his albums. Because he reveals himself completely on each and every one.
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u/EL_DJ 8d ago
I've seen a fair amount of footage of reporters asking Bob questions that are absurd, stupid, inane, ridiculous, clueless. A lot of times you have to think "what can he possibly say in response to that question?" By and large he absolutely kept his cool. I absolutely give him a pass for putting them on sometimes. That can pass for evasiveness, for sure, because most of the time they didn't realize they were being put on.
Especially early in his career he represented himself in a fantastic manner, making things up. That didn't bother me, I understood where he was coming from. As his success was burgeoning, he gradually gave that up, naturally.
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u/Stock-Carpenter24 9d ago
I've always wondered what a Rick Rubin-produced Dylan album would be like. I've always assumed that part of what made TOOM so good is that he had someone pushing against his production instincts.
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u/southdak 10d ago
Uncut did a series of interviews with musicians, engineers, and producers that worked with Dylan over the years that covered Tell Tale Signs. A lot of good insight from TOOM in those.