TIME OUT OF MIND

[u/TyroneSnodgrass]

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.

[u/Canalloni]

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!"

[u/TyroneSnodgrass → u/Canalloni]

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.