When it comes time to crack the plastic on a new Bob Dylan album every couple of years or so, the thing I always find myself immediately missing is the lyric sheet. Despite being one of musics greatest lyricists ever, Dylan rarely, if ever, includes them.
The fact is — especially at his ripe old age — Bob Dylan has no business being able to turn a great phrase the way he still so effortlessly does. Yet, Dylan's lyrics continue to amaze on his 46th album, Together Through Life, due out this Tuesday from his long-standing label, Columbia.
"I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver, and I'm reading James Joyce. Some people, they tell me I've got the blood of the land in my voice," Dylan sings on "I Feel A Change Comin' On," one of this album's many standout tracks.
On "My Wife's Home Town" (which happens to be Hell), Dylan croaks out lines like "she can make things bad, she can make things worse, she got stuff more potent than a gypsy curse," with all of the world weariness of a broken down old horse thirsting for one last drop of water to drink. Yet on "If You Ever Go To Houston," he admits that "something always keeps me coming back for more, I know these feelings, I've been here before."
So there is no shortage of lyrical fodder here to keep Dylanologists busy pouring over every line until, well, until the next Dylan album.
Still, Together Through Life doesn't feel anything like the masterpiece that was 2006's Modern Times. There's nothing here with the hell hounds on my trail sort of desperation of "Thunder On The Mountain" or "Ain't Talkin'" — although the best songs on this record, like "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" and "I Feel A Change Comin' On," come awful close.
On the former, Dylan sings "Beyond here lies nothing, nothing we can call our own," behind a blusey, Tex-Mex flavored arrangement rich in crackling guitars and accordion. On the latter, while Dylan sounds optimistic, the song is measured by caution as evidenced in lines like "everybody got all the flowers, I ain't got one single rose."
Article comments
1 - BabyBlue
"Dylan's sandpaper-raw vocals take on just that much of a smoother edge " once again, matching the overall more relaxed, far less doomy feel of this record. Maybe Dylan's breathing easier these days with Obama in the oval office, and his predecessor presumably herding sheep back at the ranch in Texas."
I think that's wishful thinking, sir. The juxtaposition of the lyrics against the lilting music is what appears to make this such an "American" album. Isn't that what we've been experiencing - no matter who is in the Oval Office. While we go lilting along carefree in our happy tunes, the lyrics reminds us that "it's all good," not. I wouldn't call it cynicism, but Dylan is sardonic and he can't help sounding prophetic even when he doesn't want to - which is probably what gives the music it's power.
"It's all good" is sardonic, he's pulling your leg. This is not the superficial hope message of the current administration, but rather a reality check. "the door has closed for evermore, if indeed there ever was a door," is hardly the stuff of Obamamania. Dylan transcends politics - it's truth, wrapped in reality and jest. Figuring out what's what frankly depends on his phrasing - he can rework the meaning in how he phrases the song, he is one of the great singers in his phrasing, something that Frank Sinatra himself marveled at.
bb
2 - al
Bob amazes me .
the older he gets the better he sings .
3 - Glen Boyd
I do get the cynicism in "Its All Good," BB. I do. Dylan is pointing out the irony in a ridiculously overused catchphrase that has no real base in reality. Like you said, it's all good .. not. I get that.
Likewise, with "I Feel A Change Comin' On," I get the fact that Dylan can see for the forest for the trees when it comes to who is occupying the oval office. But what I also sense is the songs cautious optimism in spite of that.
Which is why I feel this record does such a great job of capturing its time...just as Modern Times before it did.
Thanks for the comment.
-Glen
4 - NIK
Great review Glen, I'm really digging this disc so far.