"I Shall Be Released" - Neil Young
From the bootleg Nobody Sings Like Dylan, Vol. 4
Click here to listen to the mp3.
Right across the street from my university was this little dive bar that used to have live music on the weekends. My roommate and I would often sneak over, order a couple of Cokes and dig on the locals playing classic rock numbers with hints of the blues. There was this one favorite band who used to knock out a version of "I Shall Be Released" that blew the doors right off their hinges.
Anyways this one time we're sitting there enjoying ourselves and I feel the need to pee. I make my way to the back of the joint, find the bathroom, and walk in. The facility was small just one sit toilet and one urinal. No partitions between them. On the toilet was this old man with redneck clothes and hillbilly tattoos. He was in the middle of what must have been a colossal dump. I cannot begin to tell you why, but instead of racing out of the room I walked to the urinal to begin my business. I knew it was awkward but somewhere in my mind I thought that since the guy didn't lock the door, this must be how they do it in dive bars.
Or not.
Three seconds in the guy with great anguish yells at me something fierce, this gist of which was get the heck out! I did, and then wandered back to my booth. The rest of the night I slumped down in my seat fearing the dumper would come looking for me wondering what kind of pervert I was.
Really, I was just a kid looking for a place to pee.
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