Loaded Couch Potatoes

The Times They Are A-Changin’ — released January 13, 1964

(1)  “The Times They Are A-Changin’ “:  Adopted by nearly every person who has ever heard it (including me) as a protest song, this one is unquestionably a classic … but, as I wrote in my last Dylan review about a different song, what is this one actually protesting?  Upon further reflection, I think I’d have to say it isn’t protesting anything: instead, it’s simply talking about a fact of life, which is that things change.  Old things die off and new things take their place, an eternally-in-process cycle of change and renewal.

Of course, there can be little doubt that the cause by which this song was adopted — the civil rights movement — would have been in Dylan’s thoughts when he wrote the song, and also on at least some of the many occasions he performed it live.  His genius was in not making it too specific; he avoided tying the song down to a single cause, instead opting for a sense of universality that has enabled the song to remain vital and relevant decades later.  That’s how it managed to sound like it fit perfectly in a movie about costumed crimefighters (Watchmen) and wow who knows how many people who might have never heard it before.

As for the song itself, it’s one of the many instances in which Dylan’s voice matches the song perfectly.  It’s an incredibly famous song, and it has been covered by a legion of guitar-playing singers, none of which has done the song better than Dylan does it on this recording.

(2)  “Ballad of Hollis Brown”:  This blues ballad is the story of a destitute farmer who, unable to bear his own hunger and the complaints from his wife and children, goes to work on them all with the seven shotgun shells upon which his last dollar was spent.  It is a terrifyingly bleak song, one that jolts you with its raw power.  Again, Dylan is in fine voice on this song, but this time I can think of one singer who did it justice at least as well: Nina Simone, whose dark voice and personality were well suited to the material.

(3)  “With God on Our Side”:  A rather Irish-sounding ballad, this one quite venomous in its castigations of the American human tendency to use religion as an excuse for atrocity.  Oddly, though I do like the song, of Dylan’s major works it is one of the ones I have the least affection toward.  And it’s not terribly well-played on this recording, either: pay attention to Dylan’s guitar work, and try and make any sense out of what he’s doing.

However, much as I hate to carp on this issue, Dylan’s singing, once again, is excellent here.  If you can, find a recording of Joan Baez performing the song, or, worse, dueting with Dylan on it.  Pay attention to how she chases the words, trying to elevate them into something that sounds religious in and of itself.  Dylan approaches the song from a more grounded place; he knew the lyrics did a perfectly good job of elevating the song, and had the sense to simply deliver them in an effective manner.  Dylan’s voice itself might sometimes be lacking, but the intelligence with which he uses it makes up for it and then some.

(4)  “One Too Many Mornings”:  A Freewheelin’-style lost-love ballad, this one is okay, but it’s nowhere near as good as either “Girl from the North Country” or “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”  It’s very rough, and Dylan barely sings the song at all; it could have used some substantial work before being put into the world.  Lest I sound too anti-Baez in my take on “With God on Our Side,” I’d like now to mention that Joan’s cover of this song is simply sublime, and far better than Dylan’s.

(5)  “North Country Blues”:  Baez also did a bang-up job on this song when she covered it … but Dylan’s original, too, is a knockout.  Sung from the perspective of a mother whose life has taken a turn for the worse: her town is dying because the mine that formed its backbone has shut down, and as a result, she is faced with the prospect of her children leaving town (and leaving her alone) once they’ve grown … after all, with no work, what would hold them there?

Dylan, of course, was the child of a dying mining town, and while his mother was neither a miner nor a miner’s wife, she was certainly the mother of a child who left home to seek a better life elsewhere in the world.  This may have something to do with the incredible sadness in Dylan’s voice as he sings this song.

Musically, the song is a waltz, like several other tracks on the album (“The Times They Are A-Changin’,” “With God on Our Side,” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”).  Dylan had used this format on Freewheelin’ with “Masters of War,” to great effect.

(6)  “Only a Pawn in Their Game”:  One of Dylan’s most overt protest songs (one of the few, in fact), this song for slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers is easily one of my least favorite tracks from Dylan’s entire career.  As on “With God on Our Side,” Dylan seems scarcely to know what to do with his guitar, and mainly uses it to just prop us his lyrics.  Unfortunately, the lyrics are nothing special, either; there are a lot of rhymes, most of them obvious.  This is the type of song Dewey Cox specialized in singing.

(7)  “Boots of Spanish Leather”:  Musically identical to “Girl from the North Country,” the song is more complex and ambitious lyrically.  There is no chorus, and of the nine verses, the first six represent a dialogue between two lovers, one of whom is leaving for Spain, and the other of whom desperately wants her to stay with him.  The final three verses are entirely from the point of view of the one who has stayed behind.  It’s a wistful song, one Dylan puts himself into fully.  I think I prefer “Girl from the North Country,” but if so, it’s not by much.

(8)  “When the Ship Comes In”:  An energetic song in the mold of an Irish drinking ditty, “When the Ship Comes In” is a tale of righteous retribution due to be delivered at the doorstep of the narrator’s foes.  In the film No Direction Home, Joan Baez makes the (highly credible) claim that the song was written on the fly, dashed off in a fit of pique by Dylan when a surly hotel attendant refused him a room due to his unkempt appearance; the more presentable Baez had to vouch for him, and in the movie, she seems amused, and more than a little envious, that such an event gave rise to such a song … and gave rise to it almost immediately.  In a couple of places during this review, I’ve railed on Dylan for his guitar playing.  Well, no such worries on this song; he plays furiously, and while I’m not qualified to assess it from a technical standpoint, I know it sounds great, and that’s good enough for me.

(9)  “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”:  Practically dripping with righteous indignation, this is a much more successful attempt at protest — and at songwriting — than is “Only a Pawn in Their Game.”  Based on the real-life death of Hattie Carroll at the hands of William Zantzinger (Dylan calls him “Zanzinger,” which is either a cagey gambit to avoid getting sued or a bad sign about how much Dylan actually knew about the case), the song is a strong example of Dylan’s storytelling skills.

(10)  “Restless Farewell”:  Yet another one that makes me think of Irish drinking songs, this is a pretty good song, but falls a bit short of being much more than that.  Dylan makes the mistake of singing a bit too forcefully in several places.  Listen to the way he belts out the word “farewell” in the last line of each verse; his voice simply isn’t strong enough to pull it off.  (In her excellent cover of the song, Joan Baez’s voice is much better suited to the challenge.)

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Not nearly as strong an album as Freewheelin’, this one nevertheless has about half a dozen great songs on it, which is better than a lot of musicians will manage during their entire careers.  Dylan, with songs like “Only a Pawn in Their Game” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” seemed to be getting closer toward actually taking on the mantle of Protest Singer, and he doesn’t sound totally comfortable with it.  As such, this was the last time until the mid-’70s that he would tackle An Issue head-on in one of his songs.  To the extent he remained political at all, he would continue from this point forward to bury his politics inside of his art, rather than burying his art inside of his politics.  On this record, you can practically hear him learning that lesson.

Honk’s rating:  4/5 spuds