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Bonzoleum, the maker of the video, clowns around, but I am entertained. He notes the stamina required to play the 12 minute song. I know because I was captivated by that very song as a 15 year-old when it first came out. I still consider it peak Bonham. That song alone probably took a point off my high school GPA: I liked nothing more than to skip school, go home, and practice songs in the basement much like in the video. It was addictive. I especially liked the shuffle beat that Bonham laid out in the middle during Page's guitar solos and also the snare drum marching fill at 9m 55s which is the direct precursor to every anthemic drum beat by U2. Bonzoleum nails the cover with only a few errors. I recently tried "air drumming" the whole thing and I'm thinking of doing this as aerobic exercise; air drums are even more strenuous because there is no bounce there.

Bob Dylan recorded a cover of "In My Time Of Dying" on his very first (1962) album:

Dylan's version traces back to recordings by various black southern artists, notably one by Blind Willie Johnson. The song's refrain "Jesus gonna make up my dying bed" in turn goes back to Psalms 41:3:

The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing, Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

Our word Psalm derives from the Ancient Greek word ψαλμός (psalmos), said to describe the twitchy twangy plucking sound made by a harp or zither.* The Greek word in turn is a translation of the Hebrew word מזמור (mizmor) which is also rooted in "pluck." Psalms were sacred songs, poems, or poetic compositions used by worshippers.

Gifted Knowledge...

click to enlarge

...where knowledge seeps in:

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Overheard at Lem's:

Sixty Grit said...

Usury - commonplace, normally, generally.

We usury see a rise in interest rates this time of year.

January 2, 2017 at 12:09 PM

Now, the first thing I heard behind the words was an "Asian" accent. Other artists besides Sixty have riffed off this -- think Roman Polanski in Chinatown: "...salt water, bad for glass..."

My mind also goes back to the The Kingston Trio and their 1958 hit "Coplas" (Couplets). Give it a quick listen:

linky

"You are surprised I speak your language...you see, I was educated in your country at U.C.R.A."

It's all in good fun!  And isn't that self-deprecating mockery -- the way he says OK, la guitara, ¡andele! with a very American accent at the very beginning?

One last word about The Kingston Trio. Bob Shane is the last surviving original member. I see the following in his Wiki bio:

For the Kingston Trio's success took acoustic folk-based music out of the niche market it had occupied prior to the Trio's arrival and moved it into the mainstream of American popular music, opening the door for major record labels to record and market both more traditional folk musicians and singer-songwriters as well. link

In a sense, The Kingston Trio opened the door for artists like Bob Dylan. Remember that around 1960, Capitol Records had The Kingston Trio; another label had Joan Baez. Columbia Records had Pete Seeger, but they needed someone younger who could speak to a new generation. That's when Dylan stepped forth from the shadows.

Analyzing Bob Dylan's 2016 Christmas Lights

This has become an annual tradition -- a time when Dylan watchers anxiously await the fates in the lights. Merrill Markoe released her analysis of Bob Dylan's Christmas lights. Here are some highlights.

An "N" shape is seen in the string:

link to original

I've seen clearer "N's" embedded in kid's pajamas.

Deeper analysis of the string reveals various clues to Bob's quixotic response to the Nobel Prize Committee; begin down in the lower left with 1 and follow through to 21 (number 11, lol):

link to original

For previous year's analyses, click on the "Bob Dylan's Christmas Lights" tag.

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How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like The Rolling Stone...

linky

De Minnimis

Garrison Keillor doesn't care much for Bob Dylan nor for Donald Trump:

Bob is embarrassed by the prize. He’s from Minnesota, he has a conscience. He has written a few good love songs and some memorable phrases and the Swedes have embraced him as if he were Homer, which he is not. WaPo link

Keillor doesn't really write much about Trump and Minnesota -- instead he focusses on Iowa:

Mr. Trump is well-liked in Iowa. Des Moines would be a good place for him to show off his governing skills. He could deport the migrant workers who are employed in the slaughterhouses and he could get Iowa teenagers to take their place, bonking* hogs in the forehead and cutting their throats and gutting and skinning them. 

Well, Mr. Woebegotten -- are you saying that the children are all above average, or just that the women are Hillary-strong?
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*To bonk, verb, tr.; not to be confused with to boink, verb, transitive.

Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Literature Prize

It's about time that lyrics were regarded as poetry.

Congrats!

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Pretty lady covers a 50-year-old Dylan song:

linky

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link in case the video flops

'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes

I've moved your mountains and marked your cards

But Eden is burning -- either brace yourself for elimination

Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.'

Full lyrics after the jump

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Jimi Hendrix - Like A Rolling Stone HD by link to original 

This was Hendrix's American stage debut as The Experience. The Monterrey Pop Festival in June 1967 came only a few short months after his debut in England. This song was his first tribute to Bob Dylan.* Dylan had been invited to the Monterrey festival but declined for who knows what reason(s). Jimi's reference to "Bob Dylan's grandma over there" was a dig at bassist Noel Redding who sported "granny glasses" and a dylan-esque afro. The two never did get on together and Hendrix ultimately replaced Redding with Billy Cox who is the last surviving bandmate.
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* The second one being his recording of "All Along The Watchtower" a year later. 

A worthy effort

"Suddenly I turned around and she was standin' there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns
"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm""

Bob Dylan cover: Don't Think Twice

link in case the video doesn't load

h/t: William

Bob Dylan cover: Don't Think Twice

h/t Dad Bones 

KLEM FM: My Favorite Dylan Covers

Compiled from my iTunes according to my "played" metric which spans a number of years. Number 10 is least played; number 1 has the most plays:

10. Mama, You've Been On My Mind by Rod Stewart from his 1972 LP "Never A Dull Moment."

9. The Mighty Quinn (The Eskimo) by Manfred Mann and his Earth Band (1968).

8. All I Really Want To Do by The Byrds (1965).  I have three Byrds songs in my top ten so there is something special about them. I suppose it's their sound. They really did invent a new sound as I described here.

7. Don't Think Twice by Mike Ness (1999)

6. All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)

5. My Back Pages by The Byrds (1967)

4. It's All Over Now Baby Blue by Them (that's Van Morrison in disguise, 1966). I probably under-counted this version and it should be ranked higher. But the song only recently became available on iTunes.

3. Mr. Tambourine Man, The Byrds (1965)

2. Changing Of The Guards Patti Smith (2007)

1. I Believe In You Cat Power (2008). The original is from Dylan's "Slow Train Coming," the LP some Dylan fans still love to forget. But the song works well at a non-religious level too, in my opinion.
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So what did I leave out?  What would you add or subtract?

An In-Depth Analysis of Bob Dylan's 2015 Christmas Lights

Link to story

I don't know about you, but I'll wait for the "annalysis." 

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link in case the video doesn't load

Bob Dylan said about that song:

The only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in about '72 and the big song at the time was "Heart of Gold". I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to "Heart of Gold." I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I'd say, 'Shit, that's me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me.'

I too have a memory of that song but it's from '79. Having spent a month in Italy without seeing another American, I got to Pisa by train late at night with an Italian friend. Our usual routine was to sleep outside at or near the train station and then to see the city the next day before moving on - a buon mercato. I couldn't wait and went off looking for the Leaning Tower. Along the way, or on the walk back, I watched a guy singing that song, alone, under a street light. Unforgettable.

Baltimore, oh Baltimore I can hear your sea winds blowing

Baltimore. That place sounds familiar. It seems an important port with a unique geography. What happened there? Fort McHenry. Star Spangled Banner. British. 1812 Burned down Washington a march away.

Mother Seaton, first American saint. Nations first Catholic seminary. Anything else? Babe Ruth. Edgar Allen Poe, see? That right there is why one would think the whole place is so spooky. Because of him. Baltimore is so spooky it even freaked out Edgar Allen Poe. That is my impression. There should be something about ships. Tall sailing ships. We put these models together as boys. Let me think. Shipping there is a big deal, you know. U.S.S. Constellation, a 3-masted war sloop. Cool boat. Baltimore undoubtedly has a lot of rats.

Wooden model. $648.30 by Old Modern Handicrafts. You should buy one. Kidding. I know you're not interested. Ours were plastic. This is a lot better. Dusting is a problem. Either glass case or housekeeper with a delicate touch. Baltimore, having the real thing is just so totally historically ace. Baltimore has more historical ships than this but they're not as good, and actually, the real thing is a bit cheesy. Also the U.S. Naval Academy at nearby Annapolis. Baltimore Oreos, home of the famous cookie. Kidding again. Also, Chef Duff and his entertaining Ace of Cakes.

Oriole VS Cardinal. Just for the heck of it.

Now, here are two very good looking birds.

Sorry Baltimore. Cardinal for the win. St. Louis wins for bird teams. The red beak and red feet kill it. It's a bird so confident in its color that it takes it all the way from the toes to the crest. The oriole is attractive, yes, but it compromises, like it's trying to pass for a robin. But even robins have yellow beaks with gray legs, and robins have stunning blue eggs. But wait, what do oriole eggs look like?

Oh, orioles make hanging basket nests. Wow. Jackson Pollock eggs.

What do cardinal's nest and eggs look like? Stunning eggs. Much simpler nests.

Baltimore oriole's nest and eggs win. Tough choice though. Oriole is a better housekeeper and family bird while cardinal is a more confident stylist.

Their geography is such the force of waterways suggested mills. I'm interested in their early grain mills. The early settlers preferred rye bread. I imagined their milled wheat to be be all whole wheat minus the husks. I imagined the stones flattening de-husked wheat seeds to powder but that is not what they did. The ground grain is graded for different purposes by sifting through various screens, their term "bolting" originally "boulting." Romans bolted their wheat to seven grades of flour. So, not all their bread was 100% whole wheat as imagined, but all of their leaven was natural piggybacking or airborne, what we call sourdough.

Don't ask me about present day happening in Baltimore and their dilapidated unhappy Democrat plantation with all their high profile non-Baltimore plantation rebellions because I don't know anything about that. It doesn't come through. I do know historically plantation owners were terrified of revolts. There they were, the plantation owners, out there in the country isolated away from the unhealthy city in summer, with more people in bondage than available enforcement and there is always news coming in of happenings in Jamaica. Now, they are doing a lot of talking but not to me. All of the talking, and there is a lot of talking, is amongst themselves and for themselves. They're working out their own problems and they've made clear all  that has nothing to do with me, in fact I and my profiled type are excluded. But that needn't wreck a whole city, there's a lot else going on there besides plantation rebellion.

Seems every time you turn around there's another hard luck story you're going to hear. And there's really nothing anyone can say. Oh, I never did plan to go anyway... to Black Diamond Bay.

Analyzing Bob Dylan's Christmas Lights

Main link

The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams

Hank Williams died in January, 1953 at 29 years of age.  The cause of death was alcohol and morphine.  Williams was an alcoholic, and had been given morphine to deal with pain resulting from a back injury he suffered in 1951.  He took too much of both, and died in the back seat of his car while being driven to a performance.

Among the possessions found Williams' car was a notebook filled with Williams' lyrics and notes for songs he had not yet recorded.  That notebook disappeared until 2006, when it was found in a dumpster by a janitor employed by Sony/ATV Music Publishing.  After lawsuits and threats of arrest, the janitor's story was found to be true, and in 2008, Sony turned the notebooks over to Bob Dylan to complete the songs for a new album.

That album (a CD, but I hate that name) is called The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams and was released in October 2011.

It sucks.

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Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts - Bob Dylan from Lívia Pio on Vimeo.

Rosemary started drinking hard and seeing her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention tired of playing the role of Big Jim's wife
She had done a lot of bad things even once tried suicide
Was looking to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazing to the future riding on the Jack of Hearts.