I married Isis on the fifth day of May
But I could not hold on to her very long
So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away
For the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong
[about Isis] Hm… Well, it’s kind of like a journey, you know, like sort of a journey type trip. I wrote that with another person and I think half the verses were mine and half the verses were his, and it just sort of ended up being what it was. I don’t really know too much in depth what it would mean.
-Bob Dylan (Rockline Interview, Hollywood, California – June 17, 1985)
A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I mean, you know, people enjoying the type of pain, you know.
~Bob Dylan (to Mary Travers April 1975)
In stunning, total contrast to the previous album, Before the Flood, this 16th Dylan album triumphantly shows more subtlety and nuance than anything he’d ever done, and as honed a use of understatement as on John Wesley Harding. At the time this was the most unexpected leap of Dylan’s career. After years of comparatively second-rate work and a considerable decline in his reputation, here was an album to stand with Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde.
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975by Columbia Records.
The people from the Hurricane Carter movement kept calling me and writing me. And Hurricane sent me his book, which I read and which really touched me. I felt that the man was just innocent, from his writings and knowing that part of the country. So I went to visit him and was really behind him, trying to get a new trial.
~Bob Dylan (to Bill Flanagan, March 1985)
Tonight is billed as “The Night of the Hurricane,” and Dylan is in a good mood, dedicating one song to Al Grossman, who is in the audience and “‘is not running for President” (a dig at Muhammad Ali’s attempts to turn the benefit into a political rally). Baez hams it up during her set with Dylan, and Robbie Robertson joins the Revue for a great “It Takes a Lot to Laugh.” Although not as inspired a performance as Montreal, the concert ends the tour on a high note. The traditional end-of-tour party is at the Felt Forum after the show. The partying continues at a restaurant near the Westbury Hotel.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
The last show of the 1975 tour @ Madison Square Garden, New York City – 8 December 1975.
The show was a benefit concert for the imprisoned boxer, Hurricane Carter, hence the name of the show: “The Night of the Hurricane.” Special guests for the night: Robert Flack and Muhammad Ali.
Madison Square Garden
New York City, New York
8 December 1975 Night of The Hurricane
Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar)
Bob Neuwirth (guitar)
T-bone J. Henry Burnett (guitar)
Roger McGuinn (guitar)
Steven Soles (guitar)
Mick Ronson (guitar)
David Mansfield (steel guitar, violin, mandolin ,dobro)
This is a very special upload. This was recorded on December 8, 1975, the final night of the first leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue. The next tour date was January 22, 1976.
– Swingin’ Pig (Youtube)
As usual from Swingin’ Pigs’ uploads, the video and especially the audio is excellent. It is very well edited and part of his alternative Rolling Thunder film.
Just too good to not share.
“I was just sitting outside my house one day thinking about a name for this tour, when all of a sudden, I looked into the sky and I heard a boom! Then, boom, boom, boom, boom, rolling from west to east. So I figured that should be the name.”
– Bob Dylan on why he called it The Rolling Thunder Revue
Sara by Bob Dylan last concert of the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue:
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a concert tour Bob Dylan with a traveling caravan of notable musicians, including Joan Baez,Roger McGuinn, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Bob Neuwirth assembled the backing musicians, including T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles, and from the Desire sessions, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner, and drummer Howie Wyeth. The tour included 57 concerts in two legs—the first in the American northeast and Canada in the fall of 1975, and the second in the American south and southwest in the spring of 1976.
GREAT performance from Dylan & his trio (core of what would become the The Rolling Thunder tour band).. They were the last act this day.. the filming was running late & they didn’t get to play before 2 am. Still there is fire in Dylan’s eyes.. and he drives his band through the songs.
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