Happy 81st Birthday Bob Dylan! – Best Songs, Live Performances, Covers, Interviews and more…

Hyde Park, London – 2019

 

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn,
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece, the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born is busy dying

Happy 81st Birthday to the GREATEST Artist of Our Time.

Dylan has always been busy being born. At the age of 81 he will start his second leg of the 2022 “World Wide Tour” in Spokane, Washington on May 28, performing at peak levels, bringing awe & joy to those lucky enough to understand & participate.

If you’re a true “performing artist”, it’s hard to retire. You gotta be yourself to the end. And we all know that Zimmy will not back down.

Here @ borntolisten.com, alldylan.com & musicthisday.com we got about 2000 Bob Dylan posts alive. In this tribute I’ll try to give an overview & hopefully lead you [the reader] to material you might find interesting.

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January 17: Mick Taylor was born in 1949 , here playing Blind Willie McTell by Bob Dylan

Happy 72nd birthday Mick Taylor!

Any fan of classic rock needs no introduction to Mick Taylor. The legendary  guitarist first made his mark in the 1960′s playing with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers as the successor to Eric Clapton. As if this wasn’t enough, Mick Taylor would eventually go on to replace the late Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones. He would  leave the Stones in 1974, but he was a big part on some of their most seminal albums, such as Let it BleedSticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street. Over the years, Taylor would carve out his own solo career, but would continue to maintain contact with the Stones, eventually being present for the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

In 1983, Taylor joined Mark Knopfler and played on Dylan’s Infidels album. He also appeared on Dylan’s live album Real Live, as well as the follow-up studio album Empire Burlesque. In 1984, Dylan asked Mick Taylor to assemble an experienced rock and roll band for a European tour he signed with Bill Graham. Ian McLagan was hired to play piano and hammond organ, Greg Sutton to play bass and Colin Allen, a long-time friend of Taylor, on drums. The tour lasted for four weeks at venues such as Munich’s Olympic Stadium Arena and Milan’s San Siro Stadium, sharing the bill with Carlos Santana and Joan Baez, who appeared on the same bill for a couple of shows.

He played with The Stones again as a special guest on their 50 & Counting Tour in 2013.

His take on Bob Dylan’s Blind Willie McTell is faithful but playful, for instance he incorporates snippets from All along the Watchtower in the middle of the song. But it is his fantastic guitar playing that is the reason I chose this as todays video. There are not many guitarists in his league. Fantastic!

Blind Willie McTell – Mick Taylor (2009):

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December 21: Frank Zappa was born in 1940

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.
~Frank Zappa

My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.
~Frank Zappa

….although he led groups that could be called rock & roll bands for much of his career, he used them to create a hybrid style that bordered on jazz and complicated, modern serious music, sometimes inducing orchestras to play along. As if his music were not challenging enough, he overlay it with highly satirical and sometimes abstractly humorous lyrics and song titles that marked him as coming out of a provocative literary tradition that included Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg and edgy comedians like Lenny Bruce.
~William Ruhlmann (allmusic.com)

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December 18: The legend Keith Richards was born in 1943

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.”
― Keith Richards

“When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.”
― Keith Richards

He’s acknowledged as perhaps the greatest rhythm guitarist in rock & roll, but Keith Richards is even more legendary for his near-miraculous ability to survive the most debauched excesses of the rock & roll lifestyle. His prodigious consumption of drugs and alcohol has been well documented, and would likely have destroyed anyone with a less amazing endurance level.
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November 28: Randy Newman was born in 1943

I started recording because I was always complaining about the records that I was getting of my songs. At least if I did them and messed them up, I wouldn’t have anyone else to blame.
~Randy Newman

To me, someone who writes really good songs is Randy Newman. There’s a lot of people who write good songs. As songs. Now Randy might not go out on stage and knock you out, or knock your socks off. And he’s not going to get people thrilled in the front row. But he’s gonna write a better song than most people who can do it. You know, he’s got that down to an art. Now Randy knows music. He knows music. But it doesn’t get any better than “Louisiana” or “Cross Charleston Bay” [Sail Away]. It doesn’t get any better than that. That’s like a classically heroic anthem theme. He did it. There’s quite a few people who did it. Not that many people in Randy’s class.
~Bob Dylan (to Paul Zollo, April 1991)

Sail Away – (Live at the Old Grey Whistle):

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November 18: Graham Parker was born in 1950

Photo: Borntolisten.com @ Bergenfest, Norway

 

Graham Parker is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.

Graham Parker & The Rumour-Hold Back The Night Live 1977:

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