"Desolation Row" is one of those epic saga's that stay with you. After over 50 years I can still sing along with Bob, remembering every phrase. The Lyrics are what impressed me most as a young hippy.
Both of these songs are truly epic. I've been listening to Highway 61 Revisited since 1966 when I was a callow 15 year old (I'm now 73 and still performing). It's still my favourite Dylan album. There is not a single duff track on it. Great to see you absorbed in it. Reminds me of a young me - long hair and all.
Charle McCoy was a Nashville session musician who was visiting New York. He knew the producer, who said "Want to meet Bob?" Dylan chatted with McCoy and then said "Want to play on a song?" So McCoy picked up a borrowed guitar and played on a song that nobody had ever heard. That's a musician.
The first time I heard Desolation Row in '69 (I was 15) I cried. I listen to it now (69) I still cry - why? I wish i knew, its such a journey song that is timelessly relatable
Saw Dylan again last year. Some folks get angry because his voice is ragged, he sits on a dark stage behind an upright piano and the arrangements are way different than the album versions but I, like many others, loved the show. I think his later albums are awesome and I am always grateful for Bob Dylan. Like Beatles, Stones and others, he's a soundtrack for my life.
Desolation Row is my fav Dylan track from my fav Dylan album. I've been listening to it for 50 years, but I still don't have a scooby doo what it's about!
If you (all of you) haven't seen the Bob Dylan film, Don't Look Back, I highly recommend it, especially to fans. The documentary was released in 1967 but it documents a 1965 tour of England, both on stage and off stage. The film features Joan Baez, Donovan and Alan Price (who had just left the Animals), Dylan's manager Albert Grossman and his road manager Neuwirth. Marianne Faithfull, John Mayall, Ginger Baker and Allen Ginsberg may also be glimpsed in the background. The film captures a young Dylan who had already taken the world by storm. On stage, the film captures Dylan alone, just his voice, a guitar and a harmonica. Off stage, we see Dylan in his hotel room, writing songs, and partying. We get glimpses of Bob interacting with those he likes and doesn't like including the press.
Always my beloved's favorite singer/songwriter of all time, I have loved reliving all his favorite tracks. Thanks so much Joel for this wonderful journey, and to Lee for embracing this unassuming poet named Dylan Blessings all. Extra blessings to you Lee, for being here sharing yourself with us. Peace.
I have quite a few "favorite line of all times" between these two songs. "Because the cops don't need you and man they expect the same" is near the top of them for sure.
'Desolation Row' is hands-down my favourite Dylan song, and a frikking masterpiece of poetry. I've been listening to it for 45+ years, and it still fascinates me every bit as much as it did the first time. The whole album is brilliant, but talk about a monster of a closing track - there's just not anything else that comes close to it. Another great choice, and a great reaction - it's a pleasure riding with you on this journey, much love from Canada! Oh, btw, that's not a pipe Bob's holding on the album cover, it's his sunglasses - but he definitely enjoyed a bowl. After all, it was Bob who first smoked up the Beatles 😎
One day I’m just gonna pause it to mess with y’all. Gonna be a funny moment lol. I’m glad you could hear it again, my friend. It’s one of those songs that demands to be heard.
Dylan uses stream of consciousness , I think , edits it , and certainly employs surrealism in his visions and words . It's hard to select Dylan's best song from this era ( his best ) , because he was on fire ! The guitar accompaniment is extraordinary .
Bob's friend the writer Allen Ginsburg always told Bob that "Desolation Row" was his favorite track!! Personally I can't choose a best song but this is on my list of best actually the whole Highway 61 album has many songs I consider his best!!
The Grateful Dead covered "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (Phil Lesh vocal), 58 times between 1985 and '95. They covered "Desolation Row" (Bob Weir vocal), 58 times between 1986 and '95. The only time they played both songs in the same show was: 3-26-86, Philadelphia PA. Which coincidentally was the debut of Desolation Row as well as the 6th Tom Thumb's Blues.
So glad you loved it. It's my favorite of ALL his songs, with Visions of Johanna a close second. Unbelievable album; unbelievable guitar (again, I feel just like you do about it); and unbelievable lyrics and melody. The verse about the insurance men I find particularly chilling. BTW: for me, Tom Thumb's Blues is killer also; it's just not a "magnum opus" (Great Work) like this one.
Fun Fact: Einstein often really did disguise himself as robin hood & play the electric violin, except he played it on Depression Row, & not Desolation Row....theyre 2 entirely different rows.
YAY YAY & YAY **Bob Dylan** is my **Hero** & my **Nemesis** Ha jeezus his earlier stuff is just **Out O This World Fantastical** Thank YOU ever so **Joel** & Thank YOU *L33** F YEA!!! **Luvit**
Two of my favorite songs of all time. Everybody has their own thesis about Bob's songs because their ambiguity leads you to draw from your own experiences and interpretations. Bob is a salty guy, most of his songs have an ease and tension to them that balance out perfectly. I believe this album was the first in music history to feature multiple keyboard players on a single track. Dylan changes his music for every album, no two albums sound the same. Dylan explores all genres throughout his catalog: Folk, Blues, R&B, Rock, Country. His bootleg series of albums are another rabbit hole that's amazing, some great songs never made it onto albums but their on the bootlegs along with alternate versions of his album tracks and some sound just as good or better than the album versions.
Bob's lyrics sometimes seem like word salad but in an altered state they make all kinds of sense. That's who he was writing to. If you're stuck in "consensus reality" you won't get it. Saw him at Tanglewood in '98. He was recovering from a serious health condition so I didn't expect much, just his Greatest Hits. But he put so much energy into performing that the sweat was pouring off him. He got a thunderous standing O. So I went out and bought Time Out of Mind. An absolute masterpiece. I never tire of it
Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia were great interpreters of Dylan on record and in their live shows. Check out Jerry Garcia Band’s version of “Positively 4th Street” from 1975 featuring Nicky Hopkins on piano.
Thank you Lee. If Hendrix's Fillmore East rendition of "Machine Gun" is the single greatest performance by a musician (which I think it is) that I've ever heard, then Dylan's "Desolation Row" is the single greatest song that I've ever heard. It's scope is breathtaking. The word epic doesn't do it justice. Over the years Bob has simply added to where he was in 1965, occasionally equalling it, where everyone else just played catchup (and never caught up). And that is Bob playing the rhythm. Thanks again man. You'll have to do Blonde On Blonde next.
Dave, couldn't agree with you more !!! Both of these are the epitome of greatness. I am in my 70's and have loved all kinds of music but those two are my favorites I have ever listened to .
@@yankeeboyno7 Ya, can't wait for him to do that. It's my "desert Island" pick. It has everything you could want in music. BTW. My other two Desert Island picks are: "Electric Ladyland & The Double White Album". I think I covered it all with these 3 pics...lol. What are yours?
He certainly did…. He lived the rough life. He knew the emptiness of the promises we are sold. And how dark and lonely life can be. I’m glad he wrote to try and understand why we are the way we are. If that makes any sense.
L33, I'm expecting that you will really appreciate the beautiful guitar picking that dances throughout this mesmerizing Dylan song. I remember back when you got fixated on a Dylan backing track ( was it on "Like A Rolling Stone"?) And all us Dylan fans flipped out because you weren't focused enough on the lyrics! And of course, with Dylan everyone should focus on the lyrics, and on how Dylan sings them. But you were right too. "Folk" Dylan risked losing his fan base so that he could play with a band. So, this amazing instrumentation must have mattered a lot to Dylan too, (and not just his lyrics)!
that guitar by charlie mccoy and dylan was absolutely sublime. brought me to tears and made me rethink my life LOL my new favorite dylan track sans tambourine man... and that keeps happening every week! y'all weren't kidding that it got better as it went along.. and it started off with "Like a rolling stone"! That's INSANE.
@@L33Reacts Hi L33. "Sublime" is a great word for it. And "Desolation Row" still has this mystical effect on me even after listening to it hundreds of times. Maybe it has become even more powerful to me? Some of Dylan's songs have this strangely hypnotic feeling. A mix of complex musical patterns with extremely surreal lyrics. A great example is "It's All Right Ma", although the powerful lyrics tend to overpower the great music. I think "Desolation Row" is the perfect balance of amazing lyrics and music. Another perfect song is "Visions of Johanna" from "Blonde on Blonde".
Everyone has their own favourite album but I think Highway 61 Revisited is his peak. His voice is the best, the lyrics are the best and the tunes are the best.
I've never met a Dylan fan who didn't have an above average intelligence. This one of my favorites, after all these years, phrases from the songs still come into my head. "Up on Housing Project Hill, it's either fortune or fame, you can choose one or the other but neither is what they claim." is a reoccurring one. I've met poor people, middle class and the well to do, all have problems. What good did Dylan's popularity do him? He became wealthy but the demands of fame nearly destroyed him. In Love Minus Zero, No Limit he says of the woman, Sara, "There is no success like failure but failure is no success at all, she's nobody's child there is no place to fall." I take it to mean, whatever life throws you can handle it, if you keep your cool. Fast forward to the Traveling Wilburys, all those song writers have had their ups and downs, divorces and such drug and alcohol problems but "It's Alright" as long as it doesn't change you as a person. Last message: "Sad Eye Lady of the Lowlands" for years was my favorite. How can a man write such a long ballad to a woman? Then despite that and three or more kids, she cheats on her as he admits in Sara. I stopped listening to him for years. On of my most memorable moments was dancing a close waltz with a beautiful woman to that all the way through. What is it, 18 minutes long? Dylan's last marriage didn't last more than a few years. He blew it badly with Sara and he knows it. He kept the last one so secret and I have kept up with his latest but has he ever written his last wife a love song? If he did, it wasn't very many or good. Sorry, I never have told anyone about my thoughts about Dylan. I don't know of any serious Dylan fans in this red-necked town and certainly this period. I had one friend who liked Dylan, a self-made millionaire but he only liked his folk and country period. This man would work way out in the mines and won prizes for his cowboy poetry two years in a row. Giving a few years between listenings, "Desolation Row" will bring new images I never noticed before. All great poetry will do that, Great classical music or great movies will, no, should do that.
I don't know much of Dylan's discography but there's some great tunes in here, don't remember in what thack there's a conversation between God and "Abraham, where he says "ok aby, next time you see me coming, you better run !, " love it, and then Desolation row, what a genius lyrics.
That is on the Title Track "Highway 61 Revisited" "Lord said to Abraham, "Kill me a Son" Abe said "Man you must be putting me on!" the Lord said "No" and Abe said "What!" Lord said "You can do what you want Abe, but now, the next time you see me coming Abe, You Better Run!" Abe said"Where ya want this killing done?" Lord said, "Out on Highway 61" Johnny Winter does a fantastic live version of the this song with some of his best slide guitar work.
Maybe the purpose of a "Desolation Row" is to give one a glimpse of hell so they never want to come back. That is if they were able to escape in the first place. Desolation Rows can be found anywhere and, in many incarnations. What's sad is they are our creations to begin with.
Fueled by money and emptiness and a complete lack of empathy for your fellow human being. We create our own hell and lock ourselves inside and hide the key for someone else to find.
I just want to let you know that I watch a lot of reaction videos, I think I’ve subscribed to you and one other, but this is the first comment I’ve made, just want to thank you for bringing the greatest artist ( Dylan) to your generation, I also like that you get him, I’m just guessing your a musician which helps. I’m also a UA-camr ( travel) but this isn’t about me, if you want to hear his greatest vocal work react to Blind Willy McTell from his first bootleg album or Dirge from planet waves, Dylan , when he wants to has one of the most beautiful voices in music
@@gypsyrockchannel I appreciate the kind words, my friend. Dylan is amazing. I’m glad I get to experience the genius y’all were privy to back in the day. What a genius writer.
Awesome album and reaction! There is a Dylan bio-pic coming late this year staring Timothee Chalemet as a young Dylan. The film focuses on Dylan going electric in 1964. Chalmet nails Dylan and saw him live last fall in Brooklyn NY while Dylan was, & still is on tour for his latest LP (Rough & Rowdy Ways) The film is titled "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN" from the chorus of Like A Rolling Stone. You can check out, and maybe react to the trailer, it's all over UA-cam. It's scary good!
Kiddo. React to, or just listen to, his first album. He arrived in New York and absorbed everything that he heard. Then he put it all into this album. It is breathtaking. Almost scary....
great album reaction! now react to blonde on blonde which still is voted best album of all time inmost polls,even àfter 60 years. you would love dylan live in 66 with the band. thanks😊
Lee, if you ever feel the urge to try some full album Judy Collins, I'd recommend "In My Life." All covers, all excellent songs, all gorgeously interpreted, with heart and with soul. I don't think you've yet heard her at her best. Her cover of "Tom Thumb's Blues" may have you reconsidering whether it might not be superior to "Desolation Row." (No contest, though, on the Dylan album. He does "TTB" quite well. He does "Desolation Row" gloriously.)
The last verse "All these people that you mention Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces And give them all another name" ....kind of explains all about the song a little ? I also believe it inspired The Beatles to write "Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"....just my personal thought. I strongly "Recommend you also listen to "Bootleg 1-3" from early Dylan - onwards - 2nd disc has some great songs, left off albums, one little gem "Blind Willie McTell" and "She's Your Lover Now" unfinished but great live version. Alternative version of "Idiot Wind"., disc 3 has "Foot of Pride" "Angelina" 3rd disc "Catfish" and so so much more. Songs left off albums but so many and so good, this "official" bootleg was the one that propelled me to delve into Dylan (no internet then or such stuff) life long following of Dylan ... still not heard it all !!!
She's your lover now is my favourite Dylan song and to think he never released it. That one song would be most people's peak yet he just forgot about it
One thing about Dylan unlike a lot of other artists (and this is not a negative) is that you will never hear a song from him the same twice. That is, his live stuff sounds way different than his studio recordings. And as years go by, he again completely changes the arrangements of old songs from previous live versions. Part of that is his band changing members all the time and part of it is boredom I suspect. Wanting to reinterpret stuff.
He is the only one who won a Nobel Peace Prize for songwriting. That says it all. Please don't try to read his mind and what his influences were. Really, sometimes doesn't even know himself.
I respectfully disagree: I like "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" better than "Desolation Row," "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" coming from what I consider the best album of his career, his next album (a double album, "Blonde on Blonde," which was the last of the three albums recorded by him during the 1965-1966 timeframe.
I don't mean to be harsh but for me you are not getting the album or the song, which is understandable because it takes a lot of time with both to really get their depth. So here's my take. Dylan does not want to "return" to anything. For years he has mounted a savage assault on the depravity of 60's America with songs like Masters of War and the incendiary It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding.). Here he reaches a crescendo with this album of incredible fury in songs like the title track, Ballad of a Thin man, Tombstone Blues (aimed at Johson and the war), Like a Rolling Stone and the Opus that is Desolation Row. Highway 61 is a major road snaking its way from where Dylan grew up down into the deep South. It could be considered a blues highway. Dylan is "Revisiting", seeing more clearly his sense of the heartland, of conventional American culture and mores to now cast them in a truer, harsher light. This now is the land over run with consumption, greed and violence, that incinerates innocents half way across the world in madness, that sells post cards of hangings of blacks (real event in Minnesota), and where money can buy anything. "Oh, the rovin' gambler, he was very bored Tryin' to create a next world war He found a promoter who nearly fell on the floor He said, "I never did engage in this kind of thing before, but Yes, I think it can be very easily done We need to put some bleachers out in the sun And have it on Highway 61" Last verse ofHighway 61 revisited (song) All the perversion happens out on Highway 61, a great Americana road. Desolation Row is the wrap up to this zenith of ferocity by the artist. In a calmer manner. Now he takes his stand in the sanctuary of the outsider, of the Beats and hipsters (Dylan was never a hippie).Desolation Row is not a place, although it has been formed from the echoes and ethos of hipster and counter culture energy of the East Village and elsewhere. But it is a state of mind where only those who "get it" can dwell outsiders like Einstein, the Good Samaritan, the Fortune Telling Lady, Otherwise all are punished. prevented from, peeking into, wounded by ,ignorant of, or not allowed to escape to it. Dylan reinvents sacred icons from Western literature, history and religion into a grotesque circus, carnival, phantasmagoria to make his summing up all that has gone before on this and previous albums into one theater of the absurd. But here he is not trapped by it. That will happen next, on Blonde on Blonde. So the last verse encapsuates everything. Yes I received your communication. If you can't get with the program, or as the Merry Pranksters said "You're either on the bus or off the bus", don't bother me. Here in Desolation Row you will find me and if you can't join me here, I ain't interested.
why is your interpretation more valid then mine? because you had more time with it? lol. it's subjective, bro. i'm glad you have your degree in Bob Dylan
@@L33Reacts I 'm sorry you were triggered. I'm offering you a different perspective. I lived in the the era, was deeply affected by the war, and have had years to contemplate his great mid 60's work. I admittedly do not comment much on his work past Blonde on Blonde, but yes I do think I know this album extrremely well. It is his Guernica, the great mural by Picasso. I have had people tell me Tombstone Blues never made sense to them until I deconstructed it. Look, maybe it was a mistake to post this so soon because I think I interfered with your genuine dive into it. For that, I am sorry. I should have ben more thoughtful. In 1974, I saw Dylan on the comeback tour and some friends ruined it for me by dissing Dylan after I had gotten them tickets.($8 apiece at the time). The next night a miracle happened. I went again with two different friends and scored three tickets at the face value abiut 30 feet from the stage on the side. (You had to mail to get tickets). I agree this song is one of the great lyrical and musical achievements of modern popular music. No one did this at the time. It set the stage for Beatles, Morrison and Doors, etc. A song will hit each of us differently but I would make two suggestions. It might be important see it in the context of the entire album, where many songs reinforce what has gone before, or play on the same theme. Dylan said later in life that a great deal of his music had to do with his relationship to America post 1960. Also you might read what great rock critics have said about it. Yes in the end it is about what we get out of it. I always saw "Watchtower" as ending in dread, but that I think was my projection. I took in the perspective of others and realized it could also be hope and expectation for something wild, free, and untamable. Since the song is about being trapped, the verse from Isaiah from which is inspired ends with the riders proclaiming "Baylon the great, she has fallen, she has fallen." I agree our reactions are personal or our own but I do not think in any way Dylan was lamenting or yearning to a return to home because on Bringing It All Back Home (another title "revisting" the perverse American ethos) and here, he has nothing but contempt for what it has become and to an extent always was deep in America's gut. One could argue this is why he starts the song with a real historical event, so very American, the lynching of three black circus workers over the alleged rape of a white woman. And they really did make post cards of it. This, to Dylan at the time of the album , was the "real America, " where monsters like Jack the Ripper "sit at the head of the chamber of Commerce." (Tombstone Blues-verse one) Now he is calling it out with everything he has. Thanks for making the video. It takes guts to put yourself out there.
What's up, L33! Just recently found your channel, or perhaps your channel found me, and just subbed during this reaction. Given your reaction to this and your recent enjoyment of phish, and if you don't know already, you HAVE GOT TO listen to Grateful Dead play "Desolation Row"........ ua-cam.com/video/0ocmTE_J3Ac/v-deo.htmlsi=14jhRUAT0Wd0jlS2 If you're not familiar with gd, welcome, brother✌️
"Desolation Row" is one of those epic saga's that stay with you. After over 50 years I can still sing along with Bob, remembering every phrase. The Lyrics are what impressed me most as a young hippy.
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" has always been one of the best Dylan tracks. Thanks for doing it!
Both of these songs are truly epic. I've been listening to Highway 61 Revisited since 1966 when I was a callow 15 year old (I'm now 73 and still performing). It's still my favourite Dylan album. There is not a single duff track on it. Great to see you absorbed in it. Reminds me of a young me - long hair and all.
Desolation Row. Just another total masterpiece from the genius that is Bob Dylan. Astonishing album.
Charle McCoy was a Nashville session musician who was visiting New York. He knew the producer, who said "Want to meet Bob?" Dylan chatted with McCoy and then said "Want to play on a song?" So McCoy picked up a borrowed guitar and played on a song that nobody had ever heard. That's a musician.
Two of the very best from my #1 desert island album.
There never was a song like Desolation Row until Dylan wrote it and recorded it.
That was one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. And I’ve heard a lot.
@@L33Reacts same here Lee. It blew everyone’s mind. It really did. From Mr Tamborine Man to this and the next album too everything was moving.
@@L33Reacts After over 50 years I can still sing along with Bob, remembering every phrase. The Lyrics are what impressed me most as a young hippy.
Bob is amazing ❤😊😊😊😊
The first time I heard Desolation Row in '69 (I was 15) I cried. I listen to it now (69) I still cry - why? I wish i knew, its such a journey song that is timelessly relatable
It really is timeless. I shed a tear myself and every time I’ve listened to it since I get emotional. An eternally powerful piece.
It's a pleasure to see you take to Dylan......his treasure has lasted me a lifetime.
It's really beautiful, Lee that you respond to Dylan the way we did 60yrs ago
His music is timeless it seems. He really was one of the best if not the best. Thank you for the kind words, my friend.
This is always on my list of best songs ever
Saw Dylan again last year. Some folks get angry because his voice is ragged, he sits on a dark stage behind an upright piano and the arrangements are way different than the album versions but I, like many others, loved the show. I think his later albums are awesome and I am always grateful for Bob Dylan. Like Beatles, Stones and others, he's a soundtrack for my life.
He is still writing great songs.Mississippi is amazing.
Vision’s of Johanna is another beautiful creation. A great album is ANOTHER SIDE, a great study of love.
In my top 10 Dylan Favorites
Desolation Row is my fav Dylan track from my fav Dylan album. I've been listening to it for 50 years, but I still don't have a scooby doo what it's about!
Read my extended comment above to see if you resonate with it. It is pretty much the take of most rock critics.
Both bring back old memories
Everyone remembers Charlie McCoy as a harmonica player, but oh this guitar bit in Desolation is magical.
If you (all of you) haven't seen the Bob Dylan film, Don't Look Back, I highly recommend it, especially to fans. The documentary was released in 1967 but it documents a 1965 tour of England, both on stage and off stage. The film features Joan Baez, Donovan and Alan Price (who had just left the Animals), Dylan's manager Albert Grossman and his road manager Neuwirth. Marianne Faithfull, John Mayall, Ginger Baker and Allen Ginsberg may also be glimpsed in the background.
The film captures a young Dylan who had already taken the world by storm. On stage, the film captures Dylan alone, just his voice, a guitar and a harmonica. Off stage, we see Dylan in his hotel room, writing songs, and partying. We get glimpses of Bob interacting with those he likes and doesn't like including the press.
Great movie. "Give the anarchist a cigarette."
Found this album in my mom’s collection when I was still in grade school. Fifty plus years later, it still has power and meaning to me.
Nobody does it better than Bob.
There a great live take of Neil Young doing "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" at Bobfest.
Always my beloved's favorite singer/songwriter of all time, I have loved reliving all his favorite tracks. Thanks so much Joel for this wonderful journey, and to Lee for embracing this unassuming poet named Dylan Blessings all. Extra blessings to you Lee, for being here sharing yourself with us. Peace.
I have quite a few "favorite line of all times" between these two songs. "Because the cops don't need you and man they expect the same" is near the top of them for sure.
My dorm house was named Roe house. We of course called it Desolation Roe. My favorite artists. You listen to so much of my youth. Thank you.
2 centuries.
You were born in time!
'Desolation Row' is hands-down my favourite Dylan song, and a frikking masterpiece of poetry. I've been listening to it for 45+ years, and it still fascinates me every bit as much as it did the first time. The whole album is brilliant, but talk about a monster of a closing track - there's just not anything else that comes close to it. Another great choice, and a great reaction - it's a pleasure riding with you on this journey, much love from Canada!
Oh, btw, that's not a pipe Bob's holding on the album cover, it's his sunglasses - but he definitely enjoyed a bowl. After all, it was Bob who first smoked up the Beatles 😎
I love it when you do songs I didn't know I needed to listen to again. Thanks. And thanks for not pausing.
One day I’m just gonna pause it to mess with y’all. Gonna be a funny moment lol. I’m glad you could hear it again, my friend. It’s one of those songs that demands to be heard.
Lol..yes .well put.
Dylan uses stream of consciousness , I think , edits it , and certainly employs surrealism in his visions and words . It's hard to select Dylan's best song from this era ( his best ) , because he was on fire ! The guitar accompaniment is extraordinary .
great album
Bob's friend the writer Allen Ginsburg always told Bob that "Desolation Row" was his favorite track!! Personally I can't choose a best song but this is on my list of best actually the whole Highway 61 album has many songs I consider his best!!
The Grateful Dead covered "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (Phil Lesh vocal), 58 times between 1985 and '95. They covered "Desolation Row" (Bob Weir vocal), 58 times between 1986 and '95. The only time they played both songs in the same show was: 3-26-86, Philadelphia PA. Which coincidentally was the debut of Desolation Row as well as the 6th Tom Thumb's Blues.
You certainly know your Grateful Dead history. There must be some kind of log of every Dead concert and every concert playlist.
@@johnsilva9139it's called the DeadBase
Like your take on this.
I think Visions of Johanna also touches on some similar things.
So glad you loved it. It's my favorite of ALL his songs, with Visions of Johanna a close second. Unbelievable album; unbelievable guitar (again, I feel just like you do about it); and unbelievable lyrics and melody. The verse about the insurance men I find particularly chilling. BTW: for me, Tom Thumb's Blues is killer also; it's just not a "magnum opus" (Great Work) like this one.
Fun Fact: Einstein often really did disguise himself as robin hood & play the electric violin, except he played it on Depression Row, & not Desolation Row....theyre 2 entirely different rows.
Highlands is a similar song around 16 minutes. You can't stop listen to it once you start.
Thank you, Joel! You are a star!
Desolation Row was my favorite by Dylan for years, the I heard Isis from the Desore album. I hope you get to that one.
✌❤from Dylans Duluth😎
YAY YAY & YAY **Bob Dylan** is my **Hero** & my **Nemesis** Ha jeezus his earlier stuff is just **Out O This World Fantastical** Thank YOU ever so **Joel** & Thank YOU *L33** F YEA!!! **Luvit**
Two of my favorite songs of all time. Everybody has their own thesis about Bob's songs because their ambiguity leads you to draw from your own experiences and interpretations. Bob is a salty guy, most of his songs have an ease and tension to them that balance out perfectly. I believe this album was the first in music history to feature multiple keyboard players on a single track. Dylan changes his music for every album, no two albums sound the same. Dylan explores all genres throughout his catalog: Folk, Blues, R&B, Rock, Country. His bootleg series of albums are another rabbit hole that's amazing, some great songs never made it onto albums but their on the bootlegs along with alternate versions of his album tracks and some sound just as good or better than the album versions.
Bob's lyrics sometimes seem like word salad but in an altered state they make all kinds of sense. That's who he was writing to. If you're stuck in "consensus reality" you won't get it. Saw him at Tanglewood in '98. He was recovering from a serious health condition so I didn't expect much, just his Greatest Hits. But he put so much energy into performing that the sweat was pouring off him. He got a thunderous standing O. So I went out and bought Time Out of Mind. An absolute masterpiece. I never tire of it
Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia were great interpreters of Dylan on record and in their live shows. Check out Jerry Garcia Band’s version of “Positively 4th Street” from 1975 featuring Nicky Hopkins on piano.
Thank you Lee. If Hendrix's Fillmore East rendition of "Machine Gun" is the single greatest performance by a musician (which I think it is) that I've ever heard, then Dylan's "Desolation Row" is the single greatest song that I've ever heard. It's scope is breathtaking. The word epic doesn't do it justice. Over the years Bob has simply added to where he was in 1965, occasionally equalling it, where everyone else just played catchup (and never caught up).
And that is Bob playing the rhythm.
Thanks again man. You'll have to do Blonde On Blonde next.
Dave, couldn't agree with you more !!! Both of these are the epitome of greatness. I am in my 70's and have loved all kinds of music but those two are my favorites I have ever listened to .
Blonde on Blonde is my next month album request - minus Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands as he has already reacted to that one.
@@yankeeboyno7 Ya, can't wait for him to do that. It's my "desert Island" pick. It has everything you could want in music. BTW. My other two Desert Island picks are: "Electric Ladyland & The Double White Album". I think I covered it all with these 3 pics...lol. What are yours?
Love this❤
Intact love this album❤
Prophet With Guitar ❤️
Dylan knew what he was talking about.
He certainly did…. He lived the rough life. He knew the emptiness of the promises we are sold. And how dark and lonely life can be. I’m glad he wrote to try and understand why we are the way we are. If that makes any sense.
L33, I'm expecting that you will really appreciate the beautiful guitar picking that dances throughout this mesmerizing Dylan song. I remember back when you got fixated on a Dylan backing track ( was it on "Like A Rolling Stone"?) And all us Dylan fans flipped out because you weren't focused enough on the lyrics! And of course, with Dylan everyone should focus on the lyrics, and on how Dylan sings them. But you were right too. "Folk" Dylan risked losing his fan base so that he could play with a band. So, this amazing instrumentation must have mattered a lot to Dylan too, (and not just his lyrics)!
that guitar by charlie mccoy and dylan was absolutely sublime. brought me to tears and made me rethink my life LOL my new favorite dylan track sans tambourine man... and that keeps happening every week! y'all weren't kidding that it got better as it went along.. and it started off with "Like a rolling stone"! That's INSANE.
@@L33Reacts Hi L33. "Sublime" is a great word for it. And "Desolation Row" still has this mystical effect on me even after listening to it hundreds of times. Maybe it has become even more powerful to me? Some of Dylan's songs have this strangely hypnotic feeling. A mix of complex musical patterns with extremely surreal lyrics. A great example is "It's All Right Ma", although the powerful lyrics tend to overpower the great music. I think "Desolation Row" is the perfect balance of amazing lyrics and music. Another perfect song is "Visions of Johanna" from "Blonde on Blonde".
@@jraben1065 Blonde on Blonde is my next month album request - minus Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands as he has already reacted to that one.
Great reaction again..
Yes sir..Bob is the G.O.A.T..(not those sports guys)
Yo, react to HURRICANE..( my fav)
Positively 4th Street
Say what you want about Dylan but you cant deny his music makes you think.
Everyone has their own favourite album but I think Highway 61 Revisited is his peak. His voice is the best, the lyrics are the best and the tunes are the best.
It's a great one. A little gem of perfection. Blonde on Blonde edges it out for me, though.
@@RhettAnderson Blonde on Blonde is my next month album request - minus Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands as he has already reacted to that one.
I've never met a Dylan fan who didn't have an above average intelligence.
This one of my favorites, after all these years, phrases from the songs still come into
my head.
"Up on Housing Project Hill, it's either fortune or fame, you can choose one or the other
but neither is what they claim." is a reoccurring one.
I've met poor people, middle class and the well to do, all have problems. What good did
Dylan's popularity do him? He became wealthy but the demands of fame nearly destroyed
him. In Love Minus Zero, No Limit he says of the woman, Sara, "There is no success like
failure but failure is no success at all, she's nobody's child there is no place to fall." I take
it to mean, whatever life throws you can handle it, if you keep your cool.
Fast forward to the Traveling Wilburys, all those song writers have had their ups and downs,
divorces and such drug and alcohol problems but "It's Alright" as long as it doesn't change
you as a person.
Last message: "Sad Eye Lady of the Lowlands" for years was my favorite. How can a man
write such a long ballad to a woman? Then despite that and three or more kids, she cheats
on her as he admits in Sara. I stopped listening to him for years. On of my most memorable
moments was dancing a close waltz with a beautiful woman to that all the way through.
What is it, 18 minutes long?
Dylan's last marriage didn't last more than a few years. He blew it badly with Sara and he
knows it. He kept the last one so secret and I have kept up with his latest but has he
ever written his last wife a love song? If he did, it wasn't very many or good.
Sorry, I never have told anyone about my thoughts about Dylan. I don't know of any
serious Dylan fans in this red-necked town and certainly this period. I had one friend who
liked Dylan, a self-made millionaire but he only liked his folk and country period. This
man would work way out in the mines and won prizes for his cowboy poetry two
years in a row.
Giving a few years between listenings, "Desolation Row" will bring new images I
never noticed before. All great poetry will do that,
Great classical music or great movies will, no, should do that.
Yes, that's Charlie McCoy on the guitar. He was an accomplished musician. Probably best known for his harmonica playing.
I don't know much of Dylan's discography but there's some great tunes in here, don't remember in what thack there's a conversation between God and "Abraham, where he says "ok aby, next time you see me coming, you better run !, " love it, and then Desolation row, what a genius lyrics.
That is on the Title Track "Highway 61 Revisited"
"Lord said to Abraham, "Kill me a Son" Abe said "Man you must be putting me on!" the Lord said "No" and Abe said "What!" Lord said "You can do what you want Abe, but now, the next time you see me coming Abe, You Better Run!" Abe said"Where ya want this killing done?" Lord said, "Out on Highway 61"
Johnny Winter does a fantastic live version of the this song with some of his best slide guitar work.
@robinreiley1828 thanks.
Try 'Visions of Johanna' from the LP Blond on Blonde. Epic. Cheers, --bd
Bob plays a great 🎸
It's said he first came to love Woody Guthrie visiting him playing/singing for the great man.
everybody said they'd stand behind me....Oh my
Maybe the purpose of a "Desolation Row" is to give one a glimpse of hell so they never want to come back. That is if they were able to escape in the first place. Desolation Rows can be found anywhere and, in many incarnations. What's sad is they are our creations to begin with.
Fueled by money and emptiness and a complete lack of empathy for your fellow human being. We create our own hell and lock ourselves inside and hide the key for someone else to find.
Damn that was a pretty good lyric I should write that down lol
I just want to let you know that I watch a lot of reaction videos, I think I’ve subscribed to you and one other, but this is the first comment I’ve made, just want to thank you for bringing the greatest artist ( Dylan) to your generation, I also like that you get him, I’m just guessing your a musician which helps. I’m also a UA-camr ( travel) but this isn’t about me, if you want to hear his greatest vocal work react to Blind Willy McTell from his first bootleg album or Dirge from planet waves, Dylan , when he wants to has one of the most beautiful voices in music
@@gypsyrockchannel I appreciate the kind words, my friend. Dylan is amazing. I’m glad I get to experience the genius y’all were privy to back in the day. What a genius writer.
Awesome album and reaction! There is a Dylan bio-pic coming late this year staring Timothee Chalemet as a young Dylan. The film focuses on Dylan going electric in 1964. Chalmet nails Dylan and saw him live last fall in Brooklyn NY while Dylan was, & still is on tour for his latest LP (Rough & Rowdy Ways) The film is titled "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN" from the chorus of Like A Rolling Stone. You can check out, and maybe react to the trailer, it's all over UA-cam. It's scary good!
Kiddo.
React to, or just listen to, his first album.
He arrived in New York and absorbed everything that he heard.
Then he put it all into this album.
It is breathtaking.
Almost scary....
great album reaction! now react to blonde on blonde which still is voted best album of all time inmost polls,even àfter 60 years. you would love dylan live in 66 with the band. thanks😊
Blonde on Blonde is my next month album request - minus Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands as he has already reacted to that one.
Lee, if you ever feel the urge to try some full album Judy Collins, I'd recommend "In My Life." All covers, all excellent songs, all gorgeously interpreted, with heart and with soul. I don't think you've yet heard her at her best. Her cover of "Tom Thumb's Blues" may have you reconsidering whether it might not be superior to "Desolation Row." (No contest, though, on the Dylan album. He does "TTB" quite well. He does "Desolation Row" gloriously.)
looked so fine at first, but left looking just like a ghost---lots of immortal lines in this one
Peak Dylan (well one of his many peaks). Can't wait until you get to Visions of Johanna.
I'm here from the future. Go watch the react now!
takes your voice and leaves you howling at the moon. ---traces of Circe?
"Blonde On Blonde." eom
The last verse "All these people that you mention Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces And give them all another name" ....kind of explains all about the song a little ? I also believe it inspired The Beatles to write "Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"....just my personal thought. I strongly "Recommend you also listen to "Bootleg 1-3" from early Dylan - onwards - 2nd disc has some great songs, left off albums, one little gem "Blind Willie McTell" and "She's Your Lover Now" unfinished but great live version. Alternative version of "Idiot Wind"., disc 3 has "Foot of Pride" "Angelina" 3rd disc "Catfish" and so so much more. Songs left off albums but so many and so good, this "official" bootleg was the one that propelled me to delve into Dylan (no internet then or such stuff) life long following of Dylan ... still not heard it all !!!
She's your lover now is my favourite Dylan song and to think he never released it. That one song would be most people's peak yet he just forgot about it
Angelina, beyond great.
@@raymondbooth3189
Same! My favorite Dylan song and he didn’t even release it! Unbelievable.
@@guppy270 he couldn't even be arsed to finish it never mind release it😂
Is this an alternate take?...I've got the original release on vinyl and I remember the instrumentation as being somewhat different...
Right from the Bob Dylan UA-cam channel
In my TopTen Dylan songs. Please check out VISIONS OF JOHANNA.
Lady was apparently the name of his dog
One thing about Dylan unlike a lot of other artists (and this is not a negative) is that you will never hear a song from him the same twice. That is, his live stuff sounds way different than his studio recordings. And as years go by, he again completely changes the arrangements of old songs from previous live versions. Part of that is his band changing members all the time and part of it is boredom I suspect. Wanting to reinterpret stuff.
he's holding his folded up Rayban sunglasses, not a pipe.
Illegal weed helped, But there was a time when art was equally left to the listener to interpret. ❤
…speaking for myself.
He is the only one who won a Nobel Peace Prize for songwriting. That says it all.
Please don't try to read his mind and what his influences were. Really, sometimes doesn't
even know himself.
The cops don't need you, and man they expect the same
I respectfully disagree: I like "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" better than "Desolation Row," "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" coming from what I consider the best album of his career, his next album (a double album, "Blonde on Blonde," which was the last of the three albums recorded by him during the 1965-1966 timeframe.
Blonde on Blonde is my next month album request - minus Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands as he has already reacted to that one.
I'll admit Bob Dylan writes good songs....but they always sound better when someone else covers them
No...!!! Just no! 🙂
No way!
I don't mean to be harsh but for me you are not getting the album or the song, which is understandable because it takes a lot of time with both to really get their depth. So here's my take.
Dylan does not want to "return" to anything. For years he has mounted a savage assault on the depravity of 60's America with songs like Masters of War and the incendiary It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding.). Here he reaches a crescendo with this album of incredible fury in songs like the title track, Ballad of a Thin man, Tombstone Blues (aimed at Johson and the war), Like a Rolling Stone and the Opus that is Desolation Row.
Highway 61 is a major road snaking its way from where Dylan grew up down into the deep South. It could be considered a blues highway. Dylan is "Revisiting", seeing more clearly his sense of the heartland, of conventional American culture and mores to now cast them in a truer, harsher light. This now is the land over run with consumption, greed and violence, that incinerates innocents half way across the world in madness, that sells post cards of hangings of blacks (real event in Minnesota), and where money can buy anything.
"Oh, the rovin' gambler, he was very bored
Tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell on the floor
He said, "I never did engage in this kind of thing before, but
Yes, I think it can be very easily done
We need to put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61" Last verse ofHighway 61 revisited (song)
All the perversion happens out on Highway 61, a great Americana road.
Desolation Row is the wrap up to this zenith of ferocity by the artist. In a calmer manner. Now he takes his stand in the sanctuary of the outsider, of the Beats and hipsters (Dylan was never a hippie).Desolation Row is not a place, although it has been formed from the echoes and ethos of hipster and counter culture energy of the East Village and elsewhere. But it is a state of mind where only those who "get it" can dwell outsiders like Einstein, the Good Samaritan, the Fortune Telling Lady, Otherwise all are punished. prevented from, peeking into, wounded by ,ignorant of, or not allowed to escape to it. Dylan reinvents sacred icons from Western literature, history and religion into a grotesque circus, carnival, phantasmagoria to make his summing up all that has gone before on this and previous albums into one theater of the absurd. But here he is not trapped by it. That will happen next, on Blonde on Blonde.
So the last verse encapsuates everything. Yes I received your communication. If you can't get with the program, or as the Merry Pranksters said "You're either on the bus or off the bus", don't bother me. Here in Desolation Row you will find me and if you can't join me here, I ain't interested.
why is your interpretation more valid then mine? because you had more time with it? lol. it's subjective, bro. i'm glad you have your degree in Bob Dylan
@@L33Reacts I 'm sorry you were triggered. I'm offering you a different perspective. I lived in the the era, was deeply affected by the war, and have had years to contemplate his great mid 60's work. I admittedly do not comment much on his work past Blonde on Blonde, but yes I do think I know this album extrremely well. It is his Guernica, the great mural by Picasso. I have had people tell me Tombstone Blues never made sense to them until I deconstructed it.
Look, maybe it was a mistake to post this so soon because I think I interfered with your genuine dive into it. For that, I am sorry. I should have ben more thoughtful. In 1974, I saw Dylan on the comeback tour and some friends ruined it for me by dissing Dylan after I had gotten them tickets.($8 apiece at the time). The next night a miracle happened. I went again with two different friends and scored three tickets at the face value abiut 30 feet from the stage on the side. (You had to mail to get tickets).
I agree this song is one of the great lyrical and musical achievements of modern popular music. No one did this at the time. It set the stage for Beatles, Morrison and Doors, etc. A song will hit each of us differently but I would make two suggestions. It might be important see it in the context of the entire album, where many songs reinforce what has gone before, or play on the same theme. Dylan said later in life that a great deal of his music had to do with his relationship to America post 1960. Also you might read what great rock critics have said about it.
Yes in the end it is about what we get out of it. I always saw "Watchtower" as ending in dread, but that I think was my projection. I took in the perspective of others and realized it could also be hope and expectation for something wild, free, and untamable. Since the song is about being trapped, the verse from Isaiah from which is inspired ends with the riders proclaiming "Baylon the great, she has fallen, she has fallen."
I agree our reactions are personal or our own but I do not think in any way Dylan was lamenting or yearning to a return to home because on Bringing It All Back Home (another title "revisting" the perverse American ethos) and here, he has nothing but contempt for what it has become and to an extent always was deep in America's gut. One could argue this is why he starts the song with a real historical event, so very American, the lynching of three black circus workers over the alleged rape of a white woman. And they really did make post cards of it. This, to Dylan at the time of the album , was the "real America, " where monsters like Jack the Ripper "sit at the head of the chamber of Commerce." (Tombstone Blues-verse one) Now he is calling it out with everything he has.
Thanks for making the video. It takes guts to put yourself out there.
Brilliant lyrics. BTW, you reacted to the worst B-52s song ever.
May I suggest "Roam"!
What's up, L33! Just recently found your channel, or perhaps your channel found me, and just subbed during this reaction.
Given your reaction to this and your recent enjoyment of phish, and if you don't know already, you HAVE GOT TO listen to Grateful Dead play "Desolation Row"........
ua-cam.com/video/0ocmTE_J3Ac/v-deo.htmlsi=14jhRUAT0Wd0jlS2
If you're not familiar with gd, welcome, brother✌️