Amidst the spread of coronavirus in the U.S., with Americans huddled indoors, Bob Dylan has sent us a message — or at least a little entertainment. The release is a nearly 17-minute epic “Murder Most Foul.”
The song “Murder Most Foul,” full of pop culture references, centers around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Although originally recorded for his 2012 album Tempest, Dylan is releasing the song now as a standalone track. The timing seems intentional, releasing the song about a troubled country during our current troubled times.
Dylan offers little explanation for the timing, only announcing on his website: “Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded awhile back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you.”
The Guardian notes that the main point of the song is the dense and intriguing lyrics, adding that the “JFK assassination looms large in Dylan’s history.” It is a fascinating song, and the rest of us will be listening and thinking about it throughout our current crisis and beyond.
Check out “Murder Most Foul” below.
What do you think of Bob Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul” Leave your two cents in the comments.
Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers has released a new solo album, Stand Tall. The album, which includes a tribute to the Ramones called “God Bless The Ramones,” reminds us that in these crazy times we need Ringenberg’s music now more than ever.
“God Bless The Ramones” has some basis in Ringenberg’s memory, as he once opened for the Ramones with Jason and the Scorchers in 1982. He recalls his band being bombarded during their set with all kinds of things thrown from the Texas crowd.
As for the Ramones, Ringenberg only has fond memories of how the band treated them, especially Dee Dee Ramone, who shared chicken wings, beer, and bass strings with the Scorchers. So it is no surprise that Ringenberg sings, “God Bless The Ramones.”
Ringenberg was inspired to write “God Bless the Ramones” while he stood at the base of a giant Sequoia tree named Charles Young after the first African-American commandant of the National Park Service. The connection to the tree and the National Park Service came out of where Ringenberg worked on his new crowd-funded solo album, Stand Tall.
The Album’s Inspiration
Ringenberg created much of the music on Stand Tall while serving as the Artist in Residence at Sequoia National Park for a month. As Ringenberg stated, “It was a life-changing experience. Any time you spend that much time in one of our great national parks, it’s gonna change you, no question about it.” And, according to Ringenberg, the songs soon followed: “It was such an inspiring experience to spend time in the presence of those magnificent giants and songs simply poured out of me.”
It has been awhile since Ringenberg recorded as himself or with the Scorchers. Much of his recent focus has been as an Emmy-winning educational recording artist for children called Farmer Jason. But Stand Tall, Ringenberg’s first solo album since 2004’s Empire Builders, helps re-establish him as one of the most fascinating Americana (or alt-country) artists.
The music on Stand Tall begins with an instrumental title track, which would fit well on an Ennio Morricone movie soundtrack. And then the album goes into “Lookin’ Black Blues,” a rousing swinging danceable Texas roadhouse song.
From there, songs feature John the Baptist (who apparently was a real humdinger), the Ramones, and naturalist John Muir. The music itself spans the country, punk, rock, folk, and even a little Irish dance music in the Civil War epic “I’m Walking Home.”
Ringenberg gathered a talented group of musicians for Stand Tall, including Fats Kaplin on violin and Steve Fishell on lap steel. Richard Bennett, who was a producer on three of Marty Brown‘s great albums, plays a few instruments on “John the Baptist Was a Real Humdinger.” And the band also includes Robert Bowlin, who played fiddle for Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys for several years in the 1990s. If you are unfamiliar with Ringenberg’s music or that of Jason and the Scorchers, listen to a few songs and you will most likely find yourself soon singing and dancing along, entranced by the band and Ringenberg’s voice.
Ringenberg has a unique singing voice, reminding one somewhat of the tenor of the great Jimmie Dale Gilmore (and at the funniest points, a little reminiscent of Weird Al Yankovic). Looking further in the past, you might see a connection between Ringenberg’s voice to The Singing Brakeman Jimmy Rodgers, the yodeling “Father of Country Music.” So, it is a delight that Ringenberg covers Rodgers’ song about a dying hobo, “Hobo Bill’s Last Ride.” The song is one of my favorite tracks on Stand Tall, complete with some yodeling from Ringenberg.
Ringenberg’s experience at Sequoia National Park clearly influenced many of the tracks on the album, such as “Here in the Sequoias” and “John Muir Stood Here” (written in a spot where Muir did indeed stand). But even in the songs without a subject matter directly related to the national parks, the greatness of the big tress and the land reverberates through the inspiration they gave to Ringenberg, seeking something deeper about the this land and this country.
“Farewell Angelina”
Ringenberg ends the album with Bob Dylan’s song “Farewell Angelina,” most famous in Joan Baez’s recording. At first blush, one might think it an odd choice for an album inspired by the singer’s time in the woods. Instead, it is a perfect summary of the album.
Ringenberg used to perform the obscure Dylan song back when he was in college. Here, I do not know Ringenberg’s intent in ending this album with the song. But in Robert Bowlin’s haunting cello work and in the final verse of “Farewell Angelina,” I hear a little of the singer trying to avoid garbage being thrown at him as he opens for the Ramones. And even more, I hear a man seeking peace and joy in a troubled world, whether by taking a break as a children’s entertainer, or by contemplating the woods beneath giant trees, or by returning to the music he loves.
The machine guns are roaring, and the puppets heave rocks; Fiends nail time bombs to the hands of the clocks; Call me any name you like, I will never deny it; But farewell, Angelina, the sky is erupting, I must go where it’s quiet.
God Bless Jason Ringenberg.
What is your favorite Jason Ringenberg song? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via Gregg Roth.
I am not sure who was the person who thought up the idea to pair up Glen Campbell and Stevie Wonder on a Bob Dylan song, but I hope they received a large paycheck. In this video, Wonder and Campbell find a lot of soul in the Bob Dylan classic, “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
It is unclear where the video is from, but it may be from when Glen Campbell had a TV show. They do a wonderful job, playing off each other and not getting drowned out in the production.
Stevie Wonder can make any song his own, and he does a fantastic job. But Campbell is a surprise here when he hits the high notes in a verse. Together the two make beautiful music.
What is your favorite unusual duet? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” raises more questions than answers.
One of Bob Dylan’s great songs is “All Along the Watchtower” from his John Wesley Harding album. Dylan’s eighth album remains one of his great accomplishments. Released in December of 1967, seven months after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band, the acoustic sound of John Wesley Harding appears as a stark contrast to the psychedelic sounds from across the ocean.
The lyrics to “All Along the Watchtower” raise more questions than answers, but that is the brilliance of the song. Who are the princes and the two riders? Who is the joker and who is the thief, and why did the joker tell the thief, “There must be some way out of here”?
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view. While all the women came and went, barefoot servants too; Outside in the distance, a wildcat did growl; Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
Nerdwriter 1 created a short video exploring the depth of “All Along the Watchtower,” a song you may have thought was a simple tale. But in the video, Nerdwriter1 dissects some of the mysteries behind the lyrics, and why the brilliance of the song helps explain why Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature. Check it out.
Some believe that Dylan is the “Joker” in the song, while Elvis Presley is the “Thief.” Others surmise how the two characters are really different sides of Dylan. Still others see a Biblical reference, with Jesus as the Joker and the Thief being the thief on the cross. There is no one answer, but a great thing about the song is how it can make you think and find your own interpretation.
Another wonderful feature, as Jimi Hendrix knew, is the way the song rocks.
What do you think is the meaning behind “All Along the Watchtower”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In the Martin Scorsese documentary about Bob Dylan’s early career, No Direction Home, Dylan recounts being inspired when he stumbled upon a record player with a record in it. The song that inspired him was “Drifting Too Far From the Shore.”
When Dylan was in kindergarten (in some tellings he is older), his father Abe bought a house on Seventh Avenue in Hibbing, Minnesota. Dylan ultimately lived in the home throughout his childhood and through high school.
For Dylan, though, something magical happened when they moved into the new home. As they were moving in, the boy found a guitar left behind by the previous occupants. And he found something else with “mystical overtones.”
There was a large mahogany turntable with a 78 rpm record in it. The record was of the song “Drifting Too Far From the Shore,” which was written by Charles E. Moody. The young boy turned on the record player and listened.
Drifting too far from shore, You’re drifting too far from shore, Come to Jesus today, Let Him show you the way You’re drifting too far from shore.
Drifting Too Far From the Shore
Dylan has recounted that the record he found in the house was probably the version recorded by The Stanley Brothers. But he also has noted it could have been the Bill Monroe version.
Here are The Stanley Brothers singing “Drifting Too Far From the Shore.”
Dylan has described how as a little boy turning on the record player, the sound of the record “made me feel like I was somebody else.” The sound disconnected him from his life at the time, making him feel almost as if he were born to the wrong parents.
Dylan later paid his own homage to “Drifting Too Far From the Shore.” He wrote his own song with the title “Driftin’ Too Far From Shore.” That song, which appeared on Dylan’s Knocked Out Loaded (1986) album, otherwise has little in common with the song the young boy heard in the new home.
Of course, with Dylan, one has to be careful about putting too much weight on his tales. He often tells entertaining stories about his early life that are more legend than truth. But still, it is easy to imagine a little boy finding a guitar and a record player that would have an impact on his life, even if a large part of that impact is in memory.
I like to accept the story not so much for Dylan, but to think about the people who lived in the house before the Dylans. I imagine the family moving out and leaving some things behind. Maybe the record player was too expensive to move. Or maybe they forgot the items. Or maybe the items just were not worth much to them.
And then, how could they know that their left-behind possessions would affect history by inspiring the greatest poet of our generation? It is a great story about how we never know how our lives affect others, even people we have never met.
Photo by Chimesfreedom. Leave your two cents in the comments.
One of Bob Dylan’s great songs is “All Along the Watchtower” from his 
album. Dylan’s eighth album remains one of his great accomplishments. Released in December of 1967, seven months after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band, the acoustic sound of John Wesley Harding appears as a stark contrast to the psychedelic sounds from across the ocean.
