“Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” (Bob Dylan Cover)

For Bob Dylan chords and lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

It was definitely one of those “clouds parting” kind of Chris Moore Mondays for me.

First of all, I should clarify that “Chris Moore Mondays” is the title we use around here to remind you all that it’s my job to post a great cover song music video for you each and every Monday evening.  Next, I should explain the “clouds parting” aspect.  Well, I woke up around 5:30 this morning and was having serious difficulty getting myself out of bed.  Then, I noticed I had an email from bobdylan.com.

Long story short, I had woken up to find the link to a free download of the new, unreleased Bob Dylan track “Beyond Here Lies Nothin.'”  It will be track one on his upcoming album, Together Through Life, to be released on Tuesday, April 28th.  Sorry, Jim — this means that your birthday the following day is going to be something of an anti-climax.  😉

In all seriousness, this is an exciting bit of New Music Tuesday news.  After all, there were five years of separation between 2001’s Love and Theft and 2006’s Modern Times.  Now, it’s been less than three years and there’s a new release.  Based on the first track alone, I couldn’t be more excited.  It’s a pretty simple song — only three chords and a basic verse, chorus, repeat structure with a few instrumental breaks thrown in and a classic Dylan chorus style in which the lines in each chorus are slightly different.  I wasn’t sure what to think of the lyrics at first, but they’ve really grown on me today as I’ve listened to the song repeatedly and learned to play it.  I’m still not sure what to think of lines like “The whole world is my throne” or “And every window’s made of glass.”

The conclusion I’ve come to is that this is a deceptively simple song.  In the beginning of the song, Dylan sings of a lover in terms that express fairly standard love-song mentalities.  Still, by the end of the track, he compares himself to a ship in harbor with the sails up.  This implies that the ship is about to leave harbor, or perhaps that he is ready to move on to something — or someone — new.  And yet he goes on to tell his lover that she should lay her hand upon his head.  In typical Dylan fashion, even a love song has darker overtones, as played out in the chorus lines.  The choral sections really are my favorite lines.  “Beyond here lies nothin,'” he sings, “But the mountains of the past” or “Nothin’ done and nothin’ said.”  There is simply nowhere else he would rather be than where he is, as he acknowledges that there is nothing “beyond here.”  The questions, of course, are 1) where is “here”? and 2) does he really want to be “here” or are there simply no better options?

As I mentioned, it’s a fairly simple song.  Even I was able to figure it out in short order.  It’s three chords — Am, Dm, and E — easily within my register with an uptempo beat.  It’s actually caused a bit of a debate among Dylan fans who have disagreed over the use of accordion in the song and the state of Dylan’s vocal abilities.  As far as I’m concerned, the instrumentation is excellent, raw and loose but very intentional and fitting, accordion or no accordion.  As for Dylan’s voice, I read one user’s take on the fansite expectingrain.com.  He essentially said that Dylan’s vocals have deteriorated even more than they had on Modern Times.  My reaction is simple:

Really?

I mean, if you’ve followed Dylan over the past decade and enjoyed Time Out of Mind or the aforementioned two albums, then you know that his gritty vocals are fitting.  He may not stand a chance on American Idol, but I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing!  Another post that I read made a great deal of sense.  This user basically argued that Dylan’s vocals on studio recordings and during live performances should be weighed separately.  I agree with this — while his vocals may be a bit difficult to understand and follow in concerts at times, his studio recordings haven’t failed to impress me — including vocals, instruments, etc.

Needless to say, I hope you enjoy my take on this brand new Dylan song.  If you’re a guitarist, you should check out my chords and lyrics (see the link above) and have fun playing it yourself.  And, without further ado, I wish you a good night and a great week…

See you next session!

Bruce Hornsby: LIVE IN CONCERT – MGM Grand, Mashantucket, CT (March 27, 2009) – REVIEW

By Chris Moore:

Right off the bat, I have to address how proud I am of myself that I was able to suppress the strong urge to title this concert review “That’s Just the Way It Was.”  As tempting as it was, I’m sure it’s already been used somewhere by someone…

At 8:02 on Friday night at the MGM Grand, only two minutes after the official start time of the concert, Bruce Hornsby appeared unceremoniously by walking out of the shadows, approaching his piano from stage right.  No announcements, no opening band.  (For a moment, I thought this might be a technician coming out for one last equipment inspection – and, if you’ve ever seen America perform, you know how many times it’s possible for a techie to inspect and tune  the guitars!)

As he neared the piano, he surveyed the assortment of papers strewn about the top of his piano.  Notes to himself?  A set list?  Lyrics for the less familiar tunes?

Negative, on all accounts.

Apparently, Hornsby does not work from a setlist.  Instead, he takes in requests from the audience before shows in the form 0f handwritten song titles slipped onto the stage.  His offical website reports, “Yes, it’s true. Bruce does not have a set list for his concerts. He comes up with the set list through requests from the audience. So, if you attend a concert, be sure to carry paper to write your requests on and place them on the stage.”  This is a novel approach, to be certain.  I wanted to participate in the process, but I have only been a “greatest hits” fan.  Aside from that, I would have had to design a paper airplane that was a marvel of physics in order to have my request reach the stage from my seat in the “Parterre” section of the MGM Grand theater, which is French for orchestra seats (and, apparently, English for “far away from the stage, but still technically on the ground level”).

After a brief, positive commentary from Hornsby about the array of requests, he started into the first song.  From the moment his hands touched the keys, it was apparent that he is truly a masterful musician, one of the few that is able to blend intricate classical arrangements into catchy pop/rock, country, and bluesgrass songs.

His first couple selections were played alone, but he was soon joined onstage by the Noise Makers (J.T. Thomas on keyboards, Bobby Read on saxophones (etc.), J.V. Collier on bass, Doug Derryberry on lead guitar, and Sonny Emory on drums).  Soon after, they launched into the first song with which I was familiar.  “Every Little Kiss” was all piano riffs and rock’n roll catchiness.  Well, maybe more adult contemporary than rock, but…

This was the first of several “greatest radio hits” tracks that Hornsby and the Noise Makers performed, much to the delight of my father and I.  Overall, the set list was a diverse collection of the hits, the deep tracks, and covers.  Some were note-for-note replicas of studio versions, such as “The Good Life,” while others were stripped apart and turned inside out, like “The Way It Is.”  There was a definite, if controlled sense of a jam band mentality.  During the final jam of the main set, Hornsby slipped from one song to the next, folding in a couple of high-energy verses from Bob Dylan’s “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry.”  I had begun to tire of the jamming by the end of the show, and this fine touch really brought it all back home for me. (Please send your criticisms of that shameless pun to Chris, care of a comment below…)

At one point, Hornsby left the piano to strap on his accordion and take center stage for two songs.  As he approached the microphone with the new instrument, he commented that he had recently been with Levon Helm.  He introduced the following song by saying that this would please those in the crowd who enjoyed nostalgia, as this was a track from the band — namely, “Evangelne.”  The version did not disappoint and proved further that Hornsby is nothing if not an excellent multi-instrumentalist.

Hornsby was a personable, likable figure onstage.  In between songs, he kept a running commentary going, reflecting on the state of the economy and thanking everyone for coming out to see him perform all the same.  Early on, he revealed that Foxwoods management had told him to play for only 65 minutes.  Just over an hour for some who had paid $50 plus a “convenience” charge — that’s outrageous!  In his very laid-back manner, he said about as much and said they would stretch it to 90 minutes or so.  It sounded as if they told him that 65 minutes was the suggestion and 90 minutes was the outside limit.  He was true to his word, as the main set took the show’s running time to just over an hour and a half plus an encore.

Later on in the show, he expressed how happy he was that he remembered all the words to a track from his first album, a song that he played by request.

On the whole, this was a truly enjoyable concert.  I have an increased respect for Hornsby’s abilities as a pianist and performer, the Noise Makers were a flexible and vastly talented group, and the MGM Grand is a comfortable environment with excellent acoustics.  For my taste, there was too much of a jam band mentality on many of the selections — even Hornsby commented at one point that, due to the time limitations, the songs would be shorter than usual.  Maybe that’s not a bad thing, he said.  He continued, “There’s a fine line between self-expression and self-indulgence,” glancing with a grin to his bandmates.  I couldn’t agree more.

This concert was a bonding experience of sorts for me, as my father is a longtime fan of Hornsby and an even longer-time fan of the song “The Way It Is.”  While we both enjoyed the show, the low point of the show was indisputably their performance of the aforementioned hit single.  Aside from the initial keyboard blast of the familiar riff, the song was given a new, more jumpy tempo and the tune was stripped apart into an understated sequence of lines.  There was none of the charm of the studio version, and all biases being admitted, this version was nothing to brag about on its own.  For those five minutes, I appreciated what it must be like to attend a Dylan concert expecting to hear faithful versions of his hits, only to be met with deep tracks and rearranged versions.  Still, I maintain that the Dylan live experience offers up new and interesting, entertaining takes on his songs, whereas this was disappointing from all angles.

Regardless, the show as a whole was well worth the $35, and is an experience that I will remember fondly for years to come.  Part of that comes out of a bias, but this time a positive one!

“Must Be Santa” (Bob Dylan / Christmas Cover)

For Christmas songs chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

It’s official: the Christmas season is upon us yet again!  I, for one, found it difficult to concentrate on the work I brought home this weekend, choosing instead to listen to Christmas music — specifically that on Bob Dylan’s new 2009 holiday album Christmas in the Heart (see my review here!) — and playing some of my favorite seasonal songs on acoustic guitar.  One of my new favorites is a song written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks titled “Must Be Santa.”

Now, before you get too excited, I should begin by making it very clear that tonight I am covering Bob Dylan’s rendition of “Must Be Santa” and NOT the performance “popularized” by Mr. Music and the Cool Kids Chorus.

Please don’t be disappointed…

Seriously, though, if you would like to hear that rocking version, you’ll just have to download it for yourself.  Or the versions by Mitch Miller, Raffi, Point Sebago Resort, Glen Burtnik, Miss Lisa, Miss Molly, The Friel Brothers, The Angel Choir, The Holly Players Orchestra, The Hit Crew, Mary Lambert, Bob McGrath, Kids Sing’n, the Pokemon Christmas Bash band, or Lorne Greene with the Jimmy Joyce Children’s Choir — good luck finding that last one.

If you’re craving a good polka, then don’t miss out on the Brave Combo version (which, ironically, is the closest in style and arrangement to Dylan’s).

And who could forget the Kids Rap’n the Christmas Hits version?

These cover songs range from boring to funny to vomit-inducing and back again.  This brings me to the Bob Dylan version, which is a breath of fresh air when played beside these other covers.  Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” is a frantic, polka-inspired three minutes of Christmas spirit, accordions, and bright choral vocals built up around Dylan’s gruff lead.  Recorded nearly half a century after Mitch Miller first recorded the song in 1961, it is interesting to see how our image of Santa and the general sound and style of Christmas music (i.e. both sets of chord changes as the song progresses a la so many other seasonal favorites) really haven’t changed much in all this time.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Dylan’s album — and his recent work in general — is an homage to a simpler time in American popular music.

That is perhaps why Dylan’s new album, time-ravaged vocals and all, has slipped in so quickly among my favorite Christmas albums of all time.  Although it was recorded earlier this year, there is a sense of nostalgia and even timelessness in each of its tracks.  Somehow, he has managed to record the songs in a style that seems very natural from his current studio band.  Indeed, Dylan has seemingly reached further and further into the past for the styles of his past several albums.  In this sense, 2009 was the ideal year for him to record an album of traditional favorites and holiday songs from earlier in the century.

I don’t think any music will ever usurp the positions that The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album and the Moody Blues’ December currently hold in my heart.  The Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays, Brian Wilson’s What I Really Want For Christmas, and America’s Harmony are certainly the next runners up.  Some of my attachment to this music is admittedly due to my own personal memories, such as listening to the Beach Boys each year as my family decorated the tree and attending a Moody Blues Christmas concert with two of my dearest friends several years ago.  That being said, there is also a universal element to the music on these records that I can’t imagine any fan of rock music being able to deny.  Somehow, these aforementioned bands have managed to incorporate religious hymns, classic rock Christmas songs, and originals into unified works that I look forward to dusting off each and every year.

For now, I’m wading into the music of season via this new Dylan album.  After all, this is the punchline of a joke I’ve been making for as many years as I’ve loved Bob Dylan — “Imagine if Dylan recorded a Christmas album!”  My friends and I would laugh, but I was always privately jealous that their favorite bands — the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, etc. — had recorded Christmas albums or at least a Christmas song or two.

Now, I have my secret wish, and I couldn’t be happier!

Yes, Dylan’s voice is rugged, and truth be told, I was a bit hesitant to embrace this album when I gave it one listen upon its release a month ago.  However, it only took a second listen for me to get hooked.

Whatever music you may enjoy listening to at this time of the year, I hope you’re enjoying it, and I hope you’ll come back throughout the week for Jim’s music video tomorrow, a guest session(!) on Friday, and another installment of Weekend Review.

See you next session!

“Must Be Santa” (Cover by Bob Dylan) – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

To see how it’s played in a music video, CLICK HERE!

“Must Be Santa”
Hal Moore & Bill Fredericks – Covered by Bob Dylan

A
Who’s got a beard that’s long and white?
E
Santa’s got a beard that’s long and white.
A
Who comes around on a special night?
E
Santa comes around on a special night.
A
Special night, beard that’s white.
D           E
Must be Santa,
A            Bm
Must be Santa,
D           E                    A
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Who wears boots and a suit of red?
Santa wears boots and a suit of red.
Who wears a long cap on his head?
Santa wears a long cap on his head.
Cap on head, suit that’s red.
Special night, beard that’s white.
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Who’s got a big, red cherry nose?
Santa’s got a big, red cherry nose.
Who laughs this way: “Ho, ho, ho”?
Santa laughs this way: “Ho, ho ho.”
Ho, ho ho; cherry nose.
Cap on head, suit that’s red.
Special night, beard that’s white.
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Bb
Who very soon will come our way?
F
Santa very soon will come our way.
Bb
Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh;
F
Santa’s little reindeer pull his sleigh.
Bb
Reindeer sleigh, come our way.
Ho, ho, ho; cherry nose.
Cap on head, suit that’s red.
Special night, beard that’s white.
Eb         F
Must be Santa,
Bb         Cm
Must be Santa,
Eb          F                   Bb
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

B
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen —
F#
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon.
B
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen —
F#
Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.
B
Reindeer sleigh, come our way.
Ho, ho, ho; cherry nose.
Cap on head, suit that’s red.
Special night, beard that’s white.
E           F#
Must be Santa,
B           C#m
Must be Santa,
E           F#                  B
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Must be Santa,
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **