The Bob Dylan Concert Primer: November 2010 – Playlists on Parade

By Chris Moore:

Since Mike, Nicole, and I are getting revved up for Bob Dylan’s upcoming November 27th concert at the MGM Grand, I’ve been designated the task of preparing a soundtrack for preparation.  I’ve been so busy that I’ve let time slip by since Mike asked me, but I couldn’t allow this to go any farther than tonight.

I started by looking up the set lists for Dylan’s past ten shows (this was made simple by them being easily available on Dylan’s Facebook page).  Each set list is comprised of between 15 and 17 songs, so I sorted through all of the songs and put a tally mark next to each track for each time it was performed.

Well, 53 songs later, it was only somewhat clearer which songs might be played at our November 27th show!

I’ve done my best here to put together the tracks that have been played most often, sorting through different versions I have on my iTunes to pick for not only the best versions, but also to add variety to the playlist.  And “Thunder on the Mountain,” “Ballad of a Thin Man,” “Jolene,” and “Like A Rolling Stone” have been played at every show in the same order, so those are a fairly certain bet (unless he switches it up in the next few weeks).  I’ve put them at the end of the playlist, as they were most often the end of the set list, so don’t stop before you reach those!

Once I compiled this playlist, I couldn’t help but post it here online…

Without further ado, here it is, my November 2010 Bob Dylan Concert Primer.  For all those going to see Dylan this month, I hope this is helpful!  🙂  (For the true Dylan fanatic, I’ve posted my raw data notes below this playlist.)

1)  “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” – The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live, 1966

2)  “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'” – Together Through Life (2009)

3)  “Highway 61 Revisited” – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

4)  “Just Like a Woman” – Blonde on Blonde (1966)

5)  “Summer Days” – Love & Theft (2001)

6)  “Workingman’s Blues #2” – Modern Times (2006)

7)  “Tangled Up in Blue” – Blood on the Tracks (1975)

8)  “Cold Irons Bound” – Masked & Anonymous (2003)

9)  “Simple Twist of Fate” – The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Live 1975

10)  “High Water (For Charley Patton)” – The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs (Live Version, 2003)

11)  “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” – Modern Times (2006)

12)  “Thunder on the Mountain” – Modern Times (2006)

13)  “Ballad of a Thin Man” – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

14)  “Jolene” – Together Through Life (2009)

15)  “Like a Rolling Stone” – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Statistics compiled from 10 setlists of shows between Oct 19 and Oct 31, 2010.  Each night, Dylan played between 15 and 17 songs.

Leopard Skin                                                iiiiiiii

This wheels                                                i

stuck inside                                                iii

just like a woman                                    iiiiiii

beyond here                                                iiii

tangled up                                                iiiiii

rollin and tumblin                                    iiii

spirit on the water                                    ii

high water                                                iiiiiiiii

workingman’s blues                                    iiii

highway 61                                                iiiiiiiiii

ain’t talkin                                                i

Thunder on the                                     iiiiiiiiii

ballad of a thin man                        iiiiiiiiii

Jolene                                                iiiiiiiiii

Like a rolling stone                        iiiiiiiiii

senor tales of                                                ii

I’ll be your baby                                                 i

the levee’s gonna                                    iiii

i don’t believe you                                    i

honest with me                                                ii

a hard rain’s a-gonna                                    ii

cold irons bound                                                iiii

love sick                                                            ii

nettie moore                                                ii

rainy day women #12                                     i

Don’t think twice                                                ii

tryin’ to get to heaven                                    ii

blind willie mctell                                    i

summer days                                                iiii

cat’s in the well                                                i

it’s all over now baby blue                                    ii

things have changed                                    ii

desolation row                                                ii

not dark yet                                                i

all along the watchtower                                    ii

lay lady lay                                                i

Man in the long black                                    i

i feel a change comin on                                    i

visions of johanna                                    i

Masters of war                                                i

simple twist of fate                                    iiii

just like tom thumb’s                                    i

forgetful heart                                                i

It ain’t me babe                                                i

tweedle dee & tweedle dum                        i

if you ever go to houston                                    iii

when the deal goes down                                    i

the man in me                                                i

positively 4th street                                    i

the lonesome death of hattie                        i

forever young                                                i

queen jane approximately                                    i

Christmas, Volume 2 – Playlists on Parade

By Chris Moore:

This is the second installment in my Christmas music playlist series, perhaps my most brilliantly titled one yet!  😉

As you’ll notice, I’ve done my best to present a wide span of time periods and topic matter, including songs that touch on winter in general, the legendary figures of Christmas (such as Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, etc.), and the spiritual music honed in on the “reason for the season” (i.e. the celebration of the birth of Christ).

Perhaps my greatest failing in this list (and, with a subject as broad as Christmas, I am sure to have many) is the lack of traditional Christmas songs, hymns and otherwise.  I have two comments about this: first, it is simply a fact that many, if not most, artists have tended to pour more of their creative energy into non-denominational tracks, perhaps hoping to avoid alienating their audiences, and second, there is also a tendency for truly great bands to record some of their best performances on their own original holiday music.

For this reason, you’ll see a lot of contemporary classics of the Christmas genre represented here.

If you’re a person who appreciates and perhaps even prefers traditional music, I would strongly recommend checking out the original Beach Boys Christmas album for “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” which was cut from this list only because “We Three Kings” is included in the BnL/Sarah McLachlan version of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.”  Brian Wilson recorded some fine renditions of traditional tracks on his 2005 solo release What I Really Want for Christmas, including “O Holy Night,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “The First Noel,” and “Silent Night.”

And, if you can get beyond the gravel in his voice, Bob Dylan gives a bang-up, wannabe 1940’s treatment to many of these tracks, plus “O’ Come All Ye Faithful” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The track listing below is another assortment of Christmas songs, fast and slow, happy and sad.  In fact, starting with the hopeful but tentative tenor of Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas,” I plugged in several of my favorite somber yuletide tunes: BnL’s “Green Christmas,” the Moody Blues’ “A Winter’s Tale,” and Ben Fold’s Grinch soundtrack offering “Lonely Christmas Eve.”

Don’t fret, though, there are plenty of upbeat tracks to balance it all out.  Consider the typically punky/poppy Weezer take on “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” the disaster-averted hilarity of Relient K’s “Santa Claus is Thumbing to Town,” and the Temptations’ excellent and unique arrangement of “Rudoplph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

As always, I hope you enjoy reading through this playlist, and that I’m able in some small way to nudge you toward getting into the spirit of the season, despite how busy or how burdened you may be.

Check back next week for the third installment in the series!

1. “Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)” – Elvis Presley

2. “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” – Weezer

3. “Jingle Bells” – The Brian Setzer Orchestra

4. “The Man with All the Toys” – Brian Wilson

5. “Someday at Christmas” – Stevie Wonder

6. “Green Christmas” – Barenaked Ladies

7. “A Winter’s Tale” – The Moody Blues

8. “Lonely Christmas Eve” – Ben Folds

9. “Away in a Manger” – Johnny Cash

10. “Wonderful Christmastime” – Paul McCartney

11. “Feliz Navidad” – Jose Feliciano

12. “Christmas All Over Again” – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

13. “Santa Claus is Thumbing to Town” – Relient K

14. “I Wanna Be Santa Claus” – Ringo Starr

15. “Hey Santa!” – The Wilsons

16. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – The Temptations

17. “Frosty the Snowman” – The Beach Boys

18. “Merry Christmas, Baby” – The Beach Boys

19. “Christmas Evening” – Jim Fusco

20. “Auld Lang Syne” – Barenaked Ladies

Sessions and Superlatives…

By Chris Moore:

I hope you enjoy what has become my set of three posts tonight.  Obviously (I hope), the first post was intended as a joke to buy me time as I wrote my real post.

And I promise that I plan to return next week — AFTER the high school graduation and this year’s Wheel Horse tractor show in Arendtsville, Pennsylvania — with an actual music video session!

That being said, I thought I should also inform you that I’ve been voted most likely to be called a D-bag on YouTube.  Oh, wait…  I already have!  And I’m not censoring myself for this site; I really did receive a comment that began by addressing me as “D-bag, …”

That was funny to me, and I hope you appreciate it, too.  The funniest part is that I didn’t delete the comment and decided to reply in my typically polite manner with an undertone of sarcasm.

Anyway, enjoy my post about playlists!!