Blood on the Tracks Covered

Artists hate it when you call their work autobiographical--it reduces all their toil, creativity, artistry to the level of mere diary. So I won't say "Blood on the Tracks" is autobiographical. For all I know, every song on the album was inspired by a different Chekhov story, as Dylan claimed in "Chronicles: Volume 1." But when I hear the singer's voice, I envision him in my mind's eye up on a high lonesome farm in Minnesota, literally dying of love and loss. He is living simultaneously in the present and the past--maybe a bit more in the latter. He is alone except for his nursemaid from Ashtabula, who gives him everything his beloved won't anymore--and it doesn't matter a bit. He is already looking ahead to the bittersweet moment when Miss Ashtabula leaves--more than likely at his behest. Alone, walking the endless acres of green fields, he tries to find the words to win back his beloved, or destroy her, experimenting with attitudes of contrition, blame, indifference, acceptance, rage, revenge:

• "We always did feel the same, we just saw it from a differnt point of view."
• "Maybe she'll pick him out again, how long must he wait?"
• "I always did believe she was my twin."
• "I'm goin' out of my mind with a pain that stops and starts, like a corkscrew to my heart."
• "I can change, I swear! See what you can do..."
• "You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies. One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes, blood on your saddle."
• "I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind. I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed, your eyes don't look into mine."
• "Well, I struggled through barbed wire, felt the hail fall from above. Well, you know I even outran the hound dogs. Honey, you know I've earned your love."
• "If you see her, say hello."
• "Now there's a wall between us, somethin' there's been lost, I took too much for granted, got my signals crossed."
• "Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make her mine."
• "If you want me, honey baby, I'll be here."
• "Everything about you is bringing me misery."

And the coup de grace, the final words of powerless devotion:

• "Life is sad, life is a bust, all ya can do is do what you must. You do what you must do and ya do it well, I'll do it for you, honey baby, can't you tell?"

Do the words win her back? We'll never know for sure. The story ends on an ambiguous note, like Mickey Rourke high up on the ropes at the end of "The Wrestler." Even if she comes back, a love this idealized can't last--it has nowhere to go but down, from the heavens to the burning depths of hell--or anyway, to the cold reality of Earth. Yes, the writer will survive this love, he'll marry again, split again, but he'll always hold something back. He'll always have one eye on the nearest exit. He'll always be "on the road, looking for another joint." The road, after all, is neverending.

***

Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan, but these songs glow like burning coals in whatever context they find themselves. Here are covers of every song on the album. Enjoy! (Though to quote their composer, I don't know how anyone could enjoy this kind of pain.)

Blood on the Tracks Covered
An NSD Production
complete with stewART

1. Tangled Up in Blue - Jerry Garcia Band
2. Simple Twist of Fate - Jeff Tweedy
3. You're a Big Girl Now - Lloyd Cole
4. Idiot Wind - The Coal Porters
5. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go - Shawn Colvin
6. Meet Me in the Morning - Freddie King
7. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts - Tom Russell, Joe Ely, and Eliza Gilkyson
8. If You See Her Say Hello - Jeff Buckley
9. Shelter From the Storm - Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris
10. Buckets of Rain - Neko Case

Bonus Track
11. Up To Me - Roger McGuinn

Top Ten Albums

1. Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan)
2. Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
3. Revolver (The Beatles)
4. New Skin for the Old Ceremony (Leonard Cohen)
5. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)
   
6. Get Happy!! (Elvis Costello)
7. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard and Linda Thompson)
8. Late For the Sky (Jackson Browne)
   
9. Lucinda Williams (Lucinda Williams)
10. Heartbreaker (Ryan Adams)

The Only Living Boy in New York

Paul Simon wrote this song in 1969, when his partner Art Garfunkel went down to Mexico to Film "Catch-22." It's all about being alone, adrift, untethered from everyone and every thing you know and love or know and hate but at least know. What Paul knew when he wrote it, but Art didn't know when he left, was that "Simon & Garfunkel" were through, and only Simon and Garfunkel would remain. We've all been there, leaving friends, lovers, schools, jobs behind. When you make the choice, it's bittersweet. When the choice is made for you, it's just plain bitter. Paul is somewhere in the middle, left behind in the short term but preparing to make the break for good.

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know your part'll go fine.
Fly down to Mexico.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-n-da-da and here I am,
The only living boy in New York.

In the song he refers to Art as Tom, the name Art used when they were a teenage duo called Tom & Jerry. When they were fifteen, they actually had a hit single, "Hey Schoolgirl." Imagine that! Paul had ditched Art once before, in 1963, after they cut their first album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.m." The album was going nowhere on the charts and Paul went off to England, worked solo, fell in love. He liked it, maybe he was even happy to be shed of his childhood chum, but then some wiseguy producer added drums and electric guitars to "Sounds of Silence" and made it a Number 1 hit. So Paul came home, left Kathy behind (memorializing her in "Kathy's Song"), and rejoined Art for the sake of history.

So when he wrote this song, these guys had been together a long time, side by side, but now Paul remembers that beautiful feeling of freedom that came over him in London and he wants to fly solo:

I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da here I am
The only living boy in New York

Ah, that moment of sweet freedom, nothing to do, no one to consider but yourself. It feels great. Listen to the way Simon's voice, usually such a melancholy vessel, soars as he sings that line: "I've got nothing to do today but smile"--for just a moment we're back on the 59th Street Bridge, "Feelin Groovy." But oh how that mood can shift to loneliness in a flash:

Half of the time were gone but we dont know where,
And we dont know where,
And we dont know where.

How do you make those two feelings co-exist, freedom and loneliness? How do you tell the one you're leaving it's over? Dig down and find the honesty to speak the truth:

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know you've been eager to fly now.
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
Like it shines on me
The only living boy in New York,
The only living boy in New York.

What a song! Shawn Colvin does a beautiful cover in concert (I've included it below). Doesn't bother to change it to "Only Living Girl in New York." It's just a state of mind, and she can capture it as well as any boy--except maybe the one who wrote it.

Simon and Garfunkel version

Shawn Colvin version