Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - For Bob Dylan on His 80th Birthday: Toronto Mike'd #855

Episode Date: May 24, 2021

Mike is joined by Bob Dylan fanatic Lorne Honickman who tells us why Dylan is the greatest musician of the past century. Happy 80th birthday, Bob....

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to episode 855 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home.
Starting point is 00:01:05 Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski, or as I call him, Mimico Mike. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week to help celebrate Bob Dillon's 80th birthday is the esteemed host of Judgment Day, Lorne Honickman. Wow. I feel like I'm walking into the ring here. Are you ready to rumble?
Starting point is 00:01:46 We are. Yeah, that's what I thought about. That's what it sounded like, Mike. I guess you were just feeling this holiday Monday or something. Well, that's it. Okay. So let's timestamp this because this is relevant. So this is May.
Starting point is 00:01:57 This is literally May 2-4. This is May 24th, 2021. It's a holiday Monday. So you don't have to work today? No, no. Well, I holiday Monday, so you don't have to work today? No, no. Well, I still have to do some work. You know, when you're practicing law, you're doing it seven days a week, 24-7 in many ways. But this is kind of fun and taking off a little time to celebrate and recognize.
Starting point is 00:02:48 80 years ago today, Robert Allen Zimmerman, who of course we all know is Bob Dylan, was born in the Midwestern town of Duluth, Minnesota, and managed to, between that time and today, compose more than 600 songs, sell, I guess, what is it, about 130 million records or albums around the world. He's been recorded by 2000 artists or more. He wins a Nobel Prize of Literature in 2016. And there's still people that don't understand him or don't want to understand him. And still say today you'll still hear people say today Mike he doesn't have a good voice right you know I don't like the way he sings you know he's got good poetry so uh he's uh it it's a career obviously and and a legacy that that um is going to be celebrated by by a lot of And, and hopefully he's celebrating today as well. But I want to just say this before we start, and you asked me if I wanted to do this because you got, you know, you,
Starting point is 00:03:32 you and I got to know each other and we talked about music a lot and you saw, Oh, you went, Oh, look at that. Honigman really likes Dylan. And he, I'm no, I'm not a historian. I'm not a musicologist. I'm not an expert. I mean, there are those people out there, by the way. There are people, the Dylan experts. There are professors who teach courses around the world where you sit. I would have loved to have been in those classes where you sit and you learn about Dylan and you learn about his music and about his lyrics or whatever. I'm not that person.
Starting point is 00:04:06 What I am is somebody who appreciates the arts. I love theater. I love art. You know, music. And so that's what this is about. And for me, what I would be saying to anybody out there, whether you're into hip hop, jazz, rap, whatever the music you're into, if you appreciate a certain type of music, if you appreciate and music speaks to you or art speaks to you, whatever it may be, classical, whatever it is. That's what Dylan did and does to me. Do I listen to him the way I
Starting point is 00:04:48 did when I was younger? No. Do I like the songs, the albums that he's put out in the 2000s? Do I listen to, do I know them as well, or even close to what I know, the albums from the 60s, what I know, the albums from the 60s, 70s, and early to mid 80s? No. And I admit that. You know, I've listened to it. But what it is, is that when you go to the beginning, when you go to and you listen to somebody like Dylan, from his early years on, and the changes and everything he did, you realize why so many people from all walks of life, from all types of music and art, will talk about how Dylan inspired them in a certain way, and it's all understood, Mike. It's like when you listen to it, and you can understand it, no matter where people are coming from.
Starting point is 00:05:49 And that's why there's so many artists that have covered him and they talk about him. And they'll say, you know, they'll talk about him in the same breath that they'll talk about, what, for example, the Beatles or whatever. So there's a lot to go through. And when we talked about today, about, you know, me picking some songs, and it was like like it was really interesting because it's an impossible task right i mean i couldn't do it i couldn't really do you know trying to pick out the songs and go all right well yeah we got to do that or that oh no well wait about that and there's going to be you know there's hundreds of songs that are left out when
Starting point is 00:06:22 you start just grabbing a few right right? And try to talk about it. Lauren, when we talked about doing this, and it's so wonderfully convenient that today is Bob Dylan's 80th birthday. So just to bring that point home, what a great opportunity. So you have, in my humble opinion, Lauren, you have the passion, without a doubt, for Bob Dylan's catalog and his career. You have the knowledge. And if anyone who's watched you on City TV or CP24 or Judgment Day, anyone, we know that you know how to deliver information in an entertaining and insightful way. Like, this is really your wheelhouse. I know you're still practicing law.
Starting point is 00:07:01 this is really your wheelhouse. I know you're still practicing law. So before we get into Dylan, though, I just want to say, and I'm a little biased here because I'm lucky enough to produce Judgment Day with Lorne Honigman, but your last two episodes,
Starting point is 00:07:13 the whole catalog has been amazing, but particularly this recent episode we just did on the Ontario court ruling that Iran's downing of Flight 752 was an intentional act of terrorism. Right, right. Yeah, tell us, because we just did that on Friday. We're only speaking here on Monday.
Starting point is 00:07:32 That's only a few days ago. So timely, so relevant, and so damn good. Well, you know, thank you. And of course, you are biased, but we throw that in. You know, but no, look, you at I, you asked me when I first you and I first met, I guess it was a year ago, when I came in, and I came to your place. No, it was actually two years, two years ago. Yeah, it was August of 2019. And we talked about my days at City TV and CP 24 and that whole world. And you said to me back then, you said,
Starting point is 00:08:05 hey, Lorne, you know, you should do a podcast. Let's do a podcast or a webcast. You can talk about law. You said you're one of the first people, if not the first, who did that in this country, combining the media and the law. And I went, oh, okay. And of course you kept every two to three months
Starting point is 00:08:20 you'd send me an email. Do you want to do that podcast? Yeah, okay, Mike, I'll get back. You know, I'm really busy. And then finally, finally, you kicked send me an email. Do you want to do that podcast? Yeah. Okay, Mike, I'll get back. You know, I'm really busy. And then finally, finally, you, you kicked me about 10 times in the rear and you said, let's do it. And we we've got, we're doing it. And, and look, I I'm really enjoying it because it does put me back into the days where I can sort of start talking about the law again, sending it out to the masses, if you will. And hopefully we'll get
Starting point is 00:08:45 the quote masses to start listening and watching. And that Bill C-10 episode on the freedom of expression with Michael Geist, like honestly, like what a tremendously timely and informative, like I'm not a lawyer unlike yourself, but honestly, listening to your show, I keep on top of these things and I find it thoroughly entertaining. So congrats on Judgment Day with Lorne Honickman. Everybody should subscribe. It's not just a podcast. It's also a video series. You can subscribe to Lorne Honickman's YouTube channel
Starting point is 00:09:13 and then when episodes drop in video format, you can watch the great Lorne Honickman. But back to Bob Dylan on his 80th birthday. Where do we begin, my friend? Do you want to start by telling us how you fell in love with the music of Bob Dylan on his 80th birthday, where do we begin, my friend? Like maybe can you, do you want to start by telling us like how you fell in love with the music of Bob Dylan? Yeah, I think, and I think anybody who is in there,
Starting point is 00:09:35 I'm going to say mid-teens to late teens. That's, that's where I was, Mike. I was, you know, because let's, let's start putting this into perspective and into the years. Okay. So, and I don't mind talking about how old I am. No, no, I don't mind at all. Okay. So when Bob Dylan is first making the scene in New York, you know, this is a guy who's born in Minnesota. He grows up there., falls in love with folk music, and at a young age, he moves to New York City, to Greenwich Village. And so he started to make music in the type of early folk music that he's making in 62, three, and four. And yours truly
Starting point is 00:10:18 is like 10 years old. So what was a 10-year- in in um what used to be north toronto it's it's it's probably now like uh in the you know the bathurst wilson area listening to well i was listening to what every other person in the world was listening to i was watching the beatles on ed sullivan in february of 64 at 10 years old and and there was nothing there was no music nothing ever mattered except the Beatles and any of that English music that was coming over by that British invasion um and I wouldn't have known Bob Dylan from you know from Mike Toronto Mike you know I mean I I'd have no idea I I to me I folk music there was nothing about it or that I listened to etc but because I everybody just bought a guitar I bought a guitar like everybody else or my parents got me you know wanted to be
Starting point is 00:11:09 the beatles um but it so that it wasn't until i would say probably when i was about 16 17 years old and i think i wish i i wish it was more romantic and I could give you the exact date that I put the record on. Because yes, everybody under whatever age you're under, it was a record. It was the A side and B side. And I can't remember when it was, but I put on Highway 61, Revisited, which Dylan put out in 65. I must have been 17, 18 at the time. And you put first song, first side. And we're going to get to this song a little later. But that snare kick off the top that Bruce Springsteen even talks about to this day,
Starting point is 00:12:01 he used some great words to describe that snare kick off the top of like a rolling stone. And, and for me, that was, wow, well, that is, that is something. And what ends up happening, and I think everybody does this, Mike, you listen, something grabs you. And then all of a sudden, you want to hear more of who this person is, right? You go, oh, and I started listening. And I guess where it solidified where I went, this man, this music is really important to Lorne Honigman, where I'm now listening to every breath, every word I will remember to this day,
Starting point is 00:12:43 and that's when I put the needle down on an album called Blood on the Tracks that we're going to talk about as well. 1975. So I was around 20, 21. I had gone to see Dylan in 1974 when he came with the band and I sat really close, Maple Leaf Gardens, and I watched this guy and I was grabbed like, like nothing before had grabbed me. And I couldn't believe what I was listening to. And he sat on the stage, Mike, and I'll get to Blood on the Tracks, what I was talking about in a moment, but he sat on the stage and he does this acoustic set.
Starting point is 00:13:27 So he comes out with the band first, then he comes back and he does this acoustic set and he does, don't, I'll always remember, don't think twice. It's all right. When people who know this song and listening to him and his voice always changed, right? He didn't sound like he first sounded and there was always, and that's happened his entire career. So it was like something came out of that stage, grabbed me by the neck. Like I said, I was around 20 years old
Starting point is 00:13:53 and that was it. So from that moment on, if you will, it became an important part of my, I guess, my appreciation of the arts, right? I mean, that's what it's all about, isn't it? You walk into an art gallery, if you love art, you walk into an art gallery, you know, and people will say, they'll look at a picture on the wall, a painting on the wall, and they'll go, wow, you know, look at that, that's Renoir, whoever it is, Picasso, or they'll go to a symphony, and they'll go, wow, you know, look at that. That's Renoir or whoever it is, Picasso, or they'll go to a symphony and they'll listen because they really,
Starting point is 00:14:28 they're just listening to the music and, and that really grabs them whatever way they'll go to a play, they'll go to theater, they'll read a book, whatever it is. And that's what it is with Mr. Dylan. And that's why I'd always say that if anybody has any appreciation, you know, we talk about, and we'll talk about rap and hip hop. I mean, people who love that type of phraseology and love the way that music goes together. You know, you just listen. You listen to the way Dylan put lyrics together. way Dylan put lyrics together, even to this day. If I hear something, one of the great tests for me, Mike, is that how many times can you hear a song and you hear it and you go, okay, that's
Starting point is 00:15:16 probably the thousandth time I've listened to that song. But I'm still getting like i still get that tiny rush right there's a there's a there's a song called license to kill that dylan wrote in 83 off his album infidels and there's and i'll just i'll just show i just heard it like literally a few days ago you know because when i was thinking about what songs do i want to talk to you about? And I picked this, you know, and I'm listening to it and there's a line in that song, just one, and it's just one line out of like one of his 600 songs. And it's like, all he believes are his eyes, but his eyes, they just tell him lies. And it's, you know, and that how many times I've heard that I've talked to people about it. I've said to people, Oh, listen to that or how many times I've heard that I've talked to people about it.
Starting point is 00:16:08 I've said to people, Oh, listen to that or whatever. And I'm listening to it for the thousandth time. And I'm going, you know, I get this little smile on my face because it's, it's, it's not just because it's clever, quote unquote, you know, and it rhymes, but if you listen to it, it has, it has a lot of meaning, you know, a lot of people relate to stuff like that. So that's what happened with me. So I was around that, you know, starting late teens going into early 20s. And then you start talking to people, a great friend of mine, Paul Larson, who I met when I first graduated from university and started working at a place called legal aid.
Starting point is 00:16:47 I'm sure people have heard about before I went into television and Paul, as much as I know about Bob Dylan, he'd know about a thousand times more. So now I've got a Fred now, now I, now he and I would just sit, you know, you know what it's like, right? So you sit with somebody who's got the same passion as you right you know and and and now you're sitting there and and now he's teaching you stuff and he's you know he's and that's what paul did for me you know he just because he had this catalog in his brain um and and and in one of the great things,
Starting point is 00:17:30 a lot of my other friends, Jeff Silver, who went with me in 1975, anybody who has heard about Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Review in 75. And we, we went to all these different shows, went to Niagara Falls, you know, so, so those years, those university years for me, whatever, were huge in listening to Mr. Dylan and every time getting something out of him. I love how at that age, you mentioned that age, with the music that grabs you at that age, how it tends to stick with you for the rest of your life. And here we are talking how many decades later, and you're as excited and passionate to talk about Bob Dylan today
Starting point is 00:18:07 as you would have been back then with your buddy, Paul. Oh yeah, 100%. So let's put up a few snippets here, shall we? Okay. So, and again, this is in no particular order, right? This is like, these are just, you and I were talking on Friday and you said, hey, Honickman, don't forget you're coming on with me Monday morning. Like, send me some songs that you might want to listen, you know, talk about.
Starting point is 00:18:38 Right. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I'll just pick 10. I'll just find 10, you know. And any Dylan fans out there will go, what? That's stupid. It's like, why are you doing that? You should have done this and why aren't you doing this?
Starting point is 00:18:50 And you didn't talk about this and you didn't do anything in the nineties and you, what about this? And, but anyway, look, let's, let's, let's, let's look at a couple of these things because anybody who has any interest in Bob Dylan or wants to learn about him, okay, it's really good to go near to the beginning in the first, you know, in his first three, four albums, his first four albums, which were his acoustic albums. There's so many layers to Bob Dylan's career. And if there's anything that I'm going to inspire or sort of maybe get somebody who's may not have really bothered to listen or look at, one of the great things that happens with Dylan is that he has reinvented himself so many times through the years. I love the reinvention stuff, right? I mean, I, I, in, in a very tiny, tiny way,
Starting point is 00:19:47 you know, I got to reinvent myself in my own life, you know, when I, after leaving, or, or having a temporary leave from, from television, when I went to law school, you know, sort of a new type of like a reinvention. So it's all Dylan did it his his whole life, right from the time he left Minnesota and came to New York. And he's, you know, Dylan had this and you could you could do, you know, 10 episodes about Dylan in New York when he first gets there, because he wanted to meet Woody Guthrie, who was his hero at the time. And everything that was happening in New York City. And when he first gets there and he appears at a place called Gerd's Folk City in New York, if you've ever gone to New York City, go to the village.
Starting point is 00:20:40 I think there's a tour, Mike, that you can actually go to. I haven't even done this, where you can go and they take you to the very important points in New York City where Dylan first went to. But there was a very famous folk club there called Gertz Folk City. And Dylan played with John Lee Hooker way back when. And so that was his early's, that was his early days. It was, it was sort of the folk. And, and as, as you know, he, he reinvents himself in, in 1965 and, and it caused a massive uproar among his fans, but on his fourth album, on his fourth album, his acoustic album, which was, which was another side of Bob Dylan. I mean, that album had some, he started looking back. If you look at, if you follow, like,
Starting point is 00:21:33 so there's the guy who put out blowing in the wind, the times they are changing all these songs, a hard rain's going to fall. One of the greatest songs that he ever wrote talking about his worry or people, you know, people used to analyze this and say his worry about a nuclear war back in 63. But everybody looked at him like, you know, he was like the leader of this protest movement or whatever. And of course, he never looked at himself that way at all. whatever. And of course, he never looked at himself that way at all. And in another side of Bob Dylan in 64, he starts writing all these songs that are really starting to be more self-reflective, if you will, because he had this great way of doing it. And there's a song on there called
Starting point is 00:22:17 My Back Pages. And My Back Pages was one song, by the way, one of many, one of several songs that the Byrds, everybody knows Roger McGuinn and the Byrds, who sort of electrified Mr. Tambourine Man, we're going to get to that. They also did My Back Pages. But My Back Pages was this great song. was this great song. It has the repeating line in it is, but I was so much older then,
Starting point is 00:22:50 I'm younger than that now. And there's a great line in that song or a great verse, all the verses, where he says, in a soldier's stance, I aim my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach. Fearing not, I become my own enemy in the instant that I preach. My existence has been led on confusion boats. Listen to this line, Mike. Mutiny from stern to bow. Oh, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now. It's like he's looking, it's almost the areas of 1964.
Starting point is 00:23:31 He's only 23 years old, but he's already looking at this career of his and these thoughts of who he was going to be. He's always already reflecting that he was a different person then. And that's why this song is always to me. And in fact, when they celebrated his 30th anniversary in the music business back in 1994 at a live show at Madison Square Gardens, on the stage, Roger McGuinn, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Tom Petty, all on the stage singing this song. My back page is each of them taking a verse.
Starting point is 00:24:21 And that verse that I just said in a soldier stance, Dylan took and the crowd in New York went wild. But let's play a snippet from the original acoustic sound from another side of Bob Dylan from 1964. Crimson flames tied through my ears, rolling high and mighty traps. Pounced with fire on flaming roads, using ideas as my maps. We'll meet on edges soon, said I, proud neath heated brow. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. Half-wracked prejudice Leap forth
Starting point is 00:25:27 Rip down all hate I screamed Lies that life is black and white Spoke for my skull I dreamed Romantic facts of musketeers Foundation deep somehow But I was so much older then
Starting point is 00:25:56 I'm younger than that now Wow. Wow. You know, and that was, when you listen to him sing, I've heard people say about his singing. We were just talking, you know, I was mentioning that before. You know, people say, oh, I can't listen to his voice. So, you know, I've also heard people describe what you just heard there is almost like cantorial, you know, it's, it's like, but you know, when you just hear yeah, how, like just, just listening to that enunciation, but, um, you know, the words you heard there, half, half rack prejudice, leap forth, rip down all hate. I dream, you know, I mean, it's, I scream lies that lives were black and white. Anyway, it's just, he's a poet, but I think of other artists, for example, uh, let's just say like Leonard Cohen or Neil Young.
Starting point is 00:27:06 young as a couple off the top of my head, similar complaints about the voice. And, uh, I never understood these complaints. I mean, I'm listening to Bob Dylan and these headphones right now. I love how he sounds like, I love how he turns a phrase. Oh yeah. And, and he changes that the way he does that. And when you'd listen to him live, um, he would change it as well, but yeah, so that, but you can see when I was so much older than I'm younger than that now and that was that was really significant because that was the last song that he recorded for that album and it was almost like he he drew a line in the sand for for everyone he said there so my folk days quote unquote my acoustic days and then the next album is is what that is called an album bring All Back Home, that we're going to talk about.
Starting point is 00:27:48 But that's when the guitars come on, the electric guitars. And I'll talk about that a little later. But I'm going to sort of leap forward because I'm not doing this chronologically. because I'm not doing this chronologically. When I think about the different songs that are important to me or the ones that I tried to put together for you today. So you'll leap forward now 10 years, if you will, from what you were just listening to. And Dylan has already gone through all of these other changes.
Starting point is 00:28:24 and Dylan has already gone through all of these other changes. And in 1974, he's going to go out on the road again with the band. And the band is who he went on the road with in 66 that we'll talk about. But before he does that, they jam into a studio together. And he's got a new record label and he puts together an album that's called Planet Waves. Um, and, you know, great songs, another album that, you know, where, where his voice is again, different. He had not been on the road um save and except when he came out for george harrison in 71 in the concert for bangladesh um and he also in 69 was at an isle of white concert but he had stopped touring and he's now coming he's going to now head back out onto the road. And he puts out this album, Planet Waves. And on that album is a song called Forever Young.
Starting point is 00:29:33 And he wrote it, apparently, for his son, Jesse, at the time. And there's a line in that song you know again just like any any dylan song you could start going through it and you say oh well you know why is that you know why did that grab you whatever interesting about forever young is he's he puts it out on that album. Two years later, the band have their last concert, as you probably remember in San Francisco, the last waltz. And Forever Young is one of the songs that Dylan sings with the band as the final song that he plays with them. and you just think of it Mike you've got little kids well you got bigger kids too but what you'd sit if you if you took your son or daughter and when they could sort of understand what you're saying to them and you're telling them, may you stay forever young, because like and yesterday I had the whole family here, you know, we had for the two little granddaughters and I'm, you know, I'd be saying
Starting point is 00:31:06 it to them. And there's a line in the song, not just may you stay forever. There's a line in the song. May your hands always be busy. May your feet always be swift. May you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift. And that you'd want to say to your children, that of anything, you'd say, you know, time's going to change or whatever, and just have that strong foundation. So you're going to be able to, you know, to stand there and be able to take it.
Starting point is 00:31:40 And of course, there's a line, may your heart always be joyful and may your song always be sung beautiful song to sing to sing in the message out to to to somebody who you're looking at it who you love so much and you just want them to be able to stay forever young forever young up here right it's in your mind right so why don't we listen to a little bit of that? May God's blessing keep you always. May your wishes all come true. May you always do for others. And let others do for you.
Starting point is 00:32:40 May you build a ladder to the stars. And climb on every road And may you stay Forever young Forever young Forever young May you stay Forever young forever young making me weepy here lauren holy well listen yeah he does if that if if if you love the arts
Starting point is 00:33:39 i keep coming back to it and somebody really can touch it that way you know it that's what that's what music can do right and that's what uh that's what great artists can do i is is they can make you weep they can make you laugh they can make you just listen and shake your head but that yeah forever young one of one of the greats um so let me really fast forward a bit uh and again going out of order uh from a from a temporal point of order from a temporal point of view, from a time point of view, but it's okay. Because I just want to sort of move around a bit because I will go back to where I think is... Lauren, I quite like it. As a fan of Quentin Tarantino movies, I like it when we time jump and I like it when it's not necessarily a linear presentation.
Starting point is 00:34:25 Oh, okay. Good. Good. There you go. There you go. So Dylan, you know, always, as I said before, managed to manage to reinvent and do things and sort of change the way he looked at things. So, you know, the 90s, you know, people, the critics, and there's, you know, there's, for me, I was not, I don't mind critics and people looking at things and saying, you know, I listened to all those albums, and I didn't really like them or whatever. That's okay. I'm the same way. I'd be the first person to say, you know, and getting back to my friend, Paul, Paul would always say, Hey, you know, there's albums in the nineties. Oh, empire burlesque down in the groove. You got to hear this Lauren. And I say, yeah, Paul,
Starting point is 00:35:20 you know what? I'm listening to it, but I'm not crazy about it as much as I was crazy about his earlier. That's okay. That doesn't mean I'm not a great Dylan fan just because it's not hitting me or moving me the same way. I can appreciate it, but that's okay. But that's what happens when you have somebody who's recording and he's not stopping and he's putting one album out and the years are going by that's okay and then the and then came 2000 then came 2000 and um uh this movie comes out with Michael Douglas called Wonder Boys um and and who do they get who do they get to write the song that ends up winning an Academy Award is Mr. Dylan. And the song Things Have Changed.
Starting point is 00:36:14 And it was like coming after this album that we're going to talk about right after Time Out of Mind, late nineties, which is like, Whoa, that that's another great album. And, but then he, then we get this song called things have changed. And it's like this incredible, incredible song. And it's almost like, again, when you go to his chorus or his reprieve, you know, people are crazy and times are strange. I'm locked in tight. I'm out of range. I used to care, but things have changed.
Starting point is 00:36:56 And it's almost, again, you're going, wait a minute, wait a minute. Is he talking about his life again? Is he talking about everything? But I'll always remember, uh but I'll always remember Mike I'll always remember and you can see this of course if anybody wants to go I'm sure it's on YouTube or wherever you can go is when he wins the Academy Award he's I think he's in Australia at the time and you know they do the you know the top songs and he wins it. And you could just see he's shocked. You can almost see how just shocked he is.
Starting point is 00:37:28 And he talked about the song. And I think he said something like, you know, the song kicks ass or something like I can't even remember the words. But I just sort of shook my head and went, yes, yeah, whatever it is. Yes, it does. It just brought that. It was one of those things you go, oh okay like listen to that so it's it's it's a great it's a great song the movie's not bad the movie's okay the movie's really good yeah it's do you like the movie i very much like
Starting point is 00:37:57 wonder boys yes yeah so but it's it's kind of neat and it it's like, okay. But again, just some great Dylan lines and really a song that I think it is important. Not just because it won some awards, but it's, again, into the 2000s. And yeah, he's still kicking it. So we'll give it to him. Smoke your son. A worried man with a worried mind No one in front of me and nothing behind There's a woman on my lap and she's Drinking champagne
Starting point is 00:38:40 Got white skin, got assassin's eyes I'm looking up into the sapphire-tinted skies I'm well-dressed, waiting on the last train Standing on the gallows with my head in the news Any minute now I'm expecting on how to break loose People are crazy, talks are strange I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range I used to care, but things have changed. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:33 I used to care, but things have changed. Okay. You know, it's funny. We're playing the snippets from it and we that's because we only can do that we don't have time to play you know it's sitting you could you could sit all day and just and just listen right but every time we every time you you've been bringing down the music you know after we i'd say oh no no just because there's great line coming up but but that's what it's like right that's that's what it's like it's there's always a there's always a's great line coming up. But that's what it's like, right? That's what it's like.
Starting point is 00:40:05 There's always a quote, great line coming up. So it's okay. All right. Let's go back about three years. And I said, time out of mind album. And this was a great breakthrough album for Dylan. And one of the things that Dylan managed to do through the years is the songs that he wrote about the women or the loves in his life, whoever they may be. Certainly when he early on, his wife, Sarah, really important in so many aspects with respect to his music, his life, that shows up in so much
Starting point is 00:40:47 of his music. And Dylan ends up writing this song called Make You Feel My Love. And it's a song that is unbelievable that so many people, from my my understanding who actually have gone out and said, this is one of the great love songs. I know different versions. Adele has done a great version of this song. That's one great version for sure. But for me, when I hear other people do a Dylan song, I go, oh, yeah, it's beautiful, whatever. But to me, there's nobody doing, who can do Dylan like Dylan can do Dylan. And the great thing about when you look at some of his love songs,
Starting point is 00:41:33 if you put that in quotes, you know, there's, there's so many that, that talk about relationships or whatever, but you put this in perspective. And what he what he's saying in this song and the things that he is that he's that he's saying to whoever this person is, to whoever this person is, and of course, you never know, is there really somebody in Dylan's life at this time? Or is this just the song that he's sitting at a piano and he started playing and you can read a hundred different things about it. But again, one of the important things for me was, is that it, and it always has happened is there may not be like 10 songs on an album where
Starting point is 00:42:18 you go, wow, that, you know, every one of those sort of, you know, has grabbed me or I've looked at it and I've listened to it, but certainly make you feel my love was one of those songs where you think, wow, you know, somebody, people getting married, uh, could say, I want that to be my wedding song, right? Or I want that to be our anniversary. Like it's that here's the guy that can make you feel a million different things and now he's got this beautiful it's almost like i think it's like this beautiful love song right now lauren from now on we're gonna do it a little excuse me i'm a little choked up here we're gonna do it a little differently i'm gonna play your jams and i'm gonna watch you and you're gonna
Starting point is 00:43:00 tell me when to bring it down so i'm gonna look to look for the bring down. No, no, it's okay. No, no, no. I think this is better because then we're basically, it's like you're driving this truck here. You're doing fine. You're doing fine. You're bringing them down when I'm bringing them down. Don't rely on me, Mike, or we're going to be here until the early evening. All right, I'm back in charge.
Starting point is 00:43:20 Make you feel my love. When the rain is blowing in your face back in charge. make you feel my love When evening shatters And the stars appear And there is no one there To dry your tears I could hold you for a million years To make you feel my love
Starting point is 00:44:15 I know you haven't made your mind up yet But I would never do you wrong I've known it from the moment that we met No doubt in my mind where you belong I go hungry,'d go black and blue I'd go crawling down the avenue No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do To make you feel my love
Starting point is 00:45:09 Okay, you can bring it down. I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue. Wow. Isn't that amazing? Do you dedicate this jam to your wife, Lorne? Oh, sure. 100% To my wife, Lorne? Oh, sure. One hundred percent.
Starting point is 00:45:34 To my wife, Kathy, who's been with me and has had to, you know, I've got her, you know, people say, is she a huge Dylan fan? No. But has she gone to appreciate and because she's so wonderful as she is that she lets me talk about him and and try to appreciate a lot of what he does of course um that's beautiful actually that she she tolerates your relentless uh appreciation for well hey listen listen if you're married to somebody for over 40 years oh congrats tolerate is becomes the operative word, right? For her. For her.
Starting point is 00:46:08 It's beautiful. My beautiful wife, Kath. Yes. All right. So there's this beautiful song, Make You Feel My Love. And now from 1997. So now we'll go back 22 years off what I think is one of his greatest albums called Blood on the Tracks. And remember, I was talking about Sarah, his wife.
Starting point is 00:46:33 And he and Sarah, when they split in 73, the songs on Blood on the Tracks are all about his life that fell apart at that time for him. And there's a song on that album called Idiot Wind. And it is quite incredible because it is one of the most, I've heard people talk about the song as being malicious. There are, it's using, even using the word idiot wind. And again, you try and say to yourself, is he writing this about Sarah? There's so many parts, but it's about a relationship. writing this about Sarah. There's so many parts, but it's about a relationship. And for three or four verses, he's talking about what's coming out of this person's mouth is idiot wind. It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe. But the last part of the song, the last verse, what the whole song is going, you're an idiot, babe. And he ends the song going, we're idiots, babe.
Starting point is 00:47:48 It's a wonder that we can still feed ourselves. But there are so many lines in that song. When people talking now about relationships that are ending, where he said, I kiss goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me. Even you, yesterday, you had to ask me where it was at. I couldn't believe after all these years, you didn't know me any better than that. Sweet lady. One line after another. But the song starts, Mike, with him saying,
Starting point is 00:48:27 someone's got it in for me. They're planting stories in the press. Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out quick. When they will, I could only guess. And he's not even talking about the relation. He's talking about how people are talking about him and writing about it. Now, the song is about seven, eight minutes, but it contains some of his great, great lyrics and phraseology. But it also is talking, it's the song, Oh My Goodness. Talk about a relationship that's ending and the feelings that he's feeling inside himself
Starting point is 00:49:06 but and and he does there's a couple a lot of versions of this song of him of him singing it from from early uh outtakes that didn't make it when he recorded some in new york before he recorded the album in minnesota and then the live version of this song that you can see, 1975, from the Rolling Thunder, like when he's playing it. And just how he, you know, they say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy. She inherited a million bucks. And when she died, it came to me.
Starting point is 00:49:43 I can't help it if I'm lucky. That's how you'll hear that right off the top. And people see me all the time and they just can't remember how to act. Their minds are filled with big ideas, images, and distorted facts. And that's when he goes to the line. And even you yesterday had to ask me where it was at. And then the rest of the song is about him and the person that everybody extrapolates to be Sarah, his ex-wife. I even remember Jacob Dillon, of course, from the Wallflowers, who talked about when that album came out and how people talk about that album. And, and he's saying that, you know, it's my mom and dad. It's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's such a personal thing and it's so raw. And Dillon was so, he even commented, I remember in an interview that he was so puzzled and taken aback why
Starting point is 00:50:42 people were so enthralled with all that pain, how much they talk about. But Idiot Wind, it's one of those songs. Go listen to that whole song. And each line in it, you can just, and when he sings it live, he's just spitting them out. Unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:51:06 So why don't we take a listen to, as you'll hear him right off that first chord, Someone's Got It In For Me. Someone's got it in for me They're planting stories in their friends Whoever it is I wish they cut it out quick But when they will I can only guess
Starting point is 00:51:32 They say I shot a man named Gray And took his wife to Italy She earned half a million bucks And when she died It came to me I can't help it if I'm lucky People see me all the time And they just can't remember how to act
Starting point is 00:51:58 Their minds are filled with big ideas Images and distorted facts. Even you, yesterday, you had to ask me where it was at. I couldn't believe after all these years, you didn't know me any better than that. Sweet lady. be any better than that sweet lady here do you
Starting point is 00:52:28 win blowing every time you move your mouth blowing down the back roads and south here do you win blowing every time you move your teeth Idiot Wind is a good name for a podcast. It is a great name, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:53:06 That's what they'll say. You know, Anik, we changed the name of yours to Idiot Wind because I think that makes more. But what he says to her there, you know, blowing every time you move your teeth, you're an idiot, babe. It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe. But remember what I said, the song ends, you know, blowing every time we move our teeth, we are idiots, babe, you know, and that's how he ends the song. It's at the end of
Starting point is 00:53:32 it, he's, he's saying, it's, he comes around and he says, we both, we're both blowing that idiot wind. But now that was the first of five or four, I'm trying to remember if there's five verses, but you can just see how we how we you know, I another verse goes, I can't see you anymore. I can't even read the books you've read. You know, every time I crawl past your door, I wish I was someone else instead. It's just it is biting. As I say, some people have said it's his most malicious writing of all. Okay. Wow. All right. Let's now move back. So that was 75. We're going to now go back in time another 10 years.
Starting point is 00:54:18 And we're going to talk about this album, bringing it all back home. And I had talked about earlier another side of Bob Dylan, his last acoustic album. Now he goes into it's 1965. And a lot happens, Mike, in 1965 with Bob Dylan. Right. Because remember what what you know, he's done all this acoustic stuff, and now there's music, there's now electric instruments. And that was a huge thing. Anybody who wants to focus, remember I talked at the beginning, I said there's courses on Bob Dylan. I'm almost positive.
Starting point is 00:55:06 on Bob Dylan, I am, I'm almost positive. I'm positive that if you took any of those courses, a huge section will be when Dylan goes electric, because it was, you know, you talk about controversial. It, it, at the time that he went electric, it was for, for people who were into Bob Dylan, it was like, nobody could believe it. There were so many people who said, no. And, and he, he performed at the Newport Folk Festival. Joan Baez got him there in 1964. He was, he, he blew the place away in 64 when he was there it was it was huge but in 65 you know it was like all of a sudden you got electrical instruments I mean folk artists and and and all the folkies went oh no no no you you can't do that and by this time the birds had covered Mr. Tambourine Man, and I'm going to talk about that. But what ends up happening is that Dylan gets booed, and it's all these different things that are happening among the stage.
Starting point is 00:56:15 And there's a great, great documentary movie called Don't Look Back. And it's about Dylan's 1965 tour of Britain and it was put together by the late D.A. Pennebaker and it was it's it's this great movie and it and it starts with Dylan and the song that he takes from that bringing it all back home and that's the subterranean homesick blues and you've got dylan there with with cue cards and you know putting out all the words of of um you know subterranean homesick blues and it's it's he had so many people that that loved and wanted to be a part of his what some people called hijinks or whatever and but so what he just he just put together this great little i guess it would be one of the very first music videos if you will i was standing there right i was gonna say lauren
Starting point is 00:57:21 as a fervent viewer of much Music back in the day, they played that as a music video. So it'd be like an opportunity. It's probably the oldest video they played on Much Music. Sure. Yeah. And so Penemaker sets up this camera. And again, if I have my dates correct, because as we're in May 20, I think this was in early May of 1965. And he's beside the London Savoy Hotel, and he's dropping one card after 1965. And he's beside the London Savoy hotel and he's dropping one card after another. And, and it's, it, the song is, is, is a short song. And we're being able to play this whole song. Cause I think it's only about two minutes and 20 seconds,
Starting point is 00:57:57 the entire song or whatever it is. But the great thing about, so it's not just the video of course but the song itself subterranean homesick blues I've said this I'm sure there's other people who've looked at it and said this may be the very first rap song and why do I say that I'm not I don't know anything about rap per se except the phraseology when I when I when I've listened to hip hop artists or rap artists. And I always talk about this song as being what I think would be the first rap song. And just that, you know, Johnny's in the, you'll hear this, Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine. I'm on the pavement thinking about the government, man in a trench
Starting point is 00:58:44 coat, badge off laid off says he's got a bad cough wants to get it paid off just listen to it everybody and you'll see that i would think what i if if if i was managing a rap artist today i'd say do a cover of this song for god's sakes like it it's, it's just, it's, it's this wonderful, wonderful, you know, just the way he puts the phrases together. And, and so this song is not so much Mike, the type of Dylan song where you, you're going to listen to the words and they're going to come out and you can analyze them 10 times. This is the song where you go, wow, look at that phrase. Look at the way he does that. And, and, and sure, I'm sure there's a lot of people say, oh, no, no, I'm getting a lot
Starting point is 00:59:34 out of that song, lyrically as well. But for me, this was just like, this is this is Dylan, you know, he's 24 years old. And he's got this, he just puts this together. He gets the instruments in there and just listen to the phrasing and the way it goes. Johnny's in a basement, mixing up the medicine. I'm on a pavement thinking about the government The man in the trench coat badge I've laid off Says he's got a bad cough, wants to get it paid off Look out kid, it's something you did
Starting point is 01:00:15 God knows when, but you're doing it again You better duck down the alleyway, looking for a new friend The man in the coon skin cap and a pig pen Wants eleven dollar bills, you only got ten. Maggie calls Fleetfoot, face full of black soot, talking at the heat, put plants in the bed, but the phone's tapped anyway. Maggie says a man, he say they must bust an early man, orders from the D.A. Look out kid, don't matter what you did Walk on your tiptoes, don't tie no bows
Starting point is 01:00:48 Better stay away from those who carry around a fire hose Keep a clean nose, wash some clean clothes You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows Oh, get sick, get well Hang around the inkwell Hang bail, hard to tell if anything is gonna sell Try hard, get far, get back, ride rail Get jailed, jump bail, join the army at bail
Starting point is 01:01:13 Look out, kid, you're gonna get hit by losers, cheaters Six-time users hanging round the theaters Girl by the whirlpools looking for a new fool Don't follow leaders or watch a parking meter oh get born keep warm short pants romance learn to dance get dressed get blessed probably success please her please him buy gifts don. Don't live. 20 years of schooling and they put you on a day shift. Look out, kid. They keep it all hid.
Starting point is 01:01:48 Better jump down the manhole. Lock yourself a candle. Don't wear sandals. Try to avoid the scandal. Don't want to be a bum. You better chew gum. The pump don't work because the vandals took the handle. The pump don't work because the vandals took the handles all right see what i mean see what i mean
Starting point is 01:02:12 everybody see why i always say that that that's the genesis of rap or whatever you it's definitely a definitely a banger that's for sure that's You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. I mean, Mike, what's our time like? That's what I'd be saying to my producer right now. Well, Loren, this is where your producer would tell you this is a podcast. Time means nothing to us. Time means nothing. Keep rocking, buddy.
Starting point is 01:02:42 I want you to finish this episode right. Okay, no, no, no. means nothing keep keep rocking buddy i want you to finish this uh episode right okay no no i mean there's there's there's there's about three or four other songs that i want to get a little snippets of but i don't you know it just so you're at about an hour now but i would say that if this episode is 90 minutes it's going to be all killer no filler okay well that's fine i you know i'm just used to i'm used to television time right oh i know you're used to like 22 minute half hours and yeah no this is the wonderful thing about podcasts is if it takes 90 minutes for lauren honickman to celebrate uh bob dylan on his 80th birthday that's how long it takes all right so let me do let and we'll we'll go through these
Starting point is 01:03:22 you know obviously we played all of subterranean homesick blues for a good reason let me let me go to my uh the last four songs i wanted to just talk about today on the on it to celebrate his his 80th birthday and again uh back to back to dylan and back to his songs about women and who knows what they're about um in 66 um dylan dylan in the 60s put out for me you know the three incredible albums after he goes quote electric bringing it all back home which subterranean home pick homesick blues on um highway 61 which we know of, like a Rolling Stone and many other great songs. And then in 66, he puts out this album called Blonde on Blonde. And it's got so much stuff on there. Rainy day woman, stuck inside a mobile.
Starting point is 01:04:17 Most likely you go your way, I'll go mine. I want you, another great song about someone who has just met somebody and has fallen in love with them. And then there's just like a woman. And I want to talk about just like a woman, because just like a woman is a song again, where, you know, you, you it's, it's about a relationship that begins and then it ends. And, and, you know, the reprise in it, you know, she aches like a woman, she breaks like a woman, she makes love like a woman, but she breaks just like a little girl.
Starting point is 01:04:57 And the song ends, we're not going to be at that part of the song, but there's a part when anybody could relate to this, you know, when relationships begin and then they may end. And he says, and when we meet again, introduced as friends, please don't let on that you knew me when I was hungry and it was your world. Sometimes when he sings it live, he'll go, I was hungry and it was all your world. Meaning that, you know, I was, you took me off the street, if you will, you know,
Starting point is 01:05:34 and it was all, don't let on that you knew me when I was like that. And again, one of, for me, another just a great, great song that Dylan talked about, about a failed relationship, if you will. He had a lot of those songs. But Just Like a Woman, to me,
Starting point is 01:06:01 is probably one of the, I'll put it in the category of one of the classics so why don't we listen to a bit of it Nobody feels any pain Tonight as I stand inside the rain Everybody knows that baby's got new clothes But lately I see her ribbons and her bows Have fallen from her curls She takes just like a woman
Starting point is 01:06:57 Yes, she does She makes love just like a woman Yes, she does. And she aches just like a woman. But she breaks just like a little girl. Oh. It's the middle part of that song, by the way, you know, sort of the bridge.
Starting point is 01:07:36 He said, it was raining from the first, and I was dying there a thirst, so I came in here. That's what I was saying before about, you know, how that relationship starts. But just like a woman, again, for me, into the classic category. All right. So I talk about the going electric side of Dylan and the bring it all back home. And on that album is Mr. Tambourine Man and Mr. Tambourine Man to me is if you again there are so many aspects to Dylan's songs you listen to the phrasey the phrase you listen to the lyrics you listen to how it's being sung
Starting point is 01:08:25 Mr. Tambourine Man of course became this great hit for the birds the birds by by putting electric music to Mr. Tambourine Man I believe and I I think a lot of musicologists or whoever believe and I'm not one of them will say well that may have given Dylan the idea that, yes, electric instruments work with his songs. Remember, there was the Turtles did It Ain't Me, Babe. They did a version of that, put some electric music to It Ain't Me, Babe, which was strictly acoustic when Dylan put it out. So all these bands back then putting electric music to the songs, but Mr. Tambourine Man is just one of those songs that there is so much imagery in that song that you, you shake your head and, you know, you just think to yourself, how did anybody
Starting point is 01:09:21 ever do that and write those words and put them in the way you know take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind down the foggy ruins of time the whole song ends with let me forget about today until tomorrow. And you just get this sense of him sitting somewhere and maybe it was on the streets. Who knows where it was when he's writing this. An incredible song. This is another song that I'd urge anybody who has any interest in his writings and not just his choice of words, but his imagery.
Starting point is 01:10:12 This, to me, is a classic in so many ways. And in the jingle jangle morning, I'll come following you. So let's just, like any any verse is great but let's just let's just listen to uh um by the way he played the song at the Newport Folk Festival and it's interesting if you see a video of that he plays it and um the audience seems to recognize it you know how an audience will clap a bit when they hear a song. And I don't, I always say to myself, are they recognizing it because of, you know, they heard it already,
Starting point is 01:10:53 but I don't think the birds had put out the album yet. It was just an interesting moment, but it is one of those to me, an essential, I'll put it in the an essential listening for somebody who wants to start appreciating Bob Dylan. Hey, Mr. Timerain Man, bless song for me. I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. There's no place I'm going to. Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man,
Starting point is 01:11:29 play a song for me. In the jingle jangle morning, I'll come following you. Oh, I know that evening's empire has returned into sand, vanished from my hand Left me blindly here to stand But still not sleeping My weariness amazes me
Starting point is 01:11:55 I am branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty streets Too dead for dreaming Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me In the jingle jangle morning, I'll come following you.
Starting point is 01:12:32 Yeah, in the jingle jangle morning. That's the tambourine, right? The jingle jangle of that tambourine. You know, Lorne, I think we're going to turn a lot of either casual fans into deep divers or some people who maybe just, maybe they thought Bob Dylan was some old folky or whatever. They're going to give him another shot after this because I just want you to know I'm thoroughly enjoying this. Just your passion's leaking onto the bits and the bytes here.
Starting point is 01:13:01 My goal is for Toronto Mike to become a big dylan fan that's uh and although it's it's there's a lot to um it you can't do it in a day you know i i i used to say to people i say give me give me two or three hours give me two or three hours of your time and i'll get you to appreciate a bit about or or maybe i will i you know to me the great thing might is that if there's anybody out there who right now are in their late teens or early 20s that wouldn't even for a moment you know put on a bob dylan record i live one. I live with a guy you're describing, my 19-year-old son, James. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:13:47 So he probably, you know, like he'd be saying, oh, my dad's talking to that old fart lawyer, the guy who used to be, who was on TV. And he doesn't even have his mustache anymore. That's what my boy is. You know, or whatever.
Starting point is 01:14:00 Yeah, exactly. But you could sit him down and whatever music he'd, he'd listen to because that that's the beauty of it, right? That's the beauty. If you're into literature, if you're into, if you are a massive literature fan, you would never go, I'm not going to, I'm not going to read Shakespeare, right? Because that's like just old stuff. Like you'd, you'd listen to it because you'd be able to see why it's so important today. And that, that's what Dylan is.
Starting point is 01:14:27 All right. Let me go to the last couple of songs. Back to Blood on the Tracks. So we'll go fast forward 10 years. Relationship ends with Sarah. And this album comes out. And I started way at the beginning. I said when the needle went down on that album okay so I had seen Dylan live with the band in 74 I'm listening now I'm now getting into all his
Starting point is 01:14:54 his albums and then Blood on the Tracks comes out and to put the needle down, side A, first song. I look at the album and I see it's a song called Tangled Up in Blue. And I'm okay. And I listened to the song. And for everybody out there who remembers this about albums, you know, you had that, the way you could get your needle up if you were really careful you'd use that that that lever that little lever that you'd pull back and that needle would come off or if you were like honickman and yeah and you had a catalog of albums that had scratches all over them the reason was is because he didn't bother using the lever he
Starting point is 01:15:45 used his thumb to lift up the the needle and bring it back so that's what I did and so I got that I had this album I opened it up went on the tracks and I got the first scratch on it because I just listened to Tangled Up and Blew and I went holy mackinac no I didn't say mackinac because that was before Joe Bowen said it. But I said something that I won't say on the air. And I had to listen to it. And I listened to it about four or five times before I even listened to the second song on that album.
Starting point is 01:16:17 Because it was just every line in that song was, she was working in a topless place and I stopped in for a beer. I just kept looking at the side of her face in a spotlight so dear. And later on, as the crowd thinned out, I was just about to do the same. She was standing there in the back of my chair. I said to me, don't I know your name? Like that, that's just one verse, you know.
Starting point is 01:16:49 shame, like that, that's just one verse, you know, and it was the, you know, I lived with him on Montague Street in a basement down the stairs, there was music in the cafes at night, a revolution in the air, like I'd want to, not only would I want to hear the whole song, I'd want to hear the verses, I just want to keep, and that's what ended up happening to me, Tangled Up in Blue, which in some, you know, he changes the, from first person to third person, but it's definitely a song about, is it about Sarah? I suppose, but it's a song again about a relationship that starts, but it also talks about it ending, but it ends with, so now I'm going back to her. I got to get to her somehow. All the people we used to know, they're an illusion to me now. Some are mathematicians. Some are carpenter's wives. I don't know how long they've studied. I don't know what they're doing with their lives.
Starting point is 01:17:47 But me, I'm still on the road, heading for another joint. We always did feel the same. We just saw it from a different point of view, tangled up in blue. And why don't you play, and right off the hop, you'll hear Dylan talk about it. sun was shining I was laying in bed wondering if she'd changed at all if her hair was still red her folks they said our lives together sure was gonna be rough they never did like mama's homemade dress papa's bank book wasn't big enough and I was standing on the side of the road rain falling on my shoes headingading out for the East Coast Lord knows I paid some dues
Starting point is 01:18:47 Getting through Tangled up in blue She was married when we first met Soon to be divorced I helped her out of a jam I guess But I used a little too much force We drove that car as far as we could Abandoned it out west
Starting point is 01:19:16 Split up on the docks at night But the green it was best She turned around to look at me As I was walking away I heard her say Wow. Wow. Yeah, I know. And he sings, you know, again, and just the way he sings it, it's a little high for him, but it's great the way he just hits those notes.
Starting point is 01:19:57 And I'm saying it's great. And, you know, there could be somebody out there doing the typical thing with him going, oh, God, you know, like, I hate that voice what's hanukkah been talking about there's a line in that song mike um where he says uh she lit a burner on the stove and offered me a crepe i thought you'd never say hello she said you look like the silent type and then she handed a book upon and handed it to me written by some italian poet from the 14th century and listen to this and every one of those words rang true and glowed like burning coal pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you, Tangled Up in Blue. I love that, pouring off, burning cold, pouring off of every page. Okay, so there could be no Dylan tribute
Starting point is 01:20:51 or discussion without talking about like a Rolling Stone. And I think some, I can't remember, some Billboard magazine, maybe it was, you know, saying it was the greatest song of all time i think it was rolling stone was a rolling stone called it the uh the greatest song of all time um certainly uh i wouldn't i don't think anybody could there there has been so much written about like a rolling stone uh you could do a book on like a Rolling Stone, obviously. And I told you, I remember Springsteen
Starting point is 01:21:27 talking about when he first, when he first heard the song, everybody, everybody talks about that. And for me, again, it was, it was the same thing. It was, it was, there was just something about it. But Dylan, when he was touring with the band and playing that song in 66, they were getting booed. And literally, it was just, it was, you know, to hear Robbie Robertson talk about it today, it's fascinating. I mean, people, his fans, quote unquote, they didn't want to hear it. So one of the great, great recordings of it is May 17 17th 1966 manchester england and he is uh it's it's it's you know people are are he's they're getting booed on the stage and dylan you know, has been singing a few other electric songs. And someone yells out, Judas.
Starting point is 01:22:30 And the audience claps. And Dylan goes, I don't believe you. You're a liar. And he turns to the band and says, play effing loud. And he cranks it up. And it's one of the great, great live versions of any song. And we're going to play a bit of that version. And you're going to hear the person yell Judas.
Starting point is 01:23:04 You're going to hear Dylan say, liar, you're a liar. I don't believe you're a liar. You can, you can sort of hear him say, you know, play Evan loud and just, and he'll go into it. And it's, you know, it's you, you can, I, you can hear it anywhere, obviously. And you sit down and listen to all the words of Like a Rolling Stone. But I've even read that there was about 20 more verses
Starting point is 01:23:34 that he didn't put in into this song. But this is a good, this is a good last song to sort of talk about on his 80th birthday. And I think this is the version to do because it was it's a song that people say changed so much about music and and certainly it was Dylan just going no no if this is this is where I'm at right now you know you can call me and you can say anything you want but uh and of course in 74, when he toured with the band and they did like a Rolling Stone, Mike, I'll always remember I was talking about in Maple
Starting point is 01:24:12 Leaf Gardens, the lights went up. So the, everything went up and everybody was standing. And when, and when the verse came, how does it feel? 16,000 people. And how does it feel? Right back to him. And I remember thinking to myself, you know, just 10 years or less than 10 years before that, eight years before that, he's getting booed. And now we're all up and celebrating, which some people would say is one of the greatest rock songs of all time so this is
Starting point is 01:24:47 may literally almost to the day one we're one week away from the day of 55 years ago when dylan's on the stage in manchester england and listen to that person yell oh by the way i even i could be wrong i i thought i remember somewhere that person is oh by the way I even I could be wrong I thought I remember somewhere that person is from Toronto I I think that he became famous in of himself I could be wrong about that we'll have to look at that but I think he's Canadian whoever it was that yelled out Judas to Dylan I don't believe you You're a liar You're a liar. Oh, step up on your pistol and do the books of time in your brain And you
Starting point is 01:26:10 Be proposed at the red door You're bound to fall if I'm ever on Kidding you You're used to laugh about it Everybody that was hanging out with us Why you don't talk so loud? Why you don't see how About heaven just scrounging around For goodness
Starting point is 01:26:50 Feeling I just feel I just feel Beyond you All is feeling beyond your head Your direction is like a bleeding heart Like a raining star That already is done song it sounds like everybody is cheering but hey lauren you you can see part of that in uh martin scorsese did a great you know the great documentary on dylan no direction home and uh he actually found i think the film from that uh and you can you can see that it's it's quite
Starting point is 01:27:59 incredible so so lauren okay the band is like a Bob Dylan's band basically. Well, yeah, you know, he's, he's played with such great musicians, but yeah. So the band he met, he met the band. My question is, okay. So romping Ronnie Hawkins, that was the Hawks, right? Right. So does he just like take them from Ronnie? Oh, no, no, no, no. The band, the band band uh you know sort of evolves from Ronnie Hawkins and okay so all right and then Dylan meets them and uh you know in in Woodstock um and you know
Starting point is 01:28:34 he uh right they get together and uh he takes uh uh you know Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko Richard Manuel Garth Hudson. Now, interesting, Levon Helm wasn't with them on the English tour. They had another drummer. But he plays, of course, when they go back on tour in 74. And Dylan's always attracted great musicians. And I don't know what happened with him and Robbie Robertson. One of the things that really
Starting point is 01:29:05 bothered me as a Dylan fan is when I saw that Scorsese film Robertson wasn't interviewed in it and you would think that that he would be now I've seen Robertson doing interviews very recently or in the last couple years talking about reminiscing about those tours i i have you know you close your eyes mike and you know you've seen hundreds of people i don't know about you but you know i saw lots and lots of concerts in my day you know went to a lot of concerts my ears will tell you you know we'll verify that you know the lack of hearing but i can still you know close my eyes and i can still see dylan on stage beside robbie robertson um doing like even doing like a rolling stone there and uh uh the band with dylan they were just great together i just love them together you know in addition to the guy who yelled judas
Starting point is 01:30:00 who possibly was from toronto like it's just other than you know levon who was was from Toronto. Like, it's just other than, you know, Levon, who was from Arkansas. Well, he's from Arkansas, right? Levon Helm? Yeah, I think he is. Like, other than that, I mean, that's, the band is Canadian. So it's like another Canadian angle on Bob Dylan's esteemed band.
Starting point is 01:30:16 Oh, yeah, Dylan loved, again, I don't know if I, you know, maybe I read it once and I, you know, got a grain in my brain, like, love Toronto. You know, like, you know, like coming to Toronto and like coming to Canada or whatever. But there you go. So there's just a little snippet of a few Dylan songs. And hopefully, you know, he's 80 years old and maybe, you know, somebody's singing to him.
Starting point is 01:30:43 May you stay forever young, Bob. And I mean, that's what I'd say to him. And he'd go, he'd probably go, somebody's singing to him. May you stay forever young, Bob. And I mean, that's what I'd say to him. And he'd go, he'd probably go, that's kind of cliche. You know, like I'd say, what did you think of me saying that? Oh, that was a little bit cliche. I don't know. Happy birthday, Bob Dylan. Happy 80th.
Starting point is 01:31:01 Like you said, stay forever young. And Lauren, thanks so much for doing this for me, man. This was a great pleasure. Yeah, listen, thank you for asking me to do it. And probably people will realize that it was a little cathartic for me as well. Like, it's great to talk about something that's not legal. No, you know what I mean. And if anybody out there wants to just spend a little time
Starting point is 01:31:27 just just put an album on just listen to it a bit and just see what it's about and uh you might say oh yeah that is a nice piece of art that's a nice piece of art and that brings us to the end of our 855th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Lauren is like an abstainer. He's not on Twitter. But I urge you to follow, I think we call it Judgment Day with Lauren Honigman.
Starting point is 01:31:56 It's a YouTube channel. And you can follow his YouTube channel to get the video presentations he puts out every week for Judgment Day. So don't look for Loren on Twitter. Great Lakes. That's why Loren is smarter than all of us. He's avoiding
Starting point is 01:32:12 that whole cesspool there. Great Lakes Brewery. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home. They're at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike,
Starting point is 01:32:27 he's not on Twitter either. He's on Instagram as Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week. I've been under my skin for more than eight years. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears.
Starting point is 01:32:52 And I don't know what the future holds. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.

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