8 juin 1970
Side one"All the Tired Horses" – 3:12 (Dylan)
"Alberta #1" – 2:57 (Traditional)
"I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" – 2:23 (Cecil A. Null)
"Days of 49" – 5:27 (Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Frank Warner)
"Early Mornin' Rain" – 3:34 (Gordon Lightfoot )
"In Search of Little Sadie" – 2:28 (Traditional)
Side two "Let It Be Me" – 3:00 (Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë)
"Little Sadie" – 2:00 (Traditional)
"Woogie Boogie" – 2:06
"Belle Isle" – 2:30 (Traditional)
"Living the Blues" – 2:42
"Like a Rolling Stone" – 5:18*
* Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival
Side three"Copper Kettle" – 3:34 (Alfred Frank Beddoe)
"Gotta Travel On" – 3:08 (Paul Clayton , Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar, Tom Six)
"Blue Moon" – 2:29 ( Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)
"The Boxer" – 2:48 (Paul Simon )
"The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)" – 2:48*
"Take Me as I Am (Or Let Me Go)" – 3:03 (Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)
* Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival
Side four"Take a Message to Mary" – 2:46 (Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)
"It Hurts Me Too" – 3:15 (Traditional)
"Minstrel Boy" – 3:33 (Dylan)*
"She Belongs to Me" - 2:44 (Dylan)*
"Wigwam" – 3:09 (Dylan)
"Alberta #2" – 3:12 (Traditional)
* Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival
The musicians:Byron Bach - Cello
Brenton Banks - Violin
George Binkley III - Violin
Norman Blake - Guitar
David Bromberg - Guitar, Dobro, Bass
Albert Wynn Butler - Clarinet, Saxophone
Kenneth A. Buttrey - Drums, Percussion
Fred Carter Jr. - Guitar
Marvin Chantry - Viola
Ron Cornelius - Guitar
Charlie Daniels - Bass, Guitar
Rick Danko - Bass, Vocals
Pete Drake - Steel Guitar
Bob Dylan - Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboards, Vocals
Dolores Edgin - Vocals
Fred Foster - Guitar
Solie Fott - Violin, Viola
Bubba Fowler - Guitar
Dennis Good - Trombone
Emanuel Green - Violin
Hilda Harris - Vocals
Levon Helm - Mandolin, Drums, Vocals
Freddie Hill - Trumpet
Karl Himmel - Clarinet, Saxophone, Trombone
Garth Hudson - Keyboards
Lilian Hunt - Violin
Bob Johnston - Producer
Martin Katahn - Violin
Doug Kershaw - Violin
Al Kooper - Guitar, Horn, Keyboards
Sheldon Kurland - Violin
Richard Manuel - Piano, Vocals
Martha McCrory - Cello
Charlie McCoy - Guitar, Bass, Harmonica, Vibes
Barry McDonald - Violin
Ollie Mitchell - Trumpet
Carol Montgomery - Vocals
Bob Moore - Bass
Gene A. Mullins - Baritone Horn
Joe Osborn - Guitar, Bass
June Page - Vocals
Rex Peer - Trombone
Bill Pursell - Piano
Robbie Robertson - Guitar, Vocals
Albertine Robinson - Vocals
Al Rogers - Drums
Frank Smith - Trombone
Maretha Stewart - Vocals
Gary Van Osdale - Viola
Bill Walker - Arrangements
Bob Wilson - Organ, Piano
Stu Woods - Bass
«Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?»
(“Minstrel boy”, Bob Dylan)
1969, Dylan, 28 ans, père de famille, trouve que les temps ont bien changés. Il ne pige guère le phénomène Woodstock, s'agace du rôle de chef de tribu que lui affectent fans et médias, et fuit le véritable harcèlement dont il est l'objet. C'est en cet an étonnant, “révolutionnaire” — alors que Richie Havens claironne “Freedom”, et que Neil Armstrong saute à pieds joints sur la lune — qu'il se rend à Nashville; d'abord pour y enregistrer l'inattendu
Nashville Skyline (en février), puis (en avril) ce qui — en partie — va constituer ce
Self Portrait: double album et
bootleg officiel qui, en d'autres circonstances, n'aurait sans doute jamais vu le jour.
Vingt-quatre morceaux: pèle-mêle rock, blues, pop, country, romance, plus extraits du festival de Wight, le tout déplaît, comme le voulait son auteur, comme il l'explique — quinze ans plus tard — dans un interview accordé au magazine Rolling Stone*. «Je souhaitais, dira-t-il — que ces gens [ces fans qui l'admiraient et l'importunaient] m'oublient. Je voulais faire quelque chose qu'ils ne pourraient pas aimer, dont ils ne pourraient pas parler. Ils le verraient, l'écouteraient, et puis diraient: “Bon! Passons à quelqu'un d'autre; lui, n'a plus rien à dire; il ne nous apporte pas ce que nous voulons.” Poursuivant, il avoue que c'est dans cet état d'esprit qu'il exécuta le “portrait”,
front cover du L. P., rebutant barbouillage qui lui prit cinq minutes, et lui donna l'idée du titre; barbouillage vengeur qui, d'une façon sarcastique, perpétue l'usage des portraits marquant les opus d'un musicien — les siens, jusqu'ici, n'y échappant pas! Mais le contenant illustre bien le contenu, qui illustre bien le musicien: le montrant tel qu'il est, sous toutes ses facettes, éclairé par de multiples horizons; montrant aussi LE musicien: le
minstrel boy jouant un air ou un autre, aimant l'un autant que l'autre.
* «I wish these people would just forget about me. I wanna do something they can't possibly like, they can't relate to. They'll see it, and they'll listen, and they'll say, 'Well, let's get on to the next person. He ain't sayin' it no more. He ain't given' us what we want,' you know? They'll go on to somebody else. But the whole idea backfired. Because the album went out there, and the people said, 'This ain't what we want,' and they got more resentful. And then I did this portrait for the cover. I mean, there was no title for that album. I knew somebody who had some paints and a square canvas, and I did the cover up in about five minutes. And I said, 'Well, I'm gonna call this album Self Portrait.» (in Wikipedia)
Self Portrait atteignit malgré ça le sommet des ventes (4ème position côté
charts américains, 1ère côté
charts anglais), mais il fut “étrillé”, vilipendé*, et encore aujourd'hui — fâcheuse conséquence! — nombre de dylanophiles l'expédient aux oubliettes. Moi, je l'aime bien! J'aime tous les morceaux — tous les genres auxquels ils appartiennent —, ce que je n'aime pas, ce qui me désoriente, c'est leur agencement, ou plutôt leur manque d'agencement. Aussi, pour
voir j'ai classé les genres susdits, changeant à peine l'ordre d'apparition des titres... et ça marche! Tout s'enchaîne à merveille: j'obtiens un album limpide, enchanteur. A vos platines, chers lecteurs! à vos touches “programme”! voici la combinaison:
OUVERTURE: 1
ISLE OF WHIGHT FESTIVAL (1969): 12, 17, 21, 22
ROCK: 9, 11, 14
BLUES: 2, 24, 20
COUNTRY: 3, 18
ROMANCE: 5, 7, 15
FOLK: 10, 13, 4, 6, 8
POP: 16, 19
FINAL: 23Vraiment, tout est bon! Il n'y a pas à dire! Après, c'est affaire de goût: on n'aime pas la country, on déteste la romance; on a pas aimé Nashville Skyline, le ton crooner que l'idole de Woody Guthrie utilise encore ici (pas toujours!); on aime pas la romance — variétoche, pouah! —, ni le “glaçage” des violons. Mais — ça s'entend, ça se constate! — tout l'album n'est pas comme ça: des titres country — oyez —, il y en a deux, des romances — oyez —, il y en a trois; soit un peu plus du cinquième de l'album. On peut ensuite chipoter, considérer “All the tired horses” et ”Wigwam” — ouverture et final — comme bien trop pâtissiers, plus romance que pop, d'accord! d'accord! idem pour le folk “Belle Isle” avec ses charretées de violons. Mais bon, ça ramène le résultat à deux tiers de l'opus absolument irréprochables; et puis ”Let it be me”, est bien rock, bien cogneur — pas de violon ici!Pas de violon non plus dans ”Blue moon” (j'entends de violon pluriel et butyreux), mais un vieux crin-crin, “baloche”, plutôt tzigane. Et puisque j'en suis à cerner ces délimitations, force est de constater aussi que d'autres genres se teintent de genres différents — ce qui permet d'ailleurs de douces et subtiles transitions qui unifient le classement choisi. Exemples: le rock “Living the blues”, moucheté de country avec son rythme nonchalant et son pedal steel guitar; la romance “Early Morning Rain”, mêmement embue de country — mais un country
lonesome cow-boy, nimbé de
wanderlust; le pop “The boxer”, bien cousin du folk par son ton et son intimité. Et au chapitre des transitions: le même “Early Morning Rain” suivant obligeamment le fieffé country qu'est “Take me as I am (or let me go)”, ou le “Belle Isle” déjà cité prolongeant l'atmosphère rêveuse du fameux “Blue Moon”. Mais puisque j'en suis à classer, décortiquer, visitons plus en détail ces genres, ainsi que les quasi-instrumentaux que sont l'ouverture et le “final”, sans oublier la partie
live.
OUVERTURE/FINALE: Compositions originales, “All the tired horses” et “Wigwam” qui jalonnent le début et la fin déconcertent: on se dit d'abord: “C'est quoi ce
schmalz? cette zique d'ambiance?”. Puis, on s'y fait, on se laisse alpaguer par les vives couleurs des orchestrations. “All the tired horses”, chanté par les choristes, est vraiment une ouverture. Il s'y développe un thème ample, tranquille et répétitif, nanti d'un distique répété à l'envi — «All the tired horses in the sun, How'm I supposed to get any ridin' done?» — qui,
crescendo, chanté à cappella, va s'entourer d'autres instruments: d'une guitare acoustique, d'un violon, d'un violoncelle, d'un orgue enfin, étirant des accords tendus et monotones. “Wigwam” sonne, lui, avec ses trompettes claironnantes, son motif accrocheur, solaire et nostalgique, comme un générique de film; pour l'anecdote, il figurera d'ailleurs, trente ans plus tard, dans une bande-son: celle de “The Royal Tenenbaums”, un succès de Wes Anderson. On peut le considérer comme de la variété, certes! Mais la variété n'est pas toujours mauvaise, et ce titre, où Dylan ne chante que des «la-la-la-la» et des «la-la-la-li», est d'une finesse remarquable avec ses bercements de guitare acoustique et de piano, le jeu en pointillé des cymbales, le doux vrombissement d'un trombone ou d'un cor baryton, et le feu des trompettes, évoquées à l'instant: belles trompettes
mariachi, lentes, nonchalantes et pavoisantes. C'est ce cantabile que Columbia choisit pour unique single; il se plaça 41ème dans le Hot 100 du magazine Billboard.
LIVE: Avec les extraits du festival de l'île de Wight, enregistrs avec The Band le 31 août 1969, les stricts dylanophiles ne peuvent que jubiler: quatre titres leur sont offerts: “Like a Rolling Stone”, “She belongs to me”, “Mighty Quinn” et “Minstrel Boy”; ces deux derniers — les meilleurs! — étant de surcroît inédits. Certes, le son est assez rêche, et sieur Zimmerman — sans doute las de l'avoir déjà jouer mille fois — expédie quelque peu son universel “Like a Rolling Stone”, mâchouille son texte, cisaille négligemment quelques vers, mais les musiciens, eux, y mettent du cœur et font preuve d'un olympien savoir-faire. L'envol se fait avec “The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)”, flanqué d'un exaltant solo de Robbie Robertson. Grand succès pour Manfred Mann, dès sa sortie en
single, le 12 janvier 1968, cette chanson fut enregistrée lors des sessions avec The Band en juin de la même année — il en existe deux prises, mais aucune ne figure sur le fameux
The Basement Tapes (issu en juin 1975). La version rapportée ici, juteuse, dansante, chaloupée, réapparaîtra sur la compilation
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II en novembre 1971. “Minstrel Boy”, qui doit dater de 1966-1967, est tout aussi ascensionnel. C'est une complainte, traînarde, évoquant le Far-West avec son rythme “cataplocant” et fleurant aussi l'ambiance
coin-de-rue-un-samedi-après-midi — accentuée, aux refrains, par le bruit d'une pièce jetée sur le sol —, et, là encore, amplement, vivement, cordialement secondé par les musiciens.
ROCK: Ce côté rock, 100% rock, qui déboule avec l'instrumental “Woogie Boogie” — piano-batterie, saxo vif et décapant — a de quoi surprendre. Mais, si détonnant soit-il, il n'a en fait rien d'étonnant si l'on se souvient de “Maggie's farm” ou encore “Outlaw blues” sur l'album
Bringing It All Back Home (mars 1965). Là encore, avec trois titres, du bon, rien que du bon — et même de l'excellent avec “Living the blues”, affriolant Dylan's song au tempo débonnaire, avec piano bastringue, acoquinants répons féminins, et accents “paysans-indolents” de pedal steel guitar. Tout aussi chaleureux, plus mouvementé, est “Gotta travel on”: bataillon des chœurs itou, et remarquable foisonnement rythmique que procurent batterie, bongo, tambourin. — L'un de ses auteurs, Paul Clayton, fut* l'ami et l'un des mentors de Dylan à ses débuts**.
* Il est mort en 1967.
**
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Clayton_(folksinger)
BLUES: «When things go wrong, so wrong with you / It hurts me too». Blues, blues, blues avec deux traditionnels, “Alberta” et “It Hurts Me Too”. Deux versions pour le premier, gentiment érotique: l'une mid-tempo, avec basse, batterie, guitare sèche, dobro, harmonica et almes chœurs féminins; l'autre plus rapide,
drivé par un sautillant piano. Ma préférence va à la première pour sa câline douceur, mais j'aime plus encore “It Hurts Me Too”, simple, tranquille, où figurent seulement une basse et deux guitares sèches combinant doux
strummings et étincelants
pickings.
COUNTRY: Et
sweet country avec deux titres ondoyants, accorts et dolents, nappés de pedal steel guitar comme il se doit: “I forgot more than you'll ever know” et “Take me as I am (or let me go)”. Le premier — où Dylan use avec maestria de sa voix de
crooner — est une splendide ballade, cosy et mélancolique, saupoudrée de piano et de chœurs nébuleux; le second, coulé dans le même moule, est un peu moins splendide, mais tout aussi délicieux avec sa basse très marquée — un peu claquante —, les trilles rafraîchissants du piano et les répons moelleux du chœur féminin.
ROMANCE: Quand tout vous parle d'amour...
«I'm a long way from home and I miss my loved one so / In the early morning rain with nowhere to go». “Early Morning Rain”, déjà cité pour sa couleur country, son côté cow-boy solitaire, est une claire et radieuse ballade de Gordon Lighfoot* qu'enchantent aussi des accents sud-américains. — Une de mes chansons préférées! Savamment alentie, douillettement estivale, elle surpasse la version originale.
«I bless the day I found you / I want my arms around you / And so I beg you: let it be me». “Let It Be Me”, “Je t'appartiens”, en français, car cet hymne, daté de 1955, est français; il est signé Gilbert Bécaud (musique) et Pierre Delanoë (paroles). On s'attend là au Niagara des violons, à l'emphase, aux coquets assauts... Que nenni! tout resplendit d'une bienheureuse simplicité: batterie, guitare, piano et guirlandes de chœurs féminins, doux et tranquilles.
«Blue moon, you saw me standing alone / Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own». “Blue moon”, le fameux “Blue Moon” de Lorenz Hart et Richard Rodgers, se tient itou à l'écart de tout apparat. Même jeu que “Let It Be Me”, même côté bastringue, juteusement peinard; tchacapoums de la batterie,
pickings dociles de la guitare, tziganeries du crin-crin, brasse-coulés du piano, vérécondieuse aménité des chœurs. — J'adore! J'adore comme j'adore “Let It Be Me” — et oui!
* 1er album:
Lightfoot!, 1966.
FOLK: “Belle Isle”, “Copper kettle”, “Days of '49”, ”In Search of Little Sadie”, ”Little Sadie”. Quatre titres, deux versions pour le dernier, le tout joliment varié.
1/“Belle Isle” est une merveilleuse et limpide mélodie, fleurie de
pickings de guitare, chantée avec une belle ardeur; on ne peut regretter que les violons dont j'ai déjà parlé: violons, violoncelles, en veux-tu? en voilà! — un peu trop sparadraps! C'est une vieille chanson du Newfoundland* aux tournures maniérées: l'adaptation d'une plus vieille chanson irlandaise, “Loch Erin's Sweet Riverside”.
2/ “Copper kettle”, daté de 1953, est un hymne à la fabrication du whisky de contrebande. Joan Baez le rend célèbre en 1962**, Dylan en fait une ballade lente, majestueuse et symphonique. Oui! symphonique: chaleureux
slides de violons et de violoncelle — non plus superfétatoires comme ceux de “Belle Isle”, mais incorporés à la mélodie —, basse feutrée, sons d'orgue fins et flûtés, scintillants
pickings de guitare, chœurs féminins — «pam...pam» doux et mesurés —, constituant son ardeur et son souffle. Choisi pour B side de “Wigwam”, c'est indéniablement le point fort de cet album.
3/ “Days of '49” évoque en six couplets les mœurs rudes et mouvementées des chercheurs d'or californiens; telles que s'en souvient l'un d'eux, le vieux Tom Moore, tombé dans la débine. C'est une longue complainte, vive, rythmée, catchy, nostalgique, tailladée par une batterie rocailleuse — dominée par la caisse claire et les cymbales —, où s'ajoutent, dans une ambiance
jam session, une guitare sèche, un piano, ainsi que, aux refrains, de graves rouinements d'harmonica.
4/ “In search of little Sadie” fait partie de ces
murder ballads propres au folk — anglais, irlandais, américain. Un homme tue sa bien-aimée, sans raison, comme ici Lee Brown sa chère Sadie. La mélodie est heurtée, capricieuse, travaillée par des cassures de rythme, portée seulement par deux guitares sèches, une batterie de même nature que celle de “Days of '49”, et chantée, scandée même, avec une fougue éclatante.
5/ “Little Sadie”, (ibid.), est une version fort différente, plus rapide, plus coulante, où frétillent une guitare et une mandoline, tambourinent des bongos, tiquète une caisse claire alerte et concise.
* Province du Canada avec le Labrador. La “Belle Isle” en question est une île minuscule, inhabitée, qui, dans le détroit qui porte son nom, émerge entre le Newfoundland et le Labrador.
>
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/belle_xl.html** 3ème album,
Joan Baez in Concert — Part 1, 1962
POP: Pop charmante, chamarrée... pop du bon vieux temps des 45 tours! Deux titres, deux années — qu'une décade sépare, mais que la nostalgie réunit: “The boxer” de Simon & Garfunkel, 1969; “Take a message to Mary” des Everly Brrothers, 1959. Avec seulement une basse, deux guitares et le chant trois fois superposé et légèrement décalé de Dylan, “The boxer” offre un dépouillement original, touchant, irrésistible. Grande réussite!...
«These are the words of a frontier lad / Who lost his love when he turned bad»... Chœurs en prélude, puis clairsemés, atténués, discrets, batterie sans esbroufe, guitare électrique songeuse et douce, autre guitare, sans
jack, aux arpèges aphrodisiaques, piano cabriolant et
pedal steel chatoyant servent la reprise de “Take a message to Mary”; une version rayonnante — là encore fort réussie — où Dylan se montre parfaitement à l'aise.
Il me reste à vanter l'emploi des chœurs féminins. Présents sur presque la moitié des titres, ils ont une grande part dans l'attrait qu'iceux exercent; ils en sont l'ingrédient qui les rend délicieux! Je dois aussi signaler combien il est faux d'entendre dire et de voir écrire que “Self Portrait” est un album surproduit; mis à part “Belle Isle” et sa pléthore de violons, on peut plutôt définir le reste (là aussi en retenant quelques exceptions — ouverture et fermeture notamment) comme étant
sous produit. Oui!
sous produit: en ce sens où l'on ressent la présence des musiciens et ce côté
laid back qu'offre une prise où, à l'aise, ils jouent avant tout par plaisir. Exemple: “Days of ' 49” avec le passage où Dylan exclame "Oh, my goodness!».
Pour conclure, on ne peut qu'espérer qu'un autre bootleg, bien officiel, un “Self Portrait II”, offrira les autres
outtakes datant de ces sessions; des titres comme: “Folsom Prison Blues” de Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire” de June Carter et Merle Kilgore, “Thirsty Boots” d'Eric Andersen, “Universal Soldier” de Buffy Sainte-Marie; et des traditionnels tels que “Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies”ou “Railroad Bill”. Titres figurant dans la liste que donne l'article de Wikipedia, et qui laissent rêveur.
Maintenant, fidèles lecteurs, voici les
lyrics, agrémentés de quelques infos (les numéros sont ceux que donne ma distribution; les flèches, en note, indiquent les versions que je possède):
1/ All the Tired Horses(Bob Dylan)
Sung by Dolores Edgin, Carol Montgomery, Albertine Robinson, Maretha Stewart
All the tired horses in the sun
How'm I supposed to get any ridin' done? hmm.
2/ Like a Rolling Stone(Bob Dylan >
Highway 61 Revisited, août 1965)
Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival
(Paroles chantées de façon plutôt négligée)
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, «Beware doll, you're bound to fall»
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You have been seem so proud
About everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't talk so [... too?] proud
About having to be scrounging* around
Scrounging around for your next meal.
* quémander
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
You've gone to the finest school all right, miss lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it*
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp ... eyes [?]
Into the vacuum of his eyes
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him «Do you want to make a deal?»
*« tu n'a jamais fait que de t'y griser» (traduction de “Ecrits et desssins de Bob Dylan”, Ed. Seghers, 1975)
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
With no direction home
Like a rolling stone
Princess upon the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all of precious gifts and things
But you'd better take your diamond ring down, you'd better pawn it, babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
3/ The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) (Bob Dylan )
Grand succès pour Manfred Mann, dès sa sortie en 45tr, le 12 janvier 1968, cette chanson fut enregistrée lors des sessions de Dylan avec The Band en juin 1968. Aucune des deux prises réalisées ne figure sur The Basement Tapes, l'album (issu en juin 1975) livrant nombre de ces sessions; la version rapportée ici est celle enregistrée le 31 août 1969 au festival de l'île de Wight: celle-la même qui réapparaîtra sur la compilation Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II, en novembre1971.
Also performed by:
Ian and Sylvia,
Nashville, 1968
The Hollies,
Hollies Sing Dylan, 1969
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinn_the_ ... ghty_Quinn)
Everybody's building [the big ships] and boats
Some are building monuments, others jotting down notes
Everybody's in despair, every girl and boy,
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here everybody's gonna jump for joy
Oh come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.
Oh! you know I like to do just like the rest, you know I like my sugar sweet,
Guarding fumes [a jobber cubes*] and making haste [?], you know it ain't my cup of mead**
Everybody's out the trees, feeding pigeons all under the limb
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, the pigeons gonna run to him
* ??? ou double cubes
>
http://www.cosmic-kitchen.com/song.php? ... ightyQuinn** hydromel
Oh! come all without, come all within, yeah!
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.
Oh, guitar now!
A cat's meow and a cow's moo to you know I, I could recite them all
Tell me where it hurts you, honey, and I'll tell you who to call
Nobody can get asleep, there's someone on everybody's toes.
When Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody's gonna want to doze
Oh come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.
4/ Minstrel Boy (Bob Dylan — Inédit)
Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it roll?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it down easy to save his soul?
Oh, Lucky's drivin' a long, long time
Then he's still sit on top of the hill.
Well aching [and jumping*] with all laid down
With all of them ladies you know he's lonely still
* ??? — or
tumbler, bateleur?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it roll?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it down easy to save his soul?
Well, he deep in number and heavy in toil*,
Mighty mockingbird, he still has such a heavy load.
Beneath his bound'ries**, what more can I tell,
With all of his trav'lin', but I'm still on that road.
* «Tout chargé de dettes et dur au labeur» (traduction de “Ecrits et desssins de Bob Dylan”, Ed. Seghers, 1975)
** «Il est au plus bas» (ibid.)
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it roll?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it down easy to save his soul?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it roll?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who's gonna let it down easy to save his soul?
5/ She Belongs to Me(Bob Dylan — in
Bringing It All Back Home, march 1965)
Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She [can] take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you will wind up* peeking through her keyhole
Upon your knees.
* se retrouver, finir par
She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She's nobody's child,
The law can't touch her at all.
She wears an egyptian ring
Then it sparkles before she speaks.
She wears an egyptian ring
It sparkles before she speaks.
She's a hypnotist collector,
You are a walking antique*.
* au propre, meuble ancien; au figuré “vieux fossile”
Bow down to her on sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
Bow down to her on sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
For Halloween buy her a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy her a drum.
6/ Woogie Boogie (Instrumental)
(Bob Dylan)
7/ Living the Blues(Bob Dylan)
Since you've been gone,
I've been walking around
With my head bowed down to my shoes.
I've been living the blues
Ev'ry night without you.
I don't have to go far
To know where you are,
Strangers all give me the news.
I've been living the blues
Ev'ry night without you.
I think that it's best,
I soon get some rest
And forget my pride.
But I can't deny
This feeling that I
Carry for you deep down inside.
If you see me this way,
You'd come back and you'd stay,
Oh, how could you refuse.
I've been living the blues
Ev'ry night without you.
8/ Gotta Travel On (aka Done Laid Around) (Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar, Tom Six)
Performed by Harry Belafonte on
Midnight Special, 1962
Done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
Summer's almost gone, winter's coming on
Done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
And it seems like I've got to travel on
And it seems like I've got to travel on.
Papa writes to Johnny, "Johnny, can't you come home?
Johnny, can't you come home? Johnny, can't you come home?"
Papa writes to Johnny, "Johnny, can't you come home?"
Johnny's been out on the road too long
So I done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
Summer's almost gone, winter's coming on
Done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
And it seems like I've got to travel on
That chilly wind will soon begin and I'll be on my way
Going home to stay, going home to stay
That chilly wind will soon begin and I'll be on my way
And I feel like I just want to travel on
So I done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
Summer's almost gone, winter's coming on
Oh yes, I done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
And it seems like I want to travel on
There's a lonesome freight at 6.08 that coming through the town
I'll be homward bound, I'll be homeward bound
A lonesome freight at 6.08 coming on through the town
And I feel like I just want to travel on
Well! done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
Summer's almost gone, winter's coming on
Yes it is, done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
And it seems like I've got to travel on
9/ Alberta # 1(Taditional)
Performed by:
Leadbelly (1ère version, non issued, 1935)
>>> Blues Project,
Live at The Cafe Au Go Go (1966, recorded live 1965)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_(blues)
Alberta, let your hair hang low,
Alberta, let your hair hang low,
I'll give you more gold than your apron will hold,
If you'll only let your hair hang low.
Alberta, what's on your mind?
Alberta, what's on your mind?
You keep me worried, bothered, all the time.
Alberta, what's on your mind?
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind,
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind,
All my heart is sad, cause I want you so bad
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind.
Alberta, let your hair hang low,
Alberta, let your hair hang low,
I'll give you more gold than your apron will hold,
If you'll only let yoou hair hang low.
10/ Alberta # 2(Taditional)
Version plus rapide,
drivé par un sautillant piano
11/ It Hurts Me Too(Traditional)
First recorded in May 1940 by Tampa Red
Also performed by:
Elmore James, 1957
Chuck Berry,
Live at Fillmore Auditorium, 1967
Savoy Brown,
Blue Matter, 1968
So run here baby, put your little hands in mine
I've got something to tell you
I know you're gonna change your mind
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
I want you, baby, just to understand
I don't wanna be your boss, baby
I just wanna be your man
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
Now when you go home, you don't have to get along
Come back to me, baby
Where I live that's where you belong
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
I love you baby, and you know that it's true
I wouldn't mistreat you, baby
Nothing in this world is like you
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too
Yes, when things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
So run here baby, put your little hands in mine
I've got something to tell you, baby
I know you're gonna change your mind
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
Don't you know, really, don't you know it hurts me too.
12/ I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know(Cecil A. Null)
A number one country music single for The Davis Sisters in 1953.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Forgot_M ... _Ever_KnowI forgot more than you'll ever know about her.
You think you know the smile on her lips
The thrill and the touch of her fingertips
But I forgot more than you'll ever know about her.
You think you'll find a heaven of bliss
In each caress, in each tender kiss
But I forgot more than you'll ever know about her.
You stole her love from me one day
You didn't care, oh, it hurt me
But you can never steal away memories of what used to be.
You think she's yours, to have and to hold
Someday you'll learn, when her love grows cold
But I forgot more than you'll ever know about her.
13/ Take me as I am (or let me go)(Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)
Classic of country music
Performed by Ray Price in 1968 (# 8 in U.S.A.)
Why must you always try to make me over
Take me as I am or let me go
White lilies never grow on stalks of clover
Take me as I am or let me go
You're trying to reshape me in a mold love
In the image of the one you used to know
But I won't be a stand in for an old love
Take me as I am or let me go
You tried to change me ever since you've met me
Take me as I am or let me go
If you can't overlook my faults forget me
Take me as I am or let me go
You're trying to reshape me in a mold love
In the image of the one you used to know
But I won't be a stand in for an old love
Take me as I am or let me go
14/ Early Morning Rain(Gordon Lighfoot — On his first album,
Lightfoot!, 1966) <<<
Performed by:
Ian & Sylvia,
Early Morning Rain, 1965
Grateful Dead,
Golden State Studios 11-3-65 —Paru en 2003 sur le double CD,
Birth Of The Dead>>> Judy Collins,
Fifth Album, 1965
Peter Paul & Mary,
See What Tomorrow Brings, 1965
Chad & Jeremy,
Distant Shores, 1966
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Morning_RainIn the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand
And an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sand
I'm a long way from home and I miss my loved one so
In the early morning rain with nowhere to go.
Cut on runway number nine, big 707 set to go
I'm stuck here on the ground, where the cold winds blow
The liquor tasted good and the women all were fast
There she goes, my friend, she's rolling down at last.
Hear the mighty engines roar, see the silver bird on high
She's away and westward bound, far above the clouds she'll fly
Where the morning rain don't fall and the sun always shines
She'll be flying over my home in about three hours time.
This old airport's got me down, it's no earthly good to me
Because I'm stuck here on the ground, cold and drunk as I might be
You can't hop a jet plane like you can a freight train
So I'd best be on my way in the early morning rain.
15/ Let It Be Me(Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë)
A popular song originally published in 1955 as “Je t'appartiens”. The score was written and first recorded by Gilbert Bécaud. The lyrics were penned in French by Pierre Delanoë. The English language version used lyrics by Mann Curtis and was performed in 1957 by Jill Corey in the television series
Climax!. Corey's version, with orchestration by Jimmy Carroll, was released as a single and was moderately successful. The most popular version of “Let It Be Me” was released in 1960, on single, by The Everly Brothers. It reached 7th position on the Billboard Hot 100.
>>> Also performed by Nancy Sinatra,
How Does That Grab You, 1966
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_Me_(song)
I bless the day I found you
I want my arms around you
And so I beg you: let it be me.
Don't take this heaven from one
If you must cling to someone
Now and forever, let it be me.
Each time we meet, love
I find complete love
Without your sweet love, what would life be ?
So never leave me lonely
Tell me that you love me only
And say you'll always let it be me.
16/ Blue Moon(Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)
First recorded on January 15, 1935 by Connee Boswell for Brunswick Records
Performed by:
Mel Tormé, 1949
>>> Elvis Presley,
Elvis Presley, 1956
>>> Julie London,
Julie is her name, Vol. 2, 1958
>>> The Marcels, 1961
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(song)
Blue moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own.
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for someone I really could care for.
And suddenly there appeared before me the only one my arms could ever hold
I heard someone whisper, please, adore me
And when I looked my moon had turned to gold.
Blue moon, now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own
Without a love of my own.
17/ Belle Isle(Taditional — Canada)
«This is one of Newfoundland's loveliest songs. It appears to be a local adaptation of an old Irish song, 'Loch Erin's Sweet Riverside' and also resembles another Irish song 'The Lass of Dunmore', both of which Francis Bennett of Quyon, Quebec sang to the same tune. Another native Newfoundland song,'The Green Shores of Fogo' also uses the fine Mixolydian tune.» (Mudcat Café)
One evening for pleasure I rambled to view
The fair fields all alone
Down by the banks of loch Eiron
Where beauty and pleasure were known.
I spied a fair maid at her labour
Which caused me to stay for a while
And I thought of a goddess to beauty
Bloomin' bright star of bright isle.
I humbled myself to her beauty
Fair maiden, where do you belong?
Are you from heaven descended
Abiding in cupid's fair throne?
Young man, I will tell you a secret
It's true I'm a maid that is poor
And to part from my vows and my promise
Is more than my heart can endure.
Therefore I remain at my service
And go through all my hardship and toil
And wait for the lad that has left me
All alone on the banks of Belle Isle.
Young maiden I wish not to banter*
It's true I come here in disguise
I came here to fulfill our last promise
And hope to give you a surprise.
* plaisanter, badiner
I've known you're a maid I love dearly
And you've been in my heart all the while
For me there is no other damsel
Than my bloomin' bright star of Belle Isle.
18/ Copper kettle(Alfred Frank Beddoe)
Performed by Joan Baez, recorded in
Joan Baez in Concert, 1962
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_KettleGet you a copper kettle, get you a copper coil
Fill it with new made corn mash
And never more you'll toil
You'll just lay there by the juniper
While the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a filling in the pale moonlight
Build you a fire with hickory*, hickory, ash and oak
Don't use no green or rotten wood
They'll get you by the smoke
* l'arbre qui produit les noix de pécan
We'll just lay there by the juniper
While the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a filling in the pale moonlight
My daddy, he made whiskey
My granddaddy, he did too
We ain't paid no whiskey tax since 1792
We'll just lay there by the juniper
While the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a filling in the pale moonlight
In the pale moonlight
19/ Days of '49 (Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Frank Warner — un traditionnel en fait > Mudcat café, Internet)
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=22283I'm old Tom Moore from the bummer's* shore in that good old golden days
They call me a bummer and a ginsot** too, but what cares I for praise ?
I wander around from town to town just like a roving sign***
And all the people say, there goes Tom Moore, in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.
* bummer: emmerdement; et aussi, clochard, paresseux, vagabond — «bummer's shore»: le pays des traîne-savates, des clodos, des gueux!
** ? — soûlot probablement
*** littéralement, signal errant — soit ambulant, comme les feux de circulation sur les routes, lorsqu'elles sont en travaux?
My comrades they all loved me well, a jolly saucy crew*
A few hard cases** I will recall though they all were brave and true
Whatever the pitch they never would flinch***, they never would fret or whine
Like good old bricks they stood the kicks in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine**** for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.
* une sacrée bande de polissons; un polisson au sens premier est quelqu'un qui “traîne”, va et vient
** “caractériels”
*** Ils ne reculaient pas — ou rechignaient pas — devant les difficultés
**** Littéralement, languir; regretter
There was New York Jake, the butcher boy, he was always getting tight*
And every time that he'd get full he was spoiling for a fight
But Jake rampaged** against a knife in the hands of old Bob Stein
And over Jake they held a wake in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.
* à court d'argent, “fauché”
** Ici, s'élancer violemment, sauvagement. Se déchaîner, saccager.
There was Poker Bill, one of the boys who was always in a game
Whether he lost or whether he won, to him it was always the same
He would ante up* and draw his cards and he would you go a hatful blind**
In the game with death Bill lost his breath, in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.
* casquer: to ante: miser
** dit
blinde en français, mise obligatoire
There was ragshag* Bill from Buffalo, I never will forget
He would roar all day and he'd roar all night and I guess he's roaring yet
One day he fell in a prospect hole, in a roaring bad design
And in that hole he roared out his soul, in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.
* rag: haillon; shab: minable
Of the comrades all that I've had, there's none that's left to boast
And I'm left alone in my misery like some poor wandering ghost
And I pass by from town to town, they call me a rambling sign
There goes Tom Moore of bummer's shore in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.
20/ In Search of Little Sadie(Traditional — 1ère version enregistrée en 1930 par Clarence Ashley (as “Little Sadie”)
Performed by:
Johnny Cash,
At Folsom Prison, 1968 (as “Cocaine Blues”)
>>> John Renbourn,
Faro Annie, 1972
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Sadiehttp://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=54361#841055Went out last night to take a little round.
I met my little Sadie and I brought her down.
I ran right home and I went to bed
With a forty-four smokeless* under my head.
* modèle de revolver ou de carabine?
I began to think what a deed I'd done.
I grabbed my hat and I began to run.
I made a good run but I ran too slow;
They overtook me down in Jericho
Standing on a corner a ringin' my bell,
Up stepped the sheriff from Thomasville.
He said 'young man is you name Brown?
Remember you blowed Sadie down.
Oh yes sir, my name is Lee.
I murdered little Sadie in the first degree.
First degree and second degree.
If you've got any papers will you serve them to me?
Well they took me down town and they dressed me in black,
They put me on a train and they sent me back.
I had no one to go my bail;
They crammed me back into the county jail.
Oh, yes they did.
The judge and the jury they took their stand.
The judge had the papers in his right hand.
Forty-one days, forty-one nights;
Forty-one years to wear the ball and the stripes;
Oh, no!
Went out last night to take a little round.
I met little Sadie and I blowed her down.
I ran right home and I went to bed,
A forty-four smokeless under my head.
21/ Little Sadie(
“In Search of Little Sadie” other version — guitare, bongos; dernier couplet supprimé)
Went out last night to take a little round.
I met my little Sadie and I brought her down.
I ran right home and I went to bed
With a forty-four smokeless under my head.
I began to think what a deed I'd done,
I grabbed my hat and I began to run.
I made a God run but I ran too slow;
They overtook me down in Jericho
Standing on a corner ringin' my bell,
Up stepped the sheriff from thomasville.
He said young man is you name brown?
Remember the night you blowed little Sadie down.
Oh, yes sir, my name is Lee.
I murdered little Sadie in the first degree.
First degree and second degree,
If you've got any papers will you serve them to me?
Well they took me down town and they dressed me in black.
They put me on a train and they brought me back.
I had no one for to go my bail;
They crammed me back into the county jail.
The judge and the jury they took their stand.
The judge had the papers in his right hand.
Forty-one days, forty-one nights;
Forty-one years to wear the ball and the stripes.
22/ The Boxer(Paul Simon)
Simon & Garfunkel, single, April 1969; L.P.
Bridge Over Troubled Water, january 1970
Also performed by Emmylou Harris,
Roses in the Snow, 1980
I'm just a poor boy.
Though my story's seldom told,
I have squandered* my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles)**,
Such are promises, all lies and jest.
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.
* gaspiller, gâcher
** marmonnements
When I left my home and family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station,
Running scared, laying low
Seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go,
Looking for the places only they would know.
Asking only workman's wages,
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers,
Just a “come-on” from the whores on Seventh Avenue
I do declare
There were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there.
Then I'm laying out my winter clothes
And wishing I was gone, going home
Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me
Leading me
Going home.
In the clearing stands a boxer,
And a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminder
Of every glove that laid him down,
And cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame.
I am leaving, I am leaving
But the fighter still remains.
23/ Take a Message to Mary(Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)
Performed by The Everly Brothers, single March 1959
These are the words of a frontier lad
Who lost his love when he turned bad.
Take a message to Mary
But don't tell here where I am
Take a message to Mary
But don't say I'm in a jam
You can tell her that I had to see the world
Tell her that my ship set sail
You can say she'd better not wait for me
But don't tell her I'm in jail, oh don't tell her I'm in jail.
Take a message to Mary
But don't tell her what I've done
Please, don't mention the stage coach
And the shot from a carried gun
You better tell her that I had to change my plans
And cancel out the wedding-day
But please, don't mention the lonely cell
Where I'm gonna pine away, until my dying-day.
Take a message to Mary
But don't tell her all you know
My heart is aching for Mary
Lord knows I miss her so
Just tell her that I went to Timbuktu
Tell her I'm searching for gold
You can say she better find someone new
To cherish and to hold, oh Lord, this cell is so cold.
24/ Wigwam(Bob Dylan)
(Instrumental)
............................
MES TITRES-PHARES, IRRÉSISTIBLES:
Romance: Tous! — “Early Morning Rain”, “Let It Be Me”, “Blue moon”;
Country: I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know*;
Folk: “Copper kettle” et “Days of ' 49”.
Allez! c'est fini. Joyeux Noël, chers internautes, nationaux, internationaux. Merry Christmas!
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