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Dylan Stats

Edgy MD Feb 28 2013 07:32 PM

I've grown to seriously resent Rolling Stone, but while waiting and waiting at a three-lettered national pharmacy chain for a prescription for my wife, I picked up a special edition compiling all their interviews and reviews and other coverage of Bob Dylan through the years. (Guess which song they picked as his number-one all timer.) Anyhow, I read it long enough that I felt obliged and admittedly curious so I paid for the damn thing. The last page, as I guess latter day RS is wont to do, was filled with numbers from Dylan's career. 3: Number of songs protesting the moon landing. 1: Number of songs protesting the Vietnam War. 23: Number of times Dylan has been on the cover of Rolling Stone. 13: Songs with lines lifted from Humphrey Bogart movies. 1: Number of Oscars. 10: Number of Grammys. 64: Number of signs used in the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video. 0: Number words Dylan said to President Obama when he performed at the White House in 2010. 5: Number of facts Dylan and Jacques Levy got wrong in "Hurricane." 2,101: Number of times Dylan has performed "All Along the Watchtower." 1: Number of times Dylan has performed Buckets of Rain. 20: Number of takes Dylan needed to record "Like a Rolling Stone." 1: Number of takes Dylan needed to record "To Ramona." 17: My guess at the number of Dylan shows sharpie has been to, including tributes and fundraisers where he only did a mini-set.

metirish Mar 01 2013 06:18 AM Re: Dylan Stats

well, those are interesting numbers and perfect fodder for a magazine..... now, you should be up front and admit your previous work with the far cooler NME( it was NME right?)

sharpie Mar 01 2013 07:24 AM Re: Dylan Stats

Actual number of times I've seen Dylan: 11 + 1 tribute concert (includes one fundraiser mini-set). Performances of All Along the Watchtower: 5 Performances of Like a Rolling Stone: 9 (+ the tribute concert) Performances of To Ramona: 0 Performances of Hurricane: 0 (hasn't performed that since Hurricane Carter got out of jail) Performances of Subterranean Homesick Blues: 0 Performances of Buckets of Rain: 0 Performances of Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread: 1 (he's performed that a total of 2 times)

MFS62 Mar 01 2013 07:30 AM Re: Dylan Stats

He won an Oscar? For which song? Later

Edgy MD Mar 01 2013 07:36 AM Re: Dylan Stats

metirish wrote: well, those are interesting numbers and perfect fodder for a magazine..... now, you should be up front and admit your previous work with the far cooler NME( it was NME right?) No, I was briefly doing an unpaid internship at SPIN, and while it may have been a cooler product (at the time, anyhow), it was miserable. MFS62 wrote: He won an Oscar? For which song? Later "Things Have Changed," from Wonderboys. Disappointingly, it wasn't for his acting in Hearts of Fire.

SteveJRogers Mar 01 2013 08:23 AM Re: Dylan Stats

Edgy MD wrote: 3: Number of songs protesting the moon landing. Odd thing to protest in three different songs. Wonder what the reason was? American Imperialism going beyond the planet's borders? Only one song in actual protest of Vietnam? That is odd as well. I mean various lines and song themes can be taken as anti-war, perhaps RS is saying SPECIFICALLY about 'Nam?

sharpie Mar 01 2013 08:37 AM Re: Dylan Stats

I just checked on bobdylan.com which has a great lyrics database and I can't find a single song that protested the moon landing. In a 50-year career he's used the word "moon" many times and included lines like "blood on the moon" and he has sometimes been kind of cranky about newfangled things (which would probably include moon landings) but still... As for Vietnam, it gets mentioned only twice. In "Band of the Hand (Hell Time, Man)", a single he put out during the period he was touring with Tom Petty and has never put on an album he refers to Vietnam vets as does a song called "Legionnaire's Disease" which was never released. With very few exceptions (Hurricane being one of them) he has written songs that deliberately don't refer to current events. Even songs such as "The Times They Are A-Changing" which seem to be about a very specific moment in time still work almost 50 years later (see his performance at the White House where the anthem of the young becomes a call for old people to let the new kids in).

Edgy MD Mar 01 2013 09:17 AM Re: Dylan Stats

Doing some quick research, folks are saying, "License to Kill": [list]Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth he can do with it as he please And if things don't change soon, he will Oh, man has invented his doom First step was touching the moon.[/list:u] Possibly "Union Sundown": [list]They used to grow food in Kansas Now they want to grow it on the moon and eat it raw I can see the day coming when even your home garden Is gonna be against the law[/list:u] While we're on Infidels, I'll also guess "Neighborhood Bully": [list]What has he done to wear so many scars? Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars? Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill Running out the clock, time standing still, neighborhood bully[/list:u] I guess the writer was listening to Infidels while he wrote that bit. Obviously, not all songs that protested Vietnam explicitly mention Vietnam. M*A*S*H* (to jump threads) was set in Korea, but was very much about Vietnam.