Judas! from Inside A Prune Hello and a warm welcome to our last issue of 2005. We are putting this issue together amidst a feast of Dylan material that is reaching staggering proportions. It is impossible to turn anywhere at the moment without running into the man so many of us have spent so much of our lives searching for recordings of and information about. To be honest, it is all a bit overwhelming. Just think, recent official releases include: Bob Dylan: Live at The Gaslight 1962 The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 No Direction Home broadcast and DVD The Live at Carnegie Hall bonus disc The Bob Dylan Scrapbook 1956-1966 Chronicles in paperback The BBC unearthing a good quality ‘Ballad of the Gliding Swan’ That’s without mentioning the bootleg release of the Dont Look Back outtakes. Then there has been the saturation coverage in newspapers and magazines and still Dylan books continue to come out and there are/have been the photographic exhibitions in Birmingham and Camden. Can you take any more? Much as I am enjoying it all, and without meaning to sound ungrateful, I do have some misgivings. The first I voiced last time around, the concen- tration on the pre-1967 story, but also – isn’t it all a bit easy? Finding rare Dylan is supposed to be hard! More seriously, on some days when faced with paper after paper full of Bob there is a harbinger of that dread day when he is no more. I am sorry to bring that up but it was a strong, creepy feeling I had some mornings, and I was wondering if I was alone in this or if any of you felt the same. Still, let’s all enjoy it for what it is, overwhelming though the amount of material may be. (So much so that the Blonde on Blonde outtakes on Bootleg Series 7 were hardly mentioned recently when I was with three Bobcat friends – there was so much else to discuss.) On top of everything, for me, is the unbelievably brilliant concert footage in No Direction Home; and not just the electric, oh the beauty of ‘Visions of Johanna’ and ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ filmed live in ’66 (would it be over the top to suggest that the ‘to’ in the latter is alone worth the entire output of many a lesser artist. And then there is the ‘Judas’ moment and the ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ from Newcastle all through the film, and complete as one of the DVD special features; it’s almost enough to make you forget that the special features include the 1966 Liverpool ‘One Too Many Mornings’ too…all this and so much more. And let us not forget that He, that is Him, Himself arrives on these shores soon. The never ending Bob on his Never Ending Tour. Judas! Meanwhile here at Judas! central we had a magazine all planned to come out about ten days ago but then we thought we really had to acknowledge the Scorsese film and soundtrack. Many thanks to Nick Hawthorne for writing his review of the latter in incredibly short time, and to Stephen Scobie and Peter Stone Brown for breaking all records and sending in a review of the film the very day after its two-night TV stint ended (not that it will ever ‘end’ on our playbacks.) Thanks to all our other contributors too, of course. To Jim LaClair for answering the 1975 memory request so perfectly; to Mark Richardson for his offbeat memories from over 40 years ago; to Padráig for producing an article that somehow manages to do justice to its subject (high praise indeed); to John Hume for the cover and to Robert Forryan for giving me a big ticking off for a small aside in my last article! I am delighted to have got you writing again and happily share your views on Mr. Seeger that will I guess be particularly useful to our, I am pleased to report, growing percentage of younger readers. (As Stephen Scobie once pondered, how do they absorb Dylan’s history now, far less that of all those associated with him?) If I may be allowed a small defence, had I reported or Mr Gray said that ‘Seeger had previously had an axe at the event and wished that he had it in his hands to chop the microphone’ it would not have made a huge difference to the point of the side-story. Incidentally, as you will by now know he reiterates his wish to have cut the cable in No Direction Home, a film in which he comes across as intensely irritating (in his younger guise especially) by the way, at least to this writer. He has a similar kind of effect on me when I see or hear him as Bono does, notwithstanding all the admirable acts you detail and despite another fine story described in The Rose and The Briar. Maybe I just don’t like the people Dylan likes. I hope we are still friends though - after all we’re off to see Nuneaton Borough with John Stokes soon. (Now that will baffle our overseas readers, surely?) Thanks also to Guido Bieri and John Gibbens for excellent articles which came unso- licited one day – an editor’s dream! My own article was one of those that have been moved to a later issue as the need to cover some of the ongoing events seemed paramount. I include a short bridging piece to try and keep it in your minds. Looking to the future, I fully expect reviews and reactions to all the ongoing to be present in the next issue too, so at the moment it looks like our celebration of Desire’s 30 year ‘birthday’ will be in number 17, please contribute! For now, enjoy the banquet, the shows and just keep believing. Andrew Muir Contents Number Fifteen 4 Blood On The Tracks by John Hinchey 25 In Someone Else’s Clothes by Pádraig Hanratty 34 Bob Dylan’s Chronicles by Izzy Young 35 Letters to the Editor 41 Songs From, But Not Out Of, History by Andrew Muir 61 Philosophical Reflections by Martin van Hees 63 Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan At The Crossroads a review by Gerry Barrett 70 Waking Up To A New Morning by J. R. Stokes Judas! Broadswords and Sweet Liberty Dylan’s performances of ‘The Roving Blade’ by Pádraig Hanratty One of the most fascinating aspects of the Never-Ending Tour (NET) has been Dylan’s choices of cover songs over the years. Although the actual performances of the songs have ranged from the sublime to the perfunctory to the ridiculous, the songs themselves shed some light on the inner workings of Dylan’s performance art. Sometimes the songs tell us where Dylan has come from. Other times, they remind us who his contemporaries are. They can also indicate Dylan’s current concerns. And, of course, sometimes they tell us nothing more than that Dylan likes this song and thought it would be a blast to try and perform it live. Not all his performances of cover versions work. (Needless to say, not all his performances of original material work either.) However, when they do work, they can serve as startling reminders of why people spend so much time following and analysing Dylan’s constant touring. One cover version that has always worked is ‘The Roving Blade’. The song has been performed three times (so far) on the NET: Reims, 1992; Belfast, 1998; and Reno, 2000. Here are the song’s lyrics (though it should come as no surprise that Dylan hasn’t always stuck to the admittedly fluid text): 4 Judas! In Newry town where I was bred and Six pretty fair maids to bear my pall. born. Give them grey ribbons and green In Stephen’s Green now I lie in scorn. garlands all. I served my time there to the saddlers’ When I’m dead they will speak the trade truth, And I always was a roving blade. He was a wild and a wicked youth. At seventeen I took a wife, In Newry town where I was bred and And I loved her dearer than I loved my born. life. In Stephen’s Green now I lie in scorn. And for to keep her both fine and gay I served my time there to the saddlers’ I went a-robbin’ on the king’s highway. trade| And I always was a roving blade. I never robbed any poor man yet, Nor tradesman ever have I caused to Just to clarify, a ‘roving blade’ is not a fret. razor that has grown legs and started But I robbed lords and their ladies at wandering the country.1 The term ‘blade’ night was once used to refer to a dashing young And carry all home to my heart’s man who usually had a sharp wit and delight. adventurous nature. It originates from a time when such men carried swords. I robbed Lord Golding, I do declare, A blade is different from that other And Lady Mansel in Grosvenor Square. folk-song character, the rake. A rake is I shut the shutter and bade them good lucky enough to lead an immoral, night debauched life. However, the term And home I went then to my heart’s ‘blade’ doesn’t carry such licentious delight. connotations. To Covent Garden I took my way The Lord Fielding referred to is Henry With my dear wife for to see the play.