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14 Comments on “One More Cup of Coffee: Bob Dylan”
One of my favorite Dylan songs, and from my favorite album, Desire. Emmylou Harris on backup vocals, Scarlet Rivera on violin (haunting) and Howie Wyeth on drums, a distinctive beat that shows up elsewhere on the Desire album. I just read on WikiPedia that Eric Clapton and others were in an earlier cut, but this smaller group made it onto the album.
Incidentally, you could have played “Hurricane” from the same album in honor of Hurricane Lee, but I don’t see it in you windy list. But it’s about the fighter Hurricane Carter, not a storm. You’ll hear Scarlet Rivera’s violin and Wyeth’s drum on that one too.
Ted,
I guess I didn’t think of it. I started out looking for weather songs but gave that up as couldn’t find any I could post. I decided, instead, to go with a variety. I use three sites for songs as I can’t post from YouTube anymore which is so frustrating.
I also found this with Joan Baez but decided this is the one I liked better.
I didn’t know Joan Baez covered this! I’ll check it out when my wife gets done with her video class.
We’ve got some cleanup to do after this storm, a lot of maple limbs and treetops snapped off, and I don’t know why we didn’t lose power. We’ll get some firewood out of it, though. We’re on Little Cranberry Island, Maine, not too far from the storm track. Hope you made out well on the Cape.
Incidentally, I play this song on the piano often while waiting for coffee to cook. I’m a hack, but still, it’s a fun song to play.
Ted,
Joan didn’t cover it. I hadn’t listened to the song so I went back and listened tonight. It is Emmy Lou. It is listed wrong on Vimeo and YouTube both. I decided to keep hunting and found a whole blog post with Joan Baez listed.
I lost a few already dead pine tree branches. They are strewn across the driveway and on the fence gate but are not in my way. The storm was far less dramatic than was predicted for which I am thankful.
If you can play this on the piano, you are no hack!!
I found several on youtube as well, all the original Dylan version with Emmylou, not Joan. Somebody got it wrong the first time, then everybody else followed like sheep.
Beautiful September day in Maine now, I hope your day is going well.
I found a few other blogs describing that song, and the Desire album. On one of them there was this live version, 1975, during the Rolling Thunder Review. Violinist Scarlet Rivera is shown prominently throughout, her music very much a key to the song’s success. Bob discovered her on the way to a recording session, she was on the street with her violin and he scooped her up.
Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell were with Bob on the Rolling Thunder tour, but are not in this song. During November of 1975 I was in college in Bangor, Maine and it was rumored that Dylan was coming to town, then rumors that Joan was coming with him, then rumors of Joni, and we all said, “Nah, this is all bs.” But when the tickets went on sale they sold out pronto, with some of my classes nearly empty because students were standing in line for tickets. In one class that didn’t matter because the instructor was absent too, standing in line. Sadly, I didn’t go to that concert. It was during Thanksgiving break and I was headed home and didn’t have my own car.
Another interesting thing I just read was that the studio version was recorded in one take, and with at least two goof-ups. Scarlett was supposed to come in with violin in the intro but wasn’t ready, so the bass player jumped in and improvised, very successfully. And Emmylou had never rehearsed the song, only had the lyrics in front of her, and faked it, expecting to do another take–but Bob and others like the first one, flubs or not.
One other thing about the Desire album: one of the best songs is one that was left out, and not released until years later. That one is Abandoned Love, a song so good, in my opinion, that to leave it out only speaks to the greatness of the Desire Album. But they substituted it for Joey, which although significant one can take or leave. Scarlett Rivera and Howie Wyeth both play in Abandoned Love, too. Check out that one on youtube.
I think I found a couple of flubs. Besides the bass player covering for Scarlett, Dylan stumbles on some of the opening lyrics, then Emmylou comes in on the chorus with what’s supposed to be,
One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go
To the valley below.
In the first line, Dylan is singing “for the road” while Emmylou is singing “‘fore I go,” anticipating the next line. But she corrected it in the later choruses, and nobody said boo, except Emmylou, who would have done a re-take.
When I look for songs to post, especially Dylan songs, I try to find the version closest to the original release because in subsequent years, his voice changes. This one is perfect.
I like the addition of different instruments like the violin. They always add such depth to the music. The studio versions always seem truer to me. Songs in front of audiences always seem a bit more dramatic if that makes sense to you.
I would have hated missing that concert. You would have seen me waiting in line. I always took a bus to the cape so time didn’t matter so much.
You ended up in the rabbit hole. It happens to me all the time when I am choosing songs. One thing always leads to another and another and…
I thought it was “wistful” until I saw the film “Across the Universe.”
The concert I’m really killing myself for missing was when Pete Seeger and Gordon Bok got together and performed in Bangor, about 25 years ago. I don’t know what I was thinking missing that one. I saw Gordon a few years later (he shows up around here on a boat) and asked if there was a recording, even bootleg, of that, and he said, no, it was just something that came together all at once.
I too would have loved that concert. I really don’t go to many, but I have seen Gordon Bok. It was at a small venue down cape which is a church on Sundays. Every seat was close to the stage. It is a great place to see a concert, especially a folk concert. I also saw David Mallett there.
September 16, 2023 at 5:38 pm
One of my favorite Dylan songs, and from my favorite album, Desire. Emmylou Harris on backup vocals, Scarlet Rivera on violin (haunting) and Howie Wyeth on drums, a distinctive beat that shows up elsewhere on the Desire album. I just read on WikiPedia that Eric Clapton and others were in an earlier cut, but this smaller group made it onto the album.
Incidentally, you could have played “Hurricane” from the same album in honor of Hurricane Lee, but I don’t see it in you windy list. But it’s about the fighter Hurricane Carter, not a storm. You’ll hear Scarlet Rivera’s violin and Wyeth’s drum on that one too.
September 16, 2023 at 7:48 pm
Ted,
I guess I didn’t think of it. I started out looking for weather songs but gave that up as couldn’t find any I could post. I decided, instead, to go with a variety. I use three sites for songs as I can’t post from YouTube anymore which is so frustrating.
I also found this with Joan Baez but decided this is the one I liked better.
September 16, 2023 at 8:19 pm
I didn’t know Joan Baez covered this! I’ll check it out when my wife gets done with her video class.
We’ve got some cleanup to do after this storm, a lot of maple limbs and treetops snapped off, and I don’t know why we didn’t lose power. We’ll get some firewood out of it, though. We’re on Little Cranberry Island, Maine, not too far from the storm track. Hope you made out well on the Cape.
Incidentally, I play this song on the piano often while waiting for coffee to cook. I’m a hack, but still, it’s a fun song to play.
September 16, 2023 at 9:10 pm
Ted,
Joan didn’t cover it. I hadn’t listened to the song so I went back and listened tonight. It is Emmy Lou. It is listed wrong on Vimeo and YouTube both. I decided to keep hunting and found a whole blog post with Joan Baez listed.
I lost a few already dead pine tree branches. They are strewn across the driveway and on the fence gate but are not in my way. The storm was far less dramatic than was predicted for which I am thankful.
If you can play this on the piano, you are no hack!!
September 17, 2023 at 12:08 pm
I found several on youtube as well, all the original Dylan version with Emmylou, not Joan. Somebody got it wrong the first time, then everybody else followed like sheep.
Beautiful September day in Maine now, I hope your day is going well.
September 17, 2023 at 12:18 pm
That is exactly what I found. The one which amazed me was the blog post.
Today is a delight. It is 73°. There is even a nice breeze. This is a good thing as rain is predicted for tomorrow.
September 17, 2023 at 2:00 pm
I found a few other blogs describing that song, and the Desire album. On one of them there was this live version, 1975, during the Rolling Thunder Review. Violinist Scarlet Rivera is shown prominently throughout, her music very much a key to the song’s success. Bob discovered her on the way to a recording session, she was on the street with her violin and he scooped her up.
Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell were with Bob on the Rolling Thunder tour, but are not in this song. During November of 1975 I was in college in Bangor, Maine and it was rumored that Dylan was coming to town, then rumors that Joan was coming with him, then rumors of Joni, and we all said, “Nah, this is all bs.” But when the tickets went on sale they sold out pronto, with some of my classes nearly empty because students were standing in line for tickets. In one class that didn’t matter because the instructor was absent too, standing in line. Sadly, I didn’t go to that concert. It was during Thanksgiving break and I was headed home and didn’t have my own car.
Another interesting thing I just read was that the studio version was recorded in one take, and with at least two goof-ups. Scarlett was supposed to come in with violin in the intro but wasn’t ready, so the bass player jumped in and improvised, very successfully. And Emmylou had never rehearsed the song, only had the lyrics in front of her, and faked it, expecting to do another take–but Bob and others like the first one, flubs or not.
One other thing about the Desire album: one of the best songs is one that was left out, and not released until years later. That one is Abandoned Love, a song so good, in my opinion, that to leave it out only speaks to the greatness of the Desire Album. But they substituted it for Joey, which although significant one can take or leave. Scarlett Rivera and Howie Wyeth both play in Abandoned Love, too. Check out that one on youtube.
Thanks for the exercise in musicology.
September 17, 2023 at 2:16 pm
I think I found a couple of flubs. Besides the bass player covering for Scarlett, Dylan stumbles on some of the opening lyrics, then Emmylou comes in on the chorus with what’s supposed to be,
One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go
To the valley below.
In the first line, Dylan is singing “for the road” while Emmylou is singing “‘fore I go,” anticipating the next line. But she corrected it in the later choruses, and nobody said boo, except Emmylou, who would have done a re-take.
September 17, 2023 at 3:06 pm
I think we opened a can of worms by listening so many times. It is like when you say the same word over and over and it stops making sense.
Some of my favorite sites are about misheard lyrics.
September 17, 2023 at 6:26 pm
Yeah, I want to know: in the Beatles’ “Let It Be” is it “wistful words of wisdom,” as I always heard it, or “whisper” words of wisdom?
September 17, 2023 at 9:24 pm
Wow, until I read this I also thought it was whisper words of wisdom!!
September 17, 2023 at 9:35 pm
When I look for songs to post, especially Dylan songs, I try to find the version closest to the original release because in subsequent years, his voice changes. This one is perfect.
I like the addition of different instruments like the violin. They always add such depth to the music. The studio versions always seem truer to me. Songs in front of audiences always seem a bit more dramatic if that makes sense to you.
I would have hated missing that concert. You would have seen me waiting in line. I always took a bus to the cape so time didn’t matter so much.
You ended up in the rabbit hole. It happens to me all the time when I am choosing songs. One thing always leads to another and another and…
September 18, 2023 at 6:10 am
I thought it was “wistful” until I saw the film “Across the Universe.”
The concert I’m really killing myself for missing was when Pete Seeger and Gordon Bok got together and performed in Bangor, about 25 years ago. I don’t know what I was thinking missing that one. I saw Gordon a few years later (he shows up around here on a boat) and asked if there was a recording, even bootleg, of that, and he said, no, it was just something that came together all at once.
September 18, 2023 at 6:42 pm
I too would have loved that concert. I really don’t go to many, but I have seen Gordon Bok. It was at a small venue down cape which is a church on Sundays. Every seat was close to the stage. It is a great place to see a concert, especially a folk concert. I also saw David Mallett there.