The fourth and final in the series: This tune is so simple that it’s probably the most powerful of the four. It’s quintessential rock, and this ahead-of-its-time performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 turned a page in musicology. It also made him some enemies: Should Dylan go electric or stay folk? As it [...]
Archive for the ‘Four Simple Tunes’ Category
Four Simple Tunes: #4, “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan
Posted in Bob Dylan, Four Simple Tunes, Music on December 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Four Simple Tunes: #3, “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley
Posted in Four Simple Tunes, Music on November 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Too many good people we meet (good friends along the way) love this tune for us to ignore it. Marley’s tunes were often simple and powerful, but this one stands near the top. Here is Bob in 1979, two years before his death from cancer. This live performance, with (pretty good) video, is a diamond-in-the-rough. [...]
Four Simple Tunes: #2, “Jersey Girl” by Tom Waits
Posted in Four Simple Tunes, Music on November 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here is the second installment of simple tunes: Tom Waits’ Jersey Girl. Tell me what it is that makes this one work. Never mind that you can’t stand the alcohol-soaked voice of Tom Waits. The song is pure gold, no matter who sings it. Bruce Springsteen borrowed it, made millions, and if you’ve heard him first [...]
Four Simple Tunes: #1, “Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen
Posted in Four Simple Tunes, Music, Poetry on November 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Among other simple ideas rattling around in the head, I’ve become fascinated by certain tunes, tunes that simply won’t go away. I have no idea why some music delights and fascinates and some doesn’t, except to prove Duke Ellington’s proverb: “If it sounds good, it IS good.” In this two-week series, I’ll post four songs, [...]
