Bob Dylan - The other side of the mirror (zt)

(Posted by mythopolis)Murray Lerner's b/w documentary, "The Other Side of the Mirror". The film is a collection of performances by Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival from 1963 through 1965. In 1963, Dylan appears at the festival like a scrawny vagabond kid, and his whining nasal voice cracking now and then, even seemed like that of someone mid-puberty. It was a voice you almost didn't want to listen to, and yet, couldn't resist. His performances were acoustical folk tunes in the tradition of Woodie Guthrie and the fifties folk revival, or even the traditional folk that preceded that era. And he got lots of nods from the folk traditionalists who were viewing him as some "child prodigy" joining the fold, singing songs of oppression, social injustice and songs of environmental rape in the name of progress. The audience found him both irresistible and inexplicable.

"Talkin' WWII Blues, 1963 (from 'The Other Side of the Mirror')


In the 1964 festival he appeared performing some numbers with Joan Baez. If their interactions on stage were not enough to suggest they had something going on, certainly a certain shift in the music provided clues. In addition to songs of social protest, the complexities of love and the lure of romantic escapism took the stage as well. If there was ever a continental divide moment here, it was in the performance of four songs. "It Ain't Me, Babe" (which seemed to pit individual freedom against relational belonging) and "Mr. Tambourine Man" ( suggesting the subliminal longing of many of that turbulent era to escape the world of crazy sorrow.) Such songs were on one side of the divide. The theo/political sarcasm of "With God On Our Side", and the 'we shall overcomeness' of "Chimes of Freedom' were on the other.

Mr. Tambourine Man, 1964 (from 'The Other Side of the Mirror')


In 1965, Dylan appears at the Newport Folk Festival in the afternoon to a studious audience delivering some new acoustic pieces that were folksy and romantic (such as "All I really Want To Do" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" ) The songs were well accepted, even though their focus was on personal relationship and not on social struggle. But most interesting, of course, was when Dylan, a few hours later into the evening, hits the stage again. This time he is decked out in black leather and sporting an electric guitar and backed up by Mike Bloomfield and some other members of the Butterfield Blues Band. Sans commentary, he opens with Maggie's Farm, a song about breaking away from the forces of oppression. From a socio/political point of view it had to do with demanding justice from the system or walking away from it, in order to avoid the consequences earlier generations had suffered. The riding herd by the coal companies that led to high levels of casualty and death in that under-paid and over-worked industry. Or the similar fate of the iron-workers of Hibbings, Minnesota, his boyhood home. But there was another message being driven home too. From the standpoint of American music history, folk music had just gone electric gone rock. It was a commentary perhaps, that the rear-view mirror structures of traditional folk music could not hold up to the changing times. The large number of folk traditionalists, and collegiate acoustic/folk music fans, of course, booed. He then followed that with "Like A Rolling Stone", definitely, a defiant spit back into their faces. To me, it is a classic moment. While the crowd had seemingly come un-glued by this, booing and yet, applauding, he walked off.

Maggie's Farm, 1965 (from 'The Other Side of the Mirror')


Dylan's coup de gras, or swan song, as the case may be, was to come back for an encore carrying an acoustic guitar and wearing a harmonica brace, absent a harmonica. He calls out to the audience, "Anybody got an "E" harmonica?" You could hear the sound of several harmonicas hitting the stage floor. He bent and picked one up, mounted it on his rack and broke into the acoustic version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." In so doing, he lulled his audience back into the fantasy world they wanted. But he was just setting them up for the last song of the night, also done acoustic. "Its All Over Now, Baby Blue." And with that sung and done, he walked off, having altered the future course of both folk and rock music in one fell swoop.

Its All Over Now, Baby Blue, 1965 (from 'The Other Side of the Mirror')
 

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.
All your reindeer armies, are all going home.
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.