Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

In an interview for Spin in December 1985, Bob Dylan said the following about the act of songwriting: “The best songs are the songs you write that you don’t know anything about. They’re an escape. I don’t do too much of that because maybe it’s more important to deal with what’s happening rather than toContinue reading “Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)”

Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)

There’s a moment during the climax of Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch that is a direct connection to Bob Dylan’s song “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” off of his 1978 album Street-Legal. In the film, the outlaw gang, who serve as the plot’s anti-protagonists, are engaged in the biggest, bloodiest shootout depictedContinue reading “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)”

Girl from the North Country

Released in 1963, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was Bob Dylan’s coming out party. Boasting a number of songs that would eventually become classics, Dylan announced to the world that he had arrived as a songwriter and performer. Freewheelin’ displayed Dylan’s full breadth of songwriting talent as it included finger-pointing protest songs (“Masters of War”), humorousContinue reading “Girl from the North Country”

Changing of the Guards

Jonathan Cott asked Bob Dylan the following question about songs on his recent release Street-Legal during a November 16, 1978 Rolling Stone interview: “As in a dream, lines from one song seem to connect with lines from another. For example: ‘I couldn’t tell her what my private thoughts were / But she had some wayContinue reading “Changing of the Guards”