Kelly and Daniel discuss 1973's "Nobody 'Cept You," a contender for Planet Waves and played early in his 1974 tour with The Band. They talk Dylan's rough drafts with time, where Manuel walked off to halfway through the song, and give a primer on the proper use of contractions!
SHOW NOTES
“Nobody ‘Cept You” was recorded once in June 1973 at Ram’s Horn, then twice in November 1973 (one of those version gracing TBLS Vol. 1-3, one has Richard Manuel on drums, the other with Levon. To date, Bob has only played the song eight times – all during the first stages of the ’74 tour with The Band (from January 3 to January 16, to be precise) then retired forever.
As an interlude (4:30), Kelly took us down a trip to Contraction Cove! Daniel recalled what he’d learned in grade school – to see the apostrophe’s as the letters, just really far away (so “do not” and “don’t” are the same, the “o” in “not” is just way in the back!). They talk the #jollysaucytattlecreekcrew, rock ‘n’ roll, how your word processor isn’t sufficient enough of an excuse for your errors.
Finally, we get down to the song (12:00): Daniel finds it interesting because it begins as a “baby, baby” song that morphs into “oh, this is a bit dark,” to “oh, shit Bob.” For Daniel, this song reminds him of "Tangled Up in Blue" (Episode 3), mainly because of the time-shifts and treats this song as almost a rough draft. Broken into acts, the song flows from only “you” can make me feel to there no longer being a “you,” only a concept of you to remind me of the past (which reminded Daniel further of the entire structure of PLanet Waves, which this song could fit onto), to me as an adult, looking back on myself, a self-awareness I may not have possessed for long, to me, Sad Bob, in present day.
Present, to reminder, to past, to present. He’s taking the mirror of life and shattering it and piecing it together. It’s a rough draft, sure, but I think his framework would allow the shift that Blood on the Tracks would require.
And that final line, the out of place “I’m in love with you?” It’s like if you were to sing a song to a significant other and they’re not getting it – probably because of the graveyards – and you need to remind them, “oh, and that song is definitely for you!”
And maybe that’s why the song didn’t make it onto Planet Waves, even if it would have fit perfectly. It’s a song that’s so intensely personal that Bob felt he hadn’t quite cleared the rawness of the facts from the melodies yet. Kelly felt like she waited too long to start looking at the lyrics and, in this case, I don’t think you can quite come back. Although, I’ll admit, I never realized, after all these years, which Kelly picked up right away, just where do the drums go near the end of the song?
MIXED UP CONFUSION
Our inaugural episode of Mixed Up Confusion! We found ourselves talking waaaaay tooooo looooong on some episodes and decided to talk music, culture, recommendations later in the week. Check out the first episode below and click the link above to see our latest episode!
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST
RECOMMENDATIONS
Kelly spent the week watching TV apparently – How to Get Away With Murder (again), RuPaul’s Drag Race and, to kick off Mixed Up Confusion, her recommending The Internet – Ego Death.
Daniel recommended highly Captain, We’re Sinking King of No Man and, between getting through Dylan’s Cutting Edge bootleg, Silicon Valley and Veep season finales.
ENDINGS (26:10)
We’re down to 525 songs left.
In another timeline, Kelly guessed #522. "Times They Are A-Changin'."
In our timeline, #34, "Little Maggie," from 1992’s Good As I Been to You.
Next week: not Maggie from The Walking Dead
018 - "Nobody 'Cept You"