Sign on the Window is your Bob Dylan podcast! This episode features our second song off 2012's Tempest so far, "Soon After Midnight."
In the episode, we talk about crooner Bob on a timeline, discuss the murderous implications of the song's main character, and delve into Dylan's allusions and try not to bring up Sara or "Sara."
CONTEXT
This song was released in September 2012 with Dylan’s Tempest. It’s been played 306 times as of recording (from November 2012 to November 2017) and will surely continue.
SONG ITSELF
"Pay in Blood" was our first Tempest track and threw Kelly for a loop. While Dylan’s voice isn’t as jarring as there, it’s still go this unsettling quality. That is what they refer to as “Murder Bob.” It’s the doo-wop swing under Dylan saying, gently, but forcefully, I’ll drag his corpse through the mud.
The similarities of structure between this and “A New Shade of Blue” by the Bobby Fuller Four are clear.
Most of the episode is an examination of Dylan’s lyrics and trying to piece together just what’s going on. There’s a few references too, like “Moon Got In My Eyes” by Frank Sinatra, “On the Killing Floors” by Howlin’ Wolf, The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spencer, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare.
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST
RECOMMENDATIONS
Kelly’s been listening to the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack.
while Daniel listened to Soccer Mommy’s Clean (specifically “Flaw” and “Skin”) and gave the new Joan Baez record, Whistle Down the Road, a spin or two.
ENDINGS
There are 480 songs left.
Kelly guessed #396, "Tell Me, Momma." Nope.
It’s #337. A track that Kelly has heard before: "With God On Our Side," off The Times They Are A-Changin’.
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