Sign on the Window isn't the Bob Dylan podcast you need, but it's definitely the one that you want! Each week we select a Dylan song at random, live with the song for a week (or two) and then get together to discuss. This week, the incomparable "Boots of Spanish Leather."
Daniel and Kelly talk context (3:30), talk Suze Rotolo (6:00), the musicality of "Boots" (16:00), its style (24:00) and the readings of the final verse (28:00). Kelly recommends Black Moth Super Rainbow, by way of Longmont Potion Castle, by way of MC Lars... it'll make sense when you listen! Daniel recommends The Dirty Nil, Defiance, Ohio's The Fear, The Fear, The Fear once again on Spotify, and Community.
Next week: Elvis sighting!
CONTEXT (3:30)
This song was written in Europe during the winter of 1962-63. In Scaduto’s biography, Dylan said: “Suze had gone back to the States, and that’s when I worked up the melodies of ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ and ‘Girl from the North Country.'” He recorded the song on August 6 and 7, 1963 in one take each day, the August 7 take on The Times They Are A-Changin'. The song is in the Norton Anthology of Poetry in the “Popular Ballads of the 20th Century.” He’s played it 298 times from April 12, 1963 at the Town Hall to November 6, 2013.
SUZE ROTOLO (6:00)
We’ve talked a lot about “Sara” this season but it’s worth getting into a major inspiration for much of Dylan’s early work: Suze Rotolo. Kelly details her life on the podcast (and you listen to her on Fresh Air. They talk about her lift after Dylan, how she is often viewed only through the lens of him, and if she knew more than she let on about the Bob Dylan we’ve come to know. (We’ll talk about her more, especially when we come to the wrenching “Ballad in Plain D.”)
SONG ITSELF (16:00)
We listened to the studio version, the Witmark demos from The Bootleg Series, Volume 9 and his performance at Carnegie Hall (all on the playlist). Both agree this song is a masterpiece. Kelly compared it to her favorite song of last year, "Song to Woody" and feels like it’s jumped ahead of it.
The song is so impactful because it is so simple. It’s two lovers exchanging letters from across the ocean. It reverses your expectation but carefully. “Having led the listener to expect a ‘Dear John’ letter,” Clinton Heylin writes, “Dylan leaves the convention behind and digs instead into his own memory banks: She says I don’t know when I’ll be coming back / It depends on how I’m a-feelin’.”
What takes this to the next level is the final verse. It’s another example of a Dylan song that can be deeply sorrowful or deeply empowering, depending on where you are in your life. They talk about that dichotomy, about the narrator at first wanting nothing from her until the end, the history of “Spanish boots” as a torture device, and what all of that means for this magnificent ending.
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST
RECOMMENDATIONS (39:00)
Kelly monitored MC Lars’ listening habits on Spotify (from Longmont Potion Castle to Black Moth Super Rainbow) and caught back up with I Love You, America.
Daniel recommends Defiance, Ohio. Their 2007 record The Fear, The Fear, The Fear is back on Spotify. Also, The Dirty Nil released Master Volume and I wasn’t expecting this to be one of the best of the year. Seriously.
ENDINGS (52:00)
There are 443 songs left. Kelly guessed #402, "She's Your Lover Now." Nope. It’s #344. After Kelly guessing this twice, third time's the charm: "Went to See the Gypsy."
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067 – "Boots Of Spanish Leather"