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 and then get together to discuss. This week, to begin SEASON 3 (!!!), "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" off 2009's Together Through Life.
In the episode, Kelly and Daniel talk context (4:00) as well as tango, Joe Perry, lyrics, and the song in 2019 (12:00). Our weekly playlist is available on Spotify and our two month hiatus is covered on the season's first Mixed Up Confusion coming on Thursday.
Next week: He's a bad man
CONTEXT (4:00)
This is our first song from Together Through Life. During the recording of the record, David Bianco — who sadly just passed away — explained how Dylan wanted a one-mic setup for the record but he hid mics out of sight to capture more of the room.
I was prepared when Bob came into the control room and said, 'I can't hear Mike [Campbell]'s guitar... I had an SM57 [mic] tucked inside his amp and pushed the fader up. Bob said, 'Oh, yeah. That's better!' It was a lot of fun; we had a lot of success and a number one with that record. The next time we met up was for a Christmas record. He told me that everyone was asking him how we got that sound on the last record. But he said, 'I’m not going to tell 'em. I can't tell 'em.' But I'm actually not sure he had any idea.
The title — "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" — is a quote from the Ancient Roman poet Ovid.
Here is the ultimate torture for me, exposed amid foes. What banished person lives more remote from home? Beyond here lies nothing but chillness, hostility, frozen waves of an ice-hard sea. (Tristia)
The song was nominated at the 52nd Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo (along with John Fogerty, Prince, and Neil Young; losing to Bruce Springsteen's "Workin on a Dream")
There is a video, directed by Nash Edgerton. He told Pitchfork he had no contact with Dylan "that I know of. It's kind of strange. Normally, I sit down with the artist and suss things out. Dylan is in the video though-- no one has spotted him yet. I'll let you try and find it."
Dylan's played the song 428 times — from July 10, 2009 to June 17, 2017.
SONG ITSELF (12:30)
Dylan wrote the song with Robert Hunter. David Hidalgo plays accordion throughout Together Through Life. Tony Garnier on bass, George Recile on drums, Mike Campbell on guitar and Donnie Herron on everything else — steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, trumpet.
We talk Otis Rush — "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)," songs during the Great Recession, the tests relationships are up against and the song's snare-popping close.
DOES IT HOLD UP TODAY? (23:00)
Oh yeah. It's only a decade old (as of recording) but it sounds modern and the subject matter is still relevant.
MIXED UP CONFUSION
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST
RECOMMENDATIONS
Kelly watched Forever and Marvelous Ms. Mazel on Amazon. Listened to PUP and Amanda Palmer, and Karen O has a new single "Woman."
Daniel watched Jazz by Ken Burns.
He read a few books with long titles: Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park by Lee Whittlesey; Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis by Sam Anderson, and The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality by Anna-Lisa Cox.
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He listened to lots of music during the break into 2019:
The Bridge by Sonny Rollins
Charley Crockett — Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza
Laura Stevenson — The Mystic & The Master
Thin Lips — Chosen Family
Muncie Girls — Fixed Ideals
Elliott Whitmore — Kilonova
Sharon Van Etten — Remind Me Tomorrow
Say Anything — Oliver Appropriate
Vampire Weekend — "Harmony Hall / 2021",
and Better Oblivion Community Center — S/T
ENDINGS (35:30)
A conceit that we will definitely not abandon next episode: Kelly was given 5 choices from albums we've yet to listen to yet:
The entire Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid record
"Stack a Lee" from World Gone Wrong
"Pressing On" from Saved
"Can't Help Falling in Love" from Dylan
"Country Pie" from Nashville Skyline
There are 435 songs left and Kelly chose "Stack A Lee."
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076 – "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"