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 we return to Big Pink for "Open the Door, Homer."
First, who the hell is Homer (8:15)? Then we talk the three extant versions (13:00) and talk about how we still use Big Pink as a comparison for bands today (23:00).
Next week: I was hungry and it was your world
CONTEXT (2:50)
The song was recorded in Big Pink in the summer of 1967 in 3 takes.
WHO THE HELL IS HOMER? (8:15)
Sid Griffin, author of Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band, and The Basement Tapes, in his liner notes notes for TBLS Vol. 11: The Complete Basement Tapes, notes the song's
musical roots stretch back to a black vaudeville routine that dates to at least the 1920s. No one can remember exactly who created the routine, but legendary vaudeville star Pigmeat Markham attributes it to Bob Russell. In 1946 R&B saxophonist Jack McVea put a melody to Dusty Fletcher’s version of the routine and hit the top of the R&B charts with “Open the Door, Richard.” Many cover versions followed.
Count Basie recorded it a month later and it shot to the top of the charts.
This was followed quickly by Dusty Fletcher, the Three Flames, the Charioteers, culminating in Louis Jordon.
In the episode, we discuss the current state of the song's copyright. We talk its official credits as "Words by Dusty Fletcher and John Mason, music by Dusty Fletcher and Don Howell" and the front by which royalties owed to Jack McVea were siphoned off.
As for Bob's version, there is nary a "Homer" in sight. He's clearly singing to Richard...
Clinton Heylin notes "Homer" is the late Richard Fariña, who died in a motorcycle crash on April 30, 1966:
And it could well be that the song is an obtuse homage to an old friend, one who would not have been shy of including a character called Mouse in his novel. But perhaps Dylan was also thinking about a spill of his own, which he was lucky to have survived.
There's also evidence that "Homer" is referring to The Band and fellow Basement Taper Richard Manuel's alcoholism. That Richard was in the room during the recordings makes this feel more pointed and true.
SONG ITSELF (13:00)
As Dylan has never played the song live, we have 3 takes from 1967, all on TBLS Vol. 11 (with Take 1 being the one on '75's Basement Tapes.
Sid Griffin's Liner Notes / Take 1: Bob Dylan and The Band drew on many influences, but their paths converged on a shared love of Rhythm & Blues.... In “Open the Door, Homer,” a repeated riff and some humorous word-play tip the hat to that old vaudeville routine. At the same time, the song has one of Dylan’s most memorable lines, “Take care of your memories … for you cannot relive them.”
Sid Griffin's Liner Notes / Take 2: Part of the rumors surrounding Dylan’s recording process was that the earliest versions of the songs were the ones that usually wound up on the records. This is true in a lot of instances. Sometimes there’s a magic that’s captured the first time when the tape reels are rolling. This is certainly true on “Open the Door, Homer.” They nailed it on the first take. This fragment’s attempt at a slower, more plaintive rhythm doesn’t really fit the nature of the lyrics.
Take 1 is straight-forward. Take 2 is much slower and only a fraction of the time. Take 3 is probably the most charming — it's got that "Clothes Line Saga" cadence before the upbeat chorus and any track where Dylan breaks character with laughter will always be up there.
The song is equal parts wisdom and silliness — buoyed by International Treasure Garth Hudson's swirling organ. Structurally, this isn't so off kilter from what appeared on John Wesley Harding, which was recorded in the middle of Dylan's time at Big Pink.
Sid Griffin's Liner Notes / Take 3: The last time they record “Open the Door, Homer,” it’s obvious that they’ve moved past the song. The tempo is a bit slower so Dylan is taking more liberties with the vocal approach. The first time they hit the chorus, Dylan breaks up laughing. Throughout the basement tapes, that’s Dylan who is usually playing the 12-string guitar that provides the strong rhythmic focus for so many of these drummer-less songs.
We learn morals through the song:
from Jim: "A man must swim if he expects to live off the fat of the land."
from Mouse: "A fella who always blushes must always flush out his house if he don't expect to be going around housing flushes" [perhaps a gambling reference? See our last episode — "House of the Risin' Sun."
from Mick, the heart of the song: "Take care of your memories for you cannot relive them"
It's a little too silly for John Wesley Harding but it isn't complete nonsense either.
We'll close with Haiku Dylan:
Bob's proverb service:
Remember your memories
And forgive the sick.
DOES IT WORK TODAY? (23:00)
It's mysterious, full of sounds out of no time or place, and effectively deals with nostalgia— no matter if you understand the references.
Daniel notes:
Whenever Dylan gives us these nuggets about time and memory and holding on to those boots of Spanish leather, those girls from the north country, the shelters from the storm, I think of all of us getting older, experiencing new things, feeling the reverb of those memories you'll never get back. Then I think of Dylan many, many years from the basement:
You say you can't repeat the past? What do you mean you can't, of course you can.
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST (28:00)
RECOMMENDATIONS (32:00)
Kelly recommends Little People, Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix, PUP's Morbid Stuff and Control Top's Covert Contracts
Daniel recommends PUP's Morbid Stuff as well — best tracks as of today are "Free At Last" "Kids" "Bare Hands" "Bloody Mary, Kate and Ashley" "Morbid Stuff". Also Free Throw's What's Past Is Prologue and Laura Stevenson's The Big Freeze.
ENDINGS (39:00)
424 songs left. Kelly guesses #393. We would be listening to "Obviously 5 Believers" from 1966's Blonde on Blonde. Instead, it's #293 — "Just Like A Woman," also from Blonde on Blonde.
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