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 say goodbye to summer (which didn't really happen in the Pacific Northwest...) with "Summer Days" off 2001's Love & Theft.
In this episode we coin the "Rockabobby" style (2:15) and dive into the song itself (8:30) for the majority of the episode. We recommend, per usual. We pick next week's song, per usual.
Next episode: The start of Robert Johnson Month and our highway journeys
CONTEXT (2:15)
Recorded on May 8, 2001 at Clinton Recording Studios in New York City in an unknown number of takes, with take 5 on "Love & Theft." We've got Charlie Sexton and Larry Campbell on guitar, Augie Myers on keyboard, Tony Garnier on bass and David Kemper on percussion and drums.
He's played "Summer Days" 885 times (as of recording) from October 5, 2001 to August 28, 2018.
SONG ITSELF (8:30)
Daniel and Kelly talk musical differences from Time Out of Mind to "Love & Theft." They talk about Chris Shaw's role as engineer (see also Episode 61, "Things Have Changed") and him saying:
85 percent of the sound of that record is the band spilling into Bob’s mike, because he’d sing live in the room with the band—without headphones … Bob wanted to get the live sound of the band he had at the time. Just get the whole band in the room playing.
Lyrically, this is a Park Bench Song. A mediation on agings and fads that come and go. The song is 15 verses long — but after last weeks epic "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," going verse-by-verse is both exhausting to think of doing and difficult to do with "Summer Days."
Daniel outlines the semblance of a narrative story, but there's a lot of holes to be poked (given the amount of verses alone adding new details).
There's also references galore: Elvis, Confessions of a Yakuza, Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the traditional "Twenty-One Years," and, maybe, God's River in northern Manitoba?...
DOES IT WORK IN 2019? (26:00)
Kelly and Daniel differ. Daniel, recognizing his own bias, lovesDylan's voice and believes that any series of thoughts from Dylan can be transportive.
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST
RECOMMENDATIONS
Kelly and Daniel both recommend Sleater-Kinney The Center Won't Hold
Daniel also recommends The Hold Steady's incredible Thrashing Tru the Passion, the new Off With Their Heads Be Good, and oso oso basking in the glow. In addition, read the 1619 Project from The New York Times — in particular, Wesley Morris' amazing piece. And to try to forget your pain and anger, laugh with Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster.
ENDINGS
413 songs left. Kelly guessed #300, which would've been "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." Oops. It's the beginning of Robert Johnson Month! We're starting with "Down the Highway."
REFERENCES IN EPISODE
The Smith Street Band - Why I Can't Draw
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094 – "Summer Days"