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 listen to the lost classic, "She's Your Lover Now."
This week, we look at:
context (2:30)
the various versions – mostly Cutting Edge – of the song (8:45)
Verse 1 (32:00)
Verse 2 (43:00)
Verse 3 (49:30)
Verse 4 (55:15)
Does it work today? (1:07:00)
Recommendations (1:10:00)
Next week (1:22:45)
Next episode: Some asshole hurt you, I'll avenge you and love you, But please be quiet.
Context (2:30)
The Helm-less Hawks went into the studio on January 21-22, 1966, to work on 16 takes of "She's Your Lover Now." This song is notable for Sandy Konikoff on drums along with our friends Michael Bloomfield and Robbie Robertson on guitar, Rick Danko on bass, Richard Manuel on piano, and international treasure Garth Hudson on organ.
This song served as a beginning of the Blonde on Blonde sessions. Four days later, Dylan would record the great "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)," our episode 71.
The song has never been performed live.
The Cutting Edge (8:45)
Kelly and Daniel spend the time with The Cutting Edge because, let's face it, its a damn miracle to have the tapes. Like a few of the other major songs of this period, Dylan struggled with this from waltz to blues to a wilder, more mercurial sound he was searching for. This song is notable for ending midway through the final verse and lacking the polish we'd associate with Blonde on Blonde yet serving as a template for many of its songs.
As for the various takes, the notable ones are Take 6, a complete take; Takes 10-11 are fascinating with Dylan saying "I don't know if that's right, am I loosing it man?" and, savagely, "Just play it together, make it all together. You don't have to play anything fancy, just play it together. Do you need earphones?"; Take 13 for the drums alone; Take 15 is the song's apex as Dylan would lament in the next take's breakdown, "I can't hear the song anymore." Of particular interest is Take 16, the afterthought, the purely piano take, the canonization of the lyrics that Dylan never quite made it through all day (and Kelly's favorite take).
Song Itself (31:00)
The only way to tackle this masterpiece is line-by-line, especially after its life on Cutting Edge. Enjoy the color-coding of the song, courtesy of Daniel. See the episode for full discussion of the lyrics, the narrative, the best lines and a "pepper ranking."
Verse 1 (32:00)
Verse 2 (43:00)
Verse 3 (49:30)
Verse 4 (55:15)
Pepper rankings
Now you stand here expectin’ me to remember somethin’ you forgot to say 🌶🌶
Yes, and you, I see you’re still with her, well That’s fine ’cause she’s comin’ on so strange, can’t you tell? 🌶
You talk to her, She’s your lover now 🌶🌶
Yes, you, you just sit around and ask for ashtrays, can’t you reach? 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
But I’m not up in your castle, honey 🌶🌶
An’ you, just what do you do anyway? Ain’t there nothin’ you can say? 🌶🌶🌶
Ah, your mouth used to be so naked, your eyes used to be so blue Your hurt used to be so nameless and your tears used to be so few 🌶 + one sad pepper
And you, there's been nothing of you I can recall; I just saw you that one time. You were just there, that's all. 🌶🌶🌶(🌶)
But, I've already been kissed, I'm not gonna get into this. I couldn't make it, anyhow. You do it for me, You're her lover now. 🌶🌶 + one sad pepper*
Does it work? (1:07:00)
For Daniel, there's no question. For Kelly, the incompleteness shows.
"One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" is definitely the songs most immediate successor and the case can be made for one or the other. While the music is fascinating and varied, "She's Your Lover Now" lacks the polish to come from the finished record to be (and, for "Sooner or Later," in particular, Bobby Gregg and Paul Griffin). Yet the Cutting Edge for "She's Your Lover Now" is so much more interesting to listen to than that song, which we also dove deep into.
Either way, for unreleased songs throughout Dylan's career, this is easily in Daniel's Mt. Rushmore.
THE EPISODE’S BOOKLET & PLAYLIST (1:10:00)
RECOMMENDATIONS
Kelly recommends the new Frances Quinlan Likewise as well as Mary Lattimore Hundreds of Days. As of the recording, they'd bought tickets to see them at Doug Fir. (Little did they know it would be both of their last concerts for 2020.)
Daniel recommends the Motown Singles 1959-1972 boxset, which, after nearly a year, he'd completed in full. Also the new Drug Church record Cheer, Sløtface sorry for the late reply, Destroyer Have We Met and Imarhan's self-titled from a few years ago.
ENDINGS (1:22:45)
After the long one, we have 397 songs left. Kelly guessed #242, which would've been "Quit Your Low Down Ways." It's #231, the lightweight "Baby, Stop Crying" from 1978's Street Legal.
REFERENCES IN EPISODE
Mary Wells - The One Who Really Loves You
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103 – "She's Your Lover Now"