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BOB DYLAN IN THE AMERICAS

This is the current list of dates for Bob Dylan's April-May tour of South and Central America (courtesy of the Desolation Row Information Service, March 17th 2012):

15 April 2012: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Citibank Hall)
17 April 2012: Brasília (Ginásio Nilson, Brazil Nelson)
19 April 2012: Belo Horizonte, Brazil (Chevrolet Hall)
21 April 2012: São Paulo, Brazil (Credicard Hall)
22 April 2012: São Paulo, Brazil (Credicard Hall)
24 April 2012: Porto Alegre, Brazil (Pepsi On Stage)
26 April 2012: Buenos Aires, Argentina (Teatro Gran Rex)
27 April 2012: Buenos Aires, Argentina (Teatro Gran Rex)
28 April 2012: Buenos Aires, Argentina (Teatro Gran Rex)
30 April 2012: Buenos Aires, Argentina (Teatro Gran Rex)
2 May 2012: Santiago, Chile (Movistar Arena)
5 May 2012: Heredia, Costa Rica (Palacio de los Deportes)
7 May 2012: Monterrey, Mexico (Auditorio Banamex)
9 May 2012: Guadalajara, Mexico (Auditorio Telmex)
11 May 2012: Mexico City, Mexico(Pepsi Center)
12 May 2012: Mexico City, Mexico (Pepsi Center)*
*= to be confirmed

Dylan songs in which he mentions these countries are:

Brazil - Union Sundown
Argentina - Angelina, Union Sundown
Chile - none
Costa Rica - none
Mexico - Farewell, Caribbean Wind, True Love Tends To Forget

14 comments:

  1. Elmer Gantry18 March, 2012

    Micheal

    Always thought that Bob had ripped off the melody for 'Buckets of Rain' from Mississippi John Hurt, but watching this video recently:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKk0Nf5n1BM

    realised it was Tom Paxton that he had borrowed it off.

    Strangely enough, given his prominence in the Village in the early 60's, Paxton does not seem to feature at all in either Song & Dance Man or the Encyclopedia.

    Thought this might interest you as well:

    http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/undergroundsounds/tompaxtonisleofwight1969.html

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  2. Elmer Gantry20 March, 2012

    Michael

    Just came across this quote from the Irish poet, Michael Davitt:
    “You know that by his own admission, Dylan has been influenced by the Gaelic tradition through the Clancy Brothers and Joe Heaney'

    Up to this point, I have not found any direct reference by Dylan to Joe Heaney - is there one out there somewhere?

    Heaney was around in the Village in the mid-60s and Bob could very well have seen him sing either there or in London in the early 60s, but I do not have any clear evidence that this happened.

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  3. Elmer Gantry20 March, 2012

    Michael

    Just came across this quote from Liam Clancy in 1995:

    I met the young Dylan on 4th St. in the Village one morning as I was rushing to rehearsal "Hey Liam! Hey man! Wrote a song to the tune of 'Brennan on the Moor' last night. Wanta hear it man?, only 15 verses man, wanna hear it?" At the time, "Brennan On The Moor" was one of the group's most popular songs. Still is. Dylan would have heard us singing it at the numerous concerts that our friend Bob Shelton of the N.Y Times brought him to when he was fostering Dylan's career. Bob Dylan's version was, of course, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie." It's taken us all this time to record it. What a shame.

    In the back room of the White House Tavern we all hung out — Dylan, Richard Farina and Carolyn Hester, Theo Bikel, Tom Paxton, Van Ronk and Terry Thal, Logan English, Paul Clayton, Oscar Brand, Gene Raskin and his wife, Francesca, whose death profoundly affected him, until his worldwide hit song "Those Were The Days" restored his will to work.

    I remember Jimmy Baldwin would scowl and puff smoke at us. Old Ernie the German would shout at us "You can't sing here!" Theo would protest "I wouldn't mind if he said ‘You shouldn't sing here.’" Young Ernie, the American son, would put his head in the back room door and give us the silent beck to start the singing again. A free round of steins of ale would follow.

    Then the Shanties would start and the Rebel songs. Bikel would start on the Russian songs. That's when the woman upstairs would pound the broom handle on her floor and Old Ernie would threaten to call the cops. It was years later, after the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, that the old woman and Old Ernie relented and finally quit trying to shut us up.

    Many other times and places come to mind as I listen through these songs. The scene shifts to The Limelight on 7th Ave. and finally on to our true "Home" in Greenwich Village, The Lion's Head, where the great Odetta would lead us in song with the Kingston Trio, Jerry Jeff Walker, the Limelighters [sic] and even Brendan Behan and the minstrel from Clare, Willie Clancy, joining us on the Uilleann pipes and setting the house aroar with his humorous songs. Then Seamus Ennis and the mighty Joe Heaney would strike pride into the hearts of the Irish contingent.;

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  4. Elmer Gantry20 March, 2012

    Michael

    Just wanted to add that the more I listen to Paul Clayton, the more I have come to think that given his extraordinary achievements as a collector and singer (in what was a short life) he deserves to be considered as a kind of American Martin Carthy, rather than as a Dylan sidekick or simply a source of songs for Bob.

    to my mind, his albums of sea shanties and of dulcimer songs )at least) belong among the great American folk albums.

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  5. Elmer, many thanks for your comments, but as to the question you ask about Joe Heaney & Bob Dylan - I'm sorry but I just don't know an answer.

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  6. Declan O'Connell01 April, 2012

    On Saturday 22 December 1962, Joe Heaney was featured on the bill at the Singers’ Club at the Pindar of Wakefield pub in King’s Cross in London along with club hosts Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Heaney sang unaccompanied, some songs in Irish, some in English. Bob Dylan, who was in London to work on a BBC television play, was in the audience. He was asked to sing and sang two songs. MacColl wasn’t impressed. For him, Heaney was the real deal and Dylan was an upstart (Ben Harker, Class Act: The Cultural and Political Life of Ewan MacColl, London, Pluto Press, 2007:172-3). Apparently the upstart was supposed to have a five minute floor spot to sing two songs but managed to take twenty to sing “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” and “Masters of War” and bring the house down. MacColl was not amused. (Clinton Heylin, Behind the Shades, London, Penguin, 1991: 164-5)

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  7. Elmer Gantry05 April, 2012

    Declan

    Thanks for this - will check out the MacColl book.

    I am guessing that Dylan also must have heard of Heaney from people like Liam Clancy, Martin Carthy, Paul Clayton and others.

    Speaking of Clayton, I have been doing some digging into the origins of the song 'Who's gonna buy your Chickens' which allegedly was the song on which he based 'Who's going to buy your Ribbons'.

    The best I can do far is this work song, which has only a very minor resemblance to Clayton's song:

    http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ys3T_6clobAC&pg=PA231&dq=Folk+Songs+WHO+GON+BRING+YOU+CHICKENS?&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C-18T5XbBdCWiQempM3FCQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false



    The best i can do so far is this

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    Replies
    1. You can see the sheet music for "Who Gon Bring You Chickens" from 1923 here: http://bringyouchickens.wordpress.com/

      Delete
  8. Elmer Gantry05 April, 2012

    Michael

    This is the only version of "Whos gon Bring Your Chickens' I could find:

    Six months in jail ain't so long, baby,
    It's workin' on the county farm.
    Got my pick an' shovel now, baby,
    Yo' true lub is gone.
    Who's gwine to be yo' true lub, baby,
    When I 'm gone?
    Who gwine to bring you chickens, honey,
    When I'm workin' on the county farm?

    my guess is Clayton may have put the other verses together from other sources.

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  9. Elmer Gantry23 April, 2012

    Michael

    Thought this curiosity might interest you.

    Its Paul Westerberg (one of my favourite (relatively) recent songwriters doing a version of 'All I really want to do':

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Oqt88Ou4A&feature=related

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  10. Elmer Gantry16 August, 2012

    Michael

    Was wondering if the revised version of the Encyclopedia (which unfortunately I do not have) has entries on either Tom Paxton or Eric Andersen...

    It seems to me that as his direct contemporaries and as part of a group which undoubtedly influenced one another they should be there.

    Dylan paid tribute to Eric Andersen on stage in Norway in the late 90s and, indeed, he has made a series of impressive albums from Ghosts On the Road in 1989 onwards. His late career revival, in some respects, is similar to Dylan's...

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  11. Elmer Gantry07 November, 2012

    Michael

    With reference to Paul Clayton, I have recently noticed that Bob's version of 'Shenandoah' could possibly be taken as an oblique tribute to him.

    For example, it includes a line that seem to appear only in Clayton's version of the song, which appears on his album of sea shanties, Whaling and Sailing Songs from the Days of Moby Dick:

    Well, a white man loved an Indian maiden

    Added to this, it also an interpolated lyric from another song, 'Sally Brown', which appears on the same Clayton album:


    For seven long years, I courted Sally
    Look away, you rollin' river
    Seven more years, I longed to have her

    For seven long years I courted Sally
    Look away, you rollin' river
    Seven more years I longed to have her

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  12. Elmer Gantry08 November, 2012

    Michael

    In the interests of accuracy, should add that Clayton's is the first recorded version of 'Shenandoah' to include the line about 'the Indian Maiden'. A lot of subsequent versions have included this line - including the version recorded by Bob and the more recent one recorded by Bruce Springsteen.

    Clayton's is my favourite version of the song - followed by those by Paul Robeson & Van Morrison. Dylan's version doesn't really do much for me, as he alters - to no great effect - that great tune.

    Clayton himself stated that he derived his version from the singing of Stanley Slade, the English folk singer...

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  13. Elmer Gantry06 December, 2012

    Michael

    In relation to Paul Clayton there is a glaring (and rather ridiculous) error about him in David dalton's new book about Bob.

    In it, Dalton claims that Clayton streched the idea of the folk 'concept' album to such lengths that he actually recorded an album about 'Hunt The Cutty Awk: Awk Hunting in the Inner Hebrides'...

    Of course, there is no such album and the title was one of Dave Van Ronk's typical jokes in his brilliant memoir, which was put together by Elijah Wald after DVR's death...

    The fact that a simple google search or a check on the excellent discography of Clayton's work at http://www.wirz.de/music/claytfrm.htm wold have shown that such an album does not exist does not fill me with great confidence in the rest of Dalton's research..


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