Expecting Rain

Paris Review -- Bob Dylan

Scott Warmuth
‏@scottwarmuth1
6:57 AM - 21 Aug 2014
I found enough instances of @bobdylan's use of material from the @parisreview to narrow things down to the collection he was likely reading.

https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/statu ... 4756582400

Oh, more hints and no clues....

As always

An article about Warmuth's work:
http://www.bohemian.com/northbay/dylan- ... id=2604974

"Cry Awhile"

https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/statu ... 6046338049

Scott Warmuth @scottwarmuth1 2h
Captain Appleblossom sings on Pennsylvania Line's awful mess & The Denver Road 'bout to melt. http://grooveshark.com/#!/profile/Capta ... s/23926017 … pic.twitter.com/nMvp0DyuGf

^That's a great song!

Now if you what to hear what the engine done,
We left San Antonio at a quarter to one.
Engineer said to me:
We gotta make connection with the T&P.

T&P, pullin' in,
Tryin' to keep up with the I&GN.
I&GN, they're on the funk,
Tryin' to make connection with the Grand Trunk.

Grand Trunk is four days late,
Tryin' to keep up with the Nickel Plate.
Nickel Plate is a-comin' 'round the corner,
Tryin' to make connection with the Lackawanna.

Lackawanna, runnin' like a fountain,
Tryin' to keep up with the Iron Mountain.
Iron Mountain, goin' swell,
Tryin' to keep up with the NF&L(?*).

NF&L(?) hops like a flea,
Tryin' to make connection with the MK&T.
MK&T had to wait,
Tryin' to keep up with the Golden Gate.

Golden Gate runs up an alley,
Tryin' to make connection with the Lehigh Valley.
Lehigh Valley, shoutin' with glee,
Tryin' to keep up with the P&LE.

Oh, the P&LE they run all day,
Tryin' to keep up with the Santa Fe.
Santa Fe sure do go,
Tryin' to make connection with the B&O.

B&O runs to the sea,
Tryin' to keep up with the old IC.
IC spends the cash,
Tryin' to make connection with the Wabash.

The Wabash is a-runnin' fine,
Tryin' to keep up with the Pennsylvania Line.
Pennsylvania Line's in an awful mess,
Tryin' to make connection with the C&S.


Oh, the C&S just barely tore(?),
Tryin' to keep up with the Big Four.
Big Four, runnin' through a thicket,
Tryin' to keep up with the Southern Pacific.

Southern Pacific, lean and sway,
Tryin' to make connection with the C&A.
C&A, runnin' like sin,
Tryin' to keep up with the L&N.

L&N just barely flew,
Tryin' to make connection with the CB&Q.
CB&Q, goin' slow,
Tryin' to keep up with the T&NO.

The T&NO, runnin' fast,
Tryin' to make connection with Aransas Pass
Aransas Pass, huff an' roar,
Tryin' to keep up with the old West Shore.

The West Shore with an awful load,
Tryin' to make connection with the Denver Road,
And the Denver Road, just about to melt,
Tryin' to keep up with the Cotton Belt.

And the Cotton Belt, they're behind so far—
[SLOWLY] They can't keep up with a trolley car.



A great advertising wave of the new millennium was finding obscure songs from the past to promote new products or tie in with corporate identities. A worthy suggestion for the Amtrak corporation would be to seek out that great artist from the early days of musical Americana, Captain Appleblossom, that is if they can find out anything about him at all. He recorded during what was one of the heydays of the train industry, creating at least one number that seems like it would be eternally appropriate for railroad travel: "Timetable Blues." This track was released by Rounder on that label's Train 45 anthology, an entertaining collection which also features contributions from the likes of the Pullman Porters Quartette, Homer & Jethro and several groups of singing convicts. One of three different collections of train songs produced by this label, this seems to have gotten the best reaction, with the Captain Appleblossom track picked quite often as a favorite of critics. The song was one of four the artist cut for Okeh in 1929. The others were "The Cowboy's Lament," "When Father Put the Paper on the Wall," and "The Book of Etiquette," all told revealing a wide range of interests, including what might be one of the only songs in existence about hanging wallpaper. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi

https://twitter.com/tywilc/status/536315564709666816
Tyler Wilcox @tywilc
Good story in latest @tapeopmag abt Dylan using specific "template" songs during together through life sessions cc


https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/status/536326830329200640
Scott Warmuth @scottwarmuth1
@tywilc Templates seem to be part of the School of Bob. "Love And Theft" drummer David Kemper tells a similar tale.


The @tapeopmag (subscription required) includes a story of Dylan using older songs as templates for the songs on Together Through Life, meaning Dylan and the band would make small changes to the music, enough to pass copyright tests, and use that as the musical track. If it was decided that the changes weren't enough to avoid copyright infringement, then they would by the rights to the music. The person telling the story to the interviewer quotes Dylan as bristling when the use of older songs is called a "cover" by someone at the sessions, insisting that they're "templates." The text for all of this was included in the tweet without subscription but has since been removed by the poster.

Warmuth, replying to that post, included an image of some text in which Kemper describes the band learning old songs as a basis for new ones.

Warmuth is presenting his work at the Popular and American Culture Studies Conference, at the Grateful Dead Caucus

http://conference2014.southwestpca.org/presentation/bob-dylans-secret-answer-record-uncle-john-connection

Bob Dylan's Secret Answer Record: The Uncle John Connection

Presentation Title:

Bob Dylan's Secret Answer Record: The Uncle John Connection
In 1996 Robert Hunter responded to a suggestion that his lyrics to "Uncle John's Band" functioned, in part, as an homage to the New Lost City Ramblers. Hunter's assessment of the discussion: "It's right on the money." On his "Love And Theft" album from 2001 Bob Dylan, through lyrical and musical appropriation, crafted the album's opener to operate as a secret answer record, or meta-response, to this well-known Grateful Dead song. Bob Dylan continued to make nods to the New Lost City Ramblers in hidden ways throughout that album, as well as on his 2006 album Modern Times, his book Chronicles: Volume One and through the use of appropriation in interviews. In 2009 Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter collaborated on Dylan's album Together Through Life. On this record Dylan and Hunter employed the same technique that was used on "Uncle John's Band" to pay hidden homage to another artist. Through side-by-side analysis of the work of Dylan, Hunter and the New Lost City Ramblers, and an unpublished interview with New Lost City Rambler John Cohen, these secrets are made plain.

Paper
Topic area:
Grateful Dead
Presenter:
scottwarmuth

In regard to this post about Warmuth:



An explanation of the source for Kemper's claims about the use of old songs:

https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/statu ... 5074623488

Scott Warmuth
‏@scottwarmuth1

@stanyanfan49 @tywilc No book or journal; I transcribed Kemper's comments from "A Bob Dylan Podcast"—start at 38:46 http://www.prx.org/pieces/20586-dylan-oh-mercy …

Here is the link to the Patti Smith Podcast Warmuth links to
https://beta.prx.org/stories/20586

Also ^

Here is a link to the text referenced in Tyler WIlcox's tweet above.
https://twitter.com/tywilc/status/53632 ... 28/photo/1

It's one you'll want to read.

Worth clicking over and reading the passage which is embedded as an image in the tweet. I can't figure out how to it include here.

Dylan, Celine and Thunder on the Mountain:
https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/statu ... 7168451585
Scott Warmuth
‏@scottwarmuth1
Scan through this page from Céline and see if you can find the 2 lines @bobdylan used in "Thunder on the Mountain"

Maybe this thread could be moved over here.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=82211

Major new article at Vice.com (linked on front page today)-- endorsed by Wamuth as "Cutting edge Dylanology":

Scott Warmuth
@scottwarmuth1
"My Unhealthy Obsession with Bob Dylan's Christmas Lights" by Merrill Markoe. Cutting edge Dylanology.

http://www.vice.com/read/i-have-an-unhealthy-obsession-with-bob-dylans-christmas-lights-129

A nice discussion of Warmuth and this work from a writer of fiction:
http://pioneerproductions.blogspot.no/2015/04/scott-warmuth-sheds-light-on-some-of.html

(From the front page)

Warmuth has gathered together his more recent work on Dylan's sources (though he's gone further and deeper than Dylan's sources at this point -- he's becoming a key link in the folklore tradition he is discussing). This one connects the New Lost City Ramblers, John Cohen, The Dead and Dylan.

http://swarmuth.blogspot.no/2015/12/bob ... e.html?m=1

There's a fair and well-supported critique of the main thesis of Marcus' Invisible Republic (that the Smith Anthology is the tunnel between Dylan's work and the invisible republic of old American music) as well as an excellent marshaling of recent Dylan interviews and publications.

Well worth a read.

Congrats to Warmuth.

thankyou

curious if you have written any new material - or are you writing a book on dylan's use of intertextualization and palimpsests?

Have checked Goon Talk…but nothing new….

Hi oldfan. If you don't already, check out Warmuth's twitter feed where you can track his consistent sleuthing, and not just around Dylan. Here's a link to his first post about the new archive acquisition:

https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/statu ... 4752586752

THere's another post about a Jonathan Lethem piece dealing with Dylan, Richard Prince and Ballard.

I was able to meet Richard Prince about 2 years ago - he's really smart, interesting and funny. His twitter feed is great and often includes references to Dylan (one of his inspirations) and stuff about people around or influenced by Dylan. Prince is a collector of all things Dylan - books, music, photos, memorabilia - in a way that makes ER people look like amateurs. Prince actually bought a second house some years ago to house his various collections.

@RichardPrince4

I'd love to learn more about their artistic relationship. Previous reports and stories suggest it would be fascinating and instructive. Have any insights, blackrayne?

A new post on Dylan and Poe in light of the Nobel prize. It's over at Warmuth's blog, Goon Talk:
http://swarmuth.blogspot.com/2016/10/bob-dylan-and-case-of-hidden-zimmerman.html?view=classic

It's a great read. Enjoy.

Warmuth's instant unfurling of Dylan's construction of the Vanity Fair article on his paintings for Halcyon Gallery is kind of amazing.

Here's a sample of what he's doing: https://twitter.com/scottwarmuth1/status/794164256476250112

Warmuth's twitter feed from the publication of the article through to the next day is well worth checking out.

Wow, this is great!
I must admit, I haven't read much from Scott Warmuth, but whenever I stumble upon something, I'm positively amazed.
Is there another way to read his findings other than on his blog and his twitter?
I wish there were a big book where, in chronological order, song after song was examined with references and sources. In between albums, larger articles would paint the picture from the other perspective (e.g. an overview of Bob's quotations from Shakespeare, from Time magazine, from Ovid, etc.). I'd buy this book in a heartbeat! And a second one as a gift to my friend who thinks that Bob simply "steals".

Not only songs, but also Chronicles and Masked And Anonymous and the paintings, etc. There's so much there. Alas, I don't suppose "they" will let anyone quote full albums, let alone a whole book, to run down side by side with the quotes / references / sources. I too wish there was a way to have such a book, or a DylanWiki or website or whatnot. I know I'd happily contribute with research.