Expecting Rain

Another greatest hit here. Last Played in 2005. The thing with this one is I think it's so much better & effective as a slow tempo arrangement. The version from completely unplugged & MTV outake is just great! Others comments, posts, dates etc for track talk #86!

MEZ

And another song that's not improved in any way by transforming it into a plodding country blues shuffle.

NET.

Woo.

Watchtower.

New Orleans 1981. Wooooo! Agreed, plodding country blues shuffle not so good.

I'm really not sure I've heard a plodding country blues shuffle of the song before. Are you saying that the Unplugged version is like that? I would almost call that version the definitive. Almost....the original is just so damn good.

I hate love songs. But this one is so fun and poetic that I can't help but love it.

I really like the Rolling Thunder rendition in '76.

The Unplugged version is very good. Ithica 1999 is actually quite terrific as well. Paris July 8 1978 is a cool, slow burn.

Hey LJ, I often find myself enjoying the NET so I'm assuming I would like other plodding, country blues shuffles... Can you recommend me some of the best? You seem knowledgeable.

I'm sorry, but I find Unplugged godawful from start to finish.

I like his shirt, that's about it.

Maybe the most perfect studio recording I've ever heard, by anybody.

The '95 arrangement is stunning, but nothing - and I mean nothing - can even approach the original.

With regard to the thread about Dylan's darkest song, this may well be his very brightest. There's such a joy in the song that when I read the lyrics, I want to listen to it immediately. And in fact I will. The lyrics are pretty tightly structured as well, with the many consecutive rhymes (I think it's AAABCCCD) perfectly matching the overall exuberance of the song.

And then the lyrics themselves; it's the perfect love-song really: everything seems to be up against the singer, but he takes it all in and overcomes it by the sheer joy of his feelings. I've always been particularly fond of the beginning of the second verse: the contrasting images of the drunken politician, the weeping mothers on the street and then the sleeping saviours, all of whom are finally, in the B-rhyme ('they wait for you'), subordinated to the heroine of the song.

All in all, a song to play very loudly with all the windows open. As far as live recordings go, to my ears only the 1981 versions come anywhere near the album version, though I 've always had a soft spot for the violin in the Budokan release.

I love the MTV unplugged version, it's a completely different song from the original. Almost a song of regret of not making a try for that girl he desperately loved. At least, that's the feeling I get from the unplugged version, whereas the original version is one of pure joy and being in love. To me, the two songs can't be compared.

The Budokan version on the other hand sounds really fake to me and in the 81 versions Bob just tries to copy the original and doesn't come close. I wonder what the song would've sounded live in '66.

it's the highlight of unplugged for me.

Some live performances:

Vancouver, 20.7.2005
The last time he played it in concert. The band does a fine, quasi-acoustic arrangement but unfortunately the vocal performance is not as good as it should be.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/zo5uae

Canandaigua, 28.6.1988
One of the earliest NET performances, my favourite version from the G.E.Smith era
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ge292a

Brussels, 8.10.1987
The Heartbreakers was the only band that could play a really good pastiche of the original. I saw the show in Dortmund that year and "I Want" was not only a very pleasant surprise but also one of the best performances of that particular concert. This version from Brussels sounds a little bizarre. There is a long instrumental part at the beginning, obviously he didn't like to start singing or he had forgotten the lyrics. The ending is also amusing.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/r3ezf0

Paris´, 5.7.1978
I think the slow arrangement that year was a very successful.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ca89e8

Oklahoma City, 18.5.1976
http://www.sendspace.com/file/thmx4j

Fantastic song. Easily one of my favorites from Blonde On Blonde.

Thanks for those posts Thetruthisobscure!!!!! & everybody's comments interesting. MEZ

This one always did it for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr48uFCjBG4

Rolling Thunder 1976

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6LAQvfmBKA

Hey Longy, what's your favorite food? I'm just wondering if someone without any taste can have one. HA!

Served.

If Bob and the Beatles actually got together back then, I think the result would look something like this song.

Another delusional NET fan... Yeah, you're "special.

Unplugged is a 12th rate performance as every song has been performed 12 times better some other time. Nice shirt though. Sometimes I get the DVD from the library and watch it with the sound down.

I Want You is not really a love song. It's a want song. It's a song of perpetual desire. As with all the songs on Blonde on Blonde, the singer is barely holding on. The flood of characters doing what they do, with Bob reacting only with that chorus, the only reality he knows. Despite the chaos of life, my craving for YOU is all that really matters.
The most telling part of the song for me is the bridge

Now all my fathers, they've gone down
True love they've been without it.
But all their daughters put me down
'Cause I don't think about it.

I've always interpreted a generational divide to these lines. His fathers have gone down (died?) having lived without 'true love'. But their daughters (his sisters?) put singer down because he doesn't care for 'true love'. 'True love' is a concept that died long ago, all that matters is want.

There is truly nothing close to the album. It's some of the finest everything he's ever done. The harp playing is impeccable, the song is perfectly sung, and the band is killer.

Although we could all stand to not hear the same bad joke twice in the same thread, I do agree with LJ here. I am also not a fan of Unplugged. It's a little too transformed (and slow) for me.
That 76 version is always funny. It's kind of a sloppy drunk version of the album. I never thought that song fit with that band.
However,
TruthIsObscure you picked some really great 80's versions. That's when he captured the adrenaline rush of the song that's just necessary for me. Call me a purist...
That 88 version is brilliantly done. I love how he delivers those lines in that great88 way that's just plain infectious. The harmony works so beautifully as well.

Continuing in that vein, I submit one from the following dark year of 1989.
This version is as honest as they come. It's acoustic, it's speedy fast, Bob sings the song all over the map, it has an incredible harp solo and finally ends quite dramatically.
NET haters stay away from this one especially, NET lovers you'll love this...

Troy NY
October 27 1989
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pn3coy

We cannot forget The Boss':
Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania
February 5 1975
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nll3v8

I guess this one is not plodding
http://rapidshare.com/files/285142089/I ... __1990.MP3

Seriously though, how could you not at least love John Brown? That, to me, is the definitive performance. Then again, I don't dig the twangy arrangement he's been utilizing since not long after, which might be part of it:

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

C'mon, that kicks keester! He even changes his vocal style for that one song, if that's what's putting you off.

No live version of this song will ever beat the original one on Blonde on Blonde - it works so much better fast. Plus the best way to listen to it is with a good pair of headphones.

When looking for something to help lift my spirits...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2R8pE2I ... PL&index=2

Thanks for that version by Bruce Springsteen, I really like that one.