I just finished reading Suze Rotolo's A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties. Rotolo is most famous for having had a complicated and inspiring relationship with Bob Dylan early in his career and for appearing with him arm in arm on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Her autobiography is an easy read, and she chronicles not only her time in the Village in the early 60s, but also the trials of growing up the child of two communists in the era of blacklisting, and her post-Dylan trip to then-recently Communist Cuba for several months in 1964. It's interesting to read about a woman's life in the early 60s (I was glad to have recently experienced a visual touchstone of the early 60s in Mad Men) and the limitations that were part and parcel of daily life back then that are now in many ways foreign to us gals. When Suze was with Dylan, everyone expected she would merely be his shadow and have no career or creative pursuit of her own, and, among other things, she was subjected to his own rigid expectations of her looks and her second-class status.

While the book was mainly enjoyable to read, I'm not sure if I was expecting too much, but it was not heavy on details, in my opinion. I respect Rotolo's right to keep some things private, of course, but I also wondered at times why she was compelled to write a book if she wanted to keep so much to herself. Still, the book does give an outline of The Village as an exciting, creative place and also of Dylan as a charismatic but manipulative charmer. She also gives an interesting take on the corrosive effects of fame on individuals, those around them, and their relationships.

If you're trying to escape the inevitable -- late fall's chill in the air -- then slip into an easy sense of denial by listening to Bobby Charles' self titled 1972 album.

The album is bursting with the organic sound of Bearsville, NY in the early 70s crossed with a dash of Cajun spice and that simple, ephemeral combination will warm you right up again.

Bobby Charles is an idiosyncratic songwriter from Louisiana who wrote "See You Later Alligator," known mainly as covered by Bill Haley and His Comets. Charles wasn't one for fame, and hid behind artists like Muddy Waters who covered his work, allowing him to pay the bills. I'm not sure why exactly, but somehow in the early 70s he ended up in Bearsville, New York, hanging out with the likes of Bob Dylan and The Band. That friendship is reflected in the album's sound as well as its production, which is by Rick Danko and John Simon (who also put out at least one excellent solo album). Members of The Band no doubt also contributed musically to this album, though with the exception of a songwriting credit for Danko, they are uncredited.

The album's songs are instantly pleasing through and through. They alternatively ramble along and bound forward energetically, but all the tracks glow with an animated heat that will take that chill right out of you: quite the accomplishment for such a hermetic kind of guy! There's also some sweet, sunshiney love songs on this album that'll have you feeling the sun on your shoulders again and make the return of spring seem not so far away anymore. It's all very bucolic and idyllic, as you shall see.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is pumped about the upcoming Bob Dylan Bootleg Series release. This one, Tell Tale Signs, will be volume 8 and is a two cd compilation of rare and unreleased tracks from 1989-2006. There's even gonna be a super special Dylanphile edition that contains 13 extra tracks, a 7" single and a book about Dylan's singles from all over the world. Crazy! 

Anyway, thanks to my sweet friend Greg, my attention has been turned to one of the tracks from this upcoming release, an alternate version of the song "Mississippi" from Love and Theft. This song was originally recorded in an entirely different version for Time Out of Mind, but was cut from that album and eventually redone again for Love and Theft. Time Out of Mind is my favorite of Dylan's more recent albums, and it's kinda known to have been trimmed of what many claimed were its best tracks.

This unreleased version of "Mississippi" makes the song totally new again. It's incredible: stark and straightforward, making an already great song even better. This version gives the track and especially its hard-edged lyrics a rough majesty that was missing from the ultra-smooth Nashville-ized album version. It will be exciting to hear even more of these tracks on this new release in a few weeks! Tell Tale Signs comes out Oct 7 and in the meantime I'll be pulling out my more recently released Dylan albums and giving 'em a whirl in preparation.

"Not Fade Away" is one of the best songs ever written: simple, direct, pleading, mentions a Cadillac in its lyrics...I mean, what more could you want in a song?

I had the great pleasure of witnessing a Bob Dylan show in 2000 from about four people back. It was incredible, and one of the highlights was "Not Fade Away."  I've pretty much been thinking about the song ever since then.

For Buddy Holly to write something so pure and so fantastically mutable, especially at the age of 21, is remarkable. He owes a debt to Bo Diddley for the beat, that's for sure! The song's been covered a zillion times over and each time there's something new-- whether it's Dylan's band's killer harmonies or Mick Jagger's haughty congas--  and "Not Fade Away" retains its greatness. Yeah, even in the Rush version.

Here's Dylan performing the track back on the same tour I saw him on with his kick ass band.  The sound quality's not the greatest, but I still think it rocks:



Now here's Bruce Springsteen, back when he was the hardest working man in show business, performing the song:



And of course there's the Stones: