"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:
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:





couldn't get it out of my head ... like, for years. Seriously, waking in the night with just this one little moment of "From a Silver Phial" tinkering through my mind.
uction freaks me out. No Other was released in 1974, when it was all production -city all the time, unless you were Carly Simon or something, but let's not go there. The production work on this album is so layered, dense and, actually, perfect. There's wah wah guitar, backup singers, crazy piano licks. The best of L.A.'s session musicians were hired to play at the recording and they play the hell out of these songs, adding gravity to what was already great. The other thing that makes this album killer is that there is a theme and a thread that works its way through each of the songs and connects them, so as you listen closely to the album over and over again, it all becomes more and more clear and transporting.