Blood in the Tracks by Paul Metsa;Rick Shefchik; & Rick Shefchik

Author:Paul Metsa;Rick Shefchik; & Rick Shefchik [Metsa, Paul & Shefchik, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: MUS035000 MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Rock, MUS020000 MUSIC / History & Criticism, MUS017000 MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Folk & Traditional
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

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After “Tangled Up in Blue,” the musicians took a break. “There was nothing else we could do,” Odegard said. “It was very powerful. It was spiritual. We were uplifted. Everything beyond that point was going to be gravy. We knew it. The vibe was pleasant. I didn’t care if I never played a guitar again. For the rest of my life, that made me fulfilled right there. So we took a break.”

Dylan went to the vending machine for more coffee. Odegard ran across the street to Skol Liquors to get a carton of milk for Jakob. Weber went out into the hall to call Peter Ostroushko and Jim Tordoff, because Dylan had asked him if he knew a mandolin player. Before Weber could reach Ostroushko, Dylan had returned to the studio and the musicians were already working on the next song—the sprawling, melodramatic “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.”

“I left the studio,” Weber said. “No cell phones at that time. So I walk out of the studio and use the phone in the hallway. The door closed and I’m calling these guys to come over—all prearranged, of course. And as I walk out the door, the door closes, the red light goes on—‘Do Not Enter; Recording in Session.’ And in that short time, Bob had gone over to Gregg and Bill and Billy and taught them the basic three chords to ‘Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.’”

Dylan had attempted two solo takes of the song on the first night of the New York sessions, getting a complete version of the nine-minute-forty-five-second song on the second try. He never did attempt a version with the full Deliverance band in New York. The solo take was scheduled for inclusion on Blood on the Tracks, but Dylan’s growing appreciation for his Minneapolis sidemen had apparently convinced him that he could record a better version with this band.

“David came out of the booth and he looked at the guys that were still there,” Odegard said. “I was just done—I didn’t want to play anymore. And David said to Berg and Peterson in particular, ‘So hey, you guys, here’s how it is. This is a long song. You might think it’s done, but it’s not. Just keep playing, because it’s not done. This is like a nine-minute song. So just keep on playing.’ Bob started playing a few notes. He said, ‘Yeah, okay, well, let’s just get into it,’ and they played it. There was only one take of that song.”

“His brother comes through the studio door and he comes up to me,” Peterson recalled. “He says, ‘Billy, when you think this song is done, it’s not done.’ I just keep playing and I think, ‘That’s all the advice you got for me?’”

The key to the Minneapolis version is Berg’s propulsive drumming with his brushes. Dylan’s solo version meanders along like many story songs in the folk tradition, but with the band behind him the song has the steady hum of a locomotive hurtling down the tracks.

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