For the old time fans, let me know if this is interesting please…
For all the old-timer fans, some stories about how/when Dylan wrote some songs:
- “I’m Not From Around Here.” The band was in Poughkeepsie, NY, touring for the first album, Won. They asked some guy on the street in a very derelict part of town for directions, and he yelled at them “I’m not from Poughkeepsie!” It became a big recurring joke for them, and also Poughkeepsie was the name of the second album.
- “City Lights.” In 1999, I was finishing 2 years of business school to get my MBA, Dylan was picking me up after a class and I gave him the wrong end time. He sat in the car for about an hour looking at the downtown skyline and wrote it. He originally envisioned it as a young guy from a small town who had moved to the city and was dating an older man or woman (I can’t remember). This is the song that supposedly is in heavy rotation at Banana Republic on their muzak. We’ve never heard it there, or heard from them, but people have told us…
If this is at all interesting, leave a comment and I’ll do some more. Wanna guess which song he wrote after our biggest fight ever? (no, not “screw you” that was pre-me)
on May 9th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Yes, it’s always fun to hear about the origins of good songs. I thought of Hal Blaine when we were visiting my mother-in-law in LA a few years ago. Was there any particular old LA song on the stereo that inspired that one?
Did anything in particular inspire Governor of Fun? I remember the bid for another public office around that time: Commissioner of Milk. Is there a particular public-office fascination going on there?
on May 11th, 2006 at 8:40 am
I think I wrote “Hal Blaine” coming out of a heavy Beach Boys faze. It was probably 1993. I was listening to the Phil Spector boxed set a fair amount then, too. No particular performance inspired the song, though for the recording we did quote the “Be My Baby” intro. But that, I’m almost certain, was Brian Hanna the producer’s idea. He spent a fair amount of time using a big plate reverb to approximate the sound of the original.
“Governor of Fun” was written during the same period, during which I was listening to a lot of ’60s soul and Brill Building stuff and craftsman-like rock or formalist pop of all eras. So with that one I was trying to write a bragging, lover-man song in a mid- to late-’60s mode, though I suppose filtered through Ben Vaughan or someone like that–someone who, like me, loves old records and doesn’t have a particularly strong singing voice–and of course playing with the irony of a nerdy, non-lover man singing a bragging, lover-man song. I had done an earlier version of that joke with the obscure “Danz U Down.”
on May 11th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Oh, and the milk commissioner thing: The editor or at least an editor of the Twin Cities Reader wanted a hook for a cover story they had assigned James Diers to write on me, and I think they wanted to frame the story around a gag bid for governor, inspired by the song. Which I thought was kind of played out and altogether too literal, but then again, I needed the press. The milk commissioner thing I’m pretty sure was Nina’s idea. We just thought it’d be funnier to make a bid for some lowly, fictitious office. But really that whole thing was driven by the Reader. Now, having worked as an editor, I realize that I probably didn’t need to be so compliant.
on May 15th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Geez, Nina I can’t say I’m much of an old timer or a fan but I dont’ know if this is interesting or not. Oh- and I guess “Rocketship” What do I win? Oh and I heard about some tour van stories that were kind of interesting, but- don’t ask, you know, road rules. Just never ever mention Portland.