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Title: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: The Shift on May 01, 2009, 07:13:02 AM Just listening to Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, and Ballad of a Thin Man comes on...
That opening tack piano riff made me think my iPod had thrown a wobbly and jumped over to an early version, or a piano demo, of Brian Wilson's City Blues. Uncanny resemblance for those first few seconds, even though the pace is a little gentler in Dylan's tune. Anyone else noticed this? Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: variable2 on May 01, 2009, 05:47:14 PM that would be on account of the same 2 chords (b minor, e minor) being used in both..
Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: Jay on May 02, 2009, 11:31:30 PM Funny how you don't notice something so obvious untill somebody tells you to look for it....
Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: The Shift on May 03, 2009, 02:22:39 AM that would be on account of the same 2 chords (b minor, e minor) being used in both.. It's more of a similarity than the chords used. It's, erm, a very direct inspiration. Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: Jay on May 03, 2009, 10:21:14 PM It's more noticable on the "Cocaine Tapes" demo from 1982.
Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: variable2 on May 04, 2009, 02:30:23 PM that would be on account of the same 2 chords (b minor, e minor) being used in both.. It's more of a similarity than the chords used. It's, erm, a very direct inspiration. not much more concrete and direct than harmony.. along with melody and rhythm.. Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: MBE on May 04, 2009, 05:12:27 PM It seems inspired by the Dylan song, but I never thought of it before. I know the Dylan album and the two Brian versions pretty well and it just never connected. There is some of the same foreboding vibe on the 1982 recording.
Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: donald on May 05, 2009, 07:14:06 AM The first lyric line of Ballad of a Thin Man would seem a fitting description of Brian....and you KNOW something is happening but you don't know what it is...Do you Mr. Wilson?
Perhaps an idea for a cover for Brian to do? Perhaps patented BB background vocal sound in place of Al Koopers organ? Definitely. I can hear it in my head! Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: Roger Ryan on May 05, 2009, 10:15:36 AM Well, isn't "Ballad of a Thin Man" inspired by the blues standard "St. John's Infirmary"? I would suspect the latter song would have been a bigger influence on Brian if he was thinking of writing a blues number.
Title: Re: City Blues / Ballad of a Thin Man Post by: Fall Breaks on May 06, 2009, 04:41:19 AM The first lyric line of Ballad of a Thin Man would seem a fitting description of Brian....and you KNOW something is happening but you don't know what it is...Do you Mr. Wilson? Me too. Imagine Brian singing "you see this one-eyed midget, shouting the world NOOOO!". Hilarious!Perhaps an idea for a cover for Brian to do? Perhaps patented BB background vocal sound in place of Al Koopers organ? Definitely. I can hear it in my head! |