Sign Language / Bob Dylan

[wytchcroft]

(Bob Dylan)

You speak to me in sign language,
As I'm eating a sandwich in a small cafe
At a quarter to three.

But I can't respond to your sign language.
You're taking advantage, bringing me down.
Can't you make any sound?



'Twas there by the bakery, surrounded by fakery.
This is my story, still I'm still there.
Does she know I still care?

Link Wray was playing on a jukebox, I was paying
For the words I was saying, so misunderstood.
He didn't do me no good.

Sometimes a song justs slips away... with a melody perhaps too close to Joey for Bob to record himself,
Sign Language was given to Eric Clapton and recorded on the album No Reason to Cry.

The album was put together with most of The Band and several amigos at their Malibu studio and the overall sound, particularly on this song - is more akin to Desire.

Bob joins on harmonies - sings a lead verse and plays guitars.

The lyrics - which at first read like a comical throw away - fakery and bakery (!) etc...
actually reveal Dylan's usual concerns; life on the road with a wayward compass,
as well as the reflective aspects of the Rolling Thunder tour,
which may be why the singing is extremely sad, matched by a shivering Robbie Robertson solo.

'Does she know I still care?' could be addressed to Sara or Joan or his muse..
The cafe - recalls the lines from Blood on the Tracks; 'music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air'.

The final verse seems like a kiss off to the fuzz-electric sounds of his mid 60s period.

Even the title - Sign Language - has the cold shadow of the Cross flckering over it.

The inability to communicate would become an increasing concern of Bob's -
if anyone has seen the interview with him in the 1980s where his only real response is to DRAW the interviewer -
you'll know what i'm getting at!

Anyways, I've been playing it a lot again recently and I love it.

The version above crackles a lot - it's just some guy's LP (not mine!)...
But I never recommend listening outposts (lastFM, Foxy, whatever, that's for you to choose).

Eric's solo version. here.

And if you don't know who Link Wray is. Try this.
You will NOT be disappointed!

Comments

[gunter-spb.livejournal.com]

I speak only in German. But is very glad to accept your LJ in the list of friends. It is very pleasant that in Britain there are friends of Russia who like Russian cinema. Excuse for wrong English language. I used the Internet-translator.:)))

My LJ is devoted tanks of times of the First and Second world wars and a few the fantastic literature in Russia.:)

Hello:)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

Thank You!:)

Yes, I enjoy Russian cinema very much.
Also Fantastic Literature - but this interest is not seen in my journal here yet.

Thanks again!:)

Re: Hello:)

[gunter-spb.livejournal.com]

For my LJ (ЖЖ in Russian) internet-translator: http://www.translate.ru

Good lock for you and all Britannien peoples!

:)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

And to you also!:)

Re: :)

[gunter-spb.livejournal.com]

Yes. :))))