 |
The time leading up to the conception of JWH was marred by personal stress and misfortune for Bob Dylan. An exhaustive recording and touring schedule coupled with contractual problems had left him emotionally and physically drained while his motorcycle crash on July 29th, 1966, it could be argued,
led
to a spiritual awakening of sorts. The recovery from the accident afforded Dylan the time and breathing space to reflect on both his life and his art. Howard Sounes wrote in, "Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan", "In the peace of Woodstock he stayed relatively drug-free, raising a family, playing music with friends that had a vibrant, natural sound, and spending part of each day reading the Bible and the Hank Williams songbook." His mother said of his withdrawal to his home in Woodstock that, "of all the books in his home, The Bible was the book that got the most use". Dylan also said that during his days there he had been "dealing with the devil in a fearful way". While exactly what he was referring to may be unclear, it could account for the numerous, sometimes overt and other times discreet, allusions to Biblical scripture. Author Bert Cartwright wrote in his book, "The Bible in the Lyrics of Bob Dylan", that there were a total of sixty-one biblical references scattered throughout the album's tracks.* |
So, seventeen months after the release of his spectacular "Blonde On Blonde" album, and after an almost equal period of retirement/ recovery from his accident, Bob Dylan arrived in Nashville in the fall of 1967 with a different look and sound along with an altered perspective regarding both life and making music. Seasoned session man and JWH bass player Charles McCoy observed, "I was amazed at the change from "Blonde On Blonde" to "John Wesley Harding". The recording was totally different. Of course, he sounded different and he looked different. When he first came for "Blonde On Blonde" it was the wild fright wig. This time he came back and his hair was a lot shorter and his voice sounded different." Dylan's approach to writing had changed dramatically too. With "Blonde On Blonde", the lyrics came after, or at the same time, as the music. With JWH, the words came first. In fact, by the time he entered Columbia Studios to begin recording, the lyrical content was complete for ten of the album's twelve songs. In a 1978 interview, Dylan spoke of this change: "There's only two songs on that album which came at the same time as the music. The rest of the songs were written out on paper and I found the tunes for them later. I didn't do that before and I haven't done it since. That might account for the specialness of that album." Indeed, not only had Dylan's writing method changed, but so had his style. Shortly after the release of JWH, Dylan commented, "What I'm trying to do now is to not use too many words. There's no line that you can stick your finger through, there's no hole in any of the stanzas. There's no blank filler. Each line has something." Referring to this pared down lyrical shift, Allen Ginsberg remembered a conversation he had with Dylan around this time: "In 1968 he was talking poetics with me. He was telling me how he was writing shorter lines and that every line had to mean something. He wasn't just making up a line to go with a rhyme anymore. Each line had to advance the story, bring the song forward. From that time came some of the stuff he did with The Band, like "I Shall Be Released" and some of his strong laconic ballads like, "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest." There was to be no wasted language, no wasted breath. All the imagery was to be functional rather than ornamental."
Recorded in three short sessions in October and November 1967, Dylan was acutely aware of, and intent on, capturing the spontaneity and simplicity of the moment of creation, warts and all. McCoy recalled about the sessions, "We just flew through that stuff", while drummer Kenny Buttrey remembered: "We went in and knocked 'em out like demos. It seemed to be the rougher the better. Dylan would hear a mistake and laugh a little bit to himself as if to say, 'Great man, that's just great. Just what I'm looking for'…he knew everything and knew exactly what he wanted."
What Bob Dylan didn't want was anything to do with the overblown production and technical corpulence that had become the norm. JWH producer Bob Johnston later said, "Every artist in the world was in the studio trying to make the biggest-sounding record they possibly could. So what does Dylan do? He comes to Nashville and tells me he wants to record with a bass, drum, and guitar." On the tenth anniversary of the release of JWH, Dylan commented, "I didn't know how to record the way other people were recording and I didn't want to. The Beatles had just released "Sgt. Pepper's", which I didn't like at all. I thought it was a very indulgent album though the songs on it were real good. I didn't think all that production was necessary because The Beatles had never done that before."
The impact of Woody Guthrie's death on Oct 3, 1967, Dylan's primary motivation and inspiration, cannot be understated. Just two weeks after Guthrie's passing, Dylan was in the studio recording JWH and further explored his idol's style and motifs. The plaintiff, Country-tinged balladry and rootsy American storytelling that were first made famous by Guthrie, and had completely enraptured a young Robert Zimmerman so many years before, were returned to by Dylan on songs like, "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine", "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" and the title track itself. Other songs, like the near honky-tonk of "Down Along The Cove" and the more traditional C&W feel of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", both replete with excellent steel guitar work courtesy of Pete Drake and authentic lovelorn vocal phrasing, hinted at the Country sideroad he would venture down on "Nashville Skyline". For all its rustic and earthy simplicity the LP is not without its fair share of rolling rhythmic gems like, "As I Went Out One Morning", "Drifter's Escape", and of course, "All Along The Watchtower."
Another interesting aside is Dylan's introduction to The Bauls Of Bengal by manager Albert Grossman. Grossman had befriended The Bauls while visiting India the previous year and had brought them to his estate in Woodstock the following summer. The Bauls were traveling musical gypsies who blended poetry and historical narratives with traditional instruments and Eastern religion to create simple yet powerful chorusless music. Often times they detailed the pursuit of an individual's destiny and the inherent right for people to develop freely. Their formula was surely not lost on Dylan, and while the extent of their influence is up for debate, and for many minimal at best, it should be noted that much of the music on JWH explored similar themes in a similar manner, albeit with an American emphasis.
As for the album cover, it was almost a visual reflection of the music contained within; pastoral and unadorned, void of cultural icons and kaleidoscopic colors, it was, like the music, an unequivocal rejection to what was going on in music, particularly The Beatles' SPLHCB. Dylan simply flanked himself between two of the Indian minstrels with one of Grossman's gardeners behind them, and the black and white photo that became the sleeve was taken. Author Andy Gill wrote about the cover in his book, "Classic Bob Dylan 1962-1969: My Back Pages", "Turned upside down, it was possible to discern the faces of The Beatles and, some claimed, the hand of God emerging from the bark at the top of the tree. Photographer John Berg, when informed about the faces, checked his original and found them there, a purely serendipitous presence."
Ultimately, it was a blend of all the aforementioned ingredients that
led
Bob Dylan to serve up the dish that became the savory John Wesley Harding: a hearty portion of Woody Guthrie, a dash of Hank Williams and a sprinkling of Country and Western combined with a mixture of religion and tough times and topped with an attitude all his own: this vinyl entree fed the souls of millions. In the end, artists who become as relevant and important as Dylan, rarely if ever, do so by following popular trends. So while The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" acted as the catalyst that brought on the full-blown production and studio gimmickry that was to overtake the album-making process, Bob Dylan, in typical fashion, bucked the trend and stayed true to his roots, and in so doing, not only cemented his standing as a Rock'n Folk troubadour, but created a musical masterwork with nothing more than a "bass, drum and guitar".
|
