03/03/2024
https://youtu.be/MD3oU1gowu4?si=c6-_PUSUxgGLJnAL
Wow, a great doc. I read the big article that came out 7-8 years ago with the backstory. But seeing the copious footage was a delight.
Best quip: "Wow, if a bomb goes off in here, John Denver will be back on top." - Paul Simon
Biggest fan-boy moment: Working out harmonies is something I do with my friends and collaborators. But to see the Titans discussing the options, and then rendering them instantly with their inimitable voices… well, my brain and heart and tear ducts exploded.
Coolest Side-bar: Steve Perry and Darryl Hall sitting on the floor, hanging out like teenagers, making perfect harmony suggestions to Huey Lewis.
Biggest 'Coulda Guessed': Prince playing head games, not showing up, bringing out the worst in everyone, essentially forcing Quincy Jones & Ken Kragen to invite Sheila E. as a lure for Prince. To be clear, there was no one in that room more talented than Prince, and he should've fu***ng been there, and they should've just said yes and given him the outro guitar solo he suggested, even if it would've made the song even longer than it already insufferably was. But what they didn't realize is that it would've been another Prince "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame, or "Purple Rain" at the Superbowl moment for the ages. Regardless, as much as I idolize Prince, he was truly a prick.
Sneakiest Bit: Ray Charles cut his lead vocal next day, blowing the get-everything-in-one-night myth. This was minimized in terms of doc, not really mentioned beyond a remark way off camera, someone says, "Ray's gotta go, he's older than me."
Best Arrangement: Ray Charles' solo piano version off in the corner during warm ups. Honestly, the recording should've been arranged around Ray's piano, not those sesh-cat backing tracks. The vanilla performances and 80's production standards of this recording dated it the minute it was released, which to me is much of why the song is not truly timeless. The bigger reason though is a structural problem: when it goes to the minor-6 "There's a choice we're making…, we're saving our own lives"… that's as cringy, saccharine and hackneyed as can be. And, makes the melody go sky-high, impossible for the average person to sing. That said, it did allow great singers to shine: Steve Perry, Cindy Lauper & Bruce I believe all nailed that moment, maybe others.
Biggest question for Business Affairs Dept.: Did everyone in the room sign releases before the shoot? Did everyone who appeared (or their Estate), have to sign off on the documentary's edits? If so, clearances on this must've taken decades! How do you get Al Jarreau's Estate to sign off on including his embarrassing drunkenness; Dylan on his seeming incompetence?
Biggest Query for Wikipedia: Does the song still generate meaningful royalties to feed those in need in Africa?
Most conspicuous absences: Dolly Parton, Madonna
Worst hair: Lindsey Buckingham
Best Dressed for 2024: Cindy Lauper
Biggest ouch: The artists are listed on the 7" sleeve in alphabetical order, which means Dan Akroyd was top billing.
Best Fantasia (Mine): To see Dylan absolutely petrified, zipping his leather jacket collar up to almost over his chin, alone in front of an expensive microphone and the world of talent watching, with his lips sputtering like sycamore leaves falling in the breeze, wishing the jacket would black-hole portal him to another universe, was priceless; if only because it made something clear: he is not capable of singing as other people do. I like to believe that up until that moment in his life, he'd always thought to himself, "hey, I'm just a singer, and I sound like I'm singin'." But in that moment he realized, "hmmmm, I can't do what they do, and I can't even start to do what they're asking of me." As genius as he is, and as much as he remains one of my greatest heroes, I see him as largely naive, a savant, unaware and unable to emotionally connect with other people or ideas he didn't invent. So, to see his fear and shame, it seemed in that minute we saw him discovering Self. His Greek God/Mark Twain masks were back at home in the closet. The man who rewrote the Bible for atheists of a certain age "Chronicles Volume One", there without his trusty typewriter, and certainly no way to snark his way around a song with zero cynicism. He had to play like everyone else, and he realized, "I'm not capable".
But to his credit, after much discomfort, he suddenly pivots, "Hey Steve, can you play this on the piano for me." Then Steve, (as in Stevie Wonder) not only starts playing for him, but starts to sing an "extemporized" vocal part in a pitch-imperfect Dylan patois. Wonder had to re-remind Dylan how to sing like Dylan! And by the end of this sidebar, surrounded by a dozen stars all wanting Zimmy to get through this shining, Dylan is guffawing at himself, relieved and knowing exactly now what to sing. It's like watching a cat seeing itself in the mirror for the first time.
And now decades on, with Dylan having recorded so many old standards and dusty holiday tunes, I Wonder (pun intended) if Bob didn't find that evening transformative, enough to find joy in doing what other people do: "just singers, singin' songs."
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