Pod Dylan #39 – Letterman ’84

POD DYLAN

Episode 39 - LETTERMAN '84

In this special episode, Rob welcomes back frequent guest Patrick Butler to discuss Bob Dylan's blistering, three-song live appearance on LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN on May 22, 1984.

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Vulture article: http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/strange-saga-of-dylans-first-letterman-gig.html
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10 responses to “Pod Dylan #39 – Letterman ’84

  1. Excellent episode! Just wanted to say that, in my opinion, the instrumental you closed with bears a striking resemblance to the arrangement Bob used for “Tight Connection to My Heart” at the Supper Club 11/17/93. Different tempo but the guitar line reminded me of it immediately.

  2. Great show Rob. I don’t have much reference for this, but Bob and the band sounded fantastic. A shame they didn’t become a “thing”. I got that end groove stuck in my head!

    Chris

    1. Thanks for listening Chris, esp since this was a “bonus sized” episode. I truly think if Bob had produced an album with this band he might have picked up some new fans that were impressed by what they saw on Letterman that night.

  3. Enjoyed your show about Bob D.’ s Letterman performance from 32/33 years ago. I really liked when
    Bob did the deep knee bend move during Don’t start me talking, not something I ever saw him do before
    or after. Maybe you would consider doing a cast of funny Bob beginning with 1964’s I shall be free # 10 up
    to Po Boy and the ones in between. The 80’s produced the great Brownsville Girl as well as other
    individual songs from certain albums. Besides over the course of 50 years even Bob had a few ups and
    downs and people expect too much from artists anyhow. I thought he searched for his harmonica during
    Jokerman. Found your site through Expecting Rain, otherwise your show made my day.

    1. Brian-

      Thanks for listening and commenting!

      Funny you mention “Po Boy”, that’s the next episode!

      And as much as we goofed on Bob’s mid-80s output, there’s a lot of it I liked (in fact, there’s not a single Dylan album I can’t find something to like, even DYLAN & THE DEAD), and we’ve covered at least one or two songs here on the show. And I want to get to more of them, partly at least because that era is (by Dylan career standards) so under-analyzed, as opposed to the 60s stuff.

  4. Brian,

    I’ve listened to your podcast from the beginning, but this is my first time commenting. I love your show. Thanks for putting it out there. This show was by far my favorite one you’ve done. In fact, I think periodically it would be a nice change of pace to break from the song analysis and do live performances or even live shows in entirety. This would be endless since he changes arrangements so often.

    Also, is it just me or does his version of Don’t Start Me Talking sound an awful lot like the way he sings The Grooms Still Waiting at the Altar. The pacing of the verses and what not.

    Anyway, great job and thanks again!

    1. Thanks Josh! Yes, I’d like to do “special” episodes like this more, too, but since the show is so infrequent I feel weird diverging from the format too often.

      And yes, I can hear a lot of TGSWATA in Bob’s arrangement of Don’t Start Me Talkin.

      Thanks for listening and the kind words!

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