Line #125 Music/BloodOnTheTracks


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blood_on_the_tracks_7782.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''Lord knows I've paid some dues, getting through, tangled up in blue.'']]
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4	-> ''This is my favourite album ever. I spent the end of my teenage years and my early twenties listening to old music – {{Rockabilly}} music, stuff like that. Then I discovered FolkMusic when I was 25, and that led me to Dylan. He totally blew me away with this. It's like the great album from the second period, y'know? He did that first run of albums in TheSixties, then he started doing his less troublesome albums – and out of that comes ''Blood On The Tracks''. It's his masterpiece.''
5	-->-- '''Creator/QuentinTarantino'''[[note]]who, in a 1994 interview with ''Melody Maker'' about his personal Top 10 favourite albums, put ''Blood On The Tracks'' first place and "Tangled Up In Blue" second place, despite the fact it's just a song and from the same album.[[/note]]
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7
8	''Blood on the Tracks'' is the fifteenth studio album by Music/BobDylan, released in 1975.
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10	After the CareerResurrection of ''Music/PlanetWaves'' and his 1974 tour with Music/TheBand, Dylan once again surprised everyone by releasing perhaps his most personal effort. The months after the tour had seen two major events in his life: his marriage to his then-wife Sara had become strained, and after years of amateur painting (including the covers of ''[[Music/TheBand Music from Big Pink]]'' and ''Music/SelfPortrait''), he took formal lessons with artist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Raeben Norman Raeben]] (son of [[Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof Tevye]] creator Sholem Aleichem). Reflecting on his life, and on Raeben's advice that honest, unexaggerated depiction of reality was the highest form of art, he crafted a set of songs that used his trademark poetic wordplay to express the emotions and feelings of love gained and lost.
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12	Initially recorded in New York as an acoustic-based album (with a few attempts at full-band arrangements), Dylan called off its release at the last minute, then re-recorded five of its ten songs[[note]]"Tangled Up in Blue", "You're a Big Girl Now", "Idiot Wind", "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", "If You See Her, Say Hello"[[/note]] in Minneapolis, with group of local musicians assembled by his brother David Zimmerman.
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14	The album is best remembered for the hit single "Tangled Up in Blue" and the fan favorites "Shelter from the Storm" and "Simple Twist of Fate". A [[CutSong song left off the album]], "Up to Me", was released on the ''Biograph'' box set in 1985, along with the New York version of "You're a Big Girl Now". Several other alternate takes and the previously-unreleased "Call Letter Blues" were included on ''The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3'' in 1991. In 2018, a Bootleg Series installment devoted to the entire album sessions, called ''More Blood, More Tracks'', was issued to great acclaim (including from Music/KanyeWest, who [[Website/{{Twitter}} tweeted]] some of the lyrics from "Up to Me" and invited Dylan to "get together" with him).
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16	Also in 2018, Creator/LucaGuadagnino announced that he will make [[https://thefilmstage.com/news/luca-guadagnino-to-adapt-bob-dylans-blood-on-the-tracks-into-feature-film/ a film adaptation of the album]], from a screenplay by Richard [=LaGravenese=]. Creator/ChloeGraceMoretz has been cast as the female lead.
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18	----
19	!! Tracklist:
20
21	[[AC:Side One]]
22	# "Tangled Up in Blue" (5:40)
23	# "Simple Twist of Fate" (4:18)
24	# "You're a Big Girl Now" (4:36)
25	# "Idiot Wind" (7:45)
26	# "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" (2:58)
27
28	[[AC:Side Two]]
29	# "Meet Me in the Morning" (4:19)
30	# "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" (8:50)
31	# "If You See Her, Say Hello" (4:46)
32	# "Shelter from the Storm" (4:59)
33	# "Buckets of Rain" (3:29)
34
35	----
36	!! Tangled Up In Tropes:
37
38	* AddledAddict: The "Montague Street" verse in "Tangled Up in Blue" rewrote the original verse, which started out with these lines:
39	-->''He was always in a hurry\
40	Too busy or too stoned\
41	And everything that she ever planned\
42	Just had to be postponed''
43	* AlbumClosure:
44	** "Buckets of Rain" closes with a reflective verse.
45	--->Life is sad, life is a bust\
46	All you can do is do what you must\
47	You do what you must do, and you do it well\
48	I’ll do it for you\
49	Honey baby, Can’t you tell?
50	** But, interestingly, the CutSong "Up to Me" sure feels like it was the song he'd originally conceived as the album closer, ending with these lines, which almost seem like Dylan's mission statement for his whole career:
51	--->If we never meet again, baby, remember me\
52	How my lone guitar played sweet for you that old-time melody\
53	And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you free\
54	No one else could play that tune, you knew it was up to me
55	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''M'''eet '''M'''e In The '''M'''orning".
56	* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: "Meet Me In The Morning"
57	--> ''Little rooster crowing there must be something on his mind''
58	--> ''Well, I feel just like that rooster''
59	--> ''Honey, ya treat me so unkind''
60	* AscendedMeme: The cover art. Paul Till was a 20-year-old amateur photographer and Dylan fan who took a picture of him onstage at his 1974 Toronto concert, then added some darkroom effects and hand-coloring. He started selling copies and sent one unsolicited to Dylan's office. Dylan saw it and chose it for his new album. Till tells the whole story [[http://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2008/06/cover-story-interview---bob-dylans-blood-on-the-tracks-with-photography-by-paul-till.html here]].
61	* AsTheGoodBookSays:
62	** "Shelter From The Storm" has two references to the Crucifixion.
63	--> ''She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns''
64	--> ''In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes''
65	** The outtake "Up to Me" has these lines, which became HilariousInHindsight after his Christian conversion.
66	-->''Now we heard the Sermon on the Mount and I knew it was too complex\
67	It didn't amount to anything more than what the broken glass reflects''
68	* BreakupSong: One of the most iconic break-up ''albums'', inspired by Dylan's marriage falling apart. Pretty much all of the songs are about failed relationships, from a one night stand in "Simple Twist Of Fate" to divorce proceedings in "Idiot Wind".
69	* BreatherEpisode: The breezy "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and the undemanding "Meet Me in the Morning" are sequenced back-to-back to help you recover from the bitter "Idiot Wind" and prepare you for the long, wordy "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts".
70	* ChekhovsGun: Chekhov's Drill, in "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"--the "drilling in the wall" briefly mentioned in the opening lines turns out to be a group of robbers trying to bust into a bank safe.
71	* ConceptAlbum: Probably the closest Dylan ever came to one (not counting his [[CoverAlbum Cover Albums]]). The interpretation that all the songs (except "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack Of Hearts") are about the same couple is very common.
72	* CoolShades: Bob wears them on the album cover.
73	* EpicRocking:
74	** "Idiot Wind" and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" both exceed the 7:00 mark. Amazingly, they were both about a minute longer in their New York iterations (and "Lily" had an extra verse that he cut for the Minnesota version).
75	* FaceDeathWithDignity: Rosemary "didn't even blink" as she was hanged for Big Jim's death in "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts".
76	* FaceOnTheCover: Dylan's face in profile.
77	* TheFilmOfTheSong: There were two separate attempts to get a film adaptation of "Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts" greenlighted, but they never got past the scripting stage. A few years after the album came out, Dylan hired John Kaye (who later did the screenplay for ''Film/WhereTheBuffaloRoam'') to write a screenplay, but it fell into DevelopmentHell afterwards. In 1981 a writer named James Byron wrote a screenplay called ''The Jack of Hearts'', which dramatized the song and infused some elements of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' into the story, with the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of the Jack of Hearts as Rosemary's long-lost son.
78	* FourMoreMeasures: "Tangled Up in Blue", "You're a Big Girl Now" and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" all have intros that go on longer than you'd expect. On "Lily" it's really obvious where Bob's supposed to start singing, but he waits two more bars before he actually does.
79	* HangingJudge: [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep The Hanging Judge]] in "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts".
80	* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In "If You See Her, Say Hello":
81	--> ''I always have respected her for busting out and gettin' free''
82	--> ''Oh, whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way''
83	* InherentlyFunnyWords: Probably one of the reasons that Ashtabula, Ohio (population 19,000) gets mentioned in "You're Gonna Make Lonesome When You Go" (the fact that it was also referenced by Creator/JackKerouac and Creator/CarlSandburg might be another reason).
84	* InterruptedSuicide: "Simple Twist of Fate":
85	--> ''He told himself he didn't care pushed the window open wide''
86	--> ''Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate''
87	--> ''Brought on by a simple twist of fate''
88	* LadykillerInLove: Possibly might be the case with the man in "Simple Twist of Fate" and why he can't let go of the woman's memory.
89	* LoveDodecahedron: "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", involving the titular trio and Rosemary's husband Big Jim.
90	* LovableRogue: The Jack of Hearts in "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", who's a charming, charismatic criminal.
91	* LoveNostalgiaSong: "If You See Her, Say Hello", as released, is mostly this. Later live versions tend to [[http://expectingrain.com/dok/div/ifyouseeher.html subvert it]].
92	--> ''And though our separation it pierced me to the heart''
93	--> ''She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart''
94	* LyricalColdOpen: "Idiot Wind"
95	* LyricalShoehorn: Despite the high level of writing in the lyrics, there are some occasional lapses, like this from "Simple Twist of Fate".
96	-->''He hears the ticking of the clocks\
97	And walks along with a parrot that talks''.
98	* LyricSwap: "Idiot Wind" ends each (rather long) verse with the line "You're an idiot, babe, it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe" before switching to "[[SelfDeprecation We're idiots, babe]], it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves" in the last verse.
99	* MultipleNarrativeModes: As originally written, the lyrics of several songs jump between third-person and first-person narration, which was a case of Dylan being influenced by Norman Raeben's painting instruction. Raeben believed that multiple perspectives were valid and could be depicted in art. "Tangled Up in Blue" at first was largely third-person. The rewritten version that ended up on the album switched it mostly to first-person, though the "Montague Street" verse (which wasn't in the original) goes into third-person. "Simple Twist of Fate" also switches from third to first at a couple key points, suggesting the song was about the NarratorAllAlong.
100	* NotStayingForBreakfast: "Simple Twist of Fate"
101	--> ''He woke up the room was bare''
102	--> ''He didn't see her anywhere''
103	* PepTalkSong: "Shelter from the Storm"
104	--> ''Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm''
105	--> ''"Come in" she said''
106	--> ''"I'll give you shelter from the storm".''
107	* PretenderDiss: The original New York version of "Idiot Wind" has Dylan complaining about how "Imitators steal me blind".
108	* RearrangeTheSong: Most of the songs have become concert mainstays, and almost all of them have gone through several rewrites over the years. As illustrated [[http://dylanchords.info/16_bott/tangled_up_in_blue.htm here]], "Tangled Up in Blue" is probably his most tinkered-with song lyrically.
109	** He even did this during the recording sessions. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" was also attempted as a ballad and with an almost {{Bluegrass}}-type uptempo arrangement. He also tried "Shelter from the Storm" with a jingly piano, and "Meet Me in the Morning" as a Music/RobertJohnson-style acoustic blues piece.
110	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Idiot Wind".
111	--> ''It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe''
112	* RuleOfSeven: "Idiot Wind"
113	--> ''The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone faced while the building burned''
114	* ShaggyDogStory: "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", in which Dylan acts as the LemonyNarrator of a WildWest story of love and jealousy, but in the end [[spoiler:it's actually the account of a gang of thieves who successfully rob a bank, while their leader, the Jack of Hearts, uses his LovableRogue personality to distract the townsfolk]].
115	* ShoutOut:
116	** "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" name-drops Creator/PaulVerlaine and Creator/ArthurRimbaud.
117	--> ''Situations have ended sad''
118	--> ''Relationship have all been bad''
119	--> ''Mine 've been like Verlaine and Rimbaud'' [[note]]Specifically referring to an incident where Verlaine drunkenly shot Rimbaud. Rimbaud survived but Verlaine wound up in prison.[[/note]]
120	** "You're a Big Girl Now." "Love is so simple" is the CatchPhrase of Garance in ''Film/ChildrenOfParadise'', a film that Dylan has called one of his favorites.
121	** "I lived with them on Montague Street" in "Tangled Up in Blue". There ''is'' a Montague Street in Brooklyn, but no doubt Dylan had ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' in mind when [[ReferencedBy/WilliamShakespeare he chose the name]] (given that the song is about a couple with disapproving parents).
122	*** Also, the "Italian poet from the 13th century". Asked the identity of the poet in a 1978 interview, Dylan replied "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch Plutarch]]. Is that his name?" Presumably he was thinking of Creator/{{Petrarch}}, who actually lived in the 14th century.
123	** Give how often Music/TheByrds did [[CoverVersion Cover Versions]] of Dylan songs, it's appropriate that he makes a reference to their 1970 song "Chestnut Mare" in "Idiot Wind". Doubly appropriate, since Roger [=McGuinn=] co-wrote "Chestnut Mare" with Jacques Levy, who went on to be Dylan's songwriting collaborator on ''Music/{{Desire}}''.
124	* SomethingBlues: The CutSong "Call Letter Blues" has a perplexing NonAppearingTitle, since the lyrics have nothing to do with radio or TV stations. The WorkingTitle was the more appropriate "Church Bell Blues". There's a line about [[TheOldestProfession "call girls"]], so it might have been an allusion to that.
125	* StalkerWithACrush: The man making a point of searching out a woman he barely knows toward the end of "Simple Twist of Fate" can be seen as an example. "Tangled Up in Blue" ends similarly, but it was a more serious relationship.
126	* AStormIsComing:
127	** "Shelter from the Storm", where the woman gives the male protagonist shelter from what could possibly be a metaphorical storm.
128	** "Idiot Wind"
129	-->''I ran into the FortuneTeller, who said beware of lightning that might strike''
130	** The equivalent of the above line in the original New York version of "Idiot Wind".
131	--> ''I threw the [[UsefulNotes/BaGua I Ching]] yesterday. Said there might be some thunder at the well.''
132	* {{Tsundere}}: The line ''She might think that I've forgotten her, don't tell her it isn't so'' in "If You See Her, Say Hello".
133	* TwelveBarBlues: "Meet Me in the Morning" and its CutSong companion piece "Call Letter Blues".
134	* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: "Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha". There doesn't appear to be any city with that particular intersection. St. Paul, Minnesota has a major thoroughfare called Wabasha Street, but it ends at 12th Street.

Context Music / BloodOnTheTracks