Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Time: 4:27 PM
Song: Rainy Day Women #12 & #35
Artist: Bob Dylan
Mode of Consumption: Vinyl Record of Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7BkAlVpGwXXl3sYNn5OoJ7?si=18e95ee2e9e54605
We had a meeting at 3 p.m. today in Sterling to complete a land purchase, so I left work early. The business at the title company finished a little before 4 p.m., and when I arrived home, I decided that I could work the last hour remotely, so I wouldn’t have to use PTO or take so many short lunches.
I set the laptop on our dining room table, and I figure it’s a good time to put some vinyl on while I scan the emails from the time I missed. Much of my life is spent scanning emails.
I picked Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits from my collection, and I was reminded that the very first CD I ever bought was this very album. It was purchased at the old Wal-Mart in Sterling, and I don’t remember if I was in junior high or high school.
It’s strange because I was usually frugal in my teens, and when it came to music, I usually stuck with what I knew. I probably knew some of the songs on this album, but I don’t have any memories of listening to a Bob Dylan song before that CD.
Why did I choose it?
I suppose I was aware of Dylan’s standing in the popular music world, and as a big Beatles fan, it wasn’t that far of a stretch that I would stick with 1960s-based music.
Perhaps, I thought it would sound cool if some random person asked what CD I bought first.
“Well, Bob Dylan, of course.” I can see me saying with my pinky up.
I might have been curious. What’s the big deal about this guy? Let’s just see.
Whatever it was, I do remember putting it in my new boom box, and “Rainy Day Women #12 & #35” hitting the speakers, and realizing this wasn’t what I expected. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the hint of mischief in his voice, the upbeat arrangement. I was stoned without ever taking a puff. I was stoned without a rock ever hitting me.
I was dazed.
And then “Blowin’ in the Wind” followed, and that was like a changeup from a hurler blazin’ 100-mile-per-hour fastballs. With each track there was something similar, but altogether different.
Back then I didn’t have the context for all the lyrics, and many of them I still don’t quite understand, but every time I put this album on, and that first track hits, I get the same feeling. Like I am stepping onto the path of a great adventure.
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