Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding CD UDSACD2183
John Wesley Harding is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music.
Most of the songs on John Wesley Harding have pared-down lyrics. Though the style remains evocative, continuing Dylan's use of bold imagery and the extravagant surreality that seemed to flow in a stream-of-consciousness fashion has been tamed into something earthier and more to the point. "What I'm trying to do now is not use too many words," Dylan said in a 1968 interview. "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." According to Allen Ginsberg, Dylan had talked to him about his new approach, telling him "he was writing shorter lines, with every line meaning 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. And from that time came some of his strong laconic ballads like 'The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest.' There was no wasted language, no wasted breath. All the imagery was to be functional rather than ornamental."
Tracklist
1 John Wesley Harding
2 As I Went Out One Morning
3 I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
4 All Along The Watchtower
5 The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest
6 Drifter's Escape
7 Dear Landlord
8 I Am A Lonesome Hobo
9 I Pity The Poor Immigrant
10 The Wicked Messenger
11 Down Along The Cove
12 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
