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the pioneer of Dylan Studies; writer, public speaker, critic; became a Doctor of Letters in 2015 (awarded by the University of York, UK)

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Dylan quote from Sydney '66

Getting round to putting in order last year's correspondence about the Encyclopedia (then in preparation), I re-read this morning an e-mail from Roy Kelly from August 2005, in which he wrote of re-listening to different performances of 'Tell Me Momma' and hearing quite clearly on the bootleg of the Sydney version - unlike the dohzy transcriber for the official book of lyrics - that Dylan sings this lovely line:

Cold black glass don’t make no mirrors, cold black water don’t make no tears.

And of course aside from the beauty of the line itself, it's a lovely example of how he has always pronounced the word "mirror" as "mere" (such that, in this case, "mirrors" is a perfect rhyme for "tears").

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've always thought that those were the lines he sings, at all the shows; it's just clearer at the Sydney show.

12:11 pm  
Blogger Michael Gray said...

Crazylazy: Sorry but I can't help. I'd have thought eBay was the ideal way.

Glenn: you're probably right. As you say, it's just clearer at Sydney - though it does sound as if he varies some lines a little bit from night to night elsewhere in the song.

2:57 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i love the way he says 'mere' its so adorable!

8:21 pm  
Blogger Michael Gray said...

Hey Kevin
Thank you for taking the trouble to tell me - it's always a good feeling, as a writer, to find a reader who has really got something from a book. Ah, Hibbing... I've been there twice; kind & helpful people each time. Hope to be there again in late March next year.

Best wishes~
Michael

2:31 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I always thought that it was "veneer". Makes more sense to me, on a whole load of levels, than either of the alternatives.

11:30 pm  

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