the bob dylan songbook

1098 Pages·2009·2.18 MB·English

T H E
B O B D Y L A N
S O N G B O O K
yolf strem
E Ø
Createdbyseal(commit6307f30).
TypesetusingLATEXonAugust3,2009.
Preface
Awhileago,IgotamailfromaguydowninGermany. Itsaid:
Should you be interested, I have converted some of your html tabs
to LaTeX, because I created my own Dylan songbook and wanted
ittolookasgoodascouldbe.
There were also some pdf files of a couple of songs. To be honest, I didn’t
think much about it – I didn’t really see how a LaTeX version of ‘some of the
tabs’ would ever be useful for me. LaTeX – that wildly complicated markup
language which claimed to produce the most beautiful output, typographi-
cally, but at the cost of a steep learning curve, and a default output which
makes everything look like something from a mathematical journal (because
theyareallmadeinLaTeX).
I answered back, politely, I think (I hope). The reply I got in return men-
tioned something about making a whole book that one could take to the local
copyshopandgetbound.
Istillwasn’ttooimpressed;Ialreadyhadsuchafile–AdobeAcrobatcould
make the whole site into a big PDF file in a whiz, so why should I consider
thisanythingspecial?
Well,intheend,Idid,andIdo,withevergreaterthrill,joy,andinspiration,
and the project, from which you are now reading this, has not only turned
dylanchords.comintoabeautifulbook,ithasalsobecomeastoryoffriendship,
intellectual stimulation, and inspiration to learn, which has – among other
things–ledme(slowly,slowly)topickupmyprogrammingattemptswhereI
leftthemincollege,afterIhadmadeasemi-functionalversionofMinesweeper
with8×12squaresinBasic(remember? theprogramminglanguagewhichthe
school authorities in the eighties thought that everyone needed to learn, now
thatthecomputeragewascoming);intheend,italsoledmetofinallyditching
WindowsinfavourofLinux,somethingIshouldhavedonealongtimeago.
What Seal can do
Butfirstthingsfirst.
This book – I quickly learned that it was not simply a matter of stuffing
all the tab files into a PDF file and that was that. For instance, print out some
pages from the tab files on the net and try to play from that, and you will
soonerorlater–sooner,I’dguess–runintotabsystemswhicharedividedin
themiddle,orverseswhichhavethechordsononepageandthelyricsonthe
next.
Thenturntopage... –no,wait: anypage–inthisbook,andyouwillfind
everythingtobewhereitshouldbe. Pagebreaksbreakpages,notsongs.
If you’re reading this directly from a PDF file, you will also be able to
use the index and the table of contents as a link page – quite handy for a
1500+ pages book, and nothing that my Adobe-generated PDF dump could
everdreamof.
Andnewadditionstothesite? Changes,revisions? Noproblem–theyare
incorporated directly the next time you run the program (as long as you have
theupdatedfiles,ofcourse).
You want just a booklet with the songs from Empire Burlesque instead of
the whole book? Sure, make some small changes to one file, and you have
your‘LoveSongsfromtheEighties’hitparadecollectioninyourhand.
And last but not least: it looks good. There are details which distinguish
a professionally printed page from what you dump from Your Average Word
Processortoyourprinter. Someofthemareconsiderable(suchasfonts: ifYour
AverageWordProcessoriscalledMSWord,yourfontwillbydefaultbeTimes
New Roman or Arial – bad choices, whichever way you look at it), other are
more subtle and will most likely not be noticed by anyone without a special
interest or a trained eye. Yet, I happen to think that they are important, not
onlyforthetypographyfreakswhodelightintheperfectcurveofaGaramond
‘n’ and who take it as a personal insult if page margins aren’t proportioned
according to the Golden Section. But in an age when most reading is done
either from computer screens or from printouts from browsers or MS Word,
where not a thought has been given to the visual appearance, I see it as the
responsibilityofanyonewhoproducestexttomakesuretheyareappealing;to
counteract the print world’s equivalent to elevator muzak. It is my firm belief
that good typography will not save the world, but that bad typography ruins
it just a little. Seal counteracts this – not bad for a piece of guitar-strummer’s
helpersoftware,eh?
All this and more is done magically by Heinrich Küttler’s creation, Seal.
Here’s what it does, as seen from a layman’s perspective: it takes all the files
from whatever version of Dylanchords you have got; turns it all into LaTeX
files, where hyphenations, page breaks, fonts, layout, and what not is taken
careof;generatesanindexfromthis;andoutputsittoPDForpostscript. And
voilà – you have a book in your hands, which rivals any chord book you can
buy,bothintermsoflayoutquality,andofusabilityandversatility.
In order for it to work, there was a whole lot that had to be done with the
files on the site. When I started making the site in 1997, I didn’t know much
about html, and I used software which knew even less. Over the years, this
hadresultedinajumbleoffiles,someofwhichwereok,manyofwhichwere
horrible,andnoneofwhichwerevalidfiles,inanydefinitionofhtml.
But Heiner had put together a script which did away with the worst out-
growths,andfromthere,Icouldcleanouttherest. InMay2005thefileswere
good enough to replace the old ones. Thus, Seal turned out to have benefits
beyondtheuseofSealitself.
4
That is just about all I can tell you about it; for the technical details, ask
Heiner. WhatIknowis: itworks!
What you can do
What you can do? Well, you can do anything you can with any other pdf file,
suchas: printitoutorsendittoyourfriends,butthat’snotwhatIwasgoing
to say. The contents is released under the Creative Commons (CC) licence.
Thismeansthatyouarefree–andencouraged:
• tocopy,distribute,display,andperformthework
• tomakederivativeworks
aslongasyou:
• attributetheworkinthemannerspecifiedbytheauthororlicensor,and
• don’tuseitforcommercialpurposes.
• Ifyoualter,transform,orbuilduponthiswork,youmaydistributetheresult-
ingworkonlyunderalicenseidenticaltothisone.
In other words: just like the dylanchords site, the contents is distributed
freely, available for anyone who wants to play some good music, and – hope-
fully – learn something along the way. The conditions are that the attribution
isretained,thatyoudon’tmakeanymoneyfromit(Idon’tcountthefreebeer
you get, playing from it in your local pub), and that if you use it in a “deriva-
tive work”, e.g. include it in teaching material or make your own book, this
newworkshouldalsobemadepubliclyavailableunderthesameconditions.
The intention is to make sure the material is and will remain freely avail-
able, but without abandoning all control. That is why the CC licence is also
labeled“SomeRightsReserved”. Itisnotacomplete“copyleft”.
It goes without saying that this applies only to the parts of the contents
whichisinsomewayoranothermy“intellectualproperty”–theintroductions
and instructions, of course, but even the chord charts fall under this category,
even though Bob Dylan, as the copyright holder of the original work, has
the right to decide about their publication. The same, naturally, goes for the
lyrics (where my contribution is more modest: correcting some errors in the
publishedversions,and,probably,addingsomenewones).
I’ve been hesitant to put a CC banner on the site before because of this – I
wouldn’t want to postulate a publishing licence for Dylan’s work – but I now
feel more confident and justified, both because the context is different, and
becauseInowknowmoreaboutthelegalissuesinvolved.
Forme,thisisawayofrespondingtothestatement“Everybodymustgive
something back for something they get”. Working this closely with Dylan’s
music over the years has given me tremendously much: a deeper insight in
oneofthemostremarkablemusiciansinmodernWesternculture;apeekinto
the musical universe populated by the likes of Dock Boggs, Woody Guthrie,
heck, even Hank Williams, which I would otherwise never have touched but
which has been opened up with Dylan as a guide; some great friends; some
html skills; and an opportunity to tune my ear (and my guitar). This is my
wayofpayingback.
5

Roadmaps for the Soul
General principles
Justafewwordsabouttheprinciplesthat(mostly)havebeenfollowedinmak-
ingthetabsonthissite.
First of all: this is a guitar site, not a “chord” site. The ideal “readers” I
haveinmindaretheaverage(oraverage-to-good-to-very-good)guitarplayers,
playingfortheirownenjoyment(let’snottalkabouttheneighbours–justlove
them). That means on the one hand that I transcribe the songs into what is
convenient to play on a guitar, not necessarily into what is actually sounding
– in other words: I use the capo, just like Bob Dylan himself. Just because a
song happens to be played in the key of Eb major, doesn’t mean that it has to
be tabbed in that key, when it is actually played in “C major” with a capo on
thethirdfret.
2. Acorollaryofthisisthatmyaimisnotjustgivingthechordsofasong,
butalsotofigureoutasexactlyaspossiblewhatisbeingplayedintheversion
upforstudy.
3. On the other hand there is the problem of the “piano songs” and the
“fullbandsongs”. WhereasDylanprefers(orpreferred;thingshavechanged)
the keys of C major and G major on the guitar, he delights in odd, awkward
keys with lots of black keys, especially C(cid:93) major (or D(cid:91) major), when he’s at
thepiano. Inthesecasesitisofcourseimpossibletoreproduceexactlywhatis
beingplayed. Istilluseacapo(ofcourse). Inthe“fullbandsongs”–especially
in later years – Dylan usually just plays the chords, in any position, usually
withbarrechordssomewhereupontheneck.
This means that there are three main types of tabs/chord-files on this site,
corresponding with three kinds of arrangements: (1) The solo acoustic songs,
or songs where the guitar work is of some prominence. Here exactness is a
goal. (2) Then there is the big group of songs where no particular instrument
is prominent, least of all Dylan’s guitar. Here the aim of the tabs is to present
an approximation of what is going on in the song, rather than figuring out
exactly what Dylan is playing (which in these cases is quite uninteresting,
actually). (3)Thepianosongsconstituteasub-divisionofthisgroup.
Many of the tabs are of rare live songs. I presume that anyone who would
want to use the tabs already knows what the songs sound like. Therefore,
more specific performance indications, apart from the fingerings, are consid-
eredunnecessary.
Chords and Chord Names
Chords and scales – a little theory and some terms. A chord is a selection
oftoneswhichareperceivedasaunityandnotjustasseveralnotessounding
at the same time. It gets its special character to a large extent thanks to the
place the tones have in the tonal system, which, slightly simplified, means the
hierachical system of relationships between the relevant tones of a song or a
style in general. In C major, the tone c is more central than a, which again is
morecentralthanfsharp.
Itiscustomarytoarrangetheavailabletonesinascale,a“ladder”,andto
refertothemaccordingtotheirpositioninthescale. Thekeynoteiscalled
“prime”,thetoneaboveit“second”,thenext“third”,etc. Thus,thetonesina
Cmajorscalewouldbecalled:
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------0------1----
-----------------------------0-----2------------------
---------0------2-----3-------------------------------
--3---------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
c d e f g a b c’
prime second third fourth fifth sixth seventh octave
The most weighty tones in the scale are the prime (or unison), the fifth, and
thethird(inCmajor: c,gande). Thenfollowtheremainingtonesinthemain
scale (d, f, a, and b), and lastly the tones that are extraneous to the scale: the
semi-tones(fsharp,eflat,etc.)
I mention the fifth before the third, but they are important in different
ways. The fifth is stable, a loyal companion to the prime, always there, not
withoutitsconflicts,buttheyarealwaysresolved,andalwaysinfavourofthe
prime – somewhat like a good old (or bad old, depending on the perspective)
patriarchal marriage. In fact, one might consider all music within the western
musical tradition (until the late nineteenth century in the art-music tradition,
and untilthis dayin thepopular traditions) asnothing morethan a playwith
thebalancebetweenthesetwoscalesteps.
As I said, the fifth is always there. When you strike a string, it will vibrate
inmanydifferentways. The wholestringwillswingandproducetheloudest
tone. But all the possible equal divisions of the string will also swing, and
produce overtones. The difference in sound between different instruments is
caused by different constellations of overtones – which are strong and which
are not. The division of the string in two (at the twelfth fret) will sound an
octave higher, i.e. with a tone of the same pitch class, which will strengthen
thebasictonefurther. Butthedivisioninthree,attheseventhfret,willproduce
thefifth. (Exercise: strikeabassstringwhiletouchingitattheseventhfret,but
without pressing it down. Then play the open string, and you should be able
to hear the fifth in the full tone of the open string.) Thus, If you play a c, you
willalsohearag.
Thethirdisadifferentmatter. Wherethefifthgivessupportandreenforce-
ment, the third adds character. It is unstable, at times nervously shimmering,
other times over-earthly sonorous. It can not be defined as easily as the fifth.
It lies two divisions above the fifth in the series of overtones (you can isolate
it on a string by touching it, without pressing the finger down, at the fourth
8
fret; thiswilldividethestringinfive)andthereforesoundslessstronglythan
the fifth. Furthermore, it exhibits a peculiarity of the tonal system which has
plaguedtheoreticianssincethedaysofPythagoras: ifonestacksfourfifthson
topofeachother–c-g,g-d,d-aanda-e–onemightthinkthatonegetstothe
same e as when one divides a string in five, but one doesn’t – one gets to a
tonethatliesconsiderablyhigher(c. aquarterofasemi-tone,whichisquitea
lot). Thisisnotreallyaproblem, butanopportunity: tensionisthemotherof
alldevelopment,andthethirdisastenseasitgets.
The most significant difference between the fifth and the third, though, is
that,whereasthereisonlyonefifth,therearetwopossibleplacesforthethird.
Both c-e and c-e flat are thirds, but one is major, the other minor. The third is
theintervalwhichdecidesthemostfundamentalcharacterofachord: whether
it is major or minor. C-e-g is a C major chord, c-e flat-g is C minor. The same
distinction can be drawn on the second, sixth, and seventh steps, whereas
the prime, the fifth, and the fourth can only be (violently!) augmented or
diminished.
For “losers, cheaters, six-string abusers” (ain’t we all...). The tabs present
what is being played, by trained and proficient musicians (yes, I’m counting
in Dylan). On the one hand Dylan is an ideal artist for a beginner, since he
always uses quite simple and logical chord shapes, and licks and tricks that
lethimgetmaximumeffectfromminimumeffort. Still, thebeginnermayrun
into problems, with strange chord names, barre chords etc. Here’s just a few
cheats.
(1) All chords, basically, go back to the three fundamental chords in a key
(in C: C, G and F) and their minor relatives (Am, Em, Dm). Most frequent
arethevariationstothedominantchord,i.e. thechordonthefifthstepabove
the key note (G in this example), where the variations are different ways of
creating and sustaining tension before the return to the key note. That means
that“strange”chordnamescanoftenbereplacedbythesimplechordwithout
all the fuzz behind it (G(cid:91)+, E7-10, Dm7-5, Cadd9 become G(cid:91), E, Dm, C). This
doesnothappenwithoutloss: the“fuzz”isthereforsomereason(e.g. theE7-
10isthequintessentialblueschord,whichisminorandmajoratthesametime;
it is an E chord, but the plain E does not get the same effect), but functionally
theplainchordwillusuallydothejobadequately.
(2) Chords can be replaced with their relatives. When I was nine, before I
had the finger strength to play barre chords, I discovered that I could replace
most F chords with Dm or Am – one of those would usually work. Now I
know that the reason why it works is that they both share two out of three
chord tones with F, which often is enough. I don’t recommend this method,
however(unlessyou’renine). Itischeating,andtheonlypersonyou’refooling,
inthelongrun,isyourself.
(3)SomesongsareconsistentlynotedwithchordslikeA(cid:91),Eb,B(cid:91) etc. That
is because they are played with those chords, as barre chords, and in those
cases I’ve seen no reason to introduce a capo. The easiest way to avoid those
barre chords, is to drop all the bs, and play E, B, A instead. This only works
if all chords have a b attached to them, though. Other chords you’ll have to
transposebasedonthethoroughknowledgeoftheoutlineofthefretboardthat
you’vegained,e.g. fromthefigurebelow.
9
Chord short-hand. I usually present the chords used in the song, unless it
should be obvious (someone who doesn’t know how to play a C major chord
probably doesn’t have anything to do in here anyway...). Chords are pre-
sentedwithonenumberforeachstring,beginningwiththelowest(6th)string.
Anopenstringis0,afingeronthe3rdfretis3etc. Anunusedstringismarked
by‘x’,andstringsthataredisregardedaremarked‘-’. ThusCmajorlookslike
this: x32010,andtherecurringfillin“BloodinmyEyes”likethis: x32010-53---
-64----75---.
Bass notes. I prefer to write the chords with the key note as the lowest bass
note in the chord. Thus, even though C major can be played 032010 or 332010
(andoftenshouldbe),eitherofthetonesonthe6thstringwilldisturbthe“C-
majority”ofthechord,andisbetterleftout,unlesstheyareexplicitlywanted,
e.g. inarunningbassprogression.
A chord with a bass note other than the keynote is indicated with a slash
between the chord name and the bass note: C/g is a C major chord with G as
thelowesttone: 332010.
Theslashandthebassnotecanbeusedalonetoindicateabassprogression
againstasustainedchord: C/b/a/g(x32010–x22010–x02010–332010).
I usually use lower-case letters for these bass tones, because it looks less
ugly.
Chord names. In general I use the following system (exemplified with C
chords throughout): Major chords: C. Minor chords: Cm. The following table
explainstheadditionalsymbolsandchordtypes. Alltheexamplesarevariants
of C. Third = the third note of the scale from the key note, fifth = the fifth
note of the scale, etc. Since there are only seven different steps in the scale,
the second is the same as the ninth, the fourth is the same as the eleventh
etc. Inchordnamesonewillusuallyusethehigherofthese,exceptwherethe
basic triad is altered; e.g. C9 and not C2 (but Csus4 and Cm7-5). The reason
for this is that all chords are considered as stacks of thirds over the keynote.
The simplest chords consist of the first two thirds, so C = c-e-g. All the more
“sophisticated” chords are considered as extensions of the basic chord with
selectionsfromthestackofthirdsaboveit: c-e-gcontinuesB(cid:91)-d-f-a,whichare
the7th,the9th,the11thandthe13th. Theconventionisthatasinglenumber
(e.g. 11) indicates how far up the stack goes, denoting the last member of the
stack,notjustasingletone: C11consistsoftheallthetonesinthestack,upto
theeleventh,thus: c-e-g-b(cid:91)-d-f.
7 (minor)seventh
C
x32310
Theminorseventhisaddedtotherootchord. Notethat“minor”herereferstothetone
on the seventh step (which can be both major and minor: B(cid:91) and B), not to the chord
itselfi.e.,itisachordwithaminorseventh,notaminorchordwithaseventh–cf. the
“m7” chord below. Note also that “7” alone always refers to the minor seventh. If the
major seventh is used, it has to be specified with “maj7”. The “minor” is usually left
outofthename.
10