23 Apr 02 - 11:35 PM (#697134) Subject: Hiway 61 revisited From: GUEST,mrbisok@aol It's Tuesday evening an no one has yet posted any recognition of the NY Times article on Highway 61 from Friday, April 19th edition (found in a new "Times" section called Escapes). Article title (the lead article BTW of the section) "Driving the Blues Trail In Search of a Lost Muse." The piece, complete with a road map, traces the towns along Mississipi's Highway 61 (it actually starts in Memphis Tenn) where those blues legends lived and played. It's really a travel article but shows an understanding and gives information on the birth-places of the blues. Damn, I never realized it before! That Dylan album title of four decades ago referred to this Mississippi road! Please respond: did you know that? |
24 Apr 02 - 01:25 AM (#697198) Subject: RE: Hiway 61 revisited From: Devilmaster Yep... I always believed that 61 was the road that delta blues made its way to the north... cause if I'm not mistaken, (I might be) it goes pretty much right to chicago. When I went with a friend to New Orleans in 2000 for Mardi Gras, we took 61 north to memphis, as we went through some of my cd collection. Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Blind Blake, etc. Went looking for the crossroads also. :) I am already going to hell, so I doubt the devil was going to bother making a deal. Steve |
24 Apr 02 - 05:49 AM (#697298) Subject: RE: Hiway 61 revisited From: IanN There was a UK TV programme tracing all the blues players who lived/played along this road. Can't remember much about it though other than a fascinating story about a female blues singer (who?) who stumbled out into the road when drunk and was run over. Also Dylan claims that his love of music was born by the "radio waves travelling up highway 61" (or something lioke that!) |
24 Apr 02 - 06:37 AM (#697317) Subject: RE: Hiway 61 revisited From: Rolfyboy6 Sure, but I lived on the other legendary highway of the blues: Hwy 51. And 61 was just to the west. |
24 Apr 02 - 12:09 PM (#697529) Subject: Lyr Add: HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (Bob Dylan) From: Jim Dixon The article you mention is posted at the New York Times site. Click here. I assume this is US Highway 61 that is being described. There could be any number of Interstate, state, and county highways with that number. Despite what it says in the lyrics to 61 HIGHWAY, US Highway 61 begins in Forest Lake, MN, or thereabouts, and ends in New Orleans, LA. (I think it formerly began in Duluth, but the northern part of it was replaced by Interstate 35 and lost its identity.) Through much of its route, it follows the Mississippi River. It is particularly beautiful between St. Paul, MN and La Crosse, WI, a route that I travel frequently. Since Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, I always assumed it was the Minnesota part of Highway 61 that inspired the song, “Highway 61 Revisited.” However, I have just reviewed the lyrics, and I don’t see any clear connections to any particular place. But if anyone wants to try interpreting the song for me, I’d be happy to read what you have to say. Does anyone know if Bob Dylan actually visited the Delta? Before 1965, I mean. Copied from http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/highway61.html :
HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED
Oh, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son.”
Well, Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose.
Well, Mack the Finger said to Louie the King,
Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
Now the rovin’ gambler he was very bored. |
24 Apr 02 - 12:20 PM (#697537) Subject: RE: Hiway 61 revisited From: Amos You guys gotta know that the 'Cat has its own version of this conversation with God, starring Max himslef; you have to imagine the same steel electric whine and rhythm in the background. Lyrics are here in the Mudcat Songbook. Regards, A |