T h e A w f u l T r u t h
(how sweet life can be)
|
Date |
30/7/75 (Second "Desire" Session) |
|
Subject |
"Joey" (1 of 2) |
|
Author |
Eric-Scott Bloom |
|
Where You Can Hear It |
Desire |
|
Submitted |
8/2/99 |
Put on the official DESIRE album. The track titled JOEY, a song that has taken a lot of knocks over the years. Bob is one of those few rare artists that inspire people to attach so much meaning to not only what he sings, but also the WAY he sings it. The inflection, the phrasing, the bending of notes, the elongation of syllables, the poetic "liscencing" of it all.
I have spent the last twenty years or so, trying to describe in words just what it is that happens to me when I hear Bob sing that certain line, that specific word. Although I don't think I've yet been able to fully communicate the effect he has on my life as a listener or as a writer/performer myself, I can still put out those lines of verse that move me to chills or inspire me to work on my own songs.
Listen to him sing the line from JOEY; "...stashed them away in a basement..." and you'll hear a line that holds much more meaning for me than just what the lyric implicitly states.
Eric - Scott Bloom
(Tempe - AZ)
|
Date |
7/7/87 |
|
Subject |
"Joey" (2 of 2) |
|
Author |
Anonymous |
|
Where You Can Hear It |
Desire |
|
Submitted |
8/2/99 |
Eric-Scott Bloom submitted a piece on "Joey" which reminded me of a quick second on the album version (Desire) that always seems to hit me. It's the second verse that goes:
"Opened up his eyes to the tune of an accordion."
And immediately an accordion softly comes into the background, but at just a little quicker and more upbeat pace than the tempo of the song.
To me, this is a classic example of how interactive Dylan's music is. While on the surface you may at first just hear words, but the accordion opens up not only Joey's eyes, but also the listener's imagination to where you can almost float into Red Hook, Brooklyn, "in the year of who knows when" among the rooftops, down into the street until your walking next to Joey and his brothers. If you can keep that mindframe, it will carry you throughout the song and through the life (and death) of Joey Gallo.
I saw him play this 11/1/98 at Madison Square Garden and I don't know if the crowd really knew what a treat it was.