tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post5659606830958370592..comments2024-03-21T00:34:35.359-07:00Comments on Every Bob Dylan Song: Bob Dylan Song #28: Ballad of Hollis BrownTonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12613923038816299394noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-16198658957381379892016-12-12T20:53:03.577-08:002016-12-12T20:53:03.577-08:00Hello, what a wonderful piece of analysis... When ...Hello, what a wonderful piece of analysis... When you have read enough come inside Bob Dylan's Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/50/Ballad-of-Hollis-Brown and listen to all the great versions,David George Freemanhttp://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/50/Ballad-of-Hollis-Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-51465600786586061792015-12-06T21:36:25.526-08:002015-12-06T21:36:25.526-08:00I don't know whether you ever got to hear Poor...I don't know whether you ever got to hear Poor Man. It was also recorded by Tom Rush on the first album he did for Elektra, in 1965. That album, just called Tom Rush, is now available on CD. Gerry Myersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-18600821312395416382009-01-22T13:09:00.000-08:002009-01-22T13:09:00.000-08:00My name is Robert Fraser and i would like to show ...My name is Robert Fraser and i would like to show you my personal experience with Vicodin.<BR/><BR/>I am 27 years old. Have been on Vicodin for 1 day now. Found a few pills. I'm currently not an addict though I have taken vicodin in the past and I am certainly playing with the devil because I do like the feeling it gives me. Biggest problem, besides the addiction, is Insomnia. Tossed and turned for two hours before I decided to research it.<BR/><BR/>I have experienced some of these side effects -<BR/>Constipation and insomnia.<BR/><BR/>I hope this information will be useful to others,<BR/>Robert FraserAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-15480413461870807012008-08-29T12:47:00.000-07:002008-08-29T12:47:00.000-07:00Cody, thanks for sharing your experience as well. ...Cody, thanks for sharing your experience as well. That IS a very creepy story.<BR/><BR/>Carla, thank you very much! Your blog is very cool as well (the tribute to the late I Am The Fan, Thomas was very sweet), and I'm going to add you to my blogroll.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613923038816299394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-45036643475020283542008-08-29T12:39:00.000-07:002008-08-29T12:39:00.000-07:00Very interesting Dylan blog and good comparison......Very interesting Dylan blog and good comparison... I have a Dylan blog also, maybe you want to check it out. www.bob-dylan-in-peru.blogspot.comcarla vanessahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16847923337390351509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-34427979842414283842008-08-29T11:50:00.000-07:002008-08-29T11:50:00.000-07:00I grew up in a farming community in New Mexico, so...I grew up in a farming community in New Mexico, so I know the life pretty well. Droughts and hard times do put pressure on them, but doesn't put them in a state of no survival anymore.<BR/><BR/>I actually know of a true story eerily similar to the one of Hollis Brown. I was in a cemetary, and I saw six graves together, each person having the same last name and each died on the same day. Turns out the father shot his wife and four little kids before killing himself (this had more to do with him being insane than dealing with the hardships of farming though). The whole thing added to the eeriness of the song.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-63026917843725601352008-08-29T08:40:00.000-07:002008-08-29T08:40:00.000-07:00Celestial Monochord, that is a beautiful username....Celestial Monochord, that is a beautiful username.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the compliments! It's probably for the best that I hadn't read your blog entry at some point - your depth and breadth of research leaves me in the dust, and I'd probably have lifted a few facts from your article wholesale for my own...which, I suppose, would have rendered your very nice comments totally moot. :D<BR/><BR/>I'd definitely like to hear Poor Man, to see if it's as close as you say.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613923038816299394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-37649077537581179212008-08-29T07:52:00.000-07:002008-08-29T07:52:00.000-07:00I too wrote that Hollis Brown was based on Pretty ...I too <A HREF="http://www.celestialmonochord.org/2006/03/hollis_browns_s.html" REL="nofollow">wrote</A> that Hollis Brown was based on Pretty Polly, following Greil Marcus. <BR/><BR/>But a reader was able to convince me that, while the driving feel of Pretty Polly is kind of similar, Hollis Brown is almost certainly borrowing directly from a song called "Poor Man," recorded in 1961 by the Louisiana Honeydrippers and credited to Dave Rankin. <BR/><BR/>Once I actually heard the recording, and compared it with Pretty Polly, it was obviously that the Pretty Polly thing is vastly overstated, at best. It's probably outright wrong. We should be thinking about Poor Man instead.<BR/><BR/>I believe I can send you an audio file if you want ...<BR/><BR/>Excellent work, by the way. I appreciate the instinct to generate fresh content, new ideas. Too much cutting and pasting in the blogosphere, for sure.The Celestial Monochordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12050537993466293907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-18323873800810187442008-08-29T06:56:00.000-07:002008-08-29T06:56:00.000-07:00Thomas, IIRC, the soundtrack is really good. One o...Thomas, IIRC, the soundtrack is really good. One of the people at Treble (the website I occasionally write for) suggested that it was one of the best albums of the year. And, yes, the conceit of the song is very flexible, and that helps it, a little.<BR/><BR/>andrew, thanks for sharing your reminiscences here. You made me realize that "anthem" was too strong a word, and I've changed my post as such. Hopefully, I didn't suggest that every small farmer has things rough; again, that might be my narrow view as a lifetime urbanite speaking.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613923038816299394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-6091395727457180502008-08-29T06:17:00.000-07:002008-08-29T06:17:00.000-07:00My grandpa was a farmer-a moderately successful on...My grandpa was a farmer-a moderately successful one, I suppose & I highly doubt that he would consider this anything close to a theme song. There is a sense of the farm being an all encompassing way of life, you never get away from it, you make your living from it, you get your food from it, your children & your wife work for it. Not to get religious about it, but farming requires alot of faith, which my grandparents had in spades. Also there's a sense that you get out of the land what you put into it. If you cut down a tree, you better plant one. None of this really has much to do with the song, other than the sheer loneliness you must experience to depend solely on the ground & the rain & the soil & the sun for your livelihood. <BR/><BR/>Bob played this song wonderfully at the concert in Elizabeth last weekend. There's not much of a melody to it, but if it has enough focus & energy put into it it can be quite a moving song.andrew!https://www.blogger.com/profile/05821924786524802006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-78533418779960519392008-08-29T03:50:00.000-07:002008-08-29T03:50:00.000-07:00hey,it's nice to read how you compare a song like ...hey,<BR/><BR/>it's nice to read how you compare a song like "hollis brown" to the movie "requiem for a dream".<BR/><BR/>The experience sort of is the same. The first time i saw requiem for a dream it blew me away. It's one of those where you just stay seated after the final scene and you only want to stand up after the final note of the music has faded away and you suddenly realize the movie is over for a couple of minutes now.<BR/>The soundtrack was essential to create the mood of the movie.<BR/><BR/>In Hollis brown, i love how Dylan creates the image that Mr Brown and his family are pre-destined to do what they do. It seems like they don't have a choice, no other options. In the last verse "Somewhere in the distance, there's seven new people born",<BR/>he kinda says it's all going to happen again. On another farm, in a far off place, history will repeat.<BR/><BR/>Again, this is one of those stories that can easily be placed in some other time and place. Hollis brown might as well have been a miner or some hard working factory employee who can't afford to pay his loan for the house anymore.<BR/>Not my favorite song and far off from being bob's best but very noteworthy to say the leastThomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02826951460874279396noreply@blogger.com