BOB DYLAN SPECIAL: The Complete Tell Tale Signs

In this month’s issue of Uncut, we celebrate the release of Tell Tale Signs, the Bootleg Series Vol 8, Bob Dylan’s astonishing 2 and 3CD collection of unreleased material from 1989-2006.

We spoke to the musicians, producers and crew who worked with him during this period. And now, here’s your chance to read the full, unedited transcripts of those interviews.

Today, we present part 7; Augie Meyers‘ story about working on Love and Theft, while Daniel Lanois, Jim Keltner and others will follow in a further six parts in the coming weeks.

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AUGIE MEYERS

First met Dylan in 1964, as part of Doug Sahm’s Sir Douglas Quintet. “Bob always liked us. We were one of his bands.” Dylan called for his “magic Vox” organ for Time Out Of Mind and “Love And Theft”.

I met Bob Dylan way back in 1964. Me and Doug Sahm we had the quintet in New York. And Bob always liked the Sir Douglas Quintet. We were one of his bands. That’s when we became friends. When he called me to play on the albums, he said, “Hey, bring your magic Vox,” that’s what he called my Vox organ. “Bring your accordion. We’ll try different things.”

Bob’s all work when he goes in the studio. He might stay in there for ten or twelve hours. The way you get started is, he just comes up and says, “Hey, let’s try this in this key.” He might change the key two or three times and do it different. I never really knew the titles to any of the songs. We were working on the songs, but he’d change the title, so I didn’t know what the songs were called until after the album came out. Bob actually called them “sketches.”

Bob’s a genius when he’s in the studio. He’s a great piano player; a lot of people don’t know that. It amazed me the way he could instantly change keys, hit all the chord changes. No matter what key he went into, he didn’t have to search for the chord, he could just go straight to it. He asked me one time, “How should I play this song?” I asked, “Did you write it on the keyboard or on the guitar?” He said, “Keyboard.” I said, “Well, you play it on the piano, you’ll feel more comfortable.” After we did the song, he said, “Man, you were right.”

When Daniel Lanois produced Time Out Mind, he wanted it a certain way. But Bob got his way. Bob asked me a couple of questions another time. He asked me, “How would you do this song if you and Doug Sahm did it?” And so I told him. And Daniel said, “Why are you answering the questions? I’m the producer.” I just said, “Hey, Bob asked me a question, so I’m gonna answer it.” Daniel said, “Well, I’m the producer.” And I said, “Hey, I don’t care. If he asks me a question, I’m gonna answer.”

The thing was, Daniel Lanois wanted to use his band on the session. And Bob wanted his friends. And so – Bob used his friends. I mean, everybody has their own ideas. Daniel wanted it one way, Bob wanted it another. But it came out like Bob wanted it. I did some records with Tom Waits, and I’d say they were something the same. They got out of you what they wanted. They’re both on the same level. Both genius. They had a certain sound or a certain feel that they heard, and, somehow, they got it out of you. Bob might say to me, “Hey, I hear Vox organ on this.” And I’d say, “Well, I hear an accordion.” And he’d say, “Well, I don’t hear no accordion.” So I’d say, “Lemme put it on there and see.” And after we got through, he said, “Man, leave it on there, I like it. That sounds great. I never thought about putting an accordion on.”

He gave me the run, y’know. He said, “I want you to play what you feel.” One time, though, I played a note, I did a little run on my keyboard, and he gave me a little look while we were recording. And when we got through, he said, “I’ve heard that sound, on ‘Like a Rolling Stone’.” And I said, “Yeah. That’s where I came from.” He said, “Yeah, well, we gotta do something different.” He just looked at me right away when I played it, he related to it right away.

When we did “Love And Theft”, we did it in New York, we’d work at night. I thought we’d have a producer, I was surprised, but I thought Bob did a great job producing it himself. He knew what he wanted to do. And he said it was a lot more comfortable. I mean, I think he enjoys making records, but he gets tired of all the hoopla, and everybody around him trying to put their two cents in.

My son played on “Love And Theft”, too. We went to see Bob in concert about two years ago. We were sitting in the audience listening to the show. My son said, “Didn’t we play on that song?” I said, “I don’t know. It don’t *sound* like the one we played on…” He changes his songs around all the time, they’re totally different. I guess he just gets bored doing them the same way, but sometimes the changes are a dramatic difference. Bob asked me to play on Modern Times, too, but I couldn’t do it because I was in Europe. But if he calls, I’ll be ready.

DAMIEN LOVE

BOB DYLAN SPECIAL: The Complete Tell Tale Signs

In this month’s issue of Uncut, we celebrate the release of Tell Tale Signs, the Bootleg Series Vol 8, Bob Dylan’s astonishing 2 and 3CD collection of unreleased material from 1989-2006.

We spoke to the musicians, producers and crew who worked with him during this period. And now, here’s your chance to read the full, unedited transcripts of those interviews.

Today, we present guitarist David Lindley‘s story about the making of Under The Red Sky, while Daniel Lanois, Jim Keltner and others will follow in a further seven parts in the next two weeks. .

You can read previous transcripts by clicking on the side panel (right).

Next one up Wednesday (October 15)!

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DAVID LINDLEY

A guitarist sought out by Warren Zevon, Graham Nash, Ry Cooder and Curtis Mayfield, David Lindley was one of the ever-revolving cast assembled for 1990’s Under The Red Sky.

I had known Dylan from way back. I was called to be in his band at one time. Dylan was familiar with my stuff with Jackson [Browne] and Ry Cooder and I knew the man had ears. I mean, he listens to everything. On a musical basis, I had run into him here and there before. He was a big fan of [Lindley’s band] El Rayo-X and I remember him coming to one of the gigs we did in New York at a place called Sounds Of Brazil. He was a friend of Smitty [William Smith], the keyboard player, and was really into the band. So I got to talk to him. He was real personable. A lot of people get the impression he has a star complex, but he really doesn’t. He’s not like that at all. He’s just saving his energy for what he’s doing, because it’s like kung-fu, y’know. People come at him from all angles and directions and he has to deal with them. We’d talk about all sorts of things, mainly music and guitars: which ones sound good when you play them a certain way, which strings you use. He’s a big fan of the Teisco guitar. He actually used mine on one of the sessions and liked it a lot. The sound is way different from a Gibson or Fender. It’s more transparent and glassy, almost acoustic-sounding. And he particularly liked the nasty twang to it.

Under The Red Sky was big thing for me. I think they called me in because they didn’t want a stock guitar sound, or even a stock Lindley sound. Dylan would organise stuff in the studio as we were going along, as he heard certain things. He’d shuffle verses around a lot. It was amazing to watch him do it, quite a process. He was always working on stuff, organising verses and finishing things, changing words if he felt they worked better. And it was all done within the structure of what was going on. He was pretty impressive, shooting from the hip. Like Jackson Browne and Lowell George, he knew what he wanted in the studio. There would be basic chord charts and we’d go through them and explain things like tempo. Don Was, being a musician, would say things like “Well, it goes like this, but leave it open.” That wasn’t the case with every song. I remember a couple of songs being used as alternatives. I was mostly working on overdubs. The tracks would be laid down, then Jimmy Vaughan and I would put rhythm and slide over it. He was a fun guy to play with on songs like “Cat’s In The Well” and “10,000 Men”. Contrary to what people think, there weren’t a lot of takes of those songs. Both of the Vaughan brothers [Jimmy and Stevie Ray] were amazing to be with, both killer players.

There was always the freedom to bring your own ideas to the table. Dylan was very approachable in that respect. We’d talk in the studio. He’d say simple things like “I like that” and “Yeah, do that”. He’s kinda like Ry Cooder in that he does things the same way. With Dylan and Ry, it’s very much a case of “Do that”, “Don’t play there”, “Stop there”. But it wasn’t oppressive in any way, it was really fun. I mean, it was Dylan. C’mon! Then when things started to take form, Don would get more into specifics. He’d work with what was there, organise it then put it together. In the end, he’d just go “Fuck all that. Just play!” And it would always sound way better. It was get outta jail time.

I remember playing bouzouki, with Elton John on piano, on “2 X 2”, but there’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember about those sessions, if you know what I mean. And I haven’t heard those songs in a long time. But it was a case of me listening to the words to hear what Dylan was saying and thinking I should be careful in certain places. A lot of times I felt I should just not play at all and leave it sounding very spare. Don was always open for that. It was Dylan who was the ultimate authority, always. Don deferred to Dylan in that respect. But sometimes he would insist he was right, in a very nice way. On those occasions, Dylan would listen to it and then say “No no, I like my way of doing it.” But, y’know, they’re his tunes and he knew what kind of feeling he wanted them to ride out on.

ROB HUGHES