Because I may not know music, but I know what you should like
Bob Dylan (1962) and Leonard Cohen (writing Beautiful Losers, mid-1960s)
… and where to find it1
Best Bootleg Lagniappes – Dylan Banters, Cohen Reads, And They Also Sing
Croz.fm, source of yesterday’s Best Bootleg, Dire Straits – Secrets In The Closet, is so user friendly and has so many wonderful selections, I couldn’t resist highlighting these two additional items from that site which are atypical in that they are not exclusively musical sets.
Bob Dylan – Folksinger’s Choice
The description from Croz.fm follows:
Bob Dylan “Folksinger’s Choice” • Cynthia Gooding Radio Show, NYC, 1962. Shortly before Dylan’s first album was released he made an appearance on Cynthia Gooding’s show on WBAI in NYC. The between song banter is terrific and the chance to hear the proto-Dylan at work is a treat.
The review from BobsBoots is more effusive:
This is a true not-to-be-missed gem. It belongs in every Bob Dylan fan’s collection. The recording was made in February 1962. The date of March 11, 1962 is listed on the back cover, though this is most likely a re-broadcast date. The original radio show broadcast could have been as early as February. History is a bit fuzzy here. This long lost radio show is in perfect quality. It is complete with wonderful live-on-the-spot renditions of the above traditional and Dylan songs, as well as fascinating conversation with a young, as yet undiscovered talent. Bob relates, hilariously, the eponymous title of his soon to be released first LP, and so much more. There is conversation in-between each song that is priceless. All in all, one of the best boots ever to emerge.
This interview is also on YouTube although the quality of the sound suffers. Still, one can glean a sense of the gems within from this sampling.
Bob Dylan – 1962 Folksinger’s Choice – Hard Times in New York
The Croz.fm introduction includes a link to a transcription of the interview.
Tracks:
- Lonesome Whistle Blues
- Fixin’ To Die
- Smokestack Lightning
- Hard Travelin’
- Death Of Emmett Till
- Standing On The Highway
- Roll On John (Misidentified as “Long John”)
- Stealin’
- Long Time Man Feel Bad
- Baby Please Don’t Go
- Hard Times In New York
Download Site: Go to Croz.fm. On the left sidebar, find the list of artists:
Artists A to E
Artists F to J
Artists K to O
Artists P to S
Artists T to Z
Material from Bob Dylan, including this offering, is listed under “Artists A to E” (“B” for “Bob”)
Leonard Cohen Reading – 92nd Street YM-YWHA
The description from Croz.fm follows:
Leonard Cohen 92nd Street YM-YWHA, New York City NY, February 14, 1966. Before he took to music and song writing like the proverbial fish to water, Leonard Cohen undertook a career as a poet and writer. This early recording features Cohen reading from his debut novel, Beautiful Losers,2 and showing a sign of songs to come as he closes by singing “The Stranger”.
The session also includes contributions from Irving Layton and F.R Scott as well as Cohen being ponderously introduced as representative of the “newer generation of Canadian poets.” This recorded session is, according to LeonardCohenLive, “the oldest known live performance of ‘The Stranger Song.’”
This excerpt from a February 27, 2000 letter from Leonard Cohen to readers of a Chinese translation of Beautiful Losers3 is pertinent to the photo atop this post of the shirtless Cohen typing Beautiful Losers:
Beautiful Losers was written outside, on a table set among the rocks, weeds and daisies, behind my house on Hydra, an island in the Aegean Sea. I lived there many years ago. It was a blazing hot summer. I never covered my head. What you have in your hands is more of a sunstroke than a book.
Leonard Cohen – Beautiful Losers Reading Part 2
Tracks:
- Introduction by Leon Edel
- Introduction by Leonard
- Passage From “Beautiful Losers” (novel extract)
- Passage From “Beautiful Losers” (novel extract)
- Introduction to the next scene
- Passage From “Beautiful Losers” (novel extract)
- God Is Alive, Magic Is A Foot (poem)
- Introduction to the next scene
- Passage From “Beautiful Losers” (novel extract)
- You All In White (poem)
- For E.J.P (poem)
- You Have The Lovers (poem)
- Traveller [early The Stranger Song]
Download Site: Go to Croz.fm. On the left sidebar, find the list of artists:
Artists A to E
Artists F to J
Artists K to O
Artists P to S
Artists T to Z
Material from Leonard Cohen, including this offering, is listed under “Artists K to O” (“L” for “Leonard”)
Credit Due Department:
The Dylan photo atop this post was taken by John Cohen in 1962 and was found at All Along The Watchtower. The photo of Cohen atop this post was found at LeonardCohenFiles and is attributed to “Herewith: Music, Words and Photographs. Songs of Leonard Cohen.”
_____________________- This post is part of the Heck Of A Guy Best Bootlegs Series. An explanation of this project is included in the first post in this category: Best Bootlegs: Otis Redding – A Soupçon Of Soul. [↩]
- Croz.fm is atypically incorrect. Beautiful Losers is Cohen’s 2nd novel; his first is The Favourite Game [↩]
- Yes, a Chinese translation of Beautiful Losers – the mind boggles. [↩]
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