The masterpiece Bob Dylan has never played live
At this stage, it would seem that Bob Dylan will never stop touring. That eternal wayfaring from the original vagabond is manna from heaven for all of us sinners who love him. Unlike many artists in their older years who try to retain their youthful glory and come across like a parody, he remains one of the finest live acts around by maturing gracefully with an assuredness that says, ‘I’ll go my way, and if you don’t like it, then you can go yours’.
Speaking about why he still tours, he told an inquisitive Pete Townshend, “‘I’m a folk singer. A folk singer is only as good as his memory, and my memory is going.’ He’s doing it to keep his memory alive.” And in a recent interview with Jeff Slate of the Wall Street Journal, he shed further light on his journey. “I keep touring because: it is a perfect way to stay anonymous and still be a member of the social order,” he said. “You’re the master of your fate. But it’s not an easy path to take, not fun and games.”
With that in mind, he’s got plenty of miles on the clock when it comes to his time on the road. At present, he’s played ‘All Along the Watchtower’ 2222 times. In second place, you have ‘Highway 61 Revisited’, which he’s doled out 2037 times, and in third on his all-time most played list, you’ll find the classic ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ sat on 2009 renditions. Now, he largely plays his latest album almost in full, so it’s unlikely anything will break that podium at this stage, but there is one song that he has never played live, and fans will be waiting for that moment… perhaps forevermore.
On the world’s first double album, ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ gets a side to itself. It seems fitting even beyond the fact that it is 11 minutes long. It is a track that needs space to breathe and room to blossom. It is also a sentiment that deserves a side as he reels away an unfurling tale of twisted and obfuscated devotion for ‘Sara’ [Lownds] that he would later revisit on his anthem of the same name when he purrs: “Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel / Writin’ ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ for you.”
Dylan himself wasn’t sure whether the track was an epic masterpiece or him “just getting carried away”. Ultimately, which end of that spectrum you arrive at depends on the mood it catches you in – that is, to the song’s credit – it dares to be divisive, and in doing so, it eviscerates the banalities of a thousand other songs of a love demured in melody, reaching an exultant height akin to the disposition of its creator at the moment he was writing it.
So, with such a lofty emotional backstory, perhaps we can glimpse at why he has never played this live. Alas, is it any more emotionally scarring than ‘Sara’ itself, which he braved playing 31 times over the years? Moreover, many fans would point out that the jazzy nature of the wavering melody would be perfect for the style he has enacted in more recent years. The band rattling off a delicious version in Reynaldo & Clara reflects this, but as per the official statistics, he’s refrained from dusting it off for a standard concert.
Dylan has never commented on this setlist oddity, and when reached for comment, I doubt he ever will. But it is best not to bemoan this mystery because there’ll be an obfuscated reason behind it for Dylan; as he says himself: “People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.” He clearly believes that the song is best left on record and sheltered from the gaudy glow of the spotlight.
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