Theme Time Radio Hour F.A.Q.

This F.A.Q. covers the common Theme Time Radio Hour questions I've received while writing Dreamtime.  Last updated July 2011 to announce the return of TTRH, if only in reruns.

Some of the following information is unverified. When I use qualifiers such as "possibly," "probably" and so on it means I'm making my best guess based on available information. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm right. Feel free to disagree.

Q: Who did the opening "Night in the Big City" introduction?

A: Ellen Barkin. The identity of the narrator was argued among TTRH fans during Season 1 until the Christmas episode was broadcast, when Barkin identified herself.

Except for announcer "Pierre Mancini" and Dylan himself, Barkin was the only continuing voice on TTRH. Barkin introduced every episode in Seasons 1 and 2 except the Season 1 "Halloween" show, which was introduced by comedian Steven Wright.

Barkin's intro was used intermittently during the final season. In some Season 3 shows the intro was dropped altogether. In other episodes, the intro was edited to Barkin's voice simply saying, "This is Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan." During the final "Goodbye" show of Season 3, which did not use an intro, Barkin was heard midway through the episode announcing to listeners, "This is Ellen Barkin. It's time to go..."

Q: What is the background music played in the credits?

A: "Top Cat (Underscore)," which can be found on the CD compilations, Tunes from the Toons: The Best of Hanna-Barbera and Hanna-Barbera's Pic-a-Nic Basket of Cartoon Classics . Both compilations are currently out-of-print, but can be purchased from third-party sellers on both Amazon and eBay.

The music is an acoustic version of the theme song from the cartoon Top Cat, composed by Hoyt Curtin.  The more familiar version of the "Top Cat" theme was played as the last song of Season 3's "Cats" episode.

Q: Where can I find playlists of the music played on TTRH?

A: The Wikipedia article on TTRH , "notdarkyet.org ," or the Theme Time Radio Hour Discussion Forum at Expecting Rain.

Q: Who is announcer "Pierre Mancini?"

A: TTRH producer, Eddie Gorodetsky.

Q: Who is Eddie Gorodetsky?

A: Gorodetsky has had a storied career as disc jockey, writer, comedian, and television writer/producer.  In some circles he's probably as well-known as Bob Dylan.

Among music collectors and music historians, Gorodetsky and his collection are legendary. In a 2010 Wall Street Journal interview, Gorodetsky estimated his collection at over 10,000 albums and 140,000 digital files.

For over two decades Gorodetsky distributed annual holiday cassette tapes and later CD compilations of forgotten, arcane and just plain weird Christmas music to friends and acquaintances. Copies of those compilations - which often resemble a TTRH playlist - are exceedingly rare and regularly sell for hundreds of dollars. They can be occasionally found on eBay, especially around the holiday season.

It's likely that their common interest in music is how he and Bob Dylan first met. Gorodetsky, a Rhode Island native and a one-time Boston deejay, is a member of the so-called "Boston Mafia" circle of Dylan friends and acquaintances, which includes Peter Wolf and Peter Guralnick.  He may have been introduced to Dylan through one of those people.  Gorodetsky is reportedly a close friend of another musician who values his privacy - Tom Waits - probably one of the reasons that Waits made regular "guest appearances" on Theme Time Radio Hour and, with Dinah Washington, became the show's "most-played artist" by the close of Season 3.

One commercial Eddie Gorodetsky Christmas compilation, Christmas Party with Eddie G was released, the only issue from the Strikin' It Rich label, owned by Bob Dylan.

The 1990 compilation, later re-issued in 1996, is in many ways a precursor of what would become the idea for TTRH. The press release announcing the formation of Strikin' It Rich stated that it would be, "releasing rare and interesting rhythm and blues material," presumably much of it originating from Gorodetsky's massive record collection, and probably with the idea that the label's releases would be curated by Gorodetsky and Dylan himself. Strikin' It Rich's goal of "releasing rare and interesting rhythm and blues material," fizzled out after Christmas Party with Eddie G. and would remain nascent for a decade before being revived for the genesis of Theme Time Radio Hour.

Before TTRH, Gorodetsky's connection to Dylan was best-known through the television series, Dharma & Greg, where Gorodetsky was a writer/producer and arranged for a Dylan cameo appearance on the show. Gorodetsky has also appeared in the movie Masked and Anonymous and in the Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee music video.

Q: What are Big Red Tree and Grey Water Park Productions?

A: Grey Water Park is Bob Dylan's production company, used to produce and finance various Dylan-related media projects, including TTRH. Big Red Tree is Eddie Gorodetsky's production company, filling a similar role for him as GWPP does for Dylan.

Q: Who are the various people named in the credits?

A: Many of the research/production team named are long-time employees of Bob Dylan, or more accurately, of Grey Water Park Productions. Many of the other people named are - or were - employees of XM Radio.

The "associate producer" of Season 3 was one "Nina Fitzgerald," also credited as "Nina Washington," replacing Season 2's "Ben Rollins," who himself had replaced Season 1's "Sonny Webster." The three pseudonymous associate producers giving a nod to jazz giants was actually just one person who prefers, as the saying goes, to remain anonymous.

Jim McBean, who is credited with "production assistance," was the XM Radio vice president of production and an "audio animator" whose staff developed the TTRH promotional announcements as well as supplying some of the vintage radio airchecks used on the show. You can hear McBean's voice in the promotions  as well as the "Sponsored by Cadillac" intro used throughout most of Season 2. McBean left Sirius XM in 2008 and formed "Music Fog," a site covering Americana music, with several other partners.

Randy Ezratty, who was the engineer who recorded Dylan's 1995 MTV "Unplugged" album, reportedly introduced Lee Abrams to Dylan's business people and helped to facilitate the show's production process. Ezratty's mobile recording company - Effanel Music - was purchased by XM Radio in 2006, and Ezratty became an executive at XM. Engineer and editor Rob Macomber, another member of the Effanel team, also joined XM Radio at that time.

Out of all the XM Radio personnel associated with Theme Time Radio Hour, Rob Macomber was the person who worked most closely with the Theme Time team.  Among other responsibilities, Macomber was part of the composite "studio engineer, 'Tex' Carbone," together with sound editor, Damian Rodriguez and the anonymous associate producer. 

Coco Shinomiya is a respected graphic designer and art director, a two-time Grammy nominee, and incidentally, Eddie Gorodetsky's wife. Shinomiya has worked on many Bob Dylan-related projects, and designed the Theme Time Radio Hour iconic logo.

Lee Abrams was the Chief Creative Officer of XM Radio, and the prime mover in bringing Dylan to satellite radio. He left the company in 2008.

The identity of continuity coordinator, "Eeeps" Martin is unknown, as is the correct spelling of his/her nickname.

Q: Is the Abernathy Building real?

A: The Abernathy Building and surrounding environs (Studio B, Samson's Diner, Elmo's, Carl's Barber Shop) exist only in the theater of the mind.

Q: How did TTRH start? Where is it recorded? How is it produced?

Creation

Then-Chief Creative Officer Lee Abrams wrote that in 2005 he had pitched Dylan's offices on the idea of Dylan doing something for XM Radio. A "Bob Dylan Channel" was discussed, but the idea was discarded. In ongoing talks the concept of a weekly radio show evolved, and a deal was signed in late December 2005. Abrams went on to write that the premiere show was originally scheduled for a February 2006 release. The first press release about the show names March as the start date, but the premiere was eventually pushed out to May to accommodate Dylan's schedule.

Production

The mechanics of TTRH production were a closely-held secret, due to a desire to preserve the Dylan mystique as well as the listener's "willing suspension of disbelief" that TTRH was a vintage radio show, with Your Host Bob Dylan broadcasting live from Studio B of the Abernathy Building.

In reality, Dylan's narrative was recorded separately from the other show elements and later mixed in, a common technique in modern radio called "voice tracking." Dylan used a mobile recording set-up to lay down his narrative tracks while on tour or at other locations. Final editing and production sessions were conducted in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Most non-musical show elements, such as the celebrity segments and the caller side of the staged phone calls were recorded in Los Angeles, home base of Eddie Gorodetsky, or in New York City, home of Dylan's Grey Water Park Productions.

Music for the various episodes were probably supplied by all the members of the TTRH team, most notably by Eddie Gorodetsky. A 2010 Wall Street Journal interview with him noted that "... much of the material for the 100 [TTRH] episodes was culled from Mr. Gorodetsky's own record collection" and it's indicative that during the interview and in the Eddie G's Holiday List sidebar, Gorodetsky names a half-dozen favorites that were aired on various episodes of TTRH.

XM Radio representatives noted in interviews that they received the shows in completed, final format, but occasionally replaced some music tracks with versions from the XM music library either better recorded or better suited for satellite transmission.

Recording vs. Air Dates

One hotly-debated topic among TTRH fans was how far in advance the shows were recorded prior to airing. XM personnel have noted in interviews that most Season 1 shows were usually delivered two weeks or less prior to airing. Other evidence, such as Dylan's remark during the "Number One" episode on Ike Turner's death shortly after that event confirms that some shows were still in production as little as two weeks prior to airing.

In an interview conducted in April 2009, in fact just a week before the broadcast of TTRH's final episode, Bob Dylan stated that he "had stopped doing those shows a while ago." Other evidence also suggests that Dylan's direct involvement with TTRH had ended sometime in  2008.

There is strong circumstantial evidence that Seasons 2 and 3 were originally planned as one Season 2 50-episode block of shows intended to run from 2007 through 2008, similar to Season 1. Likely due to Lee Abrams leaving the company, the then-pending merger of Sirius and XM, and the need for the TTRH contract to be renegotiated, the 50 Season 2 episodes were split into two 25-episode segments.  The segments were aired beginning in 2007 and continued through 2008 and into 2009 as Seasons 2 and 3, with a six-month hiatus between the two seasons. While production work continued up to the show's 2009 finale, the recording of Dylan's commentary was likely completed by late 2008.

Dylan's Involvement

Another argument among TTRH fans is how much involvement Dylan actually had with the show past reading his scripted commentary.

The evidence points to producer Eddie Gorodetsky having a strong influence on TTRH content, including scripting most of Dylan's remarks, supplying much of the music from his own record collection, creating the email and phone call segments and booking the "guest appearances" of the various celebrities, musicians, and comedians who appeared on the show. But it's likely that Dylan also interjected his own choices for the music, as well as speaking his own personal thoughts and opinions.

Various interviews over the years and Chronicles: Volume One confirm Dylan's appreciation for the musicians, genres, and music played on TTRH. Derek Barker's The Songs He Didn't Write catalogs over 50 songs played during the various seasons of TTRH that Dylan has also covered in concert and on record.

It's improbable that anyone but Bob Dylan himself would suggest that he perform an a capella rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, or that he play Blowin' in the Wind on a recorder, both of which he did on episodes of TTRH. Anyone who follows Dylan's rare remarks in concert also knows that he has a weakness for corny old jokes, a regular feature of TTRH. His occasional on-air outbursts on subjects ranging from modern medical care, "commercial affiliations," and country music have all sounded deeply heart-felt and personal.

Perhaps the strongest evidence of Dylan's commitment to Theme Time Radio Hour is the fact that he recorded the narrative for 100 episodes of the show from 2006 through 2008 during a period when he was touring, recording, and involved in numerous other projects.

Q: Which artist(s) had the most airplay on TTRH?

A: At the close of Season 3 (April 15, 2009) Tom Waits and Dinah Washington had tied as "most-played," each with 10 appearances on the turntable over the 100 episodes of TTRH.

Q: What are "deaf poets"?

A: Dylan wasn't fixated on poets with hearing problems in the early days of the show, but instead was using the hip-hop slang term "def," as in "great" or "definitive" during his poetry readings.

According to Wikipedia, "def" originated in New York City in the 1980s and was accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1993. Dylan or Gorodetsky may have taken the "def poet" phrase from the HBO series, Def Poetry Jam, which ran from 2002 through 2007.

Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour poetry readings were featured throughout the show's run, although the segment was reduced in each consecutive season. Likewise, the"def poet" phrase was gradually phased out in favor of Dylan doing variations on the theme, such as referring to Robert Frost as a "frosty poet."

Def Poetry Trivia

The first def poet reading was from Saint Basil (also known as "Basil of Caesarea" and "Basil the Great") and used in the first episode of the series, "Weather," "Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger."

While Dylan calls Saint Basil a "def poet," the theologian is better-recognized for moral homilies such as the above quote than for poetry. Dylan may have supplied Eddie Gorodetsky with the Saint Basil quote. However, it's more likely that, as with much of the information used in the "Weather" show, Gorodetsky found it through a quick Web search.

The last full def poetry reading of the series was Delmore Schwartz's "The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me" in Season 3's Episode 21 "Sugar & Candy." In keeping with the episode's theme Dylan calls Schwartz a "candy-coated poet" after his reading.

The Flowers episode from Season 1 had the most poetry readings with Dylan quoting four separate poems from authors ranging from Christopher Marlowe to Anon.

William Shakespeare wins hands down as "most quoted" poet on TTRH. "The kid is good," as Bob Dylan says.

Q: What is and where can I find the TTRH poster?

A: Commissioned by producer Eddie Gorodetsky in 2007 from artist/illustrator Jaime Hernandez, each of the poster's scenes illustrate Ellen Barkin's "It's Night/Night Time in the Big City," introductions from Season 1 of TTRH.

The poster was originally available as a free high-resolution download at bobdylan.com from October 2007 through July 2008, but that link was discontinued upon the launch of the redesigned site. Bootleg print versions have occasionally appeared on eBay. An "authorized" low-quality print version of the poster was offered to the first 5,000 people who ordered any one of the three Bootleg Series Volume 8 packages sold through bobdylan.com. A search through Google Images may uncover copies of the original digital file at various sites on the Web.

Q: Was it possible to contact Bob Dylan about TTRH and would you get a response?

A: During the show's original run, XM advertised the email address bobdylan@xmradio.com as the means to contact Dylan and the TTRH team with suggestions and questions. There were some fan reports that their email to that address either went unanswered or generated an auto-reply noting that due to the high volume of mail received, personal responses were impossible.

Email Trivia

Before and during Season 1, XM advertised that "Dylan will read and answer select emails on his show." Most fans assumed that all the listener mail read on the show was was scripted, as several used names of Dylan friends and acquaintances, or were otherwise obviously fake. However, at least one email read on the "Friends and Neighbors" episode came from a real listener, suggesting that there were probably others over the show's 100-episode run.

Q: How can I listen to TTRH?

A: SiriusXM discontinued its rebroadcasts of TTRH episodes in April 2011, ending the show's five-year run.  However, continuing the show's aspiration to become the "I Love Lucy" of satellite radio, in late July, 2011, SiriusXM issued a press release announcing the "Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour" channel, an internet-only channel that will broadcast reruns of TTRH 24/7 on SiriusXM internet channel 801.

SiriusXM also noted the return of rebroadcasts of TTRH in its traditional time slot on satellite radio, on Deep Tracks, channel 27, on Mondays at 8:00 pm; Wednesdays at 11:00 am; Thursdays at 12:00 am and Sundays at 8:00 am (all times Eastern). The return of TTRH on both stations is scheduled for August 15, 2011.  To listen requires a subscription to SiriusXM and is only available in North America.

"Dylan Radio," a fan site, (http://www.dylanradio.com ) streams Dylan music and Dylan-related content including Theme Time Radio Hour episodes and the Dreamtime podcast. Check the site for times.

Q: Are there any commercial releases of Theme Time Radio Hour shows?

A: No. To date no complete TTRH show has been offered as a standalone commercial offering. However, there are a dozen compilations featuring music from the show as well as two promotional CDs of complete TTRH shows.  For an up-to-date listing, see The Compleat Theme Time Radio Hour Shopping List.

Q: Are there any books about Theme Time Radio Hour?

A:  Not yet. The announced "Theme Time Radio Hour Compendium," a tie-in book originally scheduled for October 2008, was never released and appears to have been placed on indefinite hold. The book's original page on Amazon (see link above), has been edited to read "Bob Dylan Untitled Christmas Book." and is no longer cataloged in any form on its publisher's site.

A 2010 article from "Crain's New York Business" noted that a literary agent was reportedly shopping a "proposed series of books" authored by Dylan, including "a collection of riffs from his Theme Time Radio Hour show on Sirius Satellite Radio."  That collection may be a version of the Compendium, which was advertised using similar language. However a "source close to Dylan," later told the LA Times in 2011 that no deal for any proposed book projects had been closed.


Q: Can I find Theme Time Radio Hour shows for download on the internet?

A: Various TTRH show archives have appeared (and regularly disappear) on the Web. A little judicious searching through Google or Dylan fan sites should identify what's currently available.

It's unlikely that a complete set of TTRH - 100 shows at the close of Season 3 - will ever be released commercially. The non-commercial efforts to distribute TTRH is likely to be the only complete record that will ever be accessible to researchers, scholars, and fans.

Q: Where can I find additional information on TTRH?

A: Although incomplete, The Annotated Theme Time Radio Hour is an excellent reference site on TTRH. Lee Abrams's original XM Radio blog is still on-line and includes a lengthy three-part post on the background and creation of TTRH. Vanity Fair published an article on TTRH trivia both in a print version and on line in April 2008. It should be noted much of that article's content appears to have been taken from The Annotated Theme Time Radio Hour site without credit.

Although TTRH has ended, any new news about the show will continue to be found at Expecting Rain, the Dreamtime blog, and DylanTweets a news feed on Twitter run by Dreamtime. Bob Dylan's official web site has also carried news about TTRH.

Expecting Rain offers a TTRH forum, which was renamed to "Picasso's Theme Time Radio Hour " in memory of one of the show's most ardent fans. The archives of RightWing Bob and the Theme Time Radio Hour page on MySpace are also of interest.

Q: Will there be a Season 4 of Theme Time Radio Hour?

A: Although there has been no official announcement, Theme Time Radio Hour appears to have ended airing original broadcasts.

In an April 2009 interview with ROLLING STONE magazine, Dylan implied that his contract to do the show was completed and stated that while Sirius XM wanted to renew the program, he wasn't sure he wanted to continue. Sirius XM declined to comment when contacted by ROLLING STONE about Dylan's remark.

***

Dreamtime friend and correspondent Heddy Richter was kind enough to review and edit the TTRH F.A.Q. for spelling, grammar, and consistency. All errors or omissions remain our own.

In Memory of Pierre Ponette ("Picasso From Belgium")

Last updated March 2011

Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan

View more presentations from Sam Ryan

The Compleat Theme Time Radio Hour Shopping List

Current as of January 2011. Originally published as part of our Theme Time Radio Hour "Frequently Asked Questions" document.

Promotional CDs and 45s


Baseball

A CD of the complete Baseball show was released in 2006 as part of a limited in-store promotion for Modern Times. The link above will take you to Amazon where various re-sellers offer the disc for prices ranging from the reasonable to the ridiculous. The disc can also be found on eBay.

If packaging and "original condition" are important to you, you should make sure the packaging is the original cardboard sleeve (with the TTRH logo on the front and playlist on the back) and that the disc itself is not a CD-R copy but the original with silk-screened artwork.

If you liked "Friends and Neighbors" (see below) chances are you'll love "Baseball," which features Your Host Bob Dylan performing Take Me Out to the Ball Game a capella among its other highlights.

Friends & Neighbors

Another CD, featuring the complete "Friends and Neighbors" episode, is part of the "deluxe" Together Through Life package released in April 2009. The CD has everything that makes TTRH special and is the perfect starting point for introducing someone to the show: quirky music, interesting facts and trivia; two emails, wife-swapping and swinging, and Our Host launching into a blistering attack on modern country music. Who could ask for more?  As with the "Baseball" disc, the original "Friends and Neighbors" CD is packaged in a cardboard sleeve displaying cover artwork and track listing.  The CD also displays silk-screened artwork.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

In November 2009, Sony/Columbia offered a limited-edition 45 rpm vinyl record ("while supplies last") as a bonus to some purchasers of the "Christmas in the Heart" album. The B-side of the 45 is Our Host's reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from the Theme Time Radio Hour Christmas Special.  The A-side of the single also has an interesting Theme Time Radio Hour connection, Bob Dylan's cover of Brave Combo's version of "Must Be Santa," a song that was featured on the TTRH Christmas Special.  Although no longer commercially available, the 45 is offered through various resellers on Amazon.

***

Promotional Compilations

Radio Bob and Radio Bob Another 17 Brillant Tracks...are two compilations originally included as promotional CDs in editions of Uncut magazine. Featuring music only from various episodes of TTRH, the CDs are probably only of interest to collectors wanting a complete TTRH-related collection.  Both compilations can be found on Amazon and eBay.

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Commercial Compilations

There are currently 11 different commercial CD compilations featuring music only from TTRH.

These compilations do not include Dylan's commentary or other features that made the show unique. The tracks used on the compilations are not necessarily the ones used on the show. If you're interested in the folk, jazz, swing, rockabilly and country music played on TTRH, you might like these sets. If you're looking for TTRH shows, they're not for you.

Chrome Dreams/ISIS Compilations

There are four "unauthorized" (in the sense that they were not produced with the involvement of the TTRH team) sets from the Chrome Dreams/ISIS label:

 The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Volume 1 and Volume 2 cover the show's first season. For reasons unknown, the U.S. Amazon store isn't carrying Volume 2, but it can be purchased at Amazon U.K. through the link above. Volume 1 can also be purchased at Amazon U.K.

 The Best Of The Second Series compiles music from the show's second season. It can also be purchased at Amazon U.K.

Presumably the last of the Chrome Dreams TTRH issues, Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour - The Best Of The Third Series has been released in the U.K. and  U.S.

All the above compilations are 2-CD sets of 52 tracks each.

Mischief Music "Radio Radio"Compilations

Four other "unauthorized" compilations come from the German Mischief Music label. Radio Radio is a 4-CD box set released in 2008 and covers music from TTRH's first season. A second "Radio, Radio" compilation is also available, Bob Dylan Radio Radio Vol. 2. As with the first, "Vol. 2" is a 4-CD set with 112 tracks. "Vol.2" also focuses entirely on Season 1 of TTRH.  A third 4-CD set, Bob Dylan Radio Radio Vol.3 appears to collect music played over Season 2 of TTRH with a total 108 tracks.

A fourth compilation from Mischief Music was released in late 2010 and is available through Amazon U.K., "Radio Radio: Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Volume 4." Personally, given that I haven't seen/heard it, I'd approach this one with a caveat audiens 'tude. A Dreamtime correspondent notes that at least one of the tracks was directly recorded from the radio show itself and several of the tunes fade out abruptly.  Definitely a gray market entry in the TTRH field.

Ace Records Compilations

The authorized Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan set was compiled by Ace Records U.K. under the supervision of TTRH producer Eddie Gorodetsky and Dylan factotum, Jeff Rosen.

In September 2009 Ace released another 2-CD set, Theme Time Radio Hour Season 2. As the title implies, the compilation features music from Season 2 of TTRH.

In November 2010, Ace  released the third, and presumably last, of its TTRH compilations, Theme Time Radio Hour Season 3 with your host Bob Dylan. The 2-CD set is available for order through both Amazon U.S. and Amazon U.K.

Of all the commercial compilations, the Ace volumes of Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan best reflect the breadth of music played on TTRH.  All contain both relatively modern music, such as The White Stripes Seven Nation Army, The Clash's Tommy Gun, and Nirvana's Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle, as well as the type of vintage cuts you'll find on the other sets.

The Collected Ace TTRH Compilations and the Infamous Slipcase

Ace announced that it would release a box set collecting all three of its TTRH CD compilations in a packaged slipcase resembling a vintage radio, and for a short time advertised that set on both Amazon and Amazon U.K. for a $79.98 U.S. dollars price.

However, as of this writing (November 2010), both the U.S and U.K Amazon pages have been changed to sell the slipcase only - although both note that it is out-of-stock.  Adding to the confusion is the erroneous price listing and description on the Amazon U.S. page, noting a $64.84 discount and that what is being sold is "all three volumes of this acclaimed series based on Bob Dylan's 'Theme Time Radio Hour' radio show from Ace together in this limited edition cardboard box holder"  Add it to your shopping cart if you like - I did - but I think it's highly unlikely that either you or I will eventually receive all three editions of the Ace compilations in a cardboard holder for $15.14.  But hope springs eternal.

For those wishing to buy the slipcase only, the current best bet seems to be through Ace itself.

Other TTRH-related Compilations

The 2008 Starbucks compilation, Artist's Choice - Bob Dylan: Music That Matters To Him is highly recommended. The CD set reflects Dylan's musical interests, "right now," as he relates in the liner notes, and the music in the compilation could easily have appeared on a TTRH playlist. The CD also has another connection to TTRH. Its liner notes state that it was produced by "Tim Ziegler," the fictitious name used by a caller during one of the Season 2 episodes who complained that Dylan had misidentified a record label.

Christmas Party with Eddie G. is the only commercial release of one of TTRH writer/producer's Eddie Gorodetsky's infamous Christmas compilations. It's more Dr. Demento-oriented than a typical TTRH episode, and as its title implies, Christmas Party with Eddie G. is focused entirely on a holiday theme.

The compilation is notable to those interested in the background and origins of  TTRH. The original CD was the only release from Bob Dylan's Strikin' It Rich label, created in October of 19 and 90 with the stated goal of "releasing rare and interesting rhythm and blues material" and an early precursor of what would become the idea for TTRH.  Prices for the CD, available through resellers on Amazon, verge on the ridiculous to the reasonable.

Although overpriced, the CD/DVD set, Ricky Jay Plays Poker is also of interest to the TTRH fan. A friend of Bob Dylan and Eddie Gorodetsky (Eddie G. is one of the table members watching Jay demonstrate various card deceptions on the DVD feature), Jay's compilation could easily be a TTRH set with the theme of "Poker."  The tracklist includes artists as diverse as Memphis Minnie, Anita O'Day, and Lorne Greene. Recommended for the TTRH completist.


***

There are literally dozens "Roots of Bob Dylan" compilations, including at least one using that title, all collecting music that the curators claim had some influence on Bob Dylan. My personal favorite from a TTRH viewpoint is Songs from the Invisible Republic: The Music That Influenced Bob Dylan.

Invisible Republic is a 2-CD set issued by a Repertoire Records, based out of Hamburg, Germany. The 45 cuts on the set include artists as diverse as Odetta, Slim Harpo, Bing Crosby, and Curtis Mayfield. The common thread tying all together... Bob Dylan.

If you've read the various speculations and commentaries on the musical influences on the songs of "Love and Theft" and Modern Times, here's the means to listen to all their antecedents in one package: Gene Austin's The Lonesome Road; Slim Harpo's Shake Your Hips; Bing Crosby's Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day) itself the theme song for Crosby's Philco radio show; Billie Holiday's Having Myself a Time; and more, including the hard-to-find Uncle John's Bongos by Johnny & Jack, which inspired probably the most nakedly transparent music appropriation Dylan has made to date: Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.

While hard-core Dylan fans may find nothing particularly new in Invisible Republic (for example, the roots of Modern Times were thoroughly covered by the excellent Live Roots and Wounded Flowers bootleg of 2006), the chances are that you'll hear at least one surprise.

Of course, that's one of the delights of Theme Time, hearing music you've never heard before, and connecting it to other music. And it's one of the delights of Invisible Republic. If you want to listen to a Theme Time Radio Hour with the theme of "Roots," you couldn't do better for source material than Invisible Republic.

About Dreamtime

Dreamtime is an archive of blog posts and some 60-odd audio podcasts I created as commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, a weekly satellite radio show that originally aired from April 2006 to May 2009 and is still being rebroadcast at the time of this writing.

Herein you'll find such arcana as a Theme Time Radio Hour FAQ, a list of various TTRH CDs and related material, transcripts of a few of the shows and lots of commentary discussing the show's three-year run.

I've moved on to other projects, and don't plan on updating Dreamtime past March 2010 unless there is some significant news about the show in the future.  As time passes, you'll probably find broken links, missing videos, and so on. That's life on these here interwebs.  I hope you'll still find enough content to have made the visit worth your time.  Thanks and enjoy.

Fred Bals

A Wink Or a Nod from an Unexpected Place

A reblast from the past in honor of the Gorgeous One's induction into the 2010 Wrestling Hall of Fame.

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"... all it takes is a wink or a nod from some unexpected place to vary the tedium of a baffling existence.

That happened to me when Gorgeous George the great wrestler came to my hometown. In the mid-50s, I was performing in the lobby of the National Guard Armory, the Veterans Memorial Building, the site where all the big shows happened - the livestock shows and hockey games, circuses and boxing shows, traveling preacher revivals, country-and-western jamborees.











Once a year or so, Gorgeous George would bring his whole troupe of performers to town: Goliath, The Vampire, The Twister, The Strangler, The Bone Crusher, The Holy Terror, midget wrestlers, a couple of lady wrestlers, and a whole lot more.

I was playing on a makeshift platform in the lobby of the building with the usual wild activity of people milling about, and no one was paying much attention. Suddenly the doors burst open and in came Gorgeous George himself. He roared in like the storm, didn't go through the backstage area, he came right through the lobby of the building and he seemed like forty men. It was Gorgeous George, in all his magnificent glory with all the lightning and vitality you'd expect. He had valets and was surrounded by women carrying roses, wore a majestic fur-lined gold cape and his long blond curls were flowing. He brushed by the makeshift stage and glanced towards the sound of the music. He didn't break stride, but he looked at me, eyes flashing with moonshine. He winked and seemed to mouth the phrase 'You're making it come alive.'"

- Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One

"I am the Greatest Wrestler in the World!"

During the peak of his career, Gorgeous George's fame was comparable to that of Muhammad Ali's - whose public persona had more than a little of Gorgeous George in it. During the early part of his career, when he was still known as Cassius Clay, Ali was promoting his latest fight on a Las Vegas radio show. Also appearing was Gorgeous George, who was talking up his own fight and who worked himself into a frenzy describing the hurt he planned for opponent,

"If this bum beats me, I’ll crawl down Las Vegas Boulevard on my hands and knees. But it won’t happen. I’ll tear his arm off. For I am the greatest wrestler in the world!"

Like the young Dylan, the young Ali was entranced by George's rhetoric, and became even more enthusiastic when he discovered that George regularly sold out wherever he appeared. Taking up George's invitation, Ali went to see his match and, as he later remembered, "I saw 15,000 people coming to see this man get beat, and his talking did it. I said, 'This is a g-o-o-o-d idea!'"

Gorgeous George's influence can also be seen in Little Richard, James Brown, and Liberace, as well as nearly every other sports or entertainment figure - such as Elton John - who ever adopted a flamboyant, outrageous style.

Gorgeous George was born George Wagner in Seward, Nebraska on March 15, 1915. He began his wrestling career during his teens - often competing at local carnivals, where the prize purse averaged 35 cents. By age 17, George was getting bookings through the area's top promoter. At 5'9' and 215 pounds, Wagner was not all that an imposing a figure, but he developed a reputation as a solid wrestler, and by the late `30s he had legitimately captured two regional titles.

He also met his first wife, Betty Hanson, who George subsequently married in an in-ring ceremony. That turned out to be so popular that the couple incorporated the wedding into their tour and would re-enact it in arenas throughout the U.S. Seeing how show biz elements helped draw crowds may have started George thinking about developing a more memorable shtick than simply straight wrestling. At least one report has it that he got the idea for an effeminate, dandy villain wrestler after reading an article about a now-forgotten contemporary who wrestled under the name Lord Patrick Lansdowne, and who would appear at bouts as a British Lord attended by a valet.

The Human Orchid

Also known as "The Human Orchid," George debuted his new persona in 19 and 41 in Eugene, Oregon, and was instantly slapped with the title "Gorgeous George" by a bemused ring announcer. George rapidly became the villain crowds loved to hate. One of the first wrestlers to use the type of flamboyant entrance now common in pro wrestling matches, George would arrive to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance, escorted down a personal red carpet by his ring valet “Jeffries,” who would carry a silver mirror for George to gaze upon as rose petals were strewn at his feet.

These entrances often took longer than the actual bout, as George still had to exchange taunts with the crowd, have Jeffries spray the ring and unwilling opponent with disinfectant which George claimed was "Chanel #10." The show would culminate in George's refusal to let the referee inspect him for foreign objects unless he was also doused by Jeffries while George shrieked in horror, "Keep your filthy hands off me!"

Eventually the match would begin, and George would brazenly ignore the rules while chanting his motto to the audience: "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!"

It was an outrageous, larger-than-life act, tailor-made for the new medium, television. Gorgeous George would become the biggest drawing card of the wrestling industry, as well as one of its first genuine stars. It's been claimed that Gorgeous George was responsible for selling as many TV sets as Milton Berle, Mr. Television, himself.

By the '50s, Gorgeous George was earning over $100,000 a year, making him that decade's highest paid athlete. His most famous match would take place in 1959 before 14,000 fans and millions of television viewers where he would be defeated by longtime rival "Whipper" Billy Watson and would lose his treasured platinum locks to the Whipper's razor.

Although he would wrestle for three more years, and in fact, knowing a good crowd-pleaser when he saw one, would lose his hair to an opponent's razor twice more in those three years, age and a tough lifestyle eventually caught up with the Gorgeous One. George retired in 1962, bought into a turkey ranch and opened a cocktail lounge in Van Nuys, California, "Gorgeous George's Ringside Restaurant," where he would entertain customers with card tricks. Although filmed before his retirement, you can see a different side of Gorgeous George in this clip from You Asked For It, as he demonstrates some sleight-of-hand for the audience and host Art Baker.










Our Daddy, Gorgeous George

Gorgeous George passed away on December 26, 1963 at age 48. Although he had made millions during his wrestling career and for a time was probably the most recognizable entertainer on the planet, Gorgeous George would die broke. He was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California, the final resting place for several other celebrities including Oliver Hardy; Curly Joe from The Three Stooges; and in a coincidental Dreamtime connection, Cliff ("Ukulele Ike") Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket, who also died penniless.

Gorgeous George's grave can be found in plot 6657, near the northeast side of the fountain. A plaque reads "Love to Our Daddy Gorgeous George."

Audio excerpt from Chronicles: Volume One, read by Sean Penn.

***

You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour.

Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.

Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.

Remember that the Dreamtime team loves to get email. You can write us at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com

The Dreamtime top cats are Curly Lasagna and Shaggy Bear. Our announcers are the notorious honky-tonkin' sisters, Jailbait and Joyride.

Until next time, dream well.

Visit the Dreamtime Store

Mama Said Knock You Out

Two white guys who are not LL Cool J sing "Mamma Said Knock You Out,"  one of those guys being Bob Dylan and the other being Stephen Merchant, with a special guest appearance by The Cool One himself.

A nice edit job, with Mr. D.'s recitation being taken from Episode #2 of Theme Time Radio Hour,  "Mother" first broadcast on May 10, 2006 where he memorably recited a full verse of "Mamma Said Knock You Out."

The Annotated “Days of the Week” Theme Time Radio Hour - Episode 53 (Part 2)

 Being the 2nd Part of a Compleat Transcript with Commentary on Episode #53 of Theme Time Radio Hour, "Days of the Week" Part 1 can be found here.

Original air date: October 3, 2007



***


In Episode 53 -- "Days of the Week" -- of  Theme Time Radio Hour, we'll meet Monday's and Saturday's children, learn that Jack White knows his Sundays,  look at the leaders in the TTRH playlist race, hear amazing predictions from the even more Amazing Criswell, listen to a surprise recorder rendition, and receive Our Host's final word on commercial affiliation.  I've split the "Days of the Week" transcript into two parts with Part 1 here.

If you like what you read, you can help fund the "Night Time in the Big City" book, chockful of that Dreamtime commentary you've come to know and love.

***

Bob Dylan: Our next performer is truly one of the greats. He signed with Okeh Records in 19 and 25. Between 1925 and 19 and 32, he cut an estimated 130 tracks. He cut blues, guitar duets with Eddie Lang, recorded with Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5 and Duke Ellington. And those aren’t even the records he’s most famous for. In the late `30s and `40s he recorded for the Bluebird label, great blues tracks like, “He’s a Jellyroll Baker.” In 19 and 47 he joined King Records, and that’s where we pick him up today.

[“Tomorrow Night” – Lonnie Johnson]

Bob Dylan: That was Lonnie Johnson and “Tomorrow Night.” Lonnie fell on hard times in the `50s. He was working as a janitor in Philadelphia. Elmer Snowden, the jazz banjo player, discovered him. In an amazing comeback he made some great records for Prestige in the early `60s and toured with the blues revivalists. But he couldn’t catch a break. In 19 and 69 he was struck by a car in Toronto and died a year later from injuries resulting from that accident. The great Lonnie Johnson and “Tomorrow Night” here on Theme Time Radio Hour.

Bob Dylan: Some other people who are able to see tomorrow night are clairvoyants, such as Madame Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society and Edgar Cayce, the spiritual healer. And who could forget the famed TV psychic from the `50s, The Amazing Criswell? He had a great voice, and even better hair. He was in the movie, “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and was a frequent visitor to `50s television. Let’s listen to a few of Criswell’s predictions.

The Amazing Criswell: Ah, greetings my friend. We are all interested in the future for that it is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives, whether we want to or not. And remember my friend; these future events will affect you. The future is in your hands. I predict: Full medical attention by vending machine. I predict that in the future it will be highly possible to have an appendix operation, give birth to a child or receive an abortion, have a heart transplant, a hair transplant or even a brain transplant by vending machine. Your own weight will be controlled by vending machine for ten cents worth of radaric rays.

Bob Dylan: Thank you, Criswell.

Commentary

The clip is taken from the 19 and 70 LP “The Amazing Criswell Predicts! Your Incredible Future” first released on the very obscure Horoscope Records, and later bootlegged on CD. You can listen to the full 44-minute recording at WFMU’s “Beware of the Blog,” where, given how liberal your interpretation of his proclamations, Criswell correctly predicts the political rise of conservatism, genital piercing, and the end of the world on August 18, 1999.

Bob Dylan is reportedly a reader and fan of both Edgar Cayce and Madame Blavatsky. He uses the latter’s writings as a source multiple times in Chronicles, according to researcher Scott Warmuth. I suspect that if someone did a close comparison between passages from Cayce and Dylan’s book, the same would hold true for the former. The Amazing Criswell is a dubious addition to the group, but I think the old, outrageous fakir holds a special place in Dylan’s heart, given his liking for performers who make a living from duping their audience, while entertaining at the same time.

Bob Dylan: You know, some weeks we don’t play a single Irish group. And here we are today with our second one. This one isn’t quite as serious as U2, however. As a matter of fact they say they write a lot of songs about chocolate and girls. You Irish aficionados already know I’m talking ‘bout The Undertones. They recorded a song called “Teenage Kicks” that fellow deejay, the late John Peel, thought was one of the greatest things he ever heard. His attention got them a deal with Sire Records and they toured opening for The Clash. They wrote a great song about Wednesday, a day of the week that there aren’t many songs about. Here’s one of the best, “Wednesday Week,” The Undertones.

[“Wednesday Week” — The Undertones]

Bob Dylan: That was The Undertones, with “Wednesday Week,” which is kinda an English-Irish way of saying, “next Wednesday.”

Bob Dylan: Wednesday is considered either the third or fourth day of the week, depending on whether you start your week on Sunday or Monday. When Sunday is the first day of the week, Wednesday ends up being in the middle of the week. That’s why the Finnish call it something I can not pronounce, but is translated as “center of the week.” Here in the U.S., we just call it “hump day.”

Bob Dylan: One famous Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent.

Morticia Addams: My name is Mrs. Addams and I want you to find my little girl, Wednesday.

Sergeant Haley: Look, I’ll find her Tuesday if I can, but don’t give me no deadlines, willya please?

Morticia Addams: Wednesday’s her name!

Sergeant Haley: Oh, and I suppose you’re gonna tell me her middle name is Thursday, huh?

Morticia Addams: “Friday.”

Commentary

The Finnish name for Wednesday that Dylan did not want to take on is, “Keskiviikko,” which is pronounced just as you would guess, but apparently looked a bit too daunting in the script.

“My name is Mrs. Addams…”

To belabor the obvious, which is what Dreamtime is all about, the clip is from the great ABC series of the `60s, “The Addams Family,” and is from the 10th episode of its first season, “Wednesday Leaves Home” from 19 and 64. Lovers of classic `60s `70s and `80s commercials will recognize “Sgt. Haley’s” voice as that of The Maytag Repair Man, Jesse White.



Bob Dylan: Well, we’ve covered Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I’ll bet you can guess what’s next. That’s right, Thursday, and here’s a song all about that day, by a trio called Morphine.

["Thursday" — Morphine]

Bob Dylan: That was Morphine with “Thusday,” telling ya ‘bout what can happen if you push things too far. Might lose a good thing. Unfortunately, on July 3rd 19 and 99 Mark Sandman had a fatal heart attack and died on-stage while playing in a festival in Rome. Morphine, here on Theme Time Radio Hour.

Bob Dylan: We’re looking at the days one-by-one, but we also want to look at them as simply days. Some days you’re the dog, other days you’re the hydrant. Here’s another Mother Goose rhyme:

[“Solomon a Gundie” (background music) – Eric “Monty” Morris]

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy

Bob Dylan: The name “Solomon Grundy” was also used as the name of The Man Who Couldn’t Die, who was an arch-enemy of the original Green Lantern.

Commentary

Dylan never refers to the artist or music playing in the background during his recitation of “Solomon Grundy,” which is kind of a pity, as it would have been good for a few minutes of commentary. But we’ll fill in for him.

Eric “Monty” Morris’ `60s ska song, even though using the rhyme as its basis, changes Solomon’s name to “Solomon a Gundie.” Under that name, the rhyme was popular with Jamaican children, and later adapted to music by Morris. He had several hits with ska versions of children rhymes, including “Simple Simon” and “Humpty Dumpty.” “Solomon Gundie” is also a pickled herring paste served on crackers in Jamaica. Interestingly, the same term is used in Nova Scotia for pickled herring with sour cream. Both terms probably were corruptions of the British word salmagundi, used to describea recipe of many different ingredients.

The DC villain Solomon Grundy debuted in “All-American Comics” in October 19 and 44 and was also named after the nursery rhyme. The Undead Cyrus Gold, the original Swamp Thing, arises from the muck and mire of Slaughter Swamp, encounters a hobo camp and when asked his name replies that he has none but helpfully offers that he was “born on a Monday.” This of course incites one of the `bos to recite the nursery rhyme. Hilarity and mayhem ensue.

Bob Dylan: And now, TGIF. Thank Goodness It’s Friday.

[Flintstones theme (excerpt)]

Bob Dylan: If you’re like me, you probably have Friday on your mind. Well, here’s the prefect soundtrack from 19 and 65. The Easybeats, “Friday On My Mind.”

[“Friday On My Mind” — The Easybeats]

Bob Dylan: That was The Easybeats, “Friday On My Mind,” here on Theme Time Radio Hour. That song was written by Harry Vanda and George Young. Well, after The Easybeats broke up, Vanda and Young became fulltime songwriters and producers. They helped put together AC/DC. As a matter of fact, two of George Young’s younger brothers, Angus and Malcom, were in AC/DC. Vanda and Young also had another project called, Flash and the Pan. They had a novelty hit with “Hey, St. Peter” and recorded another song that ended up being a big hit for Grace Jones. It was called “Walking in the Rain,” and it’s a shame that we’ve already done our “Weather” show, or we definitely would have played that one.

Bob Dylan: We got time for an email now before we get to the end of the week. Let’s go to the email basket. This one comes from Jackie Van from Manhattan. Jackie writes, “Bob, I know that Sheryl Crow’s a friend of yours. But what is your take on her using Buddy Holly’s great “Not Fade Away” for a TV hair dye commercial? I felt the most awful, stinging disappointment when I first heard it. I felt betrayed by Crow, as I’m almost sure Buddy would have. He was such a stickler for controlling his own material. I can’t imagine his liking this commercial adaptation.”

Bob Dylan: Well, Jackie, I have to disagree with ya. When’s the last time you heard Buddy Holly on the radio? There aren’t a lot of shows like Theme Time Radio Hour. A lot of people get to hear commercials. And if it makes one person curious about either Buddy or Sheryl, I’m all for it. How many people never heard of Nick Drake ‘til he was in a car commercial? A lot of musicians have always been proud to have commercial affiliation. Sonny Boy Williamson sold flour. I can’t imagine Sonny Boy saying, “My blues is too sacred. I wouldn’t sell flour.” Jimmie Rodgers sold biscuits. Sheryl Crow sells hair dye. More power to her. And Jackie, have you ever seen a Victoria’s Secrets ad? (laughs)

Commentary

One of my favorite commentaries from Theme Time Radio Hour, the “commercial affiliation” email from “Jackie Van” may be real, but given the timing this was more likely a stalking horse set up by Eddie Gorodetsky allowing Dylan to express his opinion on the subject. Crow had done the commercial for Revlon some eight months earlier and, unlike the usual email read on “Theme Time,” this one had no obvious connection with the theme or music.

Three weeks after the air date of “Days of the Week,” Cadillac and XM Radio released a cross-promotional advertising campaign featuring Bob Dylan and Theme Time Radio Hour. Dylan appeared in a television commercial for the 2008 Cadillac Escalade hybrid (a commercial featuring music from an artist named “Smog”) and hosted a TTRH episode dedicated to the theme, "Cadillac.”

Cadillac became the formal sponsor of Theme Time Radio Hour, acknowledged with a brief announcement at the beginning of the show, as well as with a branded badge on the show's web page. Given all this, the subject of musicians and commercial affiliation may have been a hot topic in the offices of Grey Water Park and Big Red Tree during the months of September and October. Dylan’s citation of Sonny Boy Williamson and Jimmie Rodgers sounds as if repeated from an actual conversation. As well as Rodgers and Sonny Boy Williamson II, Dylan could have used Bob Wills and Hank Williams as two other examples from the legion of artists “proud to have commercial affiliation.” However, as far as I know, Bob Dylan is the only musician who has traveled in ladies’ underwear.



Bob Dylan: Well, with Friday comes the weekend. And one of my favorite songs about the weekend is by the Silver Fox, Charlie Rich. He was a little more sophisticated than a lot of rockabilly musicians. As a matter of fact, Sam Phillips rejected his early demos, complaining that they were “too jazzy.” He did use him as a session musician, though, and you can hear him backing up Johnny Cash, Warren Smith, Billy Lee Riley and Ray Smith, Sam saw the light of day though and in 19 and 58 started releasing Charlie’s records on his Phillips International label. He didn’t have a hit though until 19 and 60 with his third single. Ii became a Top 30 hit and I’m going to play it for you right now.

[“Lonely Weekends” — Charlie Rich]

Bob Dylan: That was Charlie Rich, “Lonely Weekends.” There’s lonely weekends and there’s lost weekends. “The Lost Weekend” won the Academy Award in 19 and 45. It was directed by the great Billy Wilder, and it’s one of the first movie scores to use a theremin. It’s the story of an alcoholic, played by Ray Milland, on a weekend bender. Let’s listen to a little bit as Ray begs his favorite bartender for one more drink.

[“The Lost Weekend” (clip)]

Bob Dylan: There’s no feeling like that moment when you’re getting ready for a Saturday night. The world is full of possibilities. And no one has captured that wistful feeling better than Tom Waits did on this song, the title track from his 19 and 76 album, “The Heart of Saturday Night.” Here’s Tom Waits.

[“(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night” — Tom Waits]

Bob Dylan: That was Tom Waits, “(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night.” Some people look for the heart of Saturday night and they never find it and they get lost in the search. When they do, they can fall victim to wasted days and wasted nights. I’m going to let Dough Sahm do a shout-out to the man who wrote it before he sings it.

[“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” — Doug Sahm]

Bob Dylan: That was Dough Sahm doing the Freddy Fender classic, “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.” The thing about days is that they keep rolling on. You finish off a Saturday, and there’s another Sunday waiting in line. We started off our show on Sunday, and we’re going to end it there. After all those wasted days and wasted nights you know there’s going to be a Sunday morning coming down. Here’s Kris Kristofferson with one of his greatest songs, “I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad. So I had one more for dessert.”

[“Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” — Kris Kristofferson]

Bob Dylan: That was Kris Kristofferson. He’s a Rhodes Scholar. “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down.” Well, I can see the sun coming up over the horizon, and our day here is done. Night creeps in, throwing shadows across the Abernathy Building. I’m going to leave you with the words of the husband of the woman who wrote, “Frankenstein.” That’s right, it’s Percy Byshhe Shelley. At the end of the day, it’s a good night.

Good Night (Shelly c. 1819-20)

Good-night? ah! no; the hour is ill
Which severs those it should unite;
Let us remain together still,
Then it will be good night.

How can I call the lone night good,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
Be it not said, thought, understood --
Then it will be -- good night.

To hearts which near each other move
From evening close to morning light,
The night is good; because, my love,
They never say good-night.

Good night everybody, see you next week.

[“Top Cat (Underscore)"]

“Pierre Mancini:” Thanks for listening to Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan. Produced by Eddie Gorodetsky. Associate producer, Ben Rollins. Continuity by “Eeps” Martin. Edited by Damian Rodriguez. Supervising editor, Rob Macomber. Research team: Diane Lapson and Bernie Bernstein, with additional research by April Hayes, Callie Gladman, Terrence Michaels, Sean Patrick and Lynne Sheridan. Librarian: Robert Bower. Production coordinator; Debbie Sweeney. Production assistance by Jim McBean. Special thanks to Randy Ezratty, Coco Shinomiya, and Samson's Diner. For XM Radio, Lee Abrams. Recorded in Studio B, in the historic Abernathy Building. Studio engineer: “Tex” Carbone. This has been a Grey Water Park Production in Association with Big Red Tree. This has been your announcer, Pierre Mancini, speaking. Join us again next week when our subject is subject is, “California.”

The Annotated “Days of the Week” Theme Time Radio Hour - Episode 53 (Part 1)

Being the 1st Part of a Compleat Transcript with Commentary on Episode #53 of Theme Time Radio Hour, "Days of the Week"  Part 2 is here.


Original air date: October 3, 2007



***


In Episode 53 -- "Days of the Week" -- of  Theme Time Radio Hour, we'll meet Monday's and Saturday's children, learn that Jack White knows his Sundays,  look at the leaders in the TTRH playlist race, hear  amazing predictions from the even more Amazing Criswell, listen to a surprise recorder rendition, and receive Our Host's final word on commercial affiliation.  I've split the "Days of the Week" transcript into two parts with Part 2 here.

If you like what you read, you can help fund the "Night Time in the Big City" book, chockful of that Dreamtime commentary you've come to know and love.

[Background – “What a Difference a Day Makes”]

The Woman in Red: It’s nighttime in the Big City. A storm is coming. A woman wonders. It’s Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan:

Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
And the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Bob Dylan: That’s “Monday’s Child,” a nursery rhyme from “Mother Goose.” It’s also considered a fortune-telling song. You’re supposed to be able to tell a child’s character or what would happen to them in the future based on the day they were born. We’re going to be learning about every day of the week and hearing songs about Monday through Sunday. We’ll hear about “Blue Mondays,” “Ruby Tuesdays,” all the way through Saturday and Sunday. The first page of the Bible explains how God created the world and rested on the seventh. But even people who don’t follow the Judeo-Christian Bible have a seven-day week, so this week’s show will certainly have a world-wide appeal.

Commentary

According to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, “Monday’s Child” was first recorded in A. E. Bray's “Traditions of Devonshire” in 1838 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.

Robert Allen Zimmerman was born on a Saturday, prophetically making him a child who would “work hard for a living.” Perhaps there’s something to the old rhyme after all.

Bob Dylan: Let’s start out with an old tune linking in all seven days. A song by a man named Sterling Harrison, who never got his due. He used to sing demos for Holland, Dozier and Holland, but never had a hit of his own. Before he died he was singing for dollar tips at a barbecue joint at 82nd and Western. There is great music happening all over the country. Sometimes you gotta seek it out, and if you don’t seek it out, it’s just gonna disappear. Here’s a great guy you never heard of, Sterling Harrison and “Seven Days.”

[“Seven Days” — Sterling Harrison]

Bob Dylan: That was Sterling Harrison and “Seven Days,” a song originally recorded by Little Junior Parker.

Commentary

One of the few instances during TTRH’s run where you can see writer/producer Eddie Gorodetsky working behind the curtain. Sterling Harrison’s last album was South of the Snooty Fox, which includes “Seven Days,” and was co-produced by Gorodetsky and Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin. South of the Snooty Fox was recorded in 2001, but attracted no label interest until finally picked up by HackTone Records, a boutique imprint based in Culver City, Calif. The CD was released on the second-year anniversary of Harrison’s death, August 21, 2007, about two months before the “Days of the Week” episode aired.

Although not intended as an insult, Gorodetsky/Dylan’s implication that Sterling Harrison had been reduced to “…singing for dollar tips at a barbecue joint…” before his death is neither accurate nor fair to Harrison’s memory. Sterling Harrison’s sister contacted me shortly after I did a Dreamtime podcast quoting that line. She angrily pointed out – quite rightly – that while Harrison had been happy to pocket dollar tips during his gigs at M&M Soul Food in L.A. he had also regularly performed to sold-out houses in his home town of Richmond, VA until the end of his life. While Sterling Harrison never got his due from a popular standpoint, in his own circle he was successful, well-respected and loved.



Bob Dylan: Some people start the day of the week off with Monday, but I start it off with Sunday, myself. There’s a lot of songs written about Sunday, and some of them are pretty heavy. For example, this one, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,”from 1983 by U2. It’s a song about the slaughter of innocent civilians in Ireland. It attempts to compare and contrast the troubles in Northern Ireland with the significance of Easter Sunday. On January 30th 1972, thirty thousand people marched into Derry, in a march organized by the civil rights association. Armored cars appeared from behind barriers. British troops boxed in hundreds of people. All of the soldiers were fully armed with combat rifles. Suddenly, shots rang out. At the end of the day, thirteen people lay dead and seventeen wounded. U2 wrote the following song so those people would never be forgotten. Here’s U2, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

[“Sunday Bloody Sunday” — U2]

Bob Dylan: That was U2, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.” Let’s take a moment and remember the names of the people who died that day: John Duddy, Paddy Doherty, Bernard McGuigan, “Pi” Gilmour, Kevin McElhinney, Michael McDaid, William Nash, John Young, Michael Kelly, Jim Wray, Gerald Donaghy, Gerald McKinney, William McKinney and John Johnston.

Bob Dylan: Jack White doesn’t find Sunday particularly sad. But he knows when it is a Sunday. I’ll let him explain.

Jack White: Y’know, funny you should ask, Bob, about the days of the week because going out on tour it seems like no matter where I am in the world I always know when it’s Sunday. Y’know, I don’t know what the date is, maybe I don’t even know what month or year it is or what country we’re in, but I know it’s Sunday for some reason. And, uh, I’ve always wondered why that is.

Commentary

The barely articulate Mr. White was on the list of “special guests” noted in the XM Radio press release announcing Season 2 and by early 2008 would air two more commentaries on Theme Time.

There was a period during 2007 when Bob Dylan and Jack White appeared to have pledged to be BFFs, with White participating in Dylan’s still-unreleased Hank Williams Project and joining Dylan at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for the first ever live performance of “Meet Me in the Morning.” The relationship may have cooled somewhat by 2009, with White pointing out during a lecture at Trinity College that in her own way Britney Spears was more “authentic” than either Tom Waits or Bob Dylan. On the other hand, that’s the sort of off-the-wall opinion that one wouldn’t be surprised to hear expressed by Bob Dylan himself.

Bob Dylan: Let’s cheer things up a little bit. I don’t want the whole show to be tear-stained. Here’s Frankie Lee Sims. You might be wondering why a song called, “Lucy Mae Blues” is being played on our “Days of the Week” show. Well, give a listen.

[“Lucy Mae Blues” — Frankie Lee Sims]

Bob Dylan: That was Frankie Lee Sims, He’s Lightnin’ Hopkins cousin. Born in New Orleans, died in Dallas. And recorded that song, which is kind of a mash-up, between a couple of blues standards. You hear a little bit of “Ain’t No Tellin’” which Mississippi John Hurt made famous and a little taste of, “My Sunday Woman,” or as some people call it, “Every Day in the Week.” I like the version by Sleepy John Estes.

Commentary

Dylan is a longtime fan of Sleepy John Estes, name-checking him in the first stanza of his free-form poem used for the liner notes of 19 and 65’s “Bringing it all Back Home.”

I'm standing there watching the parade/
feeling combination of sleepy john estes.
jayne mansfield. humphry bogart/morti-
mer snerd. murph the surf and so forth/

Bob Dylan: Let’s move on through the week now. We’ve gotten through Sunday. You know what that means.

[Robotic jingle – “Monday”]

Bob Dylan: It’s time for Monday, and if I know my radio show, that sounds like a song cue. Here’s Smiley Lewis and his song, “Blue Monday.” You probably know it better by Fats Domino. But whenever we have the chance to play Smiley, we like to do it.

[Blue Monday – Smiley Lewis]

Bob Dylan: That was Smiley Lewis, who is edging out George Jones as the most-played artist on Theme Time Radio Hour. “Blue Monday.”

Commentary

By the close of Season 3, George Jones had been supplanted as “most-played artist” on TTRH by Tom Waits and Dinah Washington. Both would have a total 10 spins on the turntable by the end of the series. For the completist, Tom Waits is unquestionably the “most-mentioned” TTRH artiste, thanks to his many taped commentaries during Seasons 2 and 3 as well as the airplay he was given by Dylan.

George Jones, who had led the “most-played pack” in both Seasons 1 and 2, would make no appearances at all during Season 3. He still had accumulated enough airplay in the previous two seasons to tie with Elvis Costello for second place, having a total nine songs played on Theme Time.

Smiley Lewis ended up placing in the Top 5, sharing fifth-place honors with June Christy, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Doug Sahm & the Sir Douglas Quintet, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, JB Lenoir, Little Walter, Los Lobos, Loretta Lynn, Randy Newman, Elvis Presley, and The Stanley Brothers. That list is a pretty accurate representation of the catholic tastes of the three major influences on the TTRH musical playlist: Bob Dylan, Eddie Gorodetsky, and the pseudonymous jazz-loving associate producer who during Season 2 was referring to him/herself as “Ben Rollins.”

Bob Dylan: In the beginning, the days of the week were named after deities who had dominion over that particular day. Some of these are pretty obvious. You know Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Nowadays, English has retained the original planet names for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Saturn, Sun, and Moon. The other four days are the names of Anglo-Saxon or Nordic gods, replacing the Roman gods who gave names to the planets. For example, Wednesday is named after Woden or Odin. Thursday’s named after Thor. And Friday is named after Freya.

Bob Dylan: Personally, I would have named Tuesday after “Ruby.” But The Rolling Stones beat me to it.

[“Ruby Tuesday” – The Rolling Stones]

Bob Dylan: That was “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones. One of the prettiest songs they ever recorded and it’s from “Between the Buttons.” You might be interested to know that “Ruby Tuesday” was supposed to only be a B-side. For those of you who don’t know what a B-side is, that was the other side of a 45, that wasn’t a hit. The A-side in this case was supposed to be “Let’s Spend the Night Together.’ But a lot of disc jockeys thought it was too sexual, and so they wouldn’t play it. But they played the flip side, and that’s how “Ruby Tuesday” became such a hit.

Bob Dylan: What I like about that record is Brian Jones playing the recorder. The recorder is a woodwind of the family known as “fipple flutes.” A “fipple” is a wooden plug at the end of a flute. The flute, in its heyday, was associated with birds, shepherds, miraculous events, funerals, marriages, and amorous scenes. I think it’s one of the most beautiful sounds known to man. I brought mine with me today, and if you don’t mind, I’m gonna play a little somethin’ for ya.

[clears throat]

[“Blowin’ in the Wind”(excerpt) – Bob Dylan]

Bob Dylan: How ‘bout that? Anton Chekhov once said, “There isn’t a Monday that would not cede its place to Tuesday.”

Commentary

“How ‘bout that?”

One of those unanticipated, delightful moments on TTRH, equal to his a capella rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” is Bob Dylan playing an excerpt of “Blowin’ in the Wind” on a recorder during the “Days of the Week” show. While there were many instances when he would allude to his “other job” during Theme Time’s run, this would be the only time Dylan would play one of his own songs on the show, and play it live to boot.

There are at least two documented instances of Dylan publicly playing the recorder, both during appearances for the West Coast Chabad Lubavitch Telethon in 1989 and 1991.

“There isn’t a Monday…”

A paraphrase of a quote from “Note-Book of Anton Chekhov,” a volume of notes and quotations which Chekhov liked, as well as themes and sketches for works which he intended to write. The editors of the book noted that it was “characteristic of the methods of [Chekhov’s] artistic production.”

“There is no Monday which will not give its place to Tuesday.”

As with many writers Dylan uses a similar mechanism, sometimes referred to as his “box of notes” according to the few first-hand accounts of his writing methods.

Dylan stated in a PLAYBOY interview that Chekhov was his favorite writer and later claimed in Chronicles that he wrote an entire album based on Chekhov short stories, wryly remarking that the critics had called it, “autobiographical.” Dylan is probably stretching the truth when he uses the term, “based.” Given that the line wasn’t deliberately designed to madden obsessive fans, it’s likely that, as is Dylan’s habit, he took several lines and phrases from Chekhov for use in his songs. There’s evidence that the unnamed album he refers to was “Blood on the Tracks,” which contains several phrases and descriptive passages which seem to have originated with Chekhov.  (cont. in Part 2.)