4th Time Around

Album: Blond on Blond

There is something very reminiscent of the Beatles Norwegian Wood here. It’s definitely the instrumentation that first makes me think of that song when I hear 4th Time Around. The few bars of solo guitar followed by a few more with just the harmonica are very similar to Harrison’s sitar introduction on Norwegian Wood.

This starts to get complicated here because Blonde On Blonde was released at least a month before Revolver. But we mustn't forget that Dylan and the Fab Four met in 1964. So who is to say who influenced who. Certainly after meeting Dylan, the Beatles grew into a much more creative entity. Dylan’s phrasing on this song, and perhaps the subject matter shout out other similarities to me. But I digress.

The song itself is a linear tale. It pretty much starts at point A and goes to point B. Ah, but the getting there; is he with a hooker, a friend of his lover (with whom he has had a tryst), a stranger. We certainly wonder. The rhymes in this song are wonderful. “I tapped on her drum and she asked how come.” But as Dylan often does, he sticks them in whenever he pleases. It’s just one of the things that makes Dylan, well Dylan. Another is his ability to leave us scratching our heads and wondering at the end.

Coolest thing about the album art: There seems to be a controversy about some of the photo’s that were on the gatefold. The original shown here, has an image of Italian actress Claudia Cardinale. This image was published without her consent and was removed in 1968. Rumor has it that Dylan, himself, was responsible for its inclusion. He was thumbing through photographer Jerry Schatzberg’s images, saw the one of Cardinale, and asked for it to be included. Schatzberg agreed. How Cardinale had the image removed, because the photographer owns the images, and can use them as he pleases. Perhaps Ms. Cardinale was such a big star that she reserved the right to choose where the photos were used.

Best Lyric:

And I tried to make sense
Out of that picture of you in your wheelchair
That leaned up against …
Her Jamaican rum

Anything about rum is …

This is an absolutely fantastic video.

Like a complete unknown

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