Scorcese's documentary of Dylan's wild mercury years,
No Direction Home, is now available on DVD

Better Days 186
Dylan Under Cover

This coming Thursday, October 6th, Better Days will
devote itself to covers of Bob Dylan songs.

With both MOJO and UNCUT magazines including a cd
of Dylan song renditions with recent issues, my own
collection of Dylan-cover curios overflowing, and it
being 40 years since Highway 61 Revisited was first
released, I simply couldn't resist the idea.

A few of the things you'll hear are...

Desolation Row, a unique approach by Songdog
I Want You, transformed by horse whisperer, Mike Beck
Fourth Time Around by saxophonist Michael Moore
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by Jim Byrnes
To Ramona, rarely-heard older version from Alan Price
Sweetheart Like You by folk-bluesman Guy Davis
With God On Our Side, powerfully done by Buddy Miller

That's just a taste of what lies in store this Thursday,
October 6th, from 10:00 pm to 12:00 am Pacific (GMT -8)
on Better Days, heard around the corner at 102.7 FM and
around the world by webcast at www.coopradio.org

I look forward to having you join me!

DL

My attempt to capture, in one photograph, the essence of
Walkerburn, Scotland, on a bright summer's day

Karine Polwart and her band performing a homecoming concert
at the Village Hall in Walkerburn, in the beautiful Borders area of
southern Scotland, August 20th, 2005. www.karinepolwart.com

Crooked

I wrote this last April. I knew the first time that
I sang it, it was a contender to become the title
track of my next record.

There's a church at the bend in the river
Sundays, the people there sing
Songs they've been singing forever
The cross and the blood and the King
They sing to be rid of their Satan
To open wide all heaven's doors
But the bend in the river won't straighten
Crooked's the natural course

There's a dark house the sun doesn't enter
A place where the light’s not allowed
There's a shadow that tightens your center
And sets you apart from the crowd
Old spirits come for you later
They press and apply quite a force
Believing they'll help you go straighter
Crooked's the natural course

Blue sky is never a favour
When no water’s left in the well
Some use the Lord as a lever
Some say we're going to hell
So many kids pass through the gate here
From the poverty shacks to the wars
A lie is the only thing straight here
Crooked's the natural course

There's a church at the bend in the river
On Sundays the people there sing
Songs they've been singing forever
The cross and the blood and the King
They sing to be rid of their Satan
To pry open all heaven's doors
The bend in the river won't straighten
Crooked's the natural course
Crooked’s the natural course

DL

copyright by Doug Lang (SOCAN)

The Dark Side Of Faith

Interesting column in the Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks1oct01,0,5368617.story