Dylan Sunday - Theme Time Radio Hour #6

Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour #6 (Jail) (unlimited d/l)

Here's the sixth installment of Mr. Dylan's radio show, covering one of the great subjects for song material, jail. I'm gonna keep this short and simple, as I'll probably discuss Dylan's new album later this week and I don't want everyone to overdose on him.

The one essential thing for everyone to do is listen to Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home," one of the last songs of the show. It's one of the greatest, most heartbreaking songs ever recorded. The Grateful Dead covered this song in the early 70s, with Garcia's wonderful fragile voice serving the song well. Here, Haggard, the ex-con turned music star, does the original version and it's magnificent. It's a song about loss and loneliness, and should make clear why jail is such a perfect muse for writing. It's a condition that isolates a (wo)man from his/her home, family, friends and forces them to rely only on memory.

You also get some other classics, like Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," which features possibly the greatest lines ever written- When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son, always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns."/But, I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die- wow. There's a lot more, another essential listening experience and a chance to hear Bob Dylan ruminate on music and life.