Bob Dylan's "Friday"

Rebecca Black sheds some light on the nuanced lyrics of...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:30:43 -0500

Rebecca Black sheds some light on the nuanced lyrics of “Friday.”

Make no mistake - Bob Dylan’s Friday has always challenged his audience to redefine what to...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:13:48 -0500

Make no mistake - Bob Dylan’s Friday has always challenged his audience to redefine what to expect from the Troubadour of Greenwich. When asked about it on the Dick Cavett Show in 1968, Timothy Leary recalled that Friday “was undeniably interlaced with concepts of eternal return, spatial partitioning and pscholinguistic transposition. It is an abrupt, discriminating and chromatic montage that calls to mind Escher, Tupperware and seventeenth-century Japanese garden design.”

-texnb4

Bob Dylan’s Friday is a landmark recording that highlights the evolution of his sound. How...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:13:20 -0500

Bob Dylan’s Friday is a landmark recording that highlights the evolution of his sound. How could anyone be so ignoble and base to criticize his poetry, so subtle yet profound at the same time. No one, and I include myself, is qualified to judge Friday to be anything less than the most sophisticated example of anything else that was being recorded at the time. That is precisely why NASA engineers secretly etched a copy of Friday on the plaque of the Pioneer 10 space probe.

-texnb4

We had this playing back in ‘75 as dad was succumbing to the final stages of lung cancer....

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:12:00 -0500

We had this playing back in ‘75 as dad was succumbing to the final stages of lung cancer. Although his voice was shot, barely above a whisper, I’ll never forget him summoning up what little strength he had left to say “Son, this was the soundtrack to my life”. He died minutes later. I miss you, Dad. God bless you, Mr. Dylan! May your timeless words continue to shine a light on the simple pleasures in life! Friday, indeed!

-dylanfan2007

Growing up in the deep south (Alabama), I remember listening to this song during the days of...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:12:00 -0500

Growing up in the deep south (Alabama), I remember listening to this song during the days of segregation. I have always loved how Dylan stood up for equal rights. He was as white as snow, but still wanted everyone to know what it was like for a poor black man when he had to ride the bus. When he says, “kicking in the front seat, kickin in the back seat” I still get chills thinking about how it was realy a life and death choice of front or back seat when I rode the bus

-shanewaller1

This record is famous for there being no known instances of it ever being resold (a quick search on...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:11:00 -0500

This record is famous for there being no known instances of it ever being resold (a quick search on ebay will prove this). As music critic Robert Christgau pointed out about the song once, “It’s such a powerful song that a person’s conscious won’t allow them to pull a profit from it. It has been given as a gift however. I can attest to this, as my copy came from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, who simply said ‘yesterday was Thursday’, and pulled this record out from his car for me.”

-ultimosis

Say what you like about Rebecca Black’s cover of this song. Bob Dylan made a point of laying...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:10:19 -0500

Say what you like about Rebecca Black’s cover of this song. Bob Dylan made a point of laying the irony and existentialism on very thick in this original version. The brilliance of Black’s version is that she appeared to make the attempt of taking the lyrics at face value, allowing the astute listener to come to their own conclusions. Personally, I’m a fan of both versions. There’s something empowering about being allowed to come to your own conclusions in her remake, though.

-ModernQuixote

I believe this is a follow up to his famous song “The Times Are A-Changing”. He takes...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:10:00 -0500

I believe this is a follow up to his famous song “The Times Are A-Changing”.

He takes the persona of someone with conflicted ideas about politics. Some of his friends are one one side and some on the other (the front seat and the back seat). He looks forward to the day when both of these people can live in peace and have “fun, fun, fun, fun” which he calls Friday. I can’t believe ARK would cover this and make it into a stupid song about the weekend. Just shows you what music we have today.

-donuthead551

I remember hearing this song at the end of my tour of ‘Nam. The symbolism instantly struck a...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:09:38 -0500

I remember hearing this song at the end of my tour of ‘Nam. The symbolism instantly struck a chord with me. The comparison between choosing different seats in the car and the influence of peer pressure. I had a group of friends who protested the war and another that enlisted, I suppose I took the metaphorical ‘front seat’ and put my name down.

It was actually a friday that I enlisted back in 1968. After a few weeks I just wanted out, waiting for the ‘weekend,’ when I’d be shipped back home.

-aaaaaaaaaajgygjyc

This song got me through some tough bullying that was a recurring theme of my childhood. Every week...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:08:57 -0500

This song got me through some tough bullying that was a recurring theme of my childhood. Every week I would just wish for it to be Friday so that school would be over and I would be free until Monday. Friday, Friday, Friday I would tell myself over and over again listening to this song on my casette player, the 60’s were a tough time for me.
Dylan pulled me through those times, this song especially, the cover versions that are floating about may cheapen it but it will always remain a classic.
-McAulay07

I personally think that Mr Dylan was attempting to convey the ever harrowing subject of the...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:07:59 -0500

I personally think that Mr Dylan was attempting to convey the ever harrowing subject of the vulnerability of human life, the inescapable nature of mortality and the horrible truth that we all waste precious time.

“Seein’ everything, the time is goin’

Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’”

is clearly a statement about how we can’t control time and that everybody is rushing and wasting the things that are really important in life, the weekends (specifically Friday) with friends.

-GoldLoaf

My old man was touring with The Band when they first heard Dylan’s recording of this. He said...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:07:08 -0500

My old man was touring with The Band when they first heard Dylan’s recording of this. He said there was a silence in the tour bus for a solid three minutes after the song played. They talked about this track for days, Robertson would retreat into his bunk and scribble on his pad for hours at a time, Garth Hudson even cried a little. The only thoughts my dad ever shared about this song was, “we all have our backseat, and our front seat. You gotta choose.” He never brought the song up again.

-gillenha

painful memories

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:15:45 -0500

This song brings back some really painful memories… It was the spring of 1967 when me and a couple of buddies of my platoon were riding in an M34 jeep in Nam. It was raining hard and we were crossing a small field in the middle of the fucking jungle. Jay - the guy from Texas - was driving and in the exact moment he turned to me to brag about his soon-to-be-born gal Liberty, we ran onto a mine. The whole front of the jeep vanished and i lost some of my best friends there. With their intestines all on my face - i never forget the feeling - i was somehow calm. Calm and happy not to have chosen the front seat on that Friday…

This song takes me back to a time when lyricists took their craft seriously. -chronobryce3

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:01:10 -0500

This song takes me back to a time when lyricists took their craft seriously.

-chronobryce3

“Cereal” is obviously a reference to Harvey Milk. -jmorris74

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:00:36 -0500

“Cereal” is obviously a reference to Harvey Milk.

-jmorris74

This song got me through some tough bullying that was a recurring theme of my childhood. Every week...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:51:13 -0500

Dylan pulled me through those times, this song especially, the cover versions that are floating about may cheapen it but it will always remain a classic.

-McAulay07

I personally think that Mr Dylan was attempting to convey the ever harrowing subject of the...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:50:33 -0500

“Seein’ everything, the time is goin’

Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’”

is clearly a statement about how we can’t control time and that everybody is rushing and wasting the things that are really important in life, the weekends (specifically Friday) with friends.

-GoldLoaf

A true anthem

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:48:00 -0500

Though this was taken from YouTube, it articulates my vision for this Tumblr:

This discussion is a gathering for true fans of Bob Dylan’s Friday. This is a place to share fond memories and to explore the infinitesimal wonder gleaned from the lyrics. If you come to this site from one of the anti-Dylan forums to taunt, insult and cast aspersions on the gentle and loving folk here, know that you have no power over us or Bob, for Friday binds us all, whether you like it or not. Better you should listen to Friday, cast off your anger and know fun fun fun fun.

-texnb4

The story that Mama Cass died eating a ham sandwich is nothing but unsubstantiated rumor. An urban...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:47:00 -0500

The story that Mama Cass died eating a ham sandwich is nothing but unsubstantiated rumor. An urban myth. In truth, she died choking on her sobs, brought to tears by the very story you tell here. The recollection of both Bob and Janis’ renditions at one time was too much for her heavy chest to bear. R.I.P. Mama.

-DelCaliPlaya

I encourage you all to read The Dunciad’s insightful essay called “Looking Forward To...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:25:00 -0500

I encourage you all to read The Dunciad’s insightful essay called “Looking Forward To The Weekend: Preliminary Notes On Bob Dylan’s ‘Friday’”

http://thedunciad.blogspot.com/2011/04/looking-forward-to-weekend-preliminary.html

P.S. Sorry for the hiatus!

Bob Dylan's "Friday"

Rebecca Black sheds some light on the nuanced lyrics of...

Make no mistake - Bob Dylan’s Friday has always challenged his audience to redefine what to...

Bob Dylan’s Friday is a landmark recording that highlights the evolution of his sound. How...

We had this playing back in ‘75 as dad was succumbing to the final stages of lung cancer....

Growing up in the deep south (Alabama), I remember listening to this song during the days of...

This record is famous for there being no known instances of it ever being resold (a quick search on...

Say what you like about Rebecca Black’s cover of this song. Bob Dylan made a point of laying...

I believe this is a follow up to his famous song “The Times Are A-Changing”. He takes...

I remember hearing this song at the end of my tour of ‘Nam. The symbolism instantly struck a...

This song got me through some tough bullying that was a recurring theme of my childhood. Every week...

I personally think that Mr Dylan was attempting to convey the ever harrowing subject of the...

My old man was touring with The Band when they first heard Dylan’s recording of this. He said...

painful memories

This song takes me back to a time when lyricists took their craft seriously. -chronobryce3

“Cereal”﻿ is obviously a reference to Harvey Milk. -jmorris74

This song got me through some tough bullying that was a recurring theme of my childhood. Every week...

I personally think that Mr Dylan was attempting to convey the ever harrowing subject of the...

A true anthem

The story that Mama Cass died eating a ham sandwich is nothing but unsubstantiated rumor. An urban...

I encourage you all to read The Dunciad’s insightful essay called “Looking Forward To...

“Cereal” is obviously a reference to Harvey Milk. -jmorris74