Things have changed
Things Have Changed (German: Things have changed) is a song by Bob Dylan from the year 2000. Unlike most of Dylan's other well-known pieces, the bluesy ballad with New Orleans jazz substitutes was initially released as an exclusive single . As the only Dylan new composition, it was also part of the soundtrack to the film WonderBoys with Michael Douglas . With the Golden Globe Award for the best original song and an Oscar for the best film song of 2000, the song received two prestigious awards.
history
Chronologically, the single, Things Have Changed, lies between the two studio albums Time Out of Mind (1997) and Love And Theft (2001). Both are considered important milestones in Dylan's turn to the roots of American music - to blues, country , folk , western swing and jazz . Things Have Changed was created as a composition for the soundtrack to WonderBoys - a film directed by LA Confidential director Curtis Hanson about an aging university professor and author who is in a creative crisis. Bob Dylan wrote the song back in 1997 after a serious illness. As one of the few new recordings that were made between the two listed albums, Things Have Changed was kept in the stripped-down roots rock-blues style of the album Love And Theft, which was released the following year - supplemented by an orchestration in the New Orleans jazz sound, which the melancholy mood of the piece reinforced. As a blues ballad, it puts the story presented by the singer in the foreground. The text echoes the thoughts of an aging man who thinks about his life and asks himself whether things have simply changed that way or have happened because of him. Although he was heavily involved in life in the past, he finally realizes that he no longer really participates in it. The melody is strikingly similar to that of Marty Stuart's Observations of a Crow . However, Stuart himself sees no reason for an allegation of plagiarism.
The piece was published on different media. Things Have Changed was released as a 7-inch single in May 2000 . The single contained the five-minute long version. B-side was a live version of the blues piece Blind Willie McTell , an ode written in 1983 to the country blues pioneer Blind Willie McTell, who died in 1959 . In Europe arrived Things Have Changed first as three and a half-minute radio edit on the market, complemented by another live recording: the title To Make You Feel My Love . The third release on CD single contained the short version of the song as well as the additional tracks To Make You Feel My Love, Song to Woody and Hurricane . The latter was a release from the 1976 album Desire ; the live recordings used were from 1997 to 2000. The long version was also part of the album Dylan Alive Volume 3 - Japanese Extended Play .
To accompany the film WonderBoys , Things Have Changed was released as a video clip . The video was made by WonderBoys director Curtis Hanson. In the clip, Bob Dylan and film lead actor Michael Douglas staged a seemingly surreal role splitting in which they playfully juxtaposed the identities of an old and a young man. The song was also used in the soundtracks of the two TV series Brotherhood and Navy CIS . Unlike The WonderBoys itself, which did not receive an Oscar, Things Have Changed received two awards: the Academy Award from the Oscar jury and the Golden Globe Award for the best original song. The placement in the music charts , however, was rather mediocre. The highest ranking was number 58 in the UK Singles Charts .
Cover versions
Compared to Dylan's well-known pieces from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Blowin 'in the Wind , Like a Rolling Stone or Knockin' on Heaven's Door , the number of cover versions of Things Have Changed is manageable. The piece was covered by the roots rock interpreter and declared Dylan admirer Curtis Stigers , the musician Michel Montecrossa , Pat Nevin and the band String Swing - a side project of the Swedish modern jazz singer Josefine Cronholm . The iTunes Music Store from Apple listed in the fall of 2013 about two dozen different versions - of the more notable artists such as Barb Jungr and Tony Burrows up to unknown recordings cover artist.
Various live recordings of the piece by Bob Dylan himself are circulating, for example on the video platform YouTube - some with well-known guest musicians such as guitarist Mark Knopfler . The song was released regularly on CD in 2008 as a live version as part of the Bootleg Series on the album Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs . With regard to Dylan's oeuvre, Things Have Changed is regarded as a significant to outstanding song from the years around the turn of the millennium. Dylan author Olaf Brenziger, for example, writes in his work on Dylan's music that Things Have Changed was the only outstanding Dylan production in the years after 1997. Dylan also regularly uses the piece as a draft horse on his concert tours - for example on the occasion of a performance in Berlin in October 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Peter E. Müller: Concert in Berlin: Bob Dylan comes without a hat, but with many new songs. In: Berliner Morgenpost . October 24, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e Olaf Benzinger: Bob Dylan. The story of his music. Updated new edition. dtv , Munich 2006/2011, ISBN 978-3-423-34673-3 , p. 251 ff.
- ↑ Observations of a Crow on YouTube
- ↑ About Things Have Changed and Observations Of A Crow
- ↑ Query at the music search portal Discogs , carried out on October 29, 2013.
- ^ David Roberts: British Hit Singles and Albums. Guinness World Records, 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 , p. 137.
- ^ Biography of Curtis Stigers , Jazzecho.de, accessed October 29, 2013.
- ↑ Search query in the iTunes Music Store; performed on October 29, 2013.
- ↑ Things have changed - Bob Dylan in Berlin. ( Memento from October 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) MDR Figaro , October 25, 2013.