Re: KNOCKED OUT LOADED title

Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 23:20:13 -0500
Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan
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"awaxman" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
news:email-address-deleted...
> re - Title
>
> "Boy, he was loaded as can be
> Boy, he was knocked out , knocked out loaded
> You know he wobbled all over the street"
> are lines from Junko Partner, a New Orleans classic.
>
> Dr. John's liner notes from Gumbo say it was
> "the anthem of dopers, pimps, whores and cons.
> It was a song they sang in Angola, the state prison farm.....
> The hard core dopers couldn't wait to hit the street after their release
> so they could score again:
> 'Six months ain't no sentence
> One year ain't no time
> They got boys there in Angola
> Doing nine to niney-nine'
> Meaning they had no intention of reforming even before beginning their
sentence.
> It's a song all New Orleans bands had to play....."
>
> Don't know Bob's chronology well enough -
> was he already living in New Orleans when the song was written?
>
> Andy
>
don't think so, not until after O Mercy. But that doesn't negate this as
the source. I'd heard people refer to it before, but never quoting the
lyric, so thanks. It's as good a speculation as any and better than most.
And count me in with the other few people who like KOL. I find the
unfinished sounding rawness charming. Dylan was his own producer for it and
I remember one reviewer saying it sounded like he was playing with the
volume knobs on the board. So he was playin' around and throwin' things
together... everything doesn't have to be an opus. At least he warned us by
the title that it was going to sound like that.
>
> Timothy Herrick wrote:
> >
> > Anyway, played the record a couple of times. I love Knock Out Loaded.
It's a
> > very clever record.
> >
> > Okay, I happen to really like They Killed Him, a song many here have
derided.
> > I love the children's choir. It's inappropriate for a Dylan record, but
it's
> > sweet. In fact, this was Dylan's last reference to Jesus (although
churches
> > and the sermon on the mount have popped up), Dylan here does sing about
Jesus.
> > And, you know, in spite of the fire and scary brimstone apocalypytical
warning
> > of America's decline of Slow Train, or the moralizing testifying he was
prone
> > to during the Jesus Song period, there was a sweetness to Dylans
dabbling in
> > Christianity. Precious Angel, Covenant Women, Satisfied Mind, Property
of
> > Jesus, I Believe In You, Man Gave Name to All the Animals. Other "sweet"
Dylan
> > songs pre Christian have angel references, like you angel you and three
angels. I
> > would love a Dylan tribute record song by a children's choir. Well,
maybe not.
> >
> > KOL features some pretty good rag tag rock, You Wanna Ramble, Got My
Mind
> > Made Up, weird looping songs like Maybe Someday, and Under Your Spell,
which like
> > Shooting Star, which it reminds me of, ends on a verse and not a chorus.
> > Precious Memories, a rare country outing for post Nashville Skyline Bob,
use
> > steel drums along with the mandolin and pedal steel and other more
traditional
> > accouterments. Very very very clever.
> >
> > KOL features interesting cameos, Steven Douglas (Street Legal), Al
Kooper
> > (60s), Ron Wood, Tom Petty & Co, and of course the gospel singers from
the
> > Christian period. The record has this odd quality to it, sort of slapped
together,
> > the title some have suggested means it was Knocked Out while Loaded
(drunk),
> > something to sell for the Tom Petty tour (for my money, the worst of the
Dylan
> > tours). And soon, Dylan would be doing the Dead Shows, and more coherent
Songs,
> > like Oh Mercy (A Great Dylan Record). You know, Under The Red Sky has a
more
> > impressive cast, and the songs are more coherent and some very clever
stuff,
> > but there's no real zingers or meaning. The Dylan penned songs on KOL
have
> > zingers, that is, neat lines, but no real coherence to them. Like some
good ideas
> > that don't quite add up to a whole, yet the tunes are solid enough, the
> > instrumentation has lots of echoes in the previous records. The ideas
seem better
> > that they aren't that fleshed out.
> >