Rhino unearths Rod Stewart album, featuring a 19 minute run-through of Dylan’s arabesque and obscure gem -check out Dylan himself

The Groom’s Still Waiting At the Altar is a deliciously complex song by Dylan from Shot of Love. A driving blues riff is over-laid with complex and unclear narrative in the lyrics. The song has strong biblical references and was written as Dylan emerges from his “Saved” period.

The groom and the altar are biblical allusions to Christ and his bride. Interspersed is a tumbling vision and humorous lines such as “Put your hand on my head baby, do I have a temperature.” Oh yeah.

The song is of chaos, war, destruction, personal longing, and those themes of alienation that Dylan mines so well. Michael Gray does an exhaustive analysis of the song and live versions, in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia which is worth owning if you are like me and want to know everything Dylan-esque. I love how people diss Gray’s work. He is one of the better authorities on Dylan, if such a thing as “authority” is possible.

Continue reading →