14 NOVEMBER 1979

14 NOVEMBER 1979

WARFIELD THEATER - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

SETLIST:

MONOLOGUE (Regina Havis)/IF I'VE GOT MY TICKET, LORD/IT'S GONNA RAIN/DO LORD REMEMBER ME/LOOK UP AND LIVE BY FAITH/OH FREEDOM/THIS TRAIN/SERVE SOMEBODY/I BELIEVE IN YOU/WHEN YOU GONNA WAKE UP?/WHEN HE RETURNS/MAN GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS/PRECIOUS ANGEL/SLOW TRAIN COMING/COVENANT WOMAN/WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR HEART (Helena Springs, vocals)/GONNA CHANGE MY WAY OF THINKING/DO RIGHT TO ME BABY/SOLID ROCK/SAVING GRACE/SAVED/WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU/ IN THE GARDEN/BLESSED IS THE NAME/PRESSING ON

COMMENTARY:

This evening is filled with wonderful performances. Dylan's singing is especially strong on I Believe In You, Precious Angel, Covenant Woman, and What Can I Do For You. Together with the band, they deliver excellent renditions of faster numbers such as When You Gonna Wake Up, Slow Train and Blessed Is The Name. This performance shows a confident band at its peak.

The crown jewel of the evening, however, is Solid Rock which finally attains its considerable promise, foreshadowed by an apocalyptic scream from the audience on the first riff. Fred Tackett's guitar work fully meshes with the rhythm section and Dylan stays on cue, eschewing all the tentative stumbles which break the spell of pure thundering power most other nights. Tackett even adds a power chord on the last full chorus for good measure. A wonderful night.

ANNOTATIONS:

IF I'VE GOT MY TICKET, LORD

distortion on high notes by all three together

first notes clipped

IT'S GONNA RAIN

DO LORD, REMEMBER ME

LOOK UP AND LIVE BY FAITH

- some distortion on high notes again here

OH FREEDOM

THIS TRAIN

SERVE SOMEBODY

1,2,4,guitar,5,piano,6

(2) "drugs in your pocket"

CROWD: (inaudible yelling)

I BELIEVE IN YOU

nice performance, strong voice and strong audience response

Dylan: "Thank you. Well, we're still here and we know the devil don't like it, but we're gonna stay here anyway."

WHEN YOU GONNA WAKE UP?

Drum in beginning

1,2,3,5,organ/guitar,6,8,7,organ/guitar,9,outro

(3) "that will never cure…your …ills"

(5) "and pornography running loose in the schools"

(8) "and you know it's too worthless to be sold , yeah!, they tell you time is money . . . ."

skips chorus after (8) and most after (7)

WHEN HE RETURNS

Dylan's voice breaks slightly on "teeeeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrrssssss."

"wilder - nnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssss."

Can hear a bottle fall after "he is unconcerned"

Dylan muffs the guitar outro a bit

CROWD: "All Along The Watchtower!"

MAN GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS

"Bear/cow/bull/pig/ssss"

EDIT# - during applause

PRECIOUS ANGEL

starts with Dylan tuning, then beginning his rhythm part on acoustic guitar, with Tackett coming in after full measure.

Very nice performance - strong voice

1^st chorus - "shine you light . . . on me."

2^nd chorus - Dylan repeats "shine your light on me" to backing singers chorus

nice off-phrasing on second to last "you know I just couldn't make it by myself, I'm a little too blind to see."

Dylan: "Thank you. (guitar notes) There's a slow train coming, picking up speed."

SLOW TRAIN COMING

audience member screams out at first notes

"sheiks walking around like kings" hits the highest note on "kings"

nice off-phrasing on "trying to manipulate satan"

Dylan begins "starving and thirsting" line barely in time to forestall guitar solo and skips "people" at beginning of verse.

Fred Tackett's second solo is quite nice, going lower range

Dylan: "there's a slow, slow, slow train coming" on last refains of outro

COVENANT WOMAN

Starts with Dylan tuning acoustic guitar breifly and then strumming in

Dylan near-tremolo on "empty cup"

"intimate little girl, who sees the invisible things of him that are hidden from the world."

Dylan: "Thank you. Well, tonight you're gonna hear a brand new song, one of the young ladies in the group wrote, called, "What Are You Doing With Your Heart?""

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR HEART?

Nice strong performance - in fine voice, and the band is tight - not the flourish at the end that's so nice.

CROWD: "What's her name Bob?"

#EDIT - during applause

CROWD: "Cocaine Blues!" "Highway 61!"

GONNA CHANGE MY WAY OF THINKING

DO RIGHT TO ME BABY

occasional high single piano note on counterpoint during instrumental interludes

(2) "bury/marry/recommended/defended"

(3) "laid with/played with/confuse/use"

(4) "be run with/?/missed/not even a doctor or a lawyer or a scientist"

only four stanzas

Dylan: "Thank you. (inaudible) We read about all the trouble, you know Iran, Great Britain, Russia, Red China and the United States. But we're not going to be bothered by all that because we know the world is going to be destroyed and we look forward to the approach of the second coming. And if the gospel is hid it is hidden to those that are lost. So anyway, we;'re hanging on now to a stronger rock. One made before the foundation of the world. That real, that true. . ."

CROWD: "That old!"

SOLID ROCK

audience member screams on first riff - excellent rendition

Fred Tackett keeps a chopping riff going to build up to dylan's first verse

Excellent guitar solo that ends with big droning tritone

Even a power chord on last chorus before refrain

SAVING GRACE

Nice performance, but not the plaintive tone of other nights

"Now the devil's shining light, it can be most blinding"

almost perfunctory

SAVED

builds in off solo guitar and soinging until chorus

awfully nice, but not the barn-burner of the 10^th and 11^th

drawn out last note, instead of dead stop

WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU

Dylan comes in late, midway through second full measure,

(2) "you have given me eyes to see/you have laid down your life for me and explained every mystery" as Dylan corrects for repeating the first verse

(4) "I don't deserve it but I did surely make it through"

almost sedate again - but great harp solos

IN THE GARDEN

"when he healed the blind and crippled d-did he see?" (first verse of that stanza)

another more sedate performance, and somewhat abrupt ending

#EDIT - during applause

Dylan: "Thank you. On the keyboards tonight, give him a warm hand, Spooner Oldham. On lead guitar, Fred Tackett. On the keyboards and backing vocals, Terry Young. On lead guitar, Fred Tackett. On the drums, Jim Keltner. Playing bass guitar tonight, Tim Drummond. Alright, singing on bottom tonight - you met her before, Helena Springs. In the middle is Regina Havis. And on the top, Mona Lisa Young."

BLESSED IS THE NAME

Dylan leads in lower and slower with rhythm guitar and voice

A nice clean performance with nice double beat on "he will not be mocked"

Fred Tackett's guitar solo goes completely overboard but they fit it in.

#EDIT - during applause

PRESSING ON

backing doesn't come in until second full stanza, second verse, in contrast to recent practice

abrupt end to piano just before a new stanza, and crowd begins to clap along, cheering as Dylan comes to front of stage

(1) "many try to stop me, they try to shake me up in my mind"

band joins in on chorus rather than on second stanza

(2) "ain't nothing now that can hurt you, ain't nothing that you lack."

Dylan adds "you know I am" as during his last chorus

SOURCES:

Three known reference tapes circulating:

The first (141179JMMC) is a stereo audience (?) recording which includes the seven opening songs by the band and the eighth song, "What Are You Doing With your Heart" by the band and sung by Helena Springs following "Covenant Woman." Unfortunately, curiously, tragically, this recording lacks "When He Returns," "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking," and "Pressing On." This recording also lacks the introductory monologue and clips the first verse of "If I Got My Ticket Lord."

There is occasional distortion throughout the introductory gospel sets and some peculiar feedback as though the mike were bumped during "Oh Freedom". There is a brief drop-out during "Serve Somebody" and a destructive edit following "Wake Up" which clips all but the first notes of "When He Returns." There is a further destructive edit preceding "In The Garden" which clips the first tuning strums.

Otherwise, the sound on this recording is truly exceptional. All instruments and voices are clear and present. I have some question whether this is actually an audience recording as the audience sounds somewhat distant, though not as much as on a soundboard. I suspect it might be a recording made by venue staff or an audience member able to suspend the microphone above the audience and somewhere near the center. There is the slightest audience chatter to be heard during "Covenant Woman," but that too has a distant and unobtrusive quality to it.

The second (141179CCMD) is a mono audience recording which lacks all eight songs performed by the band, "Precious Angel" and Dylan's rap preceding "Solid Rock."

This recording is marred by high recording levels resulting in significant distortion on the higher notes at the outset. A destructive edit clips the first notes of "Serve Somebody." The latter half of this recording is quite nice.

This recording has been carefully edited, with almost seemless breaks during applause. However, by cross-referencing from the more complete (141179JMM) it becomes possible to identify these edits and verify the complete setlist. Dundas and Dylanbase omit "Precious Angel" from this performance, very likely due to this second source recording, however, by cross-referencing the two recordings, it becomes apparent that Dylan indeed performed "Precious Angel" this evening and made a nice job of it to boot.

The third (141179GDMD) is a mono audience recording which lacks all eight songs performed by the band, "Precious Angel" and Dylan's rap preceding "Solid Rock."

Based upon the identical edits, this recording appears to be taken from the same master as 141179CCMD, though based upon its superior sound quality, is perhaps an earlier duplicate from that master. This recording does not have the destructive edit during "Serve Somebody" which mars the former recording, however, it does show evidence of tape damage and distortion at the same point in the opening bars.

ANNOTATION KEY:

BLACK TEXT = Confirmed Performance/Comments/Observations

RED TEXT = Flaw or Missing/Unconfirmed Portion of Recording

BLUE TEXT = Dylan's Comments or Statements Transcribed

GREEN TEXT = Notable Performance in my opinion

The purpose of these annotations is to assist listeners in identifying recordings. All annotations reflect any cross-referencing between source recordings, thus edits and omissions which occur on one source tape, but not another, are not reported. The "Sources" section is modeled after Simon's notes in the Unofficial Bob Dylan Free Tape Library.