Theme Time Radio Hour Archive

(The sounds of rain falling) It’s night time in the big city Rain is falling, fog rolls in from the waterfront A night shift nurse smokes the last cigarette in a pack “Curious about what the weather looks like? Just look out your window, take a walk outside.” The Singers and Songs Muddy Waters: Blow Wind Blow Jimmie Davis (James Houston Davis): You Are My Sunshine Joe Jones: California Sun “Alright now, goin’ out west where I belong, get away from the G-Rind.” Dean Martin: I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine The Prisonaires: Just Walking in the Rain The Consolers: After the Clouds Roll Away “Brother Sullivan Pugh on guitar and his wife, Lola” Jimi Hendrix: The Wind Cries Mary Judy Garland: Come Rain or Come Shine Irma Thomas: It’s Raining Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Didn’t it Rain Slim Harpo (“With his harp in a rack”): Raining in My Heart “Slim wrote a bunch of his songs with his wife, Lavelle…boy, wish I had a wife like that t’ help me write songs.” Lord Beginner: Jamaica Beginner Fats Domino: Let the Four Winds Blow The Spaniels: Stormy Weather “The Spaniels were on that ill fated tour, which means probably I saw them. Winter Dance Party, 1959, the day that music supposedly died.” Stevie Wonder: A Place in the Sun Frank Sinatra: Summer Wind “West coast weather is the weather of catastrophe. The Santa Ana winds are like the winds of the apocalypse. But the summer wind that Frank’s singing about may be a little lighter. Come on in, Frank.” The Staple Singers: Uncloudy Day The Carter Family: Keep on the Sunny Side Complete notes on this episodes are available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club  

(Sounds of sirens in city) It’s night time in the big city The moon goes behind a cloud   A truck drops off tomorrow’s newspapers The Singers and Songs Julia Lee: Momma Don’t Allow It “Full of iodine and iron…all hydrogen and sulfate.” Tommy Duncan: Daddy Loves Mommyo Jan Bradley: Mama Didn’t Lie Buck Owens: I’ll Go To The Church Again With Momma “A many-fabled tune by a honey-toned crooner” Randy Newman: Mama Told Me Not to Come Bobby Peterson Quintet: Mama Get the Hammer J.B. Lenoir: Mama Talk to Your Daughter Earl King: A Mother’s Love Ruth Brown: Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean Carl Smith: Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way Memphis Slim: Mother Earth Ernie K. Doe: Mother In Law Little Junior Parker: Mother In Law Blues Merle Haggard: Mama Tried “First thing Merle remembers is a whistle blowin, like so many of us all.” Rolling Stones: Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadows LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out Complete notes on this episodes are available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club    

(car noises) It’s NIGHT in the big city somewhere a car alarm goes off a woman walks barefoot, her high heels in her handbag “Tonight we’re going to head out to the field of dreams, schemes and themes.” Take Me Out To The Ballgame: Nelly Kelly loved baseball games, Knew the players, knew all their names. You could see her there ev’ry day, Shout “Hurray” When they’d play. Her boyfriend by the name of Joe Said, “To Coney Isle, dear, let’s go”, Then Nelly started to fret and pout, And to him, I heard her shout: (Chorus) Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd; buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don’t win, it’s a shame. For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out, At the old ball game. Nelly Kelly was sure some fan, She would root just like any man, Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, Good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Nelly Kelly knew what to do, Just to cheer up the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song: The Singers and Songs The Skeletons: Take Me Out To The Ball Game Mabel Scott: Baseball Boogie Chance Halladay: Home Run “In the 50′s, every red blooded American boy either wanted to play baseball, or be Elvis Presley. Here’s a rockabilly song by Chance Halladay that combines the best of both worlds.” Johnny Darling: Baseball Baby Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Baseball Canto Watching baseball, sitting in the sun, eating popcorn, reading Ezra Pound, and wishing that Juan Marichal would hit a hole right through the Anglo-Saxon tradition in the first Canto and demolish the barbarian invaders. When the San Francisco Giants take the field and everybody stands up for the National Anthem, with some Irish tenor’s voice piped over the loudspeakers, with all the players struck dead in their places and the white umpires like Irish cops in their black suits and little black caps pressed over their hearts, Standing straight and still like at some funeral of a blarney bartender, and all facing east, as if expecting some Great White Hope or the Founding Fathers to appear on the horizon like 1066 or 1776. But Willie Mays appears instead, in the bottom of the first, and a roar goes up as he clouts the first one into the sun and takes off, like a footrunner from Thebes. The ball is lost in the sun and maidens wail after him as he keeps running through the Anglo-Saxon epic. And Tito Fuentes comes up looking like a bullfighter in his tight pants and small pointy shoes. And the right field bleechers go mad with Chicanos and blacks and Brooklyn beer-drinkers, “Tito! Sock it to him, sweet Tito!” And sweet Tito puts his foot in the bucket and smacks one that don’t come back at all, and flees around the bases like he’s escaping from the United Fruit Company. As the gringo dollar beats out the pound. And sweet Tito beats it out like he’s beating out usury, not to mention fascism and anti-semitism. And Juan Marichal comes up, and the Chicano bleachers go loco again, as Juan belts the first ball out of sight, and rounds first and keeps going and rounds second and rounds third, and keeps going and hits paydirt to the roars of the grungy populace. As some nut presses the backstage panic button for the tape-recorded National Anthem again, to save the situation. But it don’t stop nobody this time, in their revolution round the loaded white bases, in this last of the great Anglo-Saxon epics, in the territorio libre of Baseball. Cowboy Copas: Three Strikes and You’re Out Sister Wynona Carr: The Ball Game Buddy Johnson: Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? Les Brown and His Orchestra: Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio Billy Bragg & Wilco: Joe DiMaggio’s Done It Again Teddy Brannon Orchestra: Don Newcomb Really Throws That Ball Sonny Rollins: Newk’s Fadeaway The Treniers: Say Hey Sam Bush: The Wizard Of Oz Ry Cooder: 3rd Base, Dodger Stadium Damn Yankees (Original Broadway Cast): Heart  )))) Complete notes on this episodes are available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club ((((  

(diner noises) It’s night time in the Big City pizza parlor is locking up a drunken security guard drops his flashlight “Full of caffeinated dreams, schemes, and themes” The Singers and Songs The Ink Spots: Java Jive Jerry Irby: One Cup of Coffee and a Cigarette “One of those guys who went from hillbilly to rockabilly.” Frank Sinatra: The Coffee Song Squeeze: Black Coffee In Bed “A lot of people compared songwriters Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook to Lennon and McCartney, but they were much younger.” Otis Redding: Cigarettes and Coffee Curtis Gordon: Caffeine and Nicotine “He had a sound that was kind of like a mix of honky tonk and western swing but with a freer, looser, more vibrant singin style.” Lefty Frizzell: Cigarettes and Coffee Blues Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins: Coffee Blues “Another name for manic depression is the blues.” Scatman Crothers: Keep That Coffee Hot “Another name for manic depression is the blues.” The Larks: Coffee, Cigarettes and Tears Bobby Darin: Black Coffee Sexmith and Kerr (Ron Sexmith, Don Kerr): Raindrops In My Coffee Blur: Coffee and TV “You know, at one time coffee was believed to be the drink of the devil. When Pope Vincent III heard about this, he decided to taste the drink before banning it. In fact, he enjoyed coffee so much he wound up baptizing it, stating, “Coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.” I also feel that way about coffee. And about TV. And about Blu.”r Ella Mae Morse: Forty Cups of Coffee Glenn Miller Orchestra: Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)  

(prison noises) It’s night time in the big city A truck driver runs a red light A strange quiet man practices tae chi in a park “The Big House, the brig, the clink, the coop, the gray bar hotel, the hoosegow, the joint , the jug, the pen, the pokie, the slammer, the stir” The Singers and Songs Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues Magic Sam: 21 Days in Jail Bessie Smith: Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair Warren Storm: Prisoner’s Song “A little bit of swamp pop from Louisiana, which fused R & B, Country, Cajun, and Creole, a real Brasshopper mixture. And, just like Ringo, he’s a singing drummer.” The Pretenders: Back on the Chain Gang Andre Williams: Jail Bait Cannon’s Jug Stompers: Prison Wall Blues “Gus Cannon, one of the best-known of all jug band musicians, made himself a special harness, so he could wear his jug around his neck and play banjo at the same time.” Kenny Lane and his Bull Dogs: Columbus Stockade Blues Joe Simon: Nine Pound Steel Jimmy Patton: Okie’s In The Pokie “A thick slab of rockabilly madness…soundin’ funky drunk and full steam ahead.” John Prine: Christmas in Prison Sir Douglas Quintet: In The Jailhouse Now The Mississippi Sheiks (Lonnie Chatmon, Walter Vinson, Bo Carter, Sam Chatmon): Jailbird Love Song Wanda Jackson: Riot in Cell Block #9 Merle Haggard: Sing Me Back Home Hurricane Harry: Last Meal (Click here for complete notes on this episodes at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

(subway noises) It’s night time in the Big City a nightshift nurse smokes the last cigarette in her pack a married couple has a late night snack The Singers and Songs The Horace Silver Quintet: Song For My Father Excerpt played at start of show Jimmie Rodgers: Daddy and Home “The Singing Brakeman, The Yodeling Cowboy, The Father of Country Music” Shep and The Limelites: Daddy’s Home The Everly Brothers: That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine Bobby Blue Bland: Dust Got Into Daddy’s Eyes Julie London: Daddy “Smoky and sultry” John Hiatt: Your Dad Did The Sons of the Pioneers: My Daddy The Winstons: Color Him Father Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell: Papa’s on the Housetop Jack Rhodes and His Lone Star Buddies: Mama Loves Papa “The Rabid Vampire” The Temptations: Papa Was a Rolling Stone Lowell Folsom: Father Time The Swan Silvertones: Father Alone Ross McManus: Patsy Girl Hank Williams: My Son Calls Another Man Daddy (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)  

(talking at a wedding) It’s night time in the Big City a man buys a pack of gum, steals a nail clipper 2 pairs of sneakers are strung over a phone line It’s the month of June and that means church bells are ringing all over this great land of ours. Strap yourself in and get me to the church on time! The Singers and Songs Fred Rich and His Orchestra: Wedding Bells (Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine) Prince La La: Getting Married Soon Darlene Love: (Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry Ry Cooder: Married Man’s a Fool Laura Lee: Wedlock Is a Padlock Dave Edmunds: I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll) “Funky, Fusty, Noisome, Putrid, Rank and Reeking Reeky Sound. Stenchful and Stinking. Bad and Foul. Nauseating and Decomposed. Fuggy and Rotten.” (Bob means that all in a good way.) Etta James: Stop the Wedding Ann Cole: Don’t Stop the Wedding Roy Brown: Fannie Brown Got Married “A tornado of a singer.” Rosemary Clooney: Get Me To The Church On Time Johnny Tyler and His Riders of the Rio Grande: I’m a Married Man Jimmy Cavallo: Leave Married Women Alone “Consequential, meaningful, weighty, basic, essential and fundamental” Big Joe Turner: Married Woman Frank Sinatra: Love and Marriage Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright: The Man Who Wrote ‘Home Sweet Home’ Never Was A Married Man Lloyd Price: Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day) (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

(shouting – boxing match) It’s night time in the Big City a woman watches her neighbor through binoculars a cat knocks over a lamp The Singers and Songs Tammy Wynette: D.I.V.O.R.C.E. “This song is a rolling buzz” George Jones: The Grand Tour “A rip snorter of a song” Tommy Tucker: Alimony is Killing Me Jerry “The Guitar Man” Reed: She Got the Goldmine, I Got the Shaft T-Bone Walker: Alimony Blues Maddox Brothers and Sister Rose: (Pay Me Alimony) Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson: Alimony Blues Doris Duke: Divorce Decree Hank Snow “The Singing Ranger”: Married by the Bible, Divorced by the Law Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns: Alimony Merle Travis: Divorce Me C.O.D. The Drifters: Mexican Divorce Kitty Wells: Will Your Lawyer Talk to God Ernest Tubb & Loretta Lynn: Mr. & Mrs. Used To Be Lefty Frizzell: Lefty Frizzell You Can’t Divorce My Heart – Lefty Frizzell June Christy With Pete Rugolo: Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

It’s night time in the Big City angry prostitutes fight over a street corner a man gets drunk and shaves off his moustache Time to open up the fire hydrants and have a party in the streets, because it’s summertime The Singers and Songs Billy Stewart: Summertime Eddie Cochran: Summertime Blues “A song recorded many times by many people, but I don’t think that any of them did it half as good as the man who wrote it.” Martha & The Vandellas: (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave Sol K. Bright and His Hollywaiians: Heat Wave Bobby Hebb: Sunny Fatso Bentley: June-teenth Jamboree Astrud Gilberto and Walter Wanderley: So Nice “What would summertime be without a Samba?” Van Morrison: Youth of 1000 Summers Mr. Sad Head: Hot Weather Blues “One of my favorite names in all of music. He could have called himself Heavy-hearted Head, Melancholy Head, Mournful Head, or Sorrow Head, Unhappy Head, Blue Head, or Dejected Head, Down Head or Dispirited head, but instead, he called himself Mr. Sad Head. It fits better on the label.” Lovin’ Spoonful: Summer in the City “Let’s get it goin’” Prince Buster: Too Hot “He was a boxer when he was young, but gave it up to follow his musical dreams, he had great success and didn’t have to take a haymaker to the jaw. This song Too Hot is not referring to the weather but to the state of Kingston in 1967, as rude boy violence raged on and police cowered under the onslaught and the government threatened to bring in the army to restore order.”. Mungo Jerry: In the Summertime John Brim: Ice Cream Man Dave Alvin: Fourth of July Sly & the Family Stone: Hot Fun in the Summertime “The band really was a family affair, with his brother Fred on guitar, his sister Rosie on piano, and other assorted family members helping out. Sly disappeared for a bunch of years, but he recently showed up on the Grammies. Welcome back, Sly.” (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

It’s night time in the Big City outside the dogs are barking a woman walks barefoot, her high heels in her handbag The most beautiful things on earth The Singers and Songs Bob Wills: The New San Antonio Rose The Friends of Distinction: Grazin’ in the Grass George Jones: A Good Year for the Roses Paul Clayton: Bonny Bunch of Roses Kim Shattuck and the Muffs: Laying on a Bed of Roses Lucius Venable “Lucky” Millinder: The Grape Vine “Startin’ to see Pink Elephants on that one.” Duke Ellington: Tulip or Turnip “A song about choices” Tiny Tim: Tiptoe Through the Tulips “No one knew more about old music than Tiny Tim. He studied it and he loved it. He knew all the old songs that only existed as sheet music.” The Carter Family: Wildwood Flower “The most influential group in country music history.” Laura Cantrell: When the Roses Bloom Again Geraint Watkins: Only a Rose Merle Haggard: I Threw Away the Rose Wilson Pickett: Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You Alan Toussaint & Elvis Costello: The Sharpest Thorn (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

(rain) It’s night time in the Big City the wind picks up from over the bay a delivery boy makes a wrong turn “Today we’re gonna talk about the endless gray ribbons of asphalt that crisscross this country. So strap yourself in, put the peddle to the metal, and listen.” The Singers and Songs Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats: Rocket 88 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Cadillac Ranch “I think Bruce is from New Jersey… Tearin’ up the highway like a big old dinosaur’; first time I heard this song I thought it was. ‘Tearing up the highway like Dina Shore!’” Billy “The Kid” Emmerson: Every Woman I Know Memphis Minnie: Me and My Chauffer Blues “One of the great blues songs of all time, one of the great car songs of all time, one of the great chauffer songs of all time! Sung by one of the great old ladies of all time.” George Clinton and Parliament: My Automobile The Dixie Hummingbirds: Christian’s Automobile Joni Mitchell: Car On A Hill “She taught herself to play guitar with a Pete Seeger instruction book. I mighta seen that same book!” Sonny Boy Williamson II: Pontiac Blues Jimmy Caroll: Big Green Car Richard Berry: Get Out of the Car “If Richard won’t drive you home, I will. I got a car of my own.” David Lindley: Mercury Blues “Dave is a great instrumentalist, known as much for his great guitar playing as he is for his loud polyester shirts and mutton chop sideburns.” . Smiley Lewis: Too Many Drivers “His given name is Overton Lemons… I oughta use that name!” Prince: Little Red Corvette “Prince is from the same area of the country that I’m from so we have plenty in common.” Chuck Berry: No Money Down “Go ahead, Chuck. Let’s get it goin’.” (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

(coins) It’s night time in the Big City a guilty man goes home to his wife it’s time to make the doughnuts “Get rich quick themes, dreams, and schemes” The Singers and Songs Bob Miller: The Rich Man and The Poor Man “All kinds of life lessons in this song with no crap-ola.” Tony Bennett: Rags to Riches “A song right on the bleedin’ edge” Little Richard: Get Rich Quick The Farmer Boys: Charming Betsy Bing Crosby: Brother Can You Spare A Dime Tom Waits: On the Nickel “Waits has a raspy, gravelly singing voice, described by one fan as like how you’d sound if you drank a quart of bourbon, smoked a pack of cigarettes, and swallowed a pack of razorblades, after not sleeping for three days. Or as I like to put it, beautiful.” Fiddlin’ John Carson and Moonshine Kate: Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All “A song that is as relevant as it is today as when it was written in the ’30′s.” Louis Armstrong: Hobo, You Can’t Ride This Train Woody Guthrie: Do Re Mi Little Millette and His Creoles: Rich Woman Jonny Rivers: Poor Side of Town Freddie King: The Welfare Turns its Back on You Louis Jordan: If You’re So Smart, How Come You Ain’t Rich? Emmylou Harris: Hobo’s Lullaby (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

(fire) It’s night time in the Big City an ambulance races though downtown an off duty cops parks in front of his ex-wife’s house This is Theme Time Radio Hour, and there’s Hell to pay The Singers and Songs Reverend Gary Davis: The Devil’s Dream During his intro, Bob spoke over a section from The Devil’s Dream by Reverend Gary Davis . Robert Johnson: Me and the Devil Blues “According to legend, Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil, at the crossroads of Highway 61 and Highway 49.” The Louvin Brothers: Satan Is Real Grateful Dead: Friend of the Devil “This song is a road story, a hitch-hiking journey of the early 70′s counterculture.” Elvis Presley: Devil In Disguise Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys: The Devil Ain’t Lazy “They had a country string section but they played pop songs, as if they were jazz numbers.” The Flying Burrito Brothers: The Devil In Disguise (aka Christine’s Tune) Dandy Livingstone: Suzanne Beware of the Devil The Donays (lead vocalist Yvonne Allen): Devil In His Heart “The Donays only made one record…you only have to make one, if it’s this good.” Otis Spann: Must Have Been The Devil “This record was recorded after an all night party, and it sure sounds like it.” Johnny Tyler: Devil’s Hot Rod Skip James: Devil Got My Woman “Here’s another barn burner. This is my man, Skip James. Skip had a style that was celestially divine, sounded like it was coming from beyond the veil. Magic in the grooves. He had a style that was ghostly and other worldly, rare and unusual, mysterious and vague. You won’t believe what you’ll hear. Listen for yourself and you’ll see. You be the judge.” Count Basie and His Orchestra, featuring Helen Humes: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Shorty Long: Devil With a Blue Dress On “I wonder if he means Monica Lewinski?” Beck: Devil’s Haircut “Beck says this song is a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity. I just thought you could dance to it!” Gene Vincent (and the Blue Caps): Race With the Devil Tom Waits: Way Down in the Hole “Low on schmaltz and a real show-stopper, not pullin’ any punches.” (Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

(sirens in city) It’s night time in the Big City a trail of perfume follows a girl leaving a cheap hotel a man wakes up in an alleyway Welcome once again to Theme Time Radio Hour. This week the eyes/I’s have it. Whether they’re blue eyes, brown eyes, green eyes, ya got pink eye or red eye. If you’re an eyesore, or if you’re walleyed, we got the song for you. The Singers and Songs Chuck Berry: Brown Eyed Handsome Man Jimmy Martin: 20/20 Vision “Say what you will about him but he was no jive turkey.” Van Morrison: Brown Eyed Girl Jimmie Rodgers: My Blue Eyed Jane Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown: She Winked Her Eye Al Martino: Spanish Eyes Ernestine Anderson: Keep An Eye On Love Chuck Higgins: Eye Ballin’ Blue Sky Boys (The Bolick Brothers): Brown Eyes Sonny Boy Williamson II: Eyesight To The Blind “The only song from the rock opera Tommy that The Who didn’t write” George Jones: Tell Me My Lying Eyes Are Wrong “We don’t usually do commercials here on Theme Time Radio Hour, but we do want to tell you that George Jones has his own brand of dog food, and sausage… enjoy ‘em.” Nick Lowe: Raging Eyes Wynonie ‘Mr Blues’ Harris: Bloodshot Eyes Johnny Cash: I Still Miss Someone The Flamingos: I Only Have Eyes For You “…or as I call them, the Flaming O’s” The Streets: Dry Your Eyes —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-

(barking dogs) It’s night time in the Big City newlyweds make love on the roof a ringing phone goes unanswered Get off the couch, get yourself a bowl of water, and heel. The Singers and Songs Slim Gaillard: Serenade To A Poodle Patty Page: (How Much is That) Doggie in the Window? “Here’s a record that everyone always talks about when they talk about how dull radio was before rock and roll. Personally, I don’t agree with them; I think Patty Page made beautiful records” Ronnie Self: Ain’t I’m a Dog “It’s a shame he didn’t have more success as a singer, because the few records that he did make rocked like nobody’s business.” Rufus Thomas: Stop Kickin’ My Dog Around Bob Dorough: Dog Jean Shepard and Ray Pillow: I’ll Take the Dog Red Foley: Old Shep Howard Tate: How Come My Bulldog Don’t Bark? “A stupendously expressive singer” Everly Brothers: Bird Dog Allen Brothers (Austin and Lee): A New Salty Dog “Delightful kazoo leads” Freddie Bell and the Bellboys: Hound Dog Hawkshaw Hawkins: Dog House Boogie Uncle Tupelo: I Wanna Be Your Dog Mighty Sparrow: Russian Satellite Webb Pierce: I’m Walking The Dog —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-

It’s night time in the Big City a light drizzle starts to fall an anxious lover waits by the phone They say that good fences make good neighbors (Frost) and good friends make good music The Singers and Songs Porter Wagoner and the Wagonmasters: Howdy Neighbor Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Don’t Take Everybody to Be Your Friend “A powerful force of nature, a guitar playin’, singin’ evangelist…Anything but ordinary and plain. She was a big, good lookin’ woman, and divine. Not to mention sublime and splendid, always dressed like she was on her way to church, with that electric guitar strung across her shoulder. Matter of fact I saw her a few times myself, at the National Guard Armory.” T-Bone Burnett: Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend “Long and tall and on the ball” Doc Guidry: La Valse D’Amitie (The Friendship Waltz) Moon Mullican: Make Friends Jerry McCain: My Next Door Neighbor “He once heard Little Walter play, and it changed his life forever. Music used to do that.” George Jones and Melba Montgomery: Let’s Invite Them Over “I played this record for some of the guys here in the Abernathy building, and they couldn’t believe their ears. This is country music at its best, friends. Give a listen! Now I love country music, but I say, ‘What happened to it?’ You hear a song like this and it’s obvious it’s about real people, and real emotions, and real problems, that’s all, that’s the country music we learned to love. Now days they want to sweep all the problems under the rug and pretend they don’t exist. Well guess what folks, they do exist! And if you try and sweep em under the rug, they’re just gonna pop up somewhere else. So we might as well all just face it and listen to the old style country music, the real country music. You know, about drinking and sleeping around. That’s my kind a country music, and I hope yours! But I digress.” Howlin’ Wolf: My Friends “This next song is entirely without flaw and meets all the supreme standards of excellence.” Little Walter: Last Night Carole King: You’ve Got A Friend “I could be here all day just sayin’ songs Carole King wrote. I’d rather listen to her sing one.” Ronnie and the Delinquents (Ronnie Barron): Bad Neighborhood “Another true zombie tale from the swamps of New Orleans.” Rolling Stones: Neighbors “Here’s my old pals the Rolling Stones. And I guess you heard about Keith and everybody’s glad he’s feeling better now. Here he is with Charlie, Mick, Woody, and a bass player.” Hank Williams (Luke the Drifter): Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals “One of the greatest songwriters who ever lived was Hank Williams, of course. Hank could be headstrong and willful, a backslider and a reprobate, no stranger to bad deeds. However, underneath all of that, he was compassionate and moralistic.” War: Why Can’t We Be Friends “We don’t need any border patrols, or people trying to pigeon hole music. We just need more records like this.” —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-

It’s night time in the Big City a woman in a red gown throws out her cell phone a man sleeps with a gun under his pillow (Mr. announcer who are you?) howdy everybody this is Bob Dylan tell me the station I’m listening to the xm network, satellite radio how about telling a time to meet it’s time for theme time radio hour and what’s the weather gonna be? it’s cold and fatty and it’s raining. It’s going down to 30 degrees tonight. I don’t know what it’s like where you are but that’s what it’s like here. “What would the radio be without a disc jockey?” The Singers and Songs Grandpa Jones: Turn Your Radio On The Modern Lovers: Roadrunner Boyd Bennett and His Rockets: Cool Disc Jockey The Blasters: Border Radio “Our next song is all about radio stations that cropped up just across the Mexican border. These stations did not have to obey the same laws as their American counterparts. They were able to broadcast deep into the United States. These stations were very influential, playing a lot of regional bands of all types of music. In this song The Blasters pay tribute to these early hothouses of modern music.” Richard Lanham: On Your Radio “With kind of a Frankie Lym0n influence” Lord Melody: Radio Commercials The Clash: This Is Radio Clash “Here’s a song that is anything but perfunctory.” Patrice Holloway: Those DJ Shows Van Morrison: Caravan “Van Morrison has always had a love affair with the radio. A lot of his songs mention in, and this one is one of the best.” Luke Jones and His Orchestra: Disc Jockey Blues Bonnie Owens: My Hi-Fi to Cry By Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks (w/ Marianne Price, Naomi Eisenberg): Canned Music L.C. Smith and His Southern Playboys: Radio Boogie Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Radio, Radio —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-

It’s night time in the Big City a girl goes through the medicine cabinet of the man who brought her home a ringing phone goes unanswered For the next hour we’re gonna be playin’ music about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, The Wisdom of Solomon, First Maccabees and Second Maccabees, First Samuel and Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings. We’re gonna be playing stuff that comes out of the Psalms and the Proverbs. You know all of these. Jonah and Malachi – how come nobody’s named Malachi any more? We’re gonna be playing music that has something to do with Nehemia, Esther, Job, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And of course, The Book of Revelations. So gather the family around the radio and hear the good news. Seek and you shall find. The Singers and Songs Laura Cantrell: Yonder Comes a Freight Train Rev. J.M. Gates: Are You Bound for Heaven or Hell? The Yayhoos (Terry Anderson, Chris Baird, Eric Ambel): Bottle and a Bible “If you have to choose between the bottle and a bible, you might be needing a 12 Step Program, which was started by Bill Wilson, who helped spread the idea that drinking was a disease. If you feel 12 steps aren’t enough for ya, may I recommend the Alfred Hitchcock Classic, The 39 Steps . If you have to go higher than 39 steps just remember, one might be too many, and a hundred might not be enough.” Rev. Gary Davis: Samson and Delilah “Like a lot of other street performers, he always put gospel songs in among his blues to make it harder for the police to interrupt him.” Kitty Wells: He Will Set Your Fields on Fire Wynonie Harris: Adam Come And Get Your Rib AA Gray and Seven Foot Dilly: The Old Ark’s A-Moving Washington Phillips: Denomination Blues “He was a pioneering gospel performer of the 20′s. Recorded only 18 songs but, boy, what songs.” The Four Internes: I’m Using My Bible For A Road Map Ollabelle (featuring lead singer Amy Helm): Elijah Rock The Melodians: The Rivers Of Babylon Blind Willie Johnson: The Revelator Jess Willard: Boogie Woogie Preaching Man The Swan Silvertones: Oh Mary Don’t You Weep “If you listened closely to that song you might have heard Claude Jeter say, ‘I’ll be your bridge over deep water, if you trust in my name,’ a phrase that inspired Paul Simon, a few years later, to write some song.” The Robins: That’s What The Good Book Says “Biblical in scope, rhythm and blues in nature. This is the kind of bible study you don’t get in Sunday school…And what’s a rhythm and blues gospel song without a vibraphone solo, that one probably played by Johnny Otis,” —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-

It’s night time in the Big City a cab driver curses under his breath roasted chickens hang in the window of a Chinese restaurant The Singers and Songs Hank Snow: I’ve Been Everywhere “This is one o f those songs that starts off with a prelude; so don’t be concerned, the body of the song will start in just a moment.” Professor Longhair and the Shuffling Hungarians: Mardi Gras in New Orleans “Sometimes when you’re in the basement, looking at a box of records to buy, you come across a name on a label and you just have to own it. That’s the way I felt when I first saw this one…Here’s a song that should be the state song for Louisiana.” Marty Robbins: El Paso “A vivid western saga laden with drama, violence, and romance, a song of rare beauty and elegance. Talkin’ about a woman who is as different from other women as cognac is from corn liquor. But, as Marty Robbins would know, you get the same kind of headache from either one.” Wilbert Harrison: Kansas City “You all know this song, and it always sounds good.” Sol K. Bright and his Hollywaiians: Hawaiian Cowboy Jack Teagarden: Stars Fell on Alabama “One of the top pre-Bop trombonists.” Tom Waits: Jersey Girl The Louvin Brothers: Knoxville Girl “Hillbilly music had no shortage of lust, murder, and mayhem; of course it didn’t have as many samples from Herbie Hancock records.” (Bob’s response to email questioning a comparison between ‘Hillbilly music’ and ‘Gangsta Rap.’) Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood: Jackson Percy Mayfield: Louisiana “Had one of the most distinctive voices in R & B, and he was shockingly handsome…Percy’s records have never been equaled.” Tin Ear Tanner: I Used to Work in Chicago Charlie Poole: Baltimore Fire ZZ Top: My Head’s in Mississippi “I’m all outta breath just listening to that!” Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys: Take Me Back To Tulsa “Here on Theme Time Radio Hour we believe you can never play too much Bob Wills. We’re gonna prove it by playin’ another one of his records.” —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-

(school room noises) It’s night time in the Big City a writer stares at a blank sheet of paper a pet poodle scratches at a window Your school for dreams, schemes and themes. Your university of perversity.  School’s now in session. The Singers and Songs Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio: You Don’t Learn That In School Graham Parker: Back to School Days Tommy Facenda: High School USA (Minneapolis/St Paul version) “He did like 40 versions of it, recorded them all in like 2 days. Imagine what the last version must have sounded like! I get tired just doin’ this radio show!” James Brown: Don’t Be a Dropout Ricky Nelson: Lincoln and 46 Otis Rush: Homework Harry Reser and his 6 Jumping Jacks: I Love the College Girls The Marquees: Hey, Little School Girl Brenda Holloway with The Supremes: Play it Cool, Stay in School Babs Gonzales: Professor Bop Sam Cooke: Wonderful World Gene Summers: School of Rock n’ Roll “Listen to the piano playing on this record, it just pushes the thing along. Without the piano the guitar player might as well drop out.” NRBQ: Still In School Lulu: To Sir with Love Jerry Lee Lewis: High School Confidential “The Killer” Vincent Fornier (Alice Cooper): School’s Out “Guillotine and golf aficionado” Sonny Boy Williamson: Good Morning Schoolgirl —- (Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club) —-