New Pony

Last updated

"New Pony"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Street-Legal
ReleasedJune 15, 1978 (1978-06-15)
RecordedMay 1 and 3, 1978
Studio Rundown (Santa Monica, California)
Genre Blues
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Bob Dylan
Producer(s) Don DeVito

"New Pony" is a blues song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released on his 18th studio album Street-Legal (1978). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Don DeVito. The song, which superficially concerns a pony called Lucifer who has broken a leg and needs to be put down, but has been interpreted as concerning Dylan's relationship with his backing singer Helena Springs. The song's composition is thought to have been influenced by earlier blues songs such as Son House's "Black Pony Blues" and Charley Patton's track "Pony Blues."

Contents

The track has received a mixed critical reception. Dylan has never performed "New Pony" live in concert.

Background and recording

Bob Dylan, performing on June 23, 1978 Bob Dylan June 23 1978.jpg
Bob Dylan, performing on June 23, 1978

Dylan wrote songs for his album Street-Legal , including "New Pony", on his farm in Minnesota, the same place he had composed the songs on his 1974 album Blood on the Tracks . [1] "New Pony" is a lustful blues song, using double-entendres and religious imagery. [2] [3] Versions of "New Pony" were recorded at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California on April 26 and 28. The version that appears on Street-Legal was recorded on May 1, 1978, and bass and saxophones overdubs recorded on May 3. [3] [1] The track was produced by Don DeVito and engineered by Biff Dawes. [1] The song was released on June 15, 1978, on Dylan's 18th studio album Street-Legal, [1] and as the b-side of the single "Baby, Stop Crying. [4] The album was remastered and remixed for a 1999 compact disc release, with a further 5.1 remix done for a Super Audio CD release in 2004. Both re-releases featured the song. [5]

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"New Pony" ostensibly concerns a pony named Lucifer who needs to be put down after breaking a leg. [2] [6] As is common for a blues song, the second line of each verse is the same (with minor differences) as the first line. [7] : 265  The first verse is

I had a pony, her name was Lucifer (x2)
She broke her leg and needed shooting
I swear it hurt me more than it could have hurted her" [8]

The song is thought to be inspired by Dylan's relationship with his backing singer Helena Springs. [9] Dylan told Jonathan Cott in 1978 that "the Miss X in that song is Miss X, not ex-". [10] He also agreed with Cott's suggestion that in songs like "New Pony" and "Buckets of Rain", that he had mixed in and changed different musical genres. [10] The song probably draws on Son House's "Black Pony Blues", also recorded by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, and on Charley Patton's track Pony Blues. [2] [3] "Black Pony Blues" includes the lyrics "he can foxtrot / He can lope and pace, lope and pace", whilst Dylan's song has "I got a new pony, she knows how to foxtrot, lope and pace". [3] [11] House performed "Black Pony Blues" at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, and Dylan may have seen the performance. [7] : 266–267 

The backing singers sing "How much longer?" a number of times throughout the song. Christopher Ricks wrote that this "may be mostly a question about how much longer you will be satisfied with your new pony-woman and not have to shoot her to put her out of her misery before you can get some other new pony". [12] David Yaffee notes that the backing singers include both Dylans's girlfriend at the time, Springs, [13] : 79  and his future wife, Carolyn Dennis. [13] : 81  He suggests that Dylan's performance is "goaded on" by the phrase repeated by the backing vocalists. [13] Academic Aidan Day praised the "stridency of the blues melody .. matched by the roughness of its words. Both are germane to the conceptual sophistication of the song." [7] : 266  Day noted that poet and critic Stephen Scobie wrote that "The image of the woman as a horse needing to be tamed and broke, while undoubtedly problematic from any contemporary feminist view, is a traditional image, from a long line of blues songs". [7] : 266  [14] Scobie suggested that the pony in the song appears in three different situations: "as victim, as aesthetic display and as the object of sexual desire". [14] : 224  The first of these is expressed in the opening verse about breaking a leg, the second in the verse about being able to foxtrot and lope, and thirdly when described in the lyrics as "bad and nasty", after the song's narrator has proclaimed that they want to "climb up one time on you". [14] : 224  Howard Wilde, another scholar, finds the element of misogyny unsurprising, given that Dylan and other members of "the first generation of rock auteurs were predominantly male". [15]

Chris Shields of the St. Cloud Times wrote in 2015 of the two Street Legal tracks "Changing of the Guards" [and] "New Pony" that "the gospel elements found throughout both are clear signposts of what would be coming in the Born Again trilogy of albums coming next". [16] Dylan's next studio album, Slow Train Coming , in 1979, was the first of his three consecutive Christian albums. [17] Before the release of that trilogy's third component, Shot of Love in 1981, musicologist Wilfrid Mellers considered "New Pony" too sexually-charged to be a gospel song. [18]

Dylan has never performed the song live in concert. The only known performance since his studio recording was at a soundcheck in Paris on July 4, 1978. [11] [3] In that rehearsal, Dylan included a verse that has "It was early in the mornin'; I seen your shadow on the door / Now I don't have to ask nobody, I know what you came here for". Heylin wrote that this echoes "Me and the Devil Blues" by Robert Johnson. According to Heylin, the verse was edited out of the album version, and he speculates that this was due to time constraints. [3]

Critical reception

"New Pony" has received a mixed critical reception. Eric Shepherd in The Journal News wrote that "New Pony" "fuses a mysterious power of man, woman and horse through a dark, sexual power, perfectly expressed within a simple blues form." [19] Authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon admired the "heavy rhythm section and exceptional guitars", and highlighted the solos by Billy Cross on guitar and Steve Douglas on tenor saxophone. [1] David Murray praised the "swampland blues beat" and the solo by Cross in his Reading Evening Post review. [6] Shields said that the track exemplified that "Dylan's surreal lyrics and use of imagery were intact." [16]

The track and album were favorably reviewed by Jon Marlowe of The Miami News , who in his track-by track review of Street-Legal, wrote that "with Bob barking the vocal ... the backing singers frantically chant 'How much longer?'" [20] The Guardian's Robin Deneslow felt that for "New Pony" and "Baby Stop Crying", the gospel-like voices were "used effectively to highlight the anguish". [21] Keith Phipps and Steven Hayden described "New Pony" as "perhaps Dylan's dirtiest sex song". [22] Nigel Williamson admired the track's "deliciously lustful carnality", [9] and Mike Daly in The Age felt that the "thinly disguised eroticism" was part of an enjoyable "gutsy blues-rock". [23] Greil Marcus panned the album in Rolling Stone , and opined that "the only hint of decent singing comes in the first four verses of 'New Pony'". [24] Ed Siegel in The Boston Globe dismissed "New Pony" as "laughable", [25] and The Journal-Herald's Terry Lawson called it a "nonsense blues." [26] The track is one of two cited as examples of Dylan's weaker songs by Spencer Kornhaber in a 2016 piece for The Atlantic . [27]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track book. [1] : 457 

Jerry Scheff Official.JPG
Jerry Scheff (left, pictured in 2013) played bass. Bobbye Hall (right, pictured in the early 1970s) played tambourine.

Musicians

Technical personnel

Covers

The Dead Weather included a cover of "New Pony" on their 2009 album Horehoud . [29] A review in The Independent said that Dean Fertita of the band's contribution turned the "nonsensical" version by Dylan into "a staccato blues-metal monster". [30] Maria McKee and Larkin Poe have both included the song in their concerts. [31] [32]

Notes

  1. ↑ DeVito is credited on the Street-Legal liner notes as "Captain in Charge". Arthur Rosato is credited as "Second in Command". [28]

Related Research Articles

<i>Highway 61 Revisited</i> 1965 studio album by Bob Dylan

Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Dylan continued the musical approach of his previous album Bringing It All Back Home (1965), using rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album in a further departure from his primarily acoustic folk sound, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural climate of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.

<i>Blonde on Blonde</i> 1966 studio album by Bob Dylan

Blonde on Blonde is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as a double album on June 20, 1966, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing band, the Hawks. Though sessions continued until January 1966, they yielded only one track that made it onto the final album—"One of Us Must Know ". At producer Bob Johnston's suggestion, Dylan, keyboardist Al Kooper, and guitarist Robbie Robertson moved to the CBS studios in Nashville, Tennessee. These sessions, augmented by some of Nashville's top session musicians, were more fruitful, and in February and March all the remaining songs for the album were recorded.

<i>The Freewheelin Bob Dylan</i> 1963 studio album by Bob Dylan

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963, by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Along the Watchtower</span> 1967 song by Bob Dylan

"All Along the Watchtower" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his eighth studio album, John Wesley Harding (1967). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. The song's lyrics, which in its original version contain twelve lines, feature a conversation between a joker and a thief. The song has been subject to various interpretations; some reviewers have noted that it echoes lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5–9. Dylan has released several different live performances, and versions of the song are included on some of his subsequent greatest hits compilations.

<i>Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Bob Dylan

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is the twelfth studio album and first soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 13, 1973, by Columbia Records for the Sam Peckinpah film of the same name. Dylan himself appeared in the film as the character "Alias". The soundtrack consists mainly of instrumental music and was inspired by the movie itself. The album includes "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which became a trans-Atlantic Top 20 hit.

"4th Time Around" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the 12th track on his seventh studio album Blonde on Blonde on June 20, 1966. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. Commentators often interpret it as a parody of the Beatles' 1965 song "Norwegian Wood ". John Lennon composed "Norwegian Wood" after being influenced by the introspective lyrics of Dylan. Lennon later reflected on his feelings of paranoia when Dylan first played him "4th Time Around".

"Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. First released as the final track on Dylan's seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966), the song lasts 11 minutes and 23 seconds, and occupies the entire fourth side of the double album. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. The recording session began at 6 pm on February 15, 1966, at Columbia Studio A, Nashville, Tennessee, but Dylan worked on the lyrics for several hours while the experienced Nashville session musicians hired to accompany him stood by. Four takes were recorded in the early hours of February 16; the final recording was released on Blonde on Blonde. The music is a waltz in 6/8 time.

"Tombstone Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the second track on his sixth studio album Highway 61 Revisited (1965). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Bob Johnston. Critical interpretations of the song have suggested that the song references the Vietnam War and US President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again</span> 1966 song by Bob Dylan

"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. It has nine verses, each featuring a distinct set of characters and circumstances. All 20 takes of "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" were recorded in the early hours of February 17, 1966, at Columbia Records's A Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, with the last take selected for the album. This version also appears on Dylan's second compilation album, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II (1971).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Dylan</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1941)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered to be one of the greatest songwriters in history, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling his style on Woody Guthrie's folk songs, Robert Johnson's blues and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams's country songs, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35</span> Song by Bob Dylan

"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Columbia Records first released an edited version as a single in March 1966, which reached numbers two and seven in the US and UK charts respectively. A longer version appears as the opening track of Dylan's seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966), and has been included on several compilation albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pledging My Time</span> 1966 single by Bob Dylan

"Pledging My Time" is a blues song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song, written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston, was recorded on March 8, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan is featured on lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar, backed by guitarist Robbie Robertson and an ensemble of veteran Nashville session men.

"John Wesley Harding" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the opening track on his 1967 album of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slow Train (Bob Dylan song)</span> 1980 single by Bob Dylan

"Slow Train" is a song written by Bob Dylan that first appeared on his 1979 album Slow Train Coming. In the United States, it was released as the follow-up single to "Gotta Serve Somebody." It was also released as the lead song from Dylan's 1989 live album with the Grateful Dead, Dylan & the Dead. Music critic Paul Williams has called it "the one track [on Slow Train Coming] that must be listened to again and again and again, inexhaustible, essential." Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner has called it "nothing less than Dylan's most mature and profound song about America".

"Where Are You Tonight? " is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the closing track on his 18th studio album Street-Legal (1978). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Don DeVito. Dylan has said that the song is about the individual's "enemy within." Critical interpretations of the song have suggested that it references Dylan's divorce as well as foreshadowing or announcing his conversion to Christianity, which became evident in the religiously-focused projects that followed the album. Commentators have also opined that there are allusions in the lyrics to the work of Robert Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obviously 5 Believers</span> 1966 song by Bob Dylan

"Obviously 5 Believers" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the last track of side three of his double album Blonde on Blonde (1966), and was the B-side to the single release of "Just Like a Woman" for releases in America and some other countries. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. It was recorded at Columbia Music Row Studios, in the early morning hours of a March 9–10, 1966 session. Four takes were recorded, although the first two were incomplete. It has been interpreted as a blues song about loneliness, with critics noting similarities in melody and structure to Memphis Minnie's "Chauffeur Blues". Dylan's vocals and the musicianship of the band on the track have both received critical acclaim, although the track has been regarded as insubstantial by some commentators.

Helena Lisandrello, known professionally as Helena Springs, is an American singer. The singer was first a backup vocalist for Bob Dylan, starting in 1978 aged 17, and co-wrote 19 songs with him, more than any of his other collaborators. She was a vocalist for Dylan's 1978 World Tour, and the following year on his Gospel Tour. Springs appeared on his albums Street-Legal (1978), Bob Dylan at Budokan (1978), and Slow Train Coming (1979), as well as the compilation The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981 (2017). She stopped working with Dylan in either late 1979 or early 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)</span> Song by Bob Dylan

"One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the fourth track on his seventeenth studio album Desire (1976). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Don DeVito. The album version of "One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)" was recorded on July 30, 1975, and released on Desire in January 1976. Dylan said the song was influenced by his visit to a Romani celebration at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in France on his 34th birthday.

"You're No Good" is a song by Jesse Fuller that appeared as the opening track on Bob Dylan's eponymous debut album (1962). Eight takes were recorded by Dylan on November 20, 1961. He learnt the song directly from Fuller in Denver; Fuller's own recorded version was not released until May 13, 1963, on his album San Francisco Bay Blues. The song concerns the narrator's difficult relationship with a woman, and concludes with the narrator wanting to "lay down and die". Dylan's version is more uptempo than Fuller's, and has some changes to the lyrics; it has been positively reviewed by critics.

"I Shall Be Free No. 10" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the fifth track on his fourth studio album Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Tom Wilson. The song is a humorous talking blues, indebted to earlier songs including Lead Belly's "We Shall Be Free". Dylan opens the song by proclaiming that he is normal and average, but then acknowledges his reputation by singing the self-aware doggerel "Yippee! I'm a poet, and I know it/ Hope I don't blow it".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2015). Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers. pp. 452–457. ISBN   978-1-57912-985-9.
  2. 1 2 3 Trager, Oliver (2004). Keys to the rain: the definitive Bob Dylan encyclopedia. New York: Billboard Books. p. 451. ISBN   978-0-8230-7974-2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Heylin, Clinton (April 29, 2010). Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 2 1974–2008. Little, Brown Book Group. pp. 145–147. ISBN   978-1-84901-494-6.
  4. ↑ Marshall, Evan. "The 1964 talkin' public domain blues". Record Collector. No. 415. Metropolis International Group Ltd.
  5. ↑ Gray, Michael (2008). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 654. ISBN   978-0-8264-2974-2.
  6. 1 2 Murray, David (July 10, 1978). "Street Legal is instantly likeable". Reading Evening Post . Reading. p. 7.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Day, Aidan (September 2010). "Satan Whispers: Bob Dylan and Paradise Lost". The Cambridge Quarterly. 39 (3). Oxford University Press: 260–280. doi:10.1093/camqtly/bfq016.
  8. ↑ Dylan, Bob (2014). Ricks, Christopher; Nemrow, Lisa; Nemrow, Julie (eds.). The Lyrics / Bob Dylan. London: Simon & Schuster. p. 549. ISBN   978-1-4711-3709-9.
  9. 1 2 Williamson, Nigel (2021). Bob Dylan. Dead Straight Guides (5th ed.). Red Planet. p. 242. ISBN   978-1-912733-41-5.
  10. 1 2 Cott, Jonathan (November 16, 1978). "Bob Dylan: The Rolling Stone Interview, Part 2". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  11. 1 2 "New Pony". bobdylan.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  12. ↑ Ricks, Christopher (2011). Dylan's Visions of Sin (digital ed.). London: Canongate. p. 440. ISBN   978-0-87582-202-0.
  13. 1 2 3 Yaffe, David (2011). Like a Complete Unknown (digital ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 79–80. ISBN   978-0-300-12457-6.
  14. 1 2 3 Scobie, Stephen (2003). Bob Dylan revisited. Red Deer Press. ISBN   978-0-88995-227-0.: 224 
  15. ↑ Wilde, Howard (2022). "'In comes Romeo, he's moaning': Shakespeare, Melancholy, and the Cult of the Rock Auteur since 1960". In Wilson, Christopher R.; Cooke, Mervyn (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music. p. 306.
  16. 1 2 Shields, Chris (December 26, 2015). "Bob Dylan's 'Street Legal" a lively, satisfying album". St. Cloud Times. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  17. ↑ Williamson, Nigel (2021). Bob Dylan. Dead Straight Guides (5th ed.). Red Planet. pp. 127–137. ISBN   978-1-912733-41-5.
  18. ↑ Mellers, Wilfrid (1981). "God, Modality and Meaning in Some Recent Songs of Bob Dylan". Popular Music. 1. Cambridge University Press: 142–157. doi:10.1017/S0261143000000969. JSTOR   853248. S2CID   190758131 . Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  19. ↑ Shepherd, Eric (June 30, 1978). "'Street Legal' packs Dylan's usual punch". The Journal News . White Plains. p. 37.
  20. ↑ Marlowe, Jon (June 14, 1978). "'Street Legal' – a preview of Bob Dylan's new album". The Miami News . Miami. p. 17.
  21. ↑ Denselow, Robin (July 11, 1978). "Rasta without cliches". The Guardian . London. p. 8.
  22. ↑ Phipps, Keith; Hyden, Steven (May 31, 2012). "A guide to Bob Dylan, from the '60s to now". AV Club. Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  23. ↑ Daly, Mike (July 13, 1978). "Dylan's first original for three years emerges – quietly". The Age . Melbourne. p. 49.
  24. ↑ Marcus, Greil (August 24, 1978). "Street Legal". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  25. ↑ Siegel, Ed (July 6, 1978). "Bob Dylan: Street Legal". The Boston Globe . Boston. p. 65.
  26. ↑ Lawson, Terry (July 1, 1978). "Dylan still an enigma". The Journal-Herald . Dayton. p. 28.
  27. ↑ Kornhaber, Spencer (October 13, 2016). "Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize Isn't About Music". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  28. 1 2 Street-Legal (liner notes). CBS. 1978. 138084.
  29. ↑ Harris, Keith (May 21, 2021). "The 80 Greatest Dylan Covers of All Time: 78 – The Dead Weather, "New Pony" (2009)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  30. ↑ "Album: The Dead Weather, Horehound, (Thirdman)". The Independent. June 21, 2009.
  31. ↑ Bjorner, Olof. "It ain't me babe: Coversongs N" . Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  32. ↑ Waldherr, Thomas (December 5, 2018). "Larkin Poe: Venom & Faith" (in German). Retrieved April 16, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.