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Speaker 1: Blood on the Tracks is the production of I Heart

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Speaker 1: Radio and Double Elvis. Bob Dylan was a musical genius

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Speaker 1: and one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He

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Speaker 1: didn't follow leaders. He chased that thin, wild mercury sound.

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Speaker 1: He never looked back. Even as the times changed, and

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Speaker 1: as the times changed, Bob Dylan changed. He tried on

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Speaker 1: and discarded identities like they were mass. He transformed. He

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Speaker 1: transfigured in somewhere along the way, the Bob Dylan that

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Speaker 1: you thought you knew died. This is his story as

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Speaker 1: a dr ed sailor. It is day nine, August six,

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, here in Middletown, New York, and this

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Speaker 1: is another report on patient Robert Zimmerman, a k a.

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Speaker 1: Bob Dylan. Bob is approving physically and mentally. He is

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Speaker 1: getting stronger, but there are still some issues to sort out.

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Speaker 1: He seems fragile and in my inn, you'll need to

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Speaker 1: recuperate here for a little while longer. His men's are

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Speaker 1: being reduced, but he's still reliant on them. This brush

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Speaker 1: with death, as he calls in the motorcycle crash has

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Speaker 1: brought on a lot of reflection and he has become

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Speaker 1: very aware of his um mortality. He seems to see

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Speaker 1: the world as a much older man now, a much

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Speaker 1: wiser man. Perhaps he's talking like he's aged fifty years

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Speaker 1: in a few days. You get to a certain age

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Speaker 1: and you have to consider mortality. I don't worry about

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Speaker 1: my mortality in a personal way. I worry about the

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Speaker 1: world's mortality. I think about the death of the human race,

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Speaker 1: the long, strange journey of the naked ape. Not to

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Speaker 1: be light on it, but every life is so transient.

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Speaker 1: Every human being, no matter how strong or mighty, is

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Speaker 1: frail when it comes to death. I've died many times

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Speaker 1: as many times as I've lived, but I'm under no illusions.

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Speaker 1: One day it will be the end for real. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: the path that you're walking gets too narrow to walk.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you've just been on the job too long. Life

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Speaker 1: reduces us all. It turns us all to dust, all

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Speaker 1: to memories, all too blood. On the tracks. Chapter nine

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Speaker 1: is Bob Dylan real hm h. I feel the wind

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Speaker 1: blackly at first, then it picks up. I breathe in deeply.

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Speaker 1: The air is damp and cold. There's a bitter taste

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Speaker 1: to it all. I turned to look at the heavens,

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Speaker 1: and all my eyes can see is blackness stretching out

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Speaker 1: from here to eternity. The nineties, Man, that decade was

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Speaker 1: a washout at times. I still performed a lot of

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Speaker 1: dates each year, but the creative births of becoming a

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Speaker 1: Wilberry and reconnecting with inspiration on O Mercy We're a

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Speaker 1: distant memory to me. Now that person wasn't me anymore.

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Speaker 1: I was lost again, a little boy scratching around, a

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Speaker 1: little boy lost a certain age. I started to make

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Speaker 1: albums in my garage, which, while liberating, was a far

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Speaker 1: cry from other records I've made. I didn't know where

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Speaker 1: I would go next, what life I was going to live.

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Speaker 1: That became a major concern of mine. That was quickly

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Speaker 1: replaced with an even greater concern something I'd never expected.

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Speaker 1: You have to consider mortality. In December of I came

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Speaker 1: off another leg of touring and started to think about

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Speaker 1: my next record. It was going on seven years without

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Speaker 1: an album of original songs, at least original songs that

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Speaker 1: were new, what with Greatest Hits albums, those two Folk

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Speaker 1: Standards albums, and that unplugged thing for MTV that was

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Speaker 1: a trend at the time. Hell I'd practically made that

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Speaker 1: whole unplugged thing into a trend thirty years before, and

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Speaker 1: despite my draft of creativity, I could feel in some

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Speaker 1: of those shows towards the end of that tour that

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Speaker 1: the needle was beginning to move, no matter how strong

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Speaker 1: or mighty, or it was a bleak winter, I went

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Speaker 1: to my farm in Minnesota. I still remember arriving as

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Speaker 1: the snow was starting to fall. Man, I didn't know

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Speaker 1: what was waiting for me there. I kept a journal

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Speaker 1: from that time. I'd like to read from it to you.

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Speaker 1: Day one, temperature check, thirty three point five degrees. I

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Speaker 1: arrived here in darkness, darkness everywhere, the sort of darkness

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Speaker 1: that engulfs everything. When I awoke this morning, there was snow.

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Speaker 1: It was crisp and white, like a movie, covering the

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Speaker 1: entire landscape. I planned to stay here as long as possible.

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Speaker 1: Day two, temperature check thirty three point nine degrees. The

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Speaker 1: snow has fallen for the last two days solidly. I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure I'll be leaving anytime soon. Maybe it's affecting me.

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Speaker 1: I awoke in the middle of the night, coughing and

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Speaker 1: short of breath. It was a long tour I have

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Speaker 1: to remember that. Day three temperature check, thirty two points

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Speaker 1: six degrees. I'm snowed in, completely stranded. The outside world

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Speaker 1: is completely removed from me. My brother David, who usually

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Speaker 1: lives here, is a way, so it's me alone mortality.

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Speaker 1: I've started to write too, what else is there to do?

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Speaker 1: It's come on pretty strong these last couple of days.

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Speaker 1: I find myself writing on anything, torn cigarette packets, old

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Speaker 1: cereal boxes, in the margin of a newspaper. I'm scribbling

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Speaker 1: down ideas the moment they come to me. At least

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Speaker 1: the snow is helping me concentrate physically, though I feel worse.

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Speaker 1: What's the matter with me? I can't say. Sometimes you've

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Speaker 1: just been on the job too long. Shortness of breath, tiredness.

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Speaker 1: They're all here, They're my only bedfellows at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Day four temperature check, thirty two point two degrees. The

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Speaker 1: snowfall improved a little yesterday, but it's gotten worse today.

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Speaker 1: I've spent a lot of time resting, but the writing

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Speaker 1: it's gaining traction. There's some real songs here. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to ask Daniel Lanois to produce them. They need to

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Speaker 1: be handled properly. Day five, temperature check thirty one degrees.

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Speaker 1: I called the doctor tonight. My shortness of breath has

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Speaker 1: been replaced by chest pains, stabbing hot irons in the

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Speaker 1: center of my torso every life is so transient. The

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Speaker 1: doc said it's fine and I need to rest up.

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Speaker 1: But that's all I've been doing. Another two songs finished today.

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Speaker 1: One was about another place, a sparse place like this,

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Speaker 1: a place full of mountains, locks, you know those Scottish places,

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Speaker 1: and fulfillment. I'm getting cabin fever here. Day six, temperature

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Speaker 1: check thirty degrees. I called the doctor again. The chest

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Speaker 1: pains are worse, so is the snowfall. The long, strange

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Speaker 1: journey of the naked ape. I feel a little bit

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Speaker 1: like a prisoner here. Day seven, temperature check thirty degrees.

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Speaker 1: I'm writing this by the fire. I celebrated completing another

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Speaker 1: few songs with a drop of whiskey tonight, but it

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Speaker 1: made me feel the worst I've felt since I got here.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what's happening to me, but it doesn't

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Speaker 1: feel right. You get to a certain age. I'll call

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Speaker 1: the doctor again tomorrow, but I didn't call them after

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Speaker 1: writing those journal entries I got up from the large armchair,

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Speaker 1: which had been my base camp during that cold snap,

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Speaker 1: and I felt the room fall away around me. I

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Speaker 1: remember the thud of my whiskey glass against the rug,

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Speaker 1: the dull bass drum like hit that sounded out. My

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Speaker 1: chest felt like there was a lasso around it, my mortality.

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Speaker 1: I tried to breathe, but it was like they were

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Speaker 1: tacks in my lungs. I gulped in what air I

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Speaker 1: could as I hit the deck. I sat there, not

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Speaker 1: quite lying down, but not sitting. It was like I

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Speaker 1: was in a strange, terrible slump, the sort of awkward

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Speaker 1: position your body takes when you've lost control when it

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Speaker 1: comes to death. I thought this was it. It was

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Speaker 1: the end I'd seen lives in many times before, but

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Speaker 1: this time it was different. I couldn't see another one

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Speaker 1: on the horizon. The path that you're walking gets too

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Speaker 1: narrow to walk. I fumbled around for something to winch

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Speaker 1: myself up with. I looked at the arm of the

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Speaker 1: chair and grabbed it. My limbs like steel girders. I

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Speaker 1: tightened my grip on the chair like a mountain climber.

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Speaker 1: I could hear my breathing now too. It was heavy

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Speaker 1: and labored, unproductive, like the oxygen was leaking out somewhere,

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Speaker 1: like it wasn't getting into my blood. I'm under no illusions.

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Speaker 1: I felt faint and stars crossed my eyes, but I

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Speaker 1: knew I had to get up, Just get up. My

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Speaker 1: hand shook on the arm of the chair. I pushed

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Speaker 1: down hard on it, forcing some pressure. Slowly I started

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Speaker 1: to rise. My feet shook as they took the weight

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Speaker 1: of my body, but eventually I was standing. I grabbed

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Speaker 1: the phone on the side table and dialed my doctor's number.

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Speaker 1: My hand quivered as I dialed. Something was terribly wrong.

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Speaker 1: Time was running out to make it right. One thing

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Speaker 1: was becoming clear to me. I was going to have

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Speaker 1: to stare death in the face. I didn't know it then,

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Speaker 1: but it would happen because of the strangest thing. The

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Speaker 1: gray cloud hangs low like a canopy of dread. The

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Speaker 1: rain falls, and the wind starts to blow. It feels

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Speaker 1: like an apocalypse. I eventually got off the farm. The

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Speaker 1: snow eased, and so did my symptoms. I saw the doctor.

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Speaker 1: Of course, he put my symptoms down to stress, and

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Speaker 1: so I carried on. But I could tell something wasn't right.

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Speaker 1: In May of that year, I turned fifty six. Man,

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Speaker 1: you have to consider mortality. I felt at least seventy

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Speaker 1: like something was slowing me down, but I didn't know what.

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Speaker 1: If the doctor said I was fine, then I was fine. Right.

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Speaker 1: We had a party for my birthday at home in California.

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Speaker 1: Everyone came, a million dollar bash. Really, it was just

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Speaker 1: an excuse to get the family together. There were quite

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Speaker 1: a few of us by this point. My daughter Maria

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Speaker 1: and her family came. I could tell what she was

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Speaker 1: thinking the moment she arrived. She smiled and kissed me

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Speaker 1: on the cheek, but as she looked into my eyes,

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Speaker 1: she seemed worried. Concern was written all over her face.

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Speaker 1: Times when she asked how I was, I shrugged and

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Speaker 1: said busy, But she didn't buy it. She's too clever

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Speaker 1: for that. As we walked up the stairs to the

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Speaker 1: main part of the house, I felt it again, that

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Speaker 1: shortness of breath and feeling of tacks in my lungs.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes the path that you're walking walk. I didn't want

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Speaker 1: to worry Maria, so I kept walking. I concentrated on

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Speaker 1: the steps to take my mind off the pane one two, three,

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Speaker 1: four steps, But I didn't count the fifth stars appeared

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Speaker 1: across my eyes again. I grabbed the handrail to stop

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Speaker 1: from falling. Maria spun around and I smiled. She still

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Speaker 1: wasn't buying it, but she didn't say anything. One day,

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Speaker 1: it will be the end of Later, in a packed

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Speaker 1: living room, with the Pacific Ocean mysterious and dark right

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Speaker 1: outside the window, and the sun just nestled above it,

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Speaker 1: we're saying happy birthday, mainly for the kids, not for me.

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Speaker 1: A huge cake emerged from the kitchen. I got to

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Speaker 1: my feet, feigning annoyance. It's a little act I like

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Speaker 1: to do for everyone. But as I did, I felt

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Speaker 1: something pass over me, a cold, anxious feeling. My heart

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Speaker 1: rattled around my chest as the singing got louder, get

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Speaker 1: to a certain age. Happy birthday to you, they sang,

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Speaker 1: as my heart thudded in my ears, louder and louder.

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Speaker 1: Boom boom, Happy birthday to you, boom boom. The cake

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Speaker 1: was brought closer and has the flickering candles blurred in

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Speaker 1: my failing eyesight. All I could do was force another smile.

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Speaker 1: A second later, I coughed and felt my lungs rattle.

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Speaker 1: I gasped, sucking in air, but it only gave me

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Speaker 1: momentary relief. I felt like my lungs were leaking again,

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Speaker 1: like they couldn't hold onto anything, like like the bottom

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Speaker 1: had fallen out. I'm under no illusions as this was happening.

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Speaker 1: I could feel something else in my slight, feverish state.

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Speaker 1: I could feel someone staring at me, their eyes burning me.

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Speaker 1: Of course, everyone in the room was looking at me,

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Speaker 1: but only one person was staring at me. I thought,

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Speaker 1: for one awful moment it was Jesus himself. I felt

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Speaker 1: like I was back in that Tucson hotel room. Is

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Speaker 1: this it? I thought? Is this the end? You have

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Speaker 1: to consider mortality? I scanned the room full of familiar faces,

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Speaker 1: and that's when I saw Maria standing there, eyes fixed

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Speaker 1: on me. She looked different from everyone else way. I

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Speaker 1: quickly realized why she wasn't singing. Everyone else was dutifully

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Speaker 1: going through happy Birthday, but Maria, she was silent, mouth shut,

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Speaker 1: staring at me in disappointment and concern. The song finished

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Speaker 1: and there was silence. Come on, Bob, someone shouted as

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Speaker 1: the cake was presented to me. Still feeling woozy, I

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Speaker 1: took in a deep breath. My lungs crackling as I did,

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Speaker 1: I mean they audibly crackled. It became the only sound

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Speaker 1: in the room. When it comes to death, I blew

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Speaker 1: with all my might. About a quarter of the candles

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Speaker 1: went out. I blew again. A few more extinguished. The

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Speaker 1: room felt awkward. One of my grandkids was sent forward

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Speaker 1: to finish blowing out the candles, and then there was

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Speaker 1: this weak clap as they all went out. I looked

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Speaker 1: up and saw Maria still staring right at me. Later,

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Speaker 1: I just grabbed a beer from the fridge, and when

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Speaker 1: I turned around, she was there looking concerned. Again. You're

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Speaker 1: not well, she said. That's how she opened it. No pleasantries,

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Speaker 1: The long strange journey of the Naked Ape, the doctor said,

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Speaker 1: I replied, but she cut me off. I've called another

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Speaker 1: doctor and I want you to see him. She replied.

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Speaker 1: What was I supposed to say that? I felt, Okay,

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Speaker 1: that was a lie. I'm under no illusions, please, she said.

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Speaker 1: In that moment, she saved my life. Next thing I knew,

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Speaker 1: I was in the hospital, Maria's doctor took one look

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Speaker 1: at me and convinced me to go for tests. He

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Speaker 1: asked about my lifestyle and said he was worried about

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Speaker 1: my heart. I should have been more worried too. There

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Speaker 1: were nights where I couldn't breathe properly, days where my

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Speaker 1: heart ran like a tommy gun. I thought I was

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Speaker 1: on my way to see Elvis real soon one day

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Speaker 1: it will be the end of the end of the end.

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Speaker 1: I remember being in the hospital. There was a needle

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Speaker 1: in my arm and a pad on my heart, you know,

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Speaker 1: the usual. I gazed up at the solid white ceiling tiles,

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Speaker 1: thinking about nothing, just nothing at all. Just then the

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Speaker 1: door to my room opened and in came the doctor, Mr. Dillon.

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Speaker 1: He said, you haven't had a heart attack. I sighed, relieved.

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Speaker 1: The doctor's face tensed up as he continued. But it

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Speaker 1: is still very serious, he said. He told me the

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Speaker 1: problem was that there was an inflammation of the sack

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Speaker 1: around the heart, preventing the heart from expanding and filling

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Speaker 1: correctly a certain age. He showed me a little drawing

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Speaker 1: on his legal patent. I knew straight away that he

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Speaker 1: was right. It felt exactly how he was describing it.

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Speaker 1: The whole thing had put my lungs in the can too.

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Speaker 1: The doctor told me it was down to a fungal infection.

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Speaker 1: What's it called. It's some pistol plasma capsulate him. That

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Speaker 1: was it. I memorized the name. It's a fungus that

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Speaker 1: grows in the soil. Tablets would fix it, but I

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Speaker 1: wasn't out of the woods yet. There would be work

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00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,040
Speaker 1: to do in a mystery to solve as well. Life

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00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:06,080
Speaker 1: produces us all. Any idea how you would have come

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00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,879
Speaker 1: into contact with something like this, the doctor asked. I

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00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:13,119
Speaker 1: couldn't think of anything, so I went back to staring

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Speaker 1: at the ceiling tiles. As I lay there, I suddenly

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Speaker 1: remembered something, something I hadn't thought about in a very

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Speaker 1: long time. Sometimes you've just been on the job too long.

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Speaker 1: I remembered another bed I'd laid in. This was in

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Speaker 1: another life, when I was another version of myself. There

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Speaker 1: was another time where I saw mortality creep across my horizon.

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Speaker 1: It was that doctor ed Taylor's house all those years ago,

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Speaker 1: right after that motorcycle crash. I suddenly recalled lying in

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Speaker 1: a bed at his house in Middletown, somewhere near Woodstock,

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Speaker 1: and dreaming about my life, dreaming about what had happened

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Speaker 1: and what was to come. And that got me thinking

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Speaker 1: at me remembering again the reason I was, if you'll

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Speaker 1: excuse a little bit of self quoting, knocking on Heaven's

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Speaker 1: door once again, there was another damn motorcycle. We'll be

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Speaker 1: right back after this word word word. There's fog everywhere now.

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Speaker 1: I can feel in my nose, in my hair, and

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Speaker 1: my eyes. I can't really see anything. A cough and

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00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:41,040
Speaker 1: cough again. I have no idea where I am. I've

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00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 1: been in this for too long. I feel like I'll

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Speaker 1: never make it home. I feel like I'm trapped here now.

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00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:50,960
Speaker 1: I start to wonder if this is even real life anymore?

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Speaker 1: Did I die? Am I in some sort of purgatory? Motorcycles?

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00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: Fucking motorcycles. I love them. They have always been a

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Speaker 1: symbol of freedom or escape for me, but they have

289
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:14,080
Speaker 1: always been my potential downfall too. There was a motorcycle

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Speaker 1: involved in the death of that biker Robert Zimmerman, when

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Speaker 1: he died in front of his Hell's Angels buddies. There

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00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: was a motorcycle involved when Bob Dylan you used to know,

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Speaker 1: died on that Woodstock road. And there was one when

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00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,159
Speaker 1: I was reborn. At this point of my life, a

295
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:38,040
Speaker 1: long strange journey, you see, I've been in the wilderness.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, ever since I had stopped preaching about Jesus,

297
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:46,080
Speaker 1: there had been ups and downs. My time is Lucky

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00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 1: Wilberry and a couple of good records aside, there were

299
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:55,760
Speaker 1: a lot of downs. But something happened from onwards. I

300
00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:02,439
Speaker 1: became someone new again. Is so transient Waiting for me

301
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,160
Speaker 1: in this new life would be Grammys number one singles

302
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,400
Speaker 1: and a Nobel Prize. Even if I did wait about

303
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,359
Speaker 1: a half a year to pick up that thing. I

304
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 1: just had to shed this former existence that had been

305
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 1: dragging me down for too long. Now. I told you before,

306
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:23,200
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you again. You cannot force these things.

307
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,240
Speaker 1: You have to wait for when the universe is ready

308
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 1: to gift you a new life, even if it doesn't

309
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 1: seem like a gift. At the time, we were playing

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00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: a show in Indiana before the gig. We had some

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Speaker 1: downtime in the day, so I took my motorcycle out

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Speaker 1: for a ride. You know, I never stopped riding after

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00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,800
Speaker 1: that would stock crash Man, That crash may have made

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Speaker 1: me more of a rider. If anything. I was riding

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00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: through a swampy area. It was deserted, strange kind of mythical.

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Speaker 1: I rode and rode, just me and my bike. After

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Speaker 1: a while, I noticed the sky was changing. What had

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00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,200
Speaker 1: been a cloudy day was turning into a storm. The

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00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,440
Speaker 1: black clouds were appearing quickly. Now the wind was picking

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Speaker 1: up two. I don't worry about my mortality. I started

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Speaker 1: to feel the resistance against me and the bike, and

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00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: then I felt the first drops of rain on my face.

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Speaker 1: I goosed the throttle, going faster, and the bike roared

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00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: as the wind rushed around its shell. Faster and faster

325
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,239
Speaker 1: I went as I felt the resistance grow. Then, all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, I thought of that Hell's angel, poor

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Speaker 1: Bobby zimmermans All. I could see the wreckage of his bike,

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Speaker 1: the blood on the pavement, the gasoline spilling out. I

329
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 1: slammed on the brakes. I was panting at the side

330
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Speaker 1: of the road. I don't know. Some people might call

331
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Speaker 1: it a panic attack. I'm not sure about that, but

332
00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,640
Speaker 1: either way, I stood at the side of the road

333
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: as the wind and rain came down. I watched the

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00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,879
Speaker 1: force of it battered branches and send birds off their course.

335
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:10,359
Speaker 1: One day it will be the end of the wind.

336
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,240
Speaker 1: Howled like an angry beast, and then the rain fell

337
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,360
Speaker 1: harder and harder. Everything around me was damp and sludgy.

338
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 1: With one huge rush of wind, my bike fell to

339
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,680
Speaker 1: its side as the air rushed around me. I didn't

340
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 1: go and pick it up. Instead, I looked for safety.

341
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,119
Speaker 1: I ran to a small covering where some trees stood

342
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Speaker 1: close together. I crouched down as the rain pummeled the

343
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:39,160
Speaker 1: swampy landscape, moss and water whipping my face and knocking

344
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,480
Speaker 1: me off balance. I lay there in the dirt, my

345
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:46,639
Speaker 1: hands over my head soaked right through. I shut my

346
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 1: eyes tightly and listened to the rain hit the leaves

347
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 1: of the trees. It felt like a vengeful god wreaking

348
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 1: revenge on a sinful landscape, every human being, no matter

349
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Speaker 1: how strong or mighty. I laid there as still as possible, waiting,

350
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 1: just waiting. Slowly, but surely it passed. When the rain

351
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: began to slow, I sat up and watched the storm

352
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 1: move over the landscape. I began to marvel at it.

353
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: I worry about the world's mortality. When it was gone,

354
00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: I was left with a sense of calm. The silence

355
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: returned to the area, but with it came a dense

356
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,919
Speaker 1: fog I've never seen a fog like it. It was

357
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: thick and humid, like a wire wool. It was scratchy

358
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,679
Speaker 1: in my throat and rough on my eyes. I started

359
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 1: to ride back to the hotel, but I couldn't see

360
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 1: where the hell I was going to a certain age,

361
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: I had no idea what was in front of me

362
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Speaker 1: or behind. Tried to get my bearings as I rode.

363
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: I sucked the air into my lungs, but it wasn't

364
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 1: like normal air. It was weighted, like my body couldn't

365
00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 1: use it. I kept coughing, coughing, coughing, like there was

366
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 1: a rattlesnake in my throat thrashing around. You have to

367
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 1: consider mortality, man. I must have coughed all the way

368
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 1: back to the hotel. By the time I finally got there,

369
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,360
Speaker 1: I crashed through the lobby, still coughing, sprinting past Larry Campbell,

370
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,399
Speaker 1: my guitar player. He asked me if I was okay.

371
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,159
Speaker 1: I couldn't even answer him. I just held my hand up.

372
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: I ran to my villa in the hotel grounds, falling

373
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Speaker 1: through the front doors. I grabbed the water bottle from

374
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Speaker 1: the ice bucket and down to the whole thing. I

375
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 1: slumped down with my back against the front door, gasping.

376
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:42,360
Speaker 1: What the hell was that? I shouted out loud. Pistol

377
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:47,240
Speaker 1: plasma capsulate him, man, that's what it was. The doctor

378
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: told me. I caught it from the droplets in the fog.

379
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 1: It's common in the South. Apparently most people get it

380
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 1: and get over it with drugs, but left unchecked it

381
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 1: can you guessed it be life threatening. It can make

382
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,880
Speaker 1: you think you're having a heart attack. Thankfully, we caught

383
00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,959
Speaker 1: it just in time. Even though I've lived all these lives,

384
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: it felt like, for the first time in my life,

385
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: I've escaped death, which in itself led me to a

386
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: renewed sense of life. For once, I didn't feel like

387
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: I transfigured. I felt like I was getting a second

388
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 1: chance out of life, and I took it. My album

389
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 1: Time out of Mind came out shortly after all this

390
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,080
Speaker 1: and was the perfect start to my second chance. It

391
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: would become one of my most revered records. Critics would

392
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 1: call it a rebirth, and it would lead to a

393
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,880
Speaker 1: run of albums and tours that would define this part

394
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 1: of my career. Not like I care what they think,

395
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:51,400
Speaker 1: but I do admit that I pay attention sometimes regardless

396
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,640
Speaker 1: my entire working life changed for the better. This new

397
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,120
Speaker 1: era would challenge the very best of my work. How

398
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,400
Speaker 1: did I celebrate a new lease of life? Well, it's

399
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 1: only fair. I paid my respects to God's representative on earth,

400
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 1: So that's exactly what I did. The man sits in

401
00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: the chamber alone. The cold, imposing stones of the Vatican

402
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: wall stares back at him in silence. The bell sounds

403
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: in the distance. The man quickly rises to his feet, and,

404
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 1: despite his age, blows out the candles in the room.

405
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: He exits through a large wooden door with speedy purpose.

406
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: In years to come, Joseph Allowicious Ratzinger will be known

407
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 1: as Pope Benedict, But right now, in August, he is

408
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 1: a Cardinal, Cardinal Ratzinger. To be precise, these are two

409
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 1: names on the Cardinal's mind that day. One is Pope

410
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 1: John Paul the second then the other is Bob Dylan.

411
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: The Cardinal walks impatiently down the vast halls of the

412
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 1: Apostolic Palace before he has met by the Pope's private secretary.

413
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 1: The Holy Father is ready for you now, says the

414
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: officiant voice. The cardinal enters the large sitting room. It's

415
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: ornate furniture taking up space, and priceless works of art

416
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 1: framing the walls. Sitting there in the middle of it

417
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: all in complete silence, is Pope John Paul the Second.

418
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: After initial greetings and pleasantries, including Italy's finest espresso, the

419
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: Pope gets to the meeting's main agenda, next month's guest.

420
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 1: This the Cardinal not keen on hosting him. I beg you,

421
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: my grace, the Cardinal replies, is this the right direction?

422
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: The Pope stands up from his comfy armchair and walks

423
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: to a vast window. They call him a prophet, you know,

424
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: he responds, in all seriousness. The Cardinal looks confused. They do.

425
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 1: The Pope continues to stare out the window while speaking

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00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 1: to the Cardinal. Sometimes we have to let other people

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00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: do are talking for us in a way that we cannot.

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00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: The Cardinal disagrees. He responds with all due respect, that

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00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 1: his holiness could not be serious. It all sounds like

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00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 1: cheap vivality. Silence hangs in the air, and the Pope

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00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: continues to stare out the window. The Cardinal, hoping to

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00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: make his point of view crystal clear, decides to let

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00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 1: the silence continue, But as the silence grows louder and louder.

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00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: The cardinal can't take it. He fears the islands might

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00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,160
Speaker 1: shatter the chamber if it goes on any longer. Holy Father,

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00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 1: he begins, surely you can't expect Bob Dylan to share

437
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,080
Speaker 1: a stage the place hosts of saints and profits. Pope

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00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: John Paul turns around with his chest and heads silhouetted

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00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 1: black against the vast windows, redeeming light opens his mouth

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00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: to speak, yes, Yes, I do. Two months later, people

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00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 1: stand outside the Vatican. The crowd faces two stages, one

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00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 1: featuring Bob Dylan standing in front of a microphone, and

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00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 1: the other on which Pope John Paul. The second sits

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00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 1: surrounded by cardinals and bodyguards. Bob Dylan is about to

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00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:46,000
Speaker 1: release Time out of Mind, his best album in over

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00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 1: a decade. Early sales projection suggests it will be a

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00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 1: best seller for even longer. Some of his peers, like

448
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: Elvis Costello, say it's his best album ever. But right now,

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00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 1: a new album is the last thing on Dylan's mind.

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00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 1: He stands on the stage waiting for his queue. When

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00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: it comes, Dylan doesn't start straight away. He waits for

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00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:10,920
Speaker 1: a few seconds before starting on his own, a rendition

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00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: of knocking on Heaven's store. During the song, he gazes

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00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: out at the three thousand people in front of him,

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00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 1: all the while feeling the undeniable presence of the Pope

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00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:25,440
Speaker 1: to his side. Dylan sings the words he has sung hundreds,

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00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 1: maybe thousands of times before. He thinks about his own life,

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00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: about his relationship with the Almighty, his lessons from God.

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00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 1: He wonders what that different form of him, the preacher

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00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: man he once was, would think of him now, just

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00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 1: feet away from God's representative on earth. He thinks about

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00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 1: the hotel room in Tucson, the one where he felt

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00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: the presence of something holier than holy, the cross he

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00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,760
Speaker 1: wore on that stage, that fever. He hardly remembers that

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00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 1: preacher man. Now, with his recent hospital visit, a new

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00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 1: album ready to go, he can feel a new day dawning,

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00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,320
Speaker 1: a new horizon uning in the new morning. And then

468
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 1: the gig is over all three songs. It goes by

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00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 1: even faster than he expected. As he had been instructed

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00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,959
Speaker 1: to do. Dylan walks to the other stage, jumping up

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00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 1: the little steps to where his holiness sat. As he does,

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00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 1: he slips just to split second on a step, terror

473
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,120
Speaker 1: takes hold of his body. He's about to fall in

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00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 1: front of three thousand people, in front of the Pope,

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00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 1: in front of the Lord himself, but he manages to

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00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 1: think quickly and act quickly, regains his footing and finds

477
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 1: his way to the top. The crowd roars. Dylan greets

478
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: the Pope by removing his big stetson. Thank you, he

479
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: says to his Holiness. The Pope replies for his own thanks.

480
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 1: The Pope blesses Dylan, and with it his new lease

481
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 1: on life begins. The next day, the Cardinal reads he

482
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 1: excited reaction to Dylan's performance in the newspaper, just a

483
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 1: few lines, and then he tosses it onto the breakfast table.

484
00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 1: Something else catches his eyes. He does a copy of

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00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 1: Newsweek magazine on the cover as a man in a

486
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,440
Speaker 1: stetson hat, and the Cardinal reads the large writing at

487
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,879
Speaker 1: the top of the picture Dylan's first Newsweek front cover

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00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: for twenty three years, and then he reads the headline

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00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:17,480
Speaker 1: at the bottom, Dylan lives, and the Cardinal cox his

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00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,959
Speaker 1: head to the side. The man in the photo looks

491
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 1: different than the man he saw performed just the night before,

492
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: not older, or younger in age, just different. The man

493
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: on the magazine cover looks renewed, decluttered, like he has

494
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: experienced something painful and emerged out the other side, like

495
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: he's left something behind. But Cardinal can't quite find the

496
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 1: right phrase for it at first, and then it comes

497
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:45,840
Speaker 1: to him the man had gone through a transformation. He

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00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 1: may not even be the same man who performed alongside

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00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: the Pope. Suddenly it becomes clear to the Cardinal, but

500
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 1: the man on the cover of Newsweek has relinquished something

501
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: that had been doing him harm, and in doing so

502
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:17,239
Speaker 1: left in his wake. Blood on the Tracks. Blood on

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00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 1: the Tracks produced by Double Elvis in partnership with I

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00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,600
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. It's hosted an executive produced by me Jake Brennan,

505
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:28,719
Speaker 1: also executive produced by Brady Sadly. Zeth Lundie is lead

506
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 1: editor and producer. This episode was written by Ben Burrow,

507
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 1: Story and copy editing by Pat Healey, Mixing and sound

508
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 1: designed by Colin Fleming. Additional music and score elements by

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00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:43,920
Speaker 1: Ryan Spreaker. This episode featured Chris Anzeloni is Bob Dylan.

510
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,399
Speaker 1: Sources for this episode are available at Double Elvis dot

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00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,320
Speaker 1: com on the Blood on the Tracks series page. Follow

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00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,600
Speaker 1: Double Elvis on Instagram at double Elvis and on Twitch

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00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,120
Speaker 1: at s grace and Talks. And you can talk to

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00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,759
Speaker 1: me per Usual on Instagram and Twitter at disgrace Land, Pond,

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00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:16,800
Speaker 1: rock Away type rages, r dand