Tears of Rage
Encyclopedia
"Tears of Rage" is a song written by Bob Dylan
and Richard Manuel
, the former writing the lyrics and the melody being provided by the latter.
's upstate New York residence, "Big Pink", in 1967, with Dylan on lead vocal and The Band backing him. This recording and those from the rest of the sessions would not be officially released for another eight years, on the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes
, although they were widely bootlegged
in the late 1960s and early '70s. It is considered one of the most widely acclaimed from The Basement Tapes.
The first official release of the song was as the first track on The Band's debut, 1968 album Music from Big Pink
, without Dylan and featuring Manuel on lead vocal.
's soliloquy on the blasted heath in Shakespeare's tragedy: "Wracked with bitterness and regret, its narrator reflects upon promises broken and truths ignored, on how greed has poisoned the well of best intentions, and how even daughters can deny their father's wishes." He suggests that Dylan is linking the anguish of Lear’s soliloquy to the divisions in American society apparent in 1967, as the Vietnam War
escalated: "In its narrowest and most contemporaneous interpretation, the song could be the first to register the pain of betrayal felt by many of America’s Vietnam war veterans
. … In a wider interpretation [it] harks back to what anti-war protesters and critics of American materialism in general felt was a more fundamental betrayal of the American Declaration of Independence
and the Bill of Rights
."
A strong Biblical theme runs through the song, according to Sid Griffin, who also notes that "life is brief" is a recurrent message in the Old Testament
books Psalms
and Isaiah
. As a father, Dylan realizes now that "no broken heart hurts more than the broken heart of a distraught parent." Griffin calls the four minutes of this song "as representative of community, ageless truths and the unbreakable bonds of family as anything in the Band's canon—or anyone else's canon."
Greil Marcus
suggests that the "famous beginning"—"We carried you/In our arms/On Independence Day"—evokes
a naming ceremony not just for a child but also for a whole nation. He writes that "in Dylan's singing—an ache from deep in the chest, a voice thick with care in the first recording of the song—the song is from the start a sermon and an elegy, a Kaddish
."
, Gene Clark
, Jerry Garcia
, Ian & Sylvia, Jimi Hendrix
, Albert Lee
, Marty Ehrlich
, Karate
, Barbara Dickson
, Bob Margolin
, Totta Näslund
and Chantal Kreviazuk
.
A 1970 performance of "Tears of Rage" by Great Speckled Bird
can be seen in the special features of the DVD
release of the film Festival Express
. Manuel also performs in the film, with The Band, though not this song.
& The Band
's The Basement Tapes
1968 recording for The Band's Music from Big Pink
1968 recording for Ian & Sylvia's Full Circle
1970 performance by Great Speckled Bird
depicted in Festival Express
DVD extra features
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Richard Manuel
Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
, the former writing the lyrics and the melody being provided by the latter.
Initial recordings
The song was first recorded in rehearsal sessions at The BandThe Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
's upstate New York residence, "Big Pink", in 1967, with Dylan on lead vocal and The Band backing him. This recording and those from the rest of the sessions would not be officially released for another eight years, on the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
, although they were widely bootlegged
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
in the late 1960s and early '70s. It is considered one of the most widely acclaimed from The Basement Tapes.
The first official release of the song was as the first track on The Band's debut, 1968 album Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink is the 1968 debut album by rock band The Band. It features the well-known song, "The Weight". The music was composed partly in 'Big Pink', a house shared by Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, in upstate New York...
, without Dylan and featuring Manuel on lead vocal.
Commentary
Andy Gill likens the song to King LearKing Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
's soliloquy on the blasted heath in Shakespeare's tragedy: "Wracked with bitterness and regret, its narrator reflects upon promises broken and truths ignored, on how greed has poisoned the well of best intentions, and how even daughters can deny their father's wishes." He suggests that Dylan is linking the anguish of Lear’s soliloquy to the divisions in American society apparent in 1967, as the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
escalated: "In its narrowest and most contemporaneous interpretation, the song could be the first to register the pain of betrayal felt by many of America’s Vietnam war veterans
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
. … In a wider interpretation [it] harks back to what anti-war protesters and critics of American materialism in general felt was a more fundamental betrayal of the American Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
and the Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
."
A strong Biblical theme runs through the song, according to Sid Griffin, who also notes that "life is brief" is a recurrent message in the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
books Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
and Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
. As a father, Dylan realizes now that "no broken heart hurts more than the broken heart of a distraught parent." Griffin calls the four minutes of this song "as representative of community, ageless truths and the unbreakable bonds of family as anything in the Band's canon—or anyone else's canon."
Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...
suggests that the "famous beginning"—"We carried you/In our arms/On Independence Day"—evokes
a naming ceremony not just for a child but also for a whole nation. He writes that "in Dylan's singing—an ache from deep in the chest, a voice thick with care in the first recording of the song—the song is from the start a sermon and an elegy, a Kaddish
Kaddish
Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...
."
Other recorded versions
The song has been recorded by a number of other artists, including Joan BaezJoan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Ian & Sylvia, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Albert Lee
Albert Lee
Albert William Lee, born 21 December 1943 in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked both in the studio and on tour with some of the most famous musicians which stretch through a very wide of genres...
, Marty Ehrlich
Marty Ehrlich
Marty Ehrlich is a multi-instrumentalist and is considered one of the leading figures in experimental or avant-garde jazz....
, Karate
Karate (band)
Karate was an American band, formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1993 by Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt and Gavin McCarthy. In 1995, Jeff Goddard joined the band as bass player, and Vitt moved to second guitar...
, Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
, Bob Margolin
Bob Margolin
Bob Margolin is an American electric blues guitarist. His nickname is "Steady Rollin'".-Biography:Bob Margolin was born and raised in Brookline...
, Totta Näslund
Totta Näslund
Erik Torsten "Totta" Näslund was a Swedish rock and blues musician, with leftist political views.- Biography :...
and Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Jennifer Kreviazuk is a Canadian singer-songwriter of the adult contemporary music genre. She is also a classically trained pianist, and can play the guitar.-Albums:...
.
A 1970 performance of "Tears of Rage" by Great Speckled Bird
Great Speckled Bird (band)
Great Speckled Bird was a country rock group formed in 1969 by the Canadian musical duo Ian & Sylvia. Ian Tyson sang, played guitar and composed. Sylvia Tyson sang, composed and occasionally played piano...
can be seen in the special features of the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release of the film Festival Express
Festival Express
Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the eponymous 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends...
. Manuel also performs in the film, with The Band, though not this song.
Personnel
1967 recording for Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
& The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
's The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
- Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
– Vocal, guitar - Rick DankoRick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
– Bass, backing vocal - Garth HudsonGarth HudsonEric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
– Organ - Richard ManuelRichard ManuelRichard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
– Piano, backing vocal - Robbie RobertsonRobbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
– Electric guitar
1968 recording for The Band's Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink is the 1968 debut album by rock band The Band. It features the well-known song, "The Weight". The music was composed partly in 'Big Pink', a house shared by Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, in upstate New York...
- Richard Manuel - Lead vocal, piano
- Rick Danko - Bass guitar, backing vocal
- Levon HelmLevon HelmMark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
- Drums - Garth Hudson - Lowrey organLowrey organThe Lowrey organ is an electronic organ named after Chicago industrialist Frederick Lowrey.During the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world. In 1989, the Lowrey Organ Company produced its 1,000,000th organ....
, soprano saxophone - Robbie Robertson - Electric guitar through "black box"
- John SimonJohn Simon (record producer)John Simon is an American musician, record producer, and composer. He is best known for his work with The Band as producer and musician on Music from Big Pink and The Band.-Biography:...
- Tambourine, baritone horn
1968 recording for Ian & Sylvia's Full Circle
- Ian TysonIan TysonIan Tyson CM, AOE is a Canadian singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Four Strong Winds". He was also one half of the duo Ian & Sylvia.-Career:Tyson was born to British immigrants in Victoria in 1933, and grew up in Duncan B.C...
- Vocal, guitar - Sylvia TysonSylvia TysonSylvia Tyson, CM , is a musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson....
- Vocal - David Rae - Guitar
- Norbert PutnamNorbert PutnamNorbert Putnam is an American record producer and musician. He grew up near Florence, Alabama and was part of the Muscle Shoals musicians brought to Nashville to play for Elvis Presley in 1965. Putnam worked there as a bassist on recording sessions with Presley, Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry...
- Bass - Kenny ButtreyKenny ButtreyAaron Kenneth Buttrey was an American drummer and arranger. According to CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history"....
- Drums
1970 performance by Great Speckled Bird
Great Speckled Bird (band)
Great Speckled Bird was a country rock group formed in 1969 by the Canadian musical duo Ian & Sylvia. Ian Tyson sang, played guitar and composed. Sylvia Tyson sang, composed and occasionally played piano...
depicted in Festival Express
Festival Express
Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the eponymous 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends...
DVD extra features
- Ian Tyson - Vocal, guitar
- Sylvia Tyson - Vocal
- Buddy CageBuddy CageBuddy Cage is an American pedal steel guitarist, best known as a longtime member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage....
- Steel guitar - Jim Colegrove - Bass
- Amos GarrettAmos GarrettAmos Garrett is a Juno Award-winning American-Canadian musician, performer, and author. He holds dual citizenship and was raised in Toronto and Montreal...
- Guitar - N.D. Smart - Drums
External links
- "Tears of Rage" at bobdylan.com
- Peter Viney on "Tears of Rage" at theband.hiof.no