Very much the bleak midwinter here, with plenty of heavy frost and cold, damp, dark days. It’s a 'get your head down and get through it' sort of a month. I do try to embrace it as much as I can, going for plenty of walks.  I was heartened to hear a bit more birdsong the other day, and it won’t be long before we see the green shoots of spring.

Indoors there's plenty of read, listen to, and watch.

Books

I only got through a couple of them, but both books were 600 pages long. ‘The shards’ by Bret Easton Ellis was a work of auto fiction and great fun, though not for the faint of heart. It’s a tale of a privileged school growing up in eighties LA with a serial killer and cult operating in the background. Builds up to a terrific crescendo.

The other one was ‘Moonflower murders’ by Anthony Horowitz. I enjoyed it well enough, but it probably came too soon after ‘Magpie murders’ which I had read in December. Still, it’s a book within a book, one in the mould of classic detective fiction, the other a modern updating. Was guessing right up to the end.

Movies

I’ve watched Banshees of Inisherin twice now and I found it funnier the second time around. I’m still not 100% sure what it was about, and I don’t think it has the depth that many people are giving it. The parallels with the Irish civil war felt a bit too clumsy and obvious (violence begets violence?) Or that you can rely more on animals than humans. But I thought it was hilarious, the comedy was beckettsian (is that a word) and it looked beautiful. I’ll watch Barry Keoghan in anything and Kerry Condon is also worthy of her Oscar nomination.

But my favourite recent Irish film was ‘An cailín ciúin’ - the quiet girl. I watched this recently and I’m still reeling from it, especially the last scene which was heartbreakingly perfect. It’s about a shy young girl from the west of Ireland who goes to live with her mothers people for a summer. It’s based on the novel ‘foster’ by Claire Keegan, who wrote the spellbinding ’Small things like these,’ my book and the choice of many others as their read of 2021. This film is about grief and loneliness, but it’s also both beautiful and quietly heartbreaking. The performances are pitch perfect and unlike ‘banshees’ the film emotionally resonated with me.

Music

Only one album for me, or rather, collection of songs. Fragments, the 17th release in the bootleg series. I had the four album version delivered, which contains the remastered ‘Time out of mind’ and then two LP’s of outtakes and unreleased material.

It’s frightening to think that this was released in 1997 and is now considered mid-career Dylan. This came out just before my deep dive into all things Bob and was the album I quickly disappeared into after ‘love and theft.’

The remastered version isn’t better than the lanois produced album - it’s just different. Though I do prefer the ‘can’t wait’ version and I like the clarity of the recordings, how the instruments are much clearer in the mix. 

Funny to think it was seen as his ‘mortality’ album back then. This is the same bloke who, back on his debut album back in 1962, included covers such ’see that my grave is kept clean’ and ‘in my time of dyin’. I think mortality is something that has alway been on his mind. Whether we’re ’trying to get to heaven before they close the door’ or ‘it’s not dark yet, but its getting there’ there’s plenty for us to think about.

I was listening to the excellent ‘Is it rolling bob’ podcast when one of the hosts talked about reading Dylans recent book ‘philosophy of song’ (I’m building up to buying this, between boxset, downloads and concerts the bob budget is wayyyyyy overdrawn) and how bob writes about the only reason any of it means anything is because it ends. Because behind every beautiful thing, there’s some kind of pain.

I’ll be digesting this album and the 60 odd downloaded tracks for a while. As usual, I love seeing how the songs are built on, the process Dylan goes through with his lyrics, tightening and removing, smoothing and polishing until it’s perfect.

Til next time.

Shadows are fallin' and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep and time is runnin' away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I've still got the scars that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough to be anywhere
It's not dark yet but it's gettin' there

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writin' what was in her mind
I just don't see why I should even care
It's not dark yet but it's gettin' there

Well, I've been to London and I been to gay Paris
I've followed the river and I got to the sea
I've been down on the bottom of the world full of lies
I ain't lookin' for nothin' in anyone's eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It's not dark yet but it's gettin' there

I was born here and I'll die here against my will
I know it looks like I'm movin' but I'm standin' still
Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don't even hear the murmur of a prayer
It's not dark yet but it's gettin' there

Lyrics - Bob Dylan.