Bobtalk

December 15, 1978
Lakeland, Florida
Civic Center Arena
Concert

You know of the carnivals they used to have in the 50’s? You know, the ones that had geeks in them? You know what a geek is? You know what a geek is? A geek’s a man who eats a live chicken. He bites the head off, eats that. Then he eats the rest of it, heart, drinks up all the blood, sweeps up all the feathers with a broom. Anyway, in this particular carnival nobody much did want to get too tight with the geek. Even the low down people did not want to get too near the geek. One day I was having breakfast with the bearded lady, she was telling me this geek was really funky. He thinks everyone else is a little strange, he's the only one that's sane. And he thinks everybody else is freaky. I said "uh-hu". Anyway, years later I was in Nashville, I think it was 1964, walking down the street with Al Kooper. Playing organ for me at the time. And we were walking down the street. We had long hair. In these days nobody in Nashville had long hair. Not Willie Nelson, not Waylon Jennings. Nobody. Anyway, we were walking down the street, buses would stop. Just because we had long hair. Anyway, somewheres along the line I put it all into this particular song. (before Ballad Of A Thin Man)

Thank you. All right. I was invited to play at the Newport Folk Festival one year. Two years in a row I went there. I played one year and that was all right. And then I was expected to come back the next year and play, which I did. I went and I played this particular song, almost this particular way and they booted me out of town. Put me on a train. Just about tarred and feathered me. Anyway, it's hard to believe a song would cause such a disturbance, but it did. [A somewhat misplaced call from the audience: “Hurricane”]. (before Maggie’s Farm)

Thank you. I was riding…riding on a train one time from Durango, Mexico to San Diego. I fell asleep on this train, I woke up about midnight and lot of people were getting off the train, the train was in the station, pulling up to the platform at a place called Monterey. So, a bunch of people were getting off the train. On to the platform, the steps, this man gets up to the train, everybody else gets off. He come down the aisle and took a seat across the aisle from me, wearing nothing but a blanket and a derby hat. So I was sitting there, I felt a very strange vibration. I was staring into the window, which was like a glass mirror. And I could not help myself any longer, I had to turn around and look right at this man. When I did I could see that his eyes were burning and there was smoke coming out of his nostrils. I immediately knew this was the man I wanted to talk to. So I turned around to the mirror for awhile to figure out something to say and when I had  it all together I turned around, and he was gone. (before Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power))

Thank you. Here’s a song I wrote. A few years back I used to sing it every night. The girls in this group are gonna sing it for you now. They called me last night, they can get rough, and they said, "Bob, you can't sing that song no more. We're gonna sing it from now on." So they're gonna sing it tonight. (before Rainy Day Women #12 & 35)

Thank you. A few years ago I was in France for the gypsy holidays, they call it, the gypsy festival. That happens to be the particular day that I was born on, in the springtime. So I figured I'd heard about that for years, I went over one time to check it out. See what they do on that particular day. On that day gypsies come from all over the world, I guess, and they go to a place in the south of France, where they party for a week. That is exactly what they do. So it's in May and…..I managed to meet the king of the gypsies while I was over there. One king, anyway. I know he was the king, he had 16 wives and 120 children. I was very impressed with that for some reason. Anyway, I stayed there for a week and did everything that they did, at least twice. And I didn't get very much sleep. (…..) time for us to go our separate ways, they said, "What would you like, Bob?" But I was, I had been up for a week and I just needed to stay up one more day to get back to the north of France. So I asked for one more cup of coffee, just for the road.  And they gave it to me in a paper bag. Black. And I headed north.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on the drums tonight, from Kingston, Jamaica, give him a warm hand, Mr. Ian Wallace. On the bass guitar, Jerry Scheff. On the keyboards, from Trinidad, Alan Pasqua. On the lead guitar, the oldest member of this group, born in 1921. Also the shyest, Billy Cross. On the violin, the mandolin, sometimes lead electric guitar, the youngest member of this group, fifteen years old, been with me now for five years. Doesn't smoke dope, drink whiskey, chase women. I keep trying to change him, but it can't be done. David Mansfield. On the rhythm guitar, a young man from Bogota, Colombia. Doesn't speak a word of English, but he does play his heart out, doesn't he? Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Steven Soles. On the tenor saxophone, a legend in his own time. And any other time. A great performer in his own right, Steve Douglas. On the backup vocals, three young ladies I can't do without anymore. I know I don't have the greatest voice in the world but they do make it sound better, I know. Anyway, on one side, my current girlfriend, Helena Springs. In the middle, my ex-girlfriend, Jo Ann Harris. And on the other side, the true love of my life, my fiancée, Carolyn Dennis. On the conga drums, from Detroit, the most amazing Miss Bobbye Hall. We'll be out of here soon, but thanks for coming. (before It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

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