New Series of articles from FLAGGIN' DOWN THE DOUBLE Es By RAY PADGETT : TWEEDLE DUM & TWEEDLE DEE

Now It Goes Like This: "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum"

from the latest Newsletter from Ray Padgett’s excellent Flaggin’ Down The Double Es

As always fascinating and part one here is free of a new thesis from Ray looking at Dylan changing of the guard and re-arranging of songs as he tours. Really good and (mostly) listenable quality vids included throughout!

RAY PADGETT

"If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know there’s nothing I like more than starting a new series, writing three or four entries, and then forgetting about it. RIP(?) to One Random Song, This Date in Dylan, CD-Rchive, Compilation Corner, My Back Pages, and Venue Spotlight. (Seriously though, if there’s one of those you’d particularly like another installment of let me know—they’re not dead, just hibernating. I’ve actually got another Venue Spotlight already scheduled.)

Today, I’m kicking off another series I may or may not stick with: “Now It Goes Like This.” The idea is to take one Dylan song and track its various re-arrangements over the years, with the title inspired by Bob’s intro to a famous early rearrangement: “I Don’t Believe You” on the 1966 tour when he changed it from an acoustic folk strummer to a raw electric blast. Thanks to folk on our Discord for their help brainstorming this series name (genius runner-up ideas included “Versions of Johanna,” “Go Start a New,” and “Evolution in the Arr.”)

To test the waters before we get to a song that’s worn a million different masks like “Tangled Up in Blue” or “Maggie’s Farm,” I thought I’d start with an easy one. Despite being played hundreds of times in the years after its 2001 release on Love & Theft, “Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum” has only had a few different arrangements. But some of them are quite dramatic."