A small-budget Irish film gets to utilize a whole lot of Bob Dylan’s music, in another example of how relaxed and generous is Bob regarding people coming at his work from different angles.

The film is called “Kisses” and the story is here.

“Actually, we struck a really good deal with the Dylan songs, a deal I’m not at liberty to discuss. We actually shot the film, and then sent it off, with the Dylan songs included — because our lead is called Dylan, and he’s given an education in the man’s music throughout his adventure — and just crossed our fingers. We ended up sending a whole bunch of copies to Dylan’s manager.”

Finally, Dylan’s manager got to look at the movie, and he liked it. From there, his Bobness gave his approval too.

“I think that I always believed, once he saw how the music was being used, and how it was an integral part of the story, he’d pretty much have to say yes.”

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The closing track of Bob Dylan’s solo acoustic World Gone Wrong album from 1993 is Lone Pilgrim — a song that is sometimes credited to that brilliant songsmith “Traditional” and sometimes (as on that album) to B.F. White and Adger M. Pace. Looking it up on YouTube recently, I was intrigued to see that someone had used Bob’s version as backing music for a slide-show tribute to the late comedian George Carlin. See below.

Now, I’ve laughed at George Carlin a few times but I couldn’t call myself a devotee and I know little enough about him. But the tribute with this song works so poignantly and well that I feel like going out and acquiring his entire available body of work. The truth is, I guess, that it might work as effectively as a tribute to just about any poor soul. (I think maybe I’ll put together my own slide-show in advance.)

Bob writes about the song thusly in the liner notes to World Gone Wrong:

LONE PILGRIM is from an old Doc Watson record. what attracts me to the song is how the lunacy of trying to fool the self is set aside at some given point. salvation & the needs of mankind are prominent & hegemony takes a breathing spell. “my soul flew to mansions on high” what’s essentially true is virtual reality.

Indeed.

You can also hear a traditional shape note performance of Lone Pilgrim on YouTube at this link.

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Thanks much to David Urban for his interesting observations on Bob’s set list this past Sunday:

Performed both “I Believe in You” AND “Every Grain of Sand.” When’s the last time he did songs from two different “Gospel phase” albums in one concert? (But as you also recognize, he doesn’t have to do any of those songs to be singing about/for/to the Lord, especially the material from what is, in all seriousness, one of my favorite “inspirational” [to use a corny adjective] albums, MODERN TIMES.) And for what it’s worth, it was another concert in which he did songs from each of his five decades. (His third total this year.)

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