The second episode of “The Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan” has now aired. Dylan’s own mom passed away in the year 2000, if I’m not mistaken. The musical selections this time around were very blues-centered, though by no means lugubrious. Dylan was, if anything, more chatty than in his first show. It will repay repeated listenings, to enjoy his patter and subversive use of words, not to mention the music. He did begin the show with this monologue:

Gonna pay tribute to that bountiful breast we all spring from: mother dearest. “M” is for the Many things she gave me. “O” is for the Other things she gave me. “T” is for the Things she gave me. “H” is just for Her things, which she gave me. “E” is for Everything she gave me. “R” is for the Rest of the things she gave me.

Let’s talk about mothers. A mother is the only person on earth who can divide her love among ten children, and each child still have all her love. Let’s celebrate mothers on Theme Time Radio Hour.

Later Bob shared some of the kinds of corny jokes he’s inserted occasionally into his concerts. On playing a Buck Owens number (”I’ll Go to Church with Mama”) he recalled enjoying the jokes from Owen’s old show Hee-Haw, such as, “My mother-in-law’s very neat. Puts newspaper under the cuckoo clock.” Towards the end of the show he threw in a couple more of what he described as “slow-burners,” like: “What do you do if you miss your mother-in-law? (pause) Reload.”

Political correctness is clearly not stomping its jackboot over “The Theme Time Radio Hour.” Neither is it reining in the choice of songs, including “Mother Fuyer,” by Dirty Red, and “Mama Get the Hammer,” by Bobby Peterson. Some lyrics from that driving tune:

Mama get your hammer, a fly’s on the baby’s head
If you don’t hurry up the baby will soon be dead
Mama get your hammer, a fly’s on the baby’s head
If you don’t hurry up I’m gonna fill you full of lead.

Dylan’s comment on Bobby Peterson: “Keenly alive, always brisk.”

Bob dished ample praise upon Randy Newman (”Mama Told Me Not to Come”), highlighting his refusal to “concur, conform or submit to popular trends,” and noting that he’s “even won some Academy Awards.”

He also praised Merle Haggard (”Mama Tried”), to the extent of naming him “one of the most influential songwriters since Hank Williams.” He mentioned the past Merle rose above, after spending much of his childhood in juvenile detention centers, and he referred (without any smarminess) to how Governor Ronald Reagan of California awarded Merle a full pardon in 1972.

This show marked a couple of firsts. First real guest-spot: Penn Jillette. Bob said he “caught up” with him recently and talked to him about “mama’s boys.” Cue a little interlude and anecdote from Penn (no Teller). First e-mail: Bob read an email from a John in Cranston, Rhode Island, colorfully describing his own mother-in-law and ending by asking Bob to play a song for her. “Your wish is our command,” Dylan said.

Bob also informed us that there are 82.5 million mothers in the United States of America. He ended the show, of-course, by admonishing us all to “go call your mothers!”

The full playlist (from XM) was:

Mama Don’t Allow - Julia Lee
Daddy Loves Mommy-O - Tommy Duncan
Mama Didn’t Lie - Jan Bradley
I’ll Go to Church with Mama - Buck Owens
Mama Told Me Not to Come - Randy Newman
Mama Get the Hammer - Bobby Peterson Quintet
Mama Talk to Your Daughter - JB Lanoir
A Mother’s Love - Earl King
Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean - Ruth Brown
Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way - Carl Smith
Mother Earth - Memphis Slim
Mother in Law - Ernie K Doe
Mother in Law Blues - Junior Parker
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard
Gonna Tell Your Mother - Jimmy McCracklin
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby Standing in the Shadows - Rolling Stones
Mother Fuyer - Dirty Red
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J

Next week’s theme: DRINK

Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan, on XM Radio.

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