"Every Grain of Sand" immediately became one of my favorite songs by anyone from the first moment I heard it closing Dylan's 1981 album "Shot of Love." It's so sincere, so heartfelt, so nakedly honest in its assessment of failure to live up to personal standards of right and wrong, contrition over so many occasions of falling short, and the fervent desire after acknowledging one's guilt, and mourning all those past errors and losses, to cease dwelling on past and focus only on doing better going forward - always more easily said than done.
And the first harmonica break, with its breathtakingly beautiful evocation of vulnerable searching and then tentative hopefulness, to me sounds like the most perfect form of prayer, no words necessary.
It struck a deep chord because I could only too well relate then, and still. I think most people who are honest with themselves like feel at least to some degree the same.
The song's place of honor as the ubiquitous closing number throughout Dylan's current "Rough and Rowdy Ways" tour seems a sign of how important and meaningful the song is to Bob as well. It's stands in dramatic juxtaposition to the title of the tour and Dylan's last album, especially as the final comment each night.
I'd never had the opportunity to hear Dylan perform it live before this Scranton show in 1993. It took me a while to recognize the tune and could still barely believe my ears nor contain my excitement when he began singing and confirmed what I was hoping I was in fact hearing.
The opportunity to capture Dylan's performance of a deeply favorite song which I'd never heard him sing in person before was the biggest thrill of that concert for me. I couldn't wait when I got home to confirm the recording had indeed been successful. Although it starts out rocky due to people relentlessly moving back and forth in front of me and adjusting their positions at first, and the color was very much off because I'd forgotten to adjust the white balance setting on the camera for a rare daylight show - prompting my husband Jon to say the error had Bob looking like Frankenstein, the capture still came out well enough to make me happy then and now.
I hope people watching enjoy it at least half as much as I do!
Негізгі бет Dylan's perfect confessional prayer: Every Grain of Sand - recorded 9/5/93 in Scranton, PA.
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