Wait for the cheers to die down. It takes a good few seconds but it eventually gives way. Bob Dylan returns to the stage as a hero. Time Out of Mind did much to revive his image and he would go on to win an Academy Award just two years later. This is a latter-day, golden year period for Dylan. A spritely stage presence which feels thoroughly different from what was to come. He gives in to audience requests and performs Restless Farewell after seemingly setting up for another song. By his admission in those opening seconds of this wonderful bootleg recording, there is a sense of giving in to crowd desires. Lifting it from The Times They Are A-Changin’ and performing it to this Los Angeles crowd is no small order. He reconnects with one of his classics and brings it to a new height.
“I’ll try my best to play it,” Dylan says as he admits it has been some time since he has played the song. What follows is a near-perfect run-through of an impactful, quality song which still holds relevance today. Twenty-six years after this performance the demand for Restless Farewell remains. Those screams and intermittent claps that overwhelm the performance add to this moment’s rarity. We may praise those dedicated bootleggers for their chances taken in recording these moments. Still, those in the crowd, recording it for themselves and later releasing it, offer a wildly different experience. Once the noise dies down we are left with a tremendous performance. One which hears Dylan kick back into the glory days.
This is a lightning-in-a-bottle performance. Dylan is spurred on by the joys of success once more. Time Out of Mind brought him back into the spotlight and he enjoys, for one moment, the spontaneity of his old, classic material. Where he may rightfully snub this nostalgia drive in the face of contemporary materials on the Rough and Rowdy Ways gigs of recent memory, it is always satisfying to hear a great artist return to the roots of his success. The Times They Are A-Changin’ is a monumental force and Restless Farewell remains one of his finest offerings. Hearing it here, in 1998 from a recording uploaded to YouTube with little fanfare, remains one of the great joys of listening to Dylan with the benefit of hindsight. The final track of Dylan’s third studio album is given the shock performance it deserves.
Such is the joy of hearing Dylan live. With news of a Rough and Rowdy Ways continuation on the way we once again return to hope. Hope that Dylan will provide crowds with covers or deep cuts from out of the blue, never to perform them again and without the announcement. Tracks like Restless Farewell maintain a sincere, elusive quality which Dylan has toyed with ever since he tackled so many of the American Songbook greats. He has perfected this shock variety of performance and while this Restless Farewell cover predates his work on the backlog of classics, it shows the risk-taker within Dylan. There is a sense of audiences always wanting the hits but by reserving them for sudden moments of unexpected variety, they are given an additional charm which makes them too big to fail.
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One of his best. Because I didn’t start listening to Dylan until his electric days I didn’t hear it until many years later. So for me it was a hidden gem. I’ve read that it was Sinatra’s favorite.
Bob, just smile.