Bob Dylan At Budokan - Booklet Notes
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Revised 06 January, 2024.
This live album, recorded at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, on 28 Feb 1978 and 1 Mar 1978, was intended to be a Japan-only release but so many copies were being imported by Dylan fans elsewhere that it was given a worldwide release.
The sleeve and booklet photographs are by Joel Bernstein and Hirosuke Katsuyama. The liner notes in Japanese are in two parts: Part 1 is a 1978 Japanese tour 1978 review by critic Eiji Ogura and Part 2 is the story of the process of making the album by Heckel Sugano who worked for CBS/Sony Japan at the time. This includes: meeting Don Devito, the recorded shows were 28 Feb plus 1 and 2 Mar, the total tapes were as long as 5 hours, and mixing the tapes in Apr 1978 by engineer Tomoo "Tom" Suzuki, selecting photos with Teruhisa Tajima for the outer and inner gatefold sleeve. (Tom & Teru also did Miles Davis' live in Japan album Agharta & Pangaea).
I used to occasionally meet a young Japanese woman who worked for the same company as myself. Knowing I was going to see her at a meeting, I took along the Budokan Japanese liner notes to show her. She glanced at them and returned them quickly, saying "It's just stuff about Bob Dylan by someone no-one in Japan likes any more"!
From the liner notes for the initial Japanese 2LP release (CBS/Sony 40AP 1100~01)
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Several
figures cross the stage in the darkness.
The figure in a white suit floating
in the darkness at the front of the crowd was none other than Dylan himself.
Dylan appeared on stage in no time at all,
The audience held their breath for
a moment as the concert opened so quickly, gasped for a moment, and then let
out a loud groan.
The curtain was thus drawn on Dylan's Japan tour.
20
February at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
It has already been more than
six months since Dylan first performed in Japan.
There must be many people
who still remember it vividly in their eyes and ears, as if they saw or heard it
only yesterday.
I am one of them, and it was a truly shocking concert, or
rather, a concert that was worthy of being called a big event.
I think it was
a big event.
I have already mentioned this in magazines and newspapers,
as well as in the commentary on Dylan's latest studio album STREET LEGAL which
was released prior to this album,
At the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo and the
Matsushita (Panasonic) Gymnasium in Osaka holding audiences of between 7,000 and
nearly 12,000 people,
The concerts were held almost continuously, with two
days off in between.
Eleven concerts were held in one period of time,
The
fact that these concerts attracted an audience of more than 100,000 people made
it a truly unprecedented big event.
There were some who criticised his
performances, including in musical terms.
Some people criticised his
performances, including in a musical sense, but, approximately, extraordinary
greatness through his singing, playing and music itself. The performance has
been acclaimed for its extraordinary greatness through the songs, performances
and the music itself.
And now a double live album of the memorable event is
to be released.
By the way, Dylan has released two "live" albums. One was
BEFORE THE FLOOD, based on a performance at the Forum in Los Angeles in 1974,
Dylan's first major tour across the USA in eight years with The Band, and the
other was HARD RAIN, based on a performance in Fort Collins, Colorado, in the
summer of 1976, as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975-76. This album
BOB DYLAN AT BUDOKAN is the third to follow. It was also based on a performance
in Japan, which must be of great interest to Japanese fans, who are particularly
attached to it.
Come to think of it, this album is currently only
released in Japan.
However, for the avid Dylan fans overseas, who have no
plans to release the album, its existence is already known even before its
release, and they are waiting for its release with extraordinary interest. The
album was released in the same way as every other Dylan album. And this album is
just as rich and interesting as his previous studio albums, which have changed
and made a big splash each time they have been released, as well as the two live
albums that have been released so far.
Looking back on Dylan's stage
performances in Japan, we realise that they were a series of encounters with
many things, many of which were surprises that could be described as shocks. As
mentioned at the beginning of this article, the first encounter with surprise
was when he appeared on stage at the head of the band on the first night of the
concert and suddenly began to sing the blues. The make-up face was clearly drawn
over light make-up and eye-lines. He hardly ever picked up a live guitar, but
played electric guitar continuously, sometimes with a lead guitar that could
only be described as unique. He also sang without a guitar, standing in front of
a microphone stand with his bare hands and gesturing awkwardly, sometimes
holding a hand mic.
Sometimes he even held a hand mic and moved around the
stage with a large body-poly, a gesture reminiscent of Mick Jagger. He was also
known to point to the audience and shout 'Dylan, Dylan', to throw his harmonica
into the air, and to change his programme in response to requests from the
audience.
The biggest surprise of all was Dylan's Greatest Hits on parade.
The biggest surprise of all was the selection of Dylan's Greatest Hits on
parade, with an array of nostalgic hits and masterpieces, the arrangements that
had been completely changed to leave no trace of the originals, and Dylan's
singing style. I don't care if this album is your first exposure to Dylan's
performances in Japan, many of you will be familiar with the new arrangements
and will be able to instantly guess what song has just started just by listening
to the introduction, but when you hear them for the first time, you may be left
wondering what on earth they are all about. However, when they first heard them,
they had almost no idea what the song was about, and finally realised it when
Dylan sang a phrase of the lyrics.
The majority of the lyrics, as well as the
arrangement, were not only in the original arrangement, but also in the lyrics.
Not only the arrangements, but also most of the lyrics had been changed. In some
cases, the first and second verse of the lyrics were switched, but this was
probably because Dylan misheard the order in which he sang them. Incidentally,
Dylan sometimes sang in the wrong key at the start of the song and had to be
taught the correct key by bandleader Rob Stoner each time.
Back on topic,
the composition of Dylan's stage backing band was also interesting.
The
line-up is listed in the credits, but here again, with a profile, the leader of
the band is Rob Stoner, who has been a bassist since the Rolling Thunder Revue.
As well as being the leader, he also supports Dylan and, as mentioned above,
he can also play by ear the song titles and starting keys and, on occasion,
teach Dylan the lyrics when he forgets them. He plays a simple, strong and
dynamic bass.
Ian Wallace on drums keeps the heavy, powerful beats in
perfect sync with him.
A former member of King Crimson, Ian has accompanied
Ronnie Mack on the Rolling Coconuts Revue last April 1977 as a member of the
band.
Lead guitar duties were handled by Billy Cross, who had formed Topaz
with Rob Stoner.
He is a fat version of Mick Ronson, and his guitar
technique is similar to Mick's, with a British hard style.
Rhythm guitar is
played by Steven Soles. He is a singer-songwriter with a long career, having
once formed BEAR with Eric Kaz,
and has been a member of the band since the
Rolling Thunder Revue.
David Mansfield, who also plays guitar, slide guitar,
fiddle, mandolin, dobro and many other instruments,
has been a member of the
band since the Rolling Thunder Revue and is also a member of The Alpha Band with
Steven.
He is the youngest of the members at 19 years old.
Keyboard by
Alan Pasqua. He used to play on Cecilio & Kapono albums and had a long history
of studio work.
Percussion is played by Ms. Bobbye Hall. She is a successful
female percussionist from Los Angeles and one of the most well-known in the
group.
Also playing various horns, flutes, piccolos and other wind
instruments was Steve Douglas.
They were joined by three female chorus
members, Debi Dye, Jo Ann Harris and Helena Springs. In total, there were 11
members in the group.
What was Dylan's intention and what was he trying
to convey on stage in Japan?
This album is a perfect opportunity to think
about that once again, but what was interesting to me personally,
and not
only to me but to those of us who have been listening to Dylan for a long time,
was that the majority of the material performed on stage in Japan was from
Dylan's mid-60's BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME and other so-called 'folk-rock'
period,
which was the period when Dylan was making his first recordings in
the UK.
The majority of the material played on stage in Japan was
reminiscent of Dylan's mid-60s folk-rock period,
starting with BRINGING IT
ALL BACK HOME and especially BLONDE ON BLONDE.
This was not because of the
albums' inclusion or the fact that they featured some of the best-known hits of
the time.
Rather, it was because the performances and the sound were the
same as those heard on albums such as 'Like A Rolling Stone' and BLONDE ON
BLONDE,
with heavy, trailing, dynamic rhythms that intermingled, hummed and
churned out a thick wall of sound.
Perhaps Dylan was attempting to
recreate the sound he had created during his folk-rock period, starting with
'Blonde on Blonde'.
He was probably trying again to recreate the sound he had
created during the folk-rock era, culminating in that album. Interestingly, it
seems that his musical intentions during the folk-rock era, starting with that
album Blonde on Blonde, were to recreate the rock 'n' roll, R&B and blues that
had first captivated him. Dylan's attitude this time could be described as a
return to his roots. This would also explain why Dylan's songs had more blues,
boogie, R&B and even gospel overtones than he had ever shown before, and why he
used a female chorus in the R&B revue style.
Dylan seems to have intended
to go Blonde-On-Blonde Revisited, so to speak, from the folk-rock era, but while
tracing a variety of styles,
including roots that go back to those days, it
is noteworthy that the actual performance and sound was very much of the "now".
Even though the songs featured old hits, they did not leave room for
nostalgia to intervene, but rather seemed to reject it and reject it outright.
Furthermore, he seemed to be singing as a new song in light of the current
situation.
His songs and performances returned to what songs should be and
asked what songs mean to him.
And as I watched Dylan's concerts, I became
more and more convinced, as I have mentioned in the commentary on the previous
album,
that folk rock in the past was a way of breaking down conventional
notions of rock.
In other words, the intention was not to pursue the richness
of the sensibility that underlies the act itself, but to pursue the perfection
of the song,
the music itself, in other words, the perfection of the song.
In fact, this does not only apply to Dylan, but it is a trend that has been
noticeable in the US in recent years, for example in the American film industry,
where the symbolism of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'Star Wars'
has been evident for quite some time now.
To get back to the subject at
hand, the album contains 22 songs from the two days of concerts on 28 February
and 1 March, which took place in Osaka,
where the first concert was a great
success, followed by a one-day break before returning to Tokyo for the second
concert.
The first night of the concert was held on 20 February.
In the
11 concerts held from the first night on 20 February to the final concert on 4
March, 30 songs were sung at most and 26 songs at least, with an
intermission in between, and the programme changed daily. The main programme, so
to speak, which was sung every day, is covered here.
It is difficult to say
which is the best number, as each of them has its own unique flavour and charm.
Apart from the above, the work 'Is Your Love in Vain', which is already
included in the latest STREET LEGAL album
but was introduced for the first
time in Japan and is said to have been written in Japan, is noteworthy among the
works included.
And he changed his look day by day, like a cold-hearted
man with a cold look in his eyes, like a stubborn teacher, like a selfish king,
like a jester, like a naïve teddy boy, like a rock superstar, without ever
revealing which one he really was.
He was a man of many faces, but he never
revealed which one it was. He would come back again, he said at the end adding
"I'll be back next year."
Let me now introduce the works included after
the quantity.
The album opens with an instrumental of 'Hard Rain' performed
by the backing band, except on the first day. The album opens with 'Mr
Tambourine Man', which, with the exception of the first day, was always sung
after the backing band's instrumental of 'Hard Rain' and blues numbers such as
'Repossession Blues' and 'Love Her With A Feeling'. It was a hit by The Byrds in
1965, and his own original appeared on BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME.
Here he
sings it over a sound that conveys a light, medieval European feel. 'Shelter
From The Storm' was originally on BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
and was also featured
on 'Hard Rain' as a speedy rock 'n' roll song, but here it is sung over a
simple, straightforward sound with reggae overtones.
'Love Minus Zero/No
Limit' was also originally included in BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, one of the
best examples of folk-rock about the barrenness of the essentials. Backed by a
speedy folk-rock style sound, Dylan delivers a straightforward song.
'Ballad
of a Thin Man', also known as Mr Jones was also one of the best-known folk-rock
songs of the era, and was included on HIGHWAY 61 REVISTED.
It also
incorporates jazz elements, with Dylan's expressive respectful delivery backed
by a lazy sound in a mood of urban decadence.
David's mandolin in the intro,
Steve's sax-blow in the interlude and Bobbye Hall's percussion are really
effective.
The next song, 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right', is a
reggae-style adaptation of 'Don't Think Twice'.
The song combines Dylan's
free-form vocals with a strong backing chorus and David's Southern nuances on
rock 'n' roll guitar.
'Maggie's Farm' from HIGHWAY 61 REVISTED (sic!) was
also featured in 'Hard Rain' and was backed by an aggressive performance,
but here it is backed by a boogie-rock style sound that keeps the rhythm tight
and the song strong and incendiary.
Ian Wallace's pounding drums and
grunting Billy Cross guitar shine through.
'One More Cup Of Coffee', from
DESIRE, retains the bolero/Spanish feel of the original, but after a refrain,
it soon features Bobbye Hall's percussion and develops a more rhythmic
sound.
'Like A Rolling Stone' was one of Dylan's biggest hits and, as Dylan
himself said on stage, became his top song in 1965.
As well as the original
on HIGHWAY 61, SELF PORTRAIT included a live version on the Isle of Wight and
also on BEFORE THE FLOOD.
Here, the unique intensity and dynamism of the
original is absent, but instead the sound is more like a tight beat that
swallows the beat and pushes forward, with a sound that is more like a 'riff
on the beat' than a 'live' album.
The song is a smooth and calm song with a
tight beat and a sound that swallows the beat and pushes it forward.
'I
Shall Be Released' is a widely known song by The Band. And in contrast to The
Band's writhing singing, which seems to stand on a precipice and cling to its
limits,
the song is sung with suppleness, backed by a relaxed, springy
performance.
It is interesting to note that the prototype for the
arrangement here can be found in the same song sung by Dylan and The Band on The
Band's LAST WALTZ.
The song 'Is Your Love In Vain' is a new song introduced
for the first time in Japan, as mentioned above,
and is a love song with a
pop melody line written in simple words.
'Going Going Gone' was originally
included on the PLANET WAVES album with The Band. The chorus retains the feel of
the original,
but the song takes an innovative sonic turn, changing to an
R&B-style slow boogie halfway through.
Most of the lyrics of the song were
rethought and sung in a different order each day.
'Blowin' in the
Wind' is one of Dylan's best-known songs that no longer needs any explanation.
The song is sung at a slow tempo and features a graceful and gentle piano.
As well as the performance and sound, Dylan's mellow and sweet singing is
the main attraction.
The main focus is on Dylan's mellow and sweet singing
style, as well as the performance and sound.
The original version of 'Just
Like A Woman' appeared on BLONDE ON BLONDE, and the live version with Leon
Russell and George Harrison for Bangladesh is well known. Here, the original
atmosphere is retained, but with a more refined and finely nuanced arrangement
and sound, and the song is played with rich expression and emotion. The
harmonica at the end of the song is also very attractive.
The next song, 'Oh,
Sister', which appears almost without pause, is one of the songs from DESIRE.
The song is sung over a bolero-like rhythm,
accompanied by a phrasing organ
similar to that of `Gimme Some Lovin'’, with a mystical, magical and bizarre
voodoo-like sound.
The song 'Simple Twist of Fate', which begins with the
introductory phrase 'A simple love story', is a work that was included in BLOOD
ON THE TRACKS.
The song is a sophisticated and simple sonic development, with
a crisp, sustained beat and a hint of elegance.
Dylan's expressionless, yet
gentle and sincere singing style is appealing.
'All Along the Watchtower' was
originally released on JOHN WESLEY HARDING.
The original is included in 'John
Wesley Harding' and is also known to have been covered by Jimi Hendrix and Dave
Mason.
It features an incendiary and passionate fiddle played by David,
reminiscent of Scarlett Rivera's playing on DESIRE, and is a chaotic and
powerful rock 'n' roll.
And 'I Want You' features flutes and heavy organ.
Dylan plays electric guitar with flute and heavy organ in the background. The
song is sung in a more relaxed ballad-like style than the original, a hit from
1966.
'All I Really Want to Do' was originally featured on ANOTHER SIDE
OF BOB DYLAN and was taken up in a folk-rock style by The Byrds,
Sonny &
Cher and others, the latter of which became a hit in 1965.
Here Dylan sings
such a song, backed by a powerful performance of a march-like arrangement that
marks each step of the way.
The theme song to the film Billy the Kid, Dylan's
own version of which became a hit in 1973, is also featured on the album.
Dylan's own version was a hit in 1973, and Eric Clapton's version in 1975. And
here it is sung in reggae style, just as Eric Clapton did.
The original
version has only up to the second verse, but here a new verse has been added as
number 3.
The original version of 'It's Alright, Ma' appeared on BRINGING
IT ALL BACK HOME,
and BEFORE THE FLOOD was a hit when it was performed with
a single guitar and powerful vocals.
Here, the band's straightforward hard
rock sound was the foundation of their expressive development, and they sang
with wild and exciting enthusiasm.
The excitement of the concert reached a
peak every night with their stirring singing and playing.
In the following
song 'Forever Young', the singer sang calmly against a heavy soundtrack, but
gradually built up the excitement and eventually sang with all her might.
It
is a compelling and powerful song.
The encore number is one of Dylan's most
essential songs, The Times They Are A-Changin'.
The introductory words,
"I wrote this song also about fifteen years ago. It still means a lot to me. I
know it means a lot to you too." sum up the full meaning of this song.
Eiji Ogura, 1978
From the liner notes for the Japanese 1993 CD release (Sony Records SRCS 6336~7, 1993 - first added to CBS/Sony 48DP 1085~6, 1987)
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"Good album. When are you gonna release it?" Bob Dylan
said.
In late May 1978, in the middle of a seven-concert series at the
Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles,
I had come to Dylan with a test
cutting master of the "Budokan" show and two album cover dummies for his
final approval.
Dylan's secretary sent me a message that we should have a
meeting at noon on the last day of the show,
and I went to see Dylan,
feeling a little nervous with anticipation and anxiety.
Dylan's children
were running around and playing in the trailer house set up in the large
backstage area.
After waiting for a while at a large table set up outside,
Dylan appeared, wearing sunglasses, said as sitting down in a chair, "Good
album...".
My anxiety vanished in an instant. The rest of the conversation
went smoothly.
All aspects of sound, such as song selection, mixing, and
cutting, became OK, and the cover was also confirmed without any problems.
The other dummy, which I made in two different versions, was a close-up of
Dylan's smiling face.
One thing Dylan cared about was the studio
recording of his new album, STREET LEGAL.
The only thing Dylan had to worry
about was the release date, since his new studio-recorded album STREET LEGAL
was already finished.
This, too, was solved by delaying the release of AT
BUDOKAN.
Thus, AT BUDOKAN was released in Japan in November 1978, in advance
for the rest of the world.
Although it was originally planned to be released
only in Japan, it became a bestseller the following year when it was
released worldwide, including the United States.
Bob Dylan's Japan tour
was officially announced in mid-December 1977.
Dylan's concert, which had
long been a dream of his, was to be held eight times in Tokyo and three times in
Osaka, with an unprecedented turnout of over 100,000 people.
It was also
the beginning of the first world tour in 12 years, a historic event that was the
main focus of Dylan fans around the world.
Therefore, a live recording
project was started to preserve this memorable concert as an everlasting record.
After many days of negotiations with CBS Records [[Columbia Records USA]]
and Dylan's representatives in the U.S., we finally obtained permission to
record the concert on the night of February 19, the eve of the first day of the
concert.
After a flurry of preparations for recording equipment and crew, it
was decided to record the stages on February 28 and March 1, when Dylan
returned to Tokyo after the Osaka concert, and to have March 2 as a backup date.
All the machines were set up in a small room behind the stage on the
arena floor of the Budokan, and the raw tapes for the three days were stacked in
another room.
The recording crew had a TV-camera set up to watch the stage.
Don DeVito, a producer for CBS Records in the U.S., arrived in Japan on short
notice and began meeting with Dylan in advance.
Finally, it was February
28th. The crew gathered at the Budokan in the early afternoon, and all
preparations were complete.
The test recording of the rehearsal, which began
after 3:00 p.m., went well. Thus, after two days of almost no major problems,
the recording session was successfully completed, and the five-hour tape,
which had been snowed under, was ready to be recorded.
A month after the
concert, mix-down sessions began in April. Tom Suzuki the mixing engineer, and I
spent the entire day in the booth at CBS Sony Studios in Roppongi.
The most
difficult part of the process was the selection of songs. We wanted to make an
album that would perfectly reproduce the concert, if possible,
but the
constraints of a double-disc set made it impossible to do so.
The
standard length of a single side of a record is around 20 minutes, so the order
of the songs was also a challenge. I kept asking for impossible orders.
We
wanted to include as many songs as possible and make an album that would satisfy
both those who had experienced the concert and those who hadn't.
We wanted
to have a sharp, piercing, powerful and tight sound, with vocals that jumped to
the forefront and as little cheering as possible, just atmosphere.
I wanted
the record to be just like HARD RAIN in 1976.
And then, Tom and I listened
to the test-lacquer at the Shizuoka factory at the beginning of May, and had a
look of satisfaction on our faces.
At the same time as mixing, we started
work on the cover. We decided on a concept with designer Teruhisa Tajima and
started by selecting photographs.
We decided from the start that the front
cover would be a close-up of his face. If you look at Dylan's previous records
side by side, you will notice that many of the photos are a little close-up
of his profile. The title of the album was meant to be AT BUDOKAN.
We didn't
want to call it "Live in Japan". At the time, most live albums made in Japan
were usually titled "Live in Japan", and there was considerable opposition to
using the Budokan, which was not as famous as it is now, as the title of the
album. The title was given to the album.
Only 22 songs could eventually
be included on the record. The songs not included were nine, Love Her With A
Feeling (Blues), I Threw It All Away, Girl From The North Country, To Ramona,
Sooner Or Later, You're A Big Girl Now, Tomorrow Is A Long Time, I Don’t Believe
You, The Man In Me. [[Repossession Blues is missing here.]]
There are enough
tapes stored in the warehouse to make one more album. Maybe one day they will
see the light of day as part two. [[to be ANOTHER BUDOKAN.]]
We ran the tapes
of the two shows again, and the takes that made it onto the record were
tracks 2, 3 and 5 from 28 February on Disc I and tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and
11 on Disc II, with the rest of the takes from 1 March.
And all, of course,
are completely live takes only, with no later alterations of any kind.
Almost
ten years have already passed since the 1978 concert in Japan and the live album
'Budokan', which was one of the most notable concerts in Dylan's history, and
Dylan has visited Japan twice during this period (April 1985 and March 1986),
but Dylan's impressions of his time in Japan can still be vividly recalled.
On his first visit to Japan, Dylan stayed at the old New Otani in Tokyo.
While all the others in Osaka stayed at the Plaza, Dylan was the only one
who stayed at the Grand. The reason was that he wanted a room with an open
window.
He said he felt bad if he couldn't get direct access to fresh air.
Indeed, when I visited the Matsushita [[Panasonic]] Gymnasium in Osaka, I played
on the athletic field in the backyard, and at the Budokan I strolled around
the parking lot and signed autographs for some of the fans who had arrived
early.
When he went sightseeing in Kyoto, he seemed quite fond of nature,
walking around the pond at the favoured concubine temple and worrying the
road manager by trying to get down to the water's edge. He must have been
particularly moved by Ryoan-ji Temple.
Dylan's own liner notes on the
gatefold of AT BUDOKAN also mention this.
Dylan also showed an interest
in fashion. You can find that he has a rather unique sense of style by various
photos ever.
He even went shopping in Japan at boutiques around Aoyama and
Harajuku. Among them, he took a particular liking to a red cloak-style coat by
Issey Miyake.
It was one season before, so he dared to order it from back
catalog at the store, bringing it home with him.
Dylan also had this
side to him. On 4 March 1978, after his final show, CBS/Sony Japan held a
farewell party at Maxim's in Ginza.
Dylan was at the party and, contrary to
my expectations, he was very relaxed and enjoying himself.
In a tubular
speech, he thanked the assembled staff and added that he loved Japan very much
and wanted to return.
(As promised, he made a second visit to Japan in 1986
with the Tom Petty's band.)
He also hand-delivered a framed poster of the
Japan tour with his signature on it to each of the staff members.
The people
at the party were so moved by Dylan's gentle personality and the atmosphere at
the party was so exciting that no one wanted to leave when the time came to
end. Dylan himself was one of the last to leave.
Dylan is rumoured to
have said in the past that he would never give a concert outside of
English-speaking countries, but the concert in faraway Japan, a foreign
culture, and the emotions of the Japanese fans he touched at that time probably
triggered a series of activities.
Dylan says that even if he were to turn
80, he would continue to sing as long as his fans were still there.
He also
said when we met in 1987 that he wanted to learn Japanese and write songs in
Japanese.
Dylan said he wanted to learn Japanese and write songs in
Japanese.
Dylan may have many memories of Minnesota, New York and Malibu,
but Japan is certainly one of them.
The live album AT BUDOKAN will forever
stand as proof of Dylan's relationship with Japan.
Heckel Sugano, 1987
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
[annotated and fixed by Sonny Boy McFitzson]
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