Bob Dylan 1990 Hamburg
Born in Time is the second song to appear here off Dylan’s widely scorned 1990 album Under The Red Sky. If you would like more information about this album you can visit my 2 x 2 song post. Born in Time is by far and away my favourite song from the record. Rarely a week goes by I don’t hear this song. I mentioned in the comments of another Dylan post how I feel like I have been dropped into another time and place where the images are so thick I almost have to brush them away from my face. Born in Time is one such song where I feel like I’ve been dipped in magic waters.
In the lonely night
In the blinking stardust of a pale blue light
You’re comin’ through to me in black and white
When we were made of dreams.You’re blowing down the shaky street,
You’re hearing my heart beat
In the record breaking heat
Where we were born in time….
Born in Time is a reworking of the original material recorded at the previous year’s Oh Mercy sessions. Two versions of this outtake can be heard on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs. Clinton Heylin points out there are at least 6 versions around and they were mostly rewritten. Other outtakes from the Oh Mercy sessions, included the sublime Series of Dreams and Dignity, which were eventually left out since Dylan was satisfied with the recorded results. The producer of Oh Mercy – Daniel Lanois told Chicago Tribune that Series of Dreams was his pick for the opening track, but ultimately, the final decision was Dylan’s.
Eric Clapton covered Born in Time and released it as a single in 1998. Since the original release is unavailable online I have added below a Bob And Eric duet (Edited: the original studio version is below). And note Dylan’s guitar playing holds up pretty damn well compared to Eric’s. It’s of course nice to see such an event as a Dylan aficionado, but this will be another one of many occasions where I wished the original was available especially for those unaccustomed to Dylan.
Additional Reference:
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
En “Born in time” Dylan está cantando la letra de Under the Red Sky y Clapton está cantando la letra de Oh Mercy (outtake), ¡y sin embargo lo logran muy bien! No había escuchado estas canciones. Toda una nota para pasarla bien en mi tarde calurosa (34). Saludos.
Me da pena que la cancion original no esta disponible por que suena muy chevere. Tiene 34 centrigrados alla? Vaya. Cual parte de Chile vives? Te gusta el calor?
Cuando viví en Caracas, todo el año era calor (entre 20 y 28) Claro no tanto como el verano en Chile que solo son tres meses con estas temperaturas. Yo vivo en Santiago, la Capital. En Venezuela viví también 3 años en la Isla de Margarita. Allí si todo el año no bajaba el calor de 25 a 32. Pero también la pasaba en la playa porque vivía al frente del mar. Yo nací en Perú en una ciudad pesquera. Todo me es familiar con el calor.
Aquí en santiago en invierno se llega a -4 alguna veces. Eso lo sentí de octubre a diciembre. Saludos.
Ah ok. Entonces ya estas acomstumbrado con el calor. Que bien. Me gusta la tierra caliente si quedaria una playa o piscina bien cerquita jaja. Me imagino que ya sabes que Bogota es comparativamente fresco. Pero hoy en dia esta haciendo mucho sol. Es muy rico.
Que interesante seria tener esas experiencias vivir en la Isla de Margarita y esa ciudad Pesquera Peruana. En Australia donde yo naci hay 4 estaciones y las temperaturas varian muchisimas. Uyy menos 4 en Santiago en Invierno. Que frio! Cheers Manuel
Los tres años en Margarita fue lo máximo. Casi todos los días en la playa. Pero el desastre económico de Venezuela lo echó a perder todo.
En Santiago el frío es de temer. Al final uno se acostumbra y ya.
Yo conocí Bogotá en el 76. Fue unos de mis viajes en auto-stop. y de luna de miel.
I love Dylan’s guitar playing in that. That is really cool…I could see Eric eyeing his technique quite a bit.
You don’t see Dylan play like that a whole lot. Great pick today Matt.
They had a really close connection in the first two verses of that song. You could see it between their eyes. Eric seemed kinda starstruck and Dylan was just kind of grooving and then of course Eric released the song as a single. I love Eric’s ‘Not Dark Yet’ rendition. Eric is one of the few artists who can make that song sound nearly as good as the original.
Eric has a way of covering other people’s songs I like. He always does a good job.
Yes you can tell Eric is happy playing with Dylan.
They have many great duet duets together from this concert. Thankfully someone filmed it
CB did not scorn this record. I like it a lot. Good choice.
I think it’s still a lower tier record of his, but their is a lot to enjoy from it. I think it was one of the first cassettes I bought of his when I was getting into Dylan as an early teen.
Something about this album grabbed me. The simplicity in some of the lyrics hit home. Every-time I hear Handy Dandy it puts a smile on my face.