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Ain't Talkin'
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Ain't Talkin'
| cover =
| alt =
| type = song
| artist = Bob Dylan
| album = Modern Times
| released =
| format =
| recorded = February 2006
| studio =Clinton Recording, New York City
| venue =
| genre = Folk rock, Americana
| length = 8:48
| label =
| writer = Bob Dylan
| producer = Bob Dylan (as Jack Frost)
| misc =
}}
"'Ain't Talkin'" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, appearing as the tenth and final track on his 2006 album 'Modern Times'. As with most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
Composition and recording
"Ain't Talkin' is a minor-key folk song that stands, at 8:48, as the longest track on 'Modern Times'. In their book 'Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon compare "Ain't Talkin'" to "Highlands", the closing song on Dylan's 1997 album 'Time Out of Mind', in that both feature a "lone pilgrim" narrator, although they argue that "Ain't Talkin'" is the bleaker of the two tracks since its narrator hasn't yet found his "final destination". They describe the music as a "fresco with multiple sonic colors (viola, arpeggiated style on acoustic guitar, upright bass)" and note that although Dylan sings in "a searching, even resigned tone", the shift to a major key at the end of the song suggests "optimism". The song is performed in the key of G-sharp minor.
Themes
An essay on Christianity and 'Modern Times' by Andrew McCarron, published in the book 'The World of Bob Dylan' in 2021, discuses "Ain't Talkin'" as exemplifying the difficulty of living a morally upright life: "Proverbs 21 states 'Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor'. Likewise the songs on 'Modern Times' equate righteous living with redemptive hope, no matter how faint the promise may be...But a life of good works is challenging, especially in an eye for an eye world in which survival necessitates moral compromise, not to mention that evil dwells in every heart. These impediments, one situational and the other conditional, are named in the second stanza of 'Ain't Talkin
In the same book, however, another essay by Elliot R. Wolfson analyzes "Ain't Talkin'", and the same stanza, in particular, through the lens of Judaism: "In 'Ain't Talkin
Critical reception
In a 2006 review of 'Modern Times', 'The Guardian' critic Kitty Greene wrote, "The superlative final sally, 'Ain't Talkin
Allmusic's Thom Jurek wrote about the song, "The great irony is in the final track, 'Ain't Talkin',' where a lonesome fiddle, piano, and hand percussion spill out a gypsy ballad that states a yearning, that amounts to an unsatisfied spiritual hunger. The pilgrim wanders, walks, and aspires to do good unto others, though he falters oftenhe sometimes even wants to commit homicide. It's all part of the 'trawl' of living in the world today".
Music journalist Andy Greene, writing in 'Rolling Stone', where "Ain't Talkin'" placed third on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century", commented: "Its a song about a journey through a desolate, violent landscape straight out of Cormac McCarthys 'The Road', and nearly every line drips with doom and dread. This is Dylan at his bone-chilling best".
'Spectrum Culture' included the song on a list of Dylan's "20 Best Songs of the '00s". In an article accompanying the list, critic Jacob Nierenberg called the song one of Dylan's darkest, noting "the end times are hardly new ground for Dylan to cover, but rarely has the man portrayed himself as such a ruinous and malevolent force, akin to DMX or Anton Chigurh: A criminal prosecutor might be driven to press charges after hearing Dylan mutter 'If I catch my opponents ever sleepin / Ill just slaughter em where they lie'
A 2021 'Consequence' article ranking Dylan's top 15 albums placed 'Modern Times' 10th, citing "Ain't Talkin'" as the highlight and praising Dylan's use of appropriation in it, calling it "one of Dylans greatest strengths in the twilight years of his career, using these elements as building blocks for something completely new, in the same way that producers in the golden age of hip-hop constructed beats from familiar samples. Aint Talkin, 'Modern Times' bone-chilling closer, swipes lines from the traditional 'The Wayfaring Stranger' and The Stanley Brothers 'Highway of Regret', then flips the songs sentiments on their head: Its not deliverance that Dylans yearning for, but vengeance, vowing to slit his enemies throats in their beds. Hes sung about the worlds end before, but on 'Aint Talkin', Dylan himself sounds apocalyptic, like hes the last thing his wrongdoers will see before they die".
'The Big Issue' placed it at #45 on a 2021 list of the "80 best Bob Dylan songs - that aren't the greatest hits". A 2021 'Guardian' article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know".
Cultural references
The song derives some of its chorus from the "Highway of Regret" by Don Anthony and Ralph Stanley. The line "through this weary world of woe" is a nod to the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger".
Numerous phrases in the song have been traced to the ancient Roman poet Ovid. Richard F. Thomas, the George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics at Harvard University, noted in an interview that the song's final line In the last outback, at the worlds end is a "direct quote from Peter Greens Penguin translation of Ovids exile poetry [Ex Ponto 2.7.66]. In case you think this is accidental, the same song has three or four other Ovidian lines or significant phases, including: 'Every nook and cranny/corner has its tears' 'loyal and much loved companions' 'make the most of one last extra hour', all on one song from 'Tristia' 1.3 [24, 65, 68], Ovids night of exile poem".
The line "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" refers to the song of that name: a minstrel song credited to James A. Bland, which has become a folk song.
Live performances
Dylan played the song 118 times on the Never Ending Tour between its live debut in 2006 and its last performance in 2013. The live debut occurred at New York City Center on November 20, 2006 and the last performance (to date) took place at Atlantico in Rome, Italy on November 7, 2013.
Other versions
An earlier take of the song from the 'Modern Times' recording sessions, without the long instrumental intro or outro and featuring somewhat different lyrics (with no references to the work of Ovid), appeared on the 2008 Dylan compilation 'The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 19892006'.
Notable covers
Julie Felix covered it on her 2008 album 'Highway of Diamonds'.
Bettye LaVette covered it on her 2018 album 'Things Have Changed'.
References
Buy Ain't Talkin' now from Amazon
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