Bryan Ferry - To Make You Feel My Love

(intro)

When the rain is blowing in your face,
And the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace,
To make you feel my love.

When evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years,
To make you feel my love.

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet,
But I would never do you wrong,
I’ve known it from the moment that we met,
No doubt in my mind where you belong…

I would go hungry, I’d go black and blue,
I’d go crawling down the avenue,
Oh, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do,
To make you feel my love.

(instrumental)

The storms are raging on the rolling sea,
And on the highway of regret,
The winds of change are blowing wild and free,
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet…

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true,
Oh, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do,
Go to the ends of the earth for you,
To make you feel my love.

Bryan Ferry - Stockholm, Sweden 2000

1) Falling In Love Again

(intro)

Falling in love again,
Never wanted to,
What am I to do?
Can’t help it.

Love’s always been my game,
Play it how I may,
I was made that way,
Can’t help it.

Girls cluster to me,
Like moths around the flame,
And if their wings burn,
I know I’m not to blame…

Falling in love again,
Never wanted to,
What am I to do?
Can’t help it.

(instrumental)

Girls cluster to me,
Like moths around the flame,
And if their wings burn,
I know I’m not to blame…

Falling in love again,
Never wanted to,
What am I to do?
Can’t help it.

2) A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

(intro)

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
Walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
Stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
Been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
It’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
What did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’,
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one one-hundred drummers whose hands are a-blazin’,
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,
Heard one person starve, many people laughin’,
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, hard, ha’, hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

(intro rpt)

And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
What’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
Walk through the depths of the deepest dark forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten,
Where black is the colour, and the none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
Reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand in the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a ha-ha’, ha-ha’, ha-ha’, hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a so hard, oh so hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
Walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
Stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
Been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
It’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
What did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, that roared out a warnin’,
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one one-hundred drummers whose hands are a-blazin’,
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,
Heard one person starve, many people laughin’,
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, hard, ha’, hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
Walk through the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the colour, and none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand in the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a ha’, ha’, ha-ha’, hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a ha-ha-a’, hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

In the Hush of Evening

It turned out that the Bryan Ferry gig on BBC1, last Friday evening, was primarily to promote his new album, of eleven Bob Dylan covers, to be released on March 5th, the same day ITV1 SF series “Primeval” sees the light of day on DVD. It was, nonetheless, an enjoyable show despite not knowing a third of the songs! Ferry and his band played twelve numbers, five of which were written by Bob with four of those appearing on new Ferry release “Dylanesque”. In the end, one of those four new covers turned out to be the highlight of the concert for me. It was great to see the original Ferry Dylan-cover, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, live. Actually, it was just nice to hear it again, after some considerable time, but the delicacy of “(To) Make You Feel My Love” just blew me away. The new album is worth buying for this song alone.

The gig began with second solo single “The In Crowd”. This has always been one of my favourites although I’ve always preferred the extended album version with the air-slicing Phil Manzanera electric guitar solo at the song’s climax. Second in the show was “All Along the Watchtower” with which it’s straight into Dylan territory. Next up followed “Slave to Love” to which I confess an over familiarity. When I was younger, and more naive, I assumed Ferry was looking, literally, for someone to love as opposed to the actual idea of himself being controlled by every whim and desire of the concept of love! Then came the previously mentioned highlight, “(To) Make You Feel My Love”, and the second Dylan song of the evening. As with most songs that really appeal to me, it reeked of melancholy, centring around a tear-inducing chord progression on the piano, played by Colin Good, and that typical Ferry plaintive-cry vocal.

By contrast, it was straight into the raunchiness of twelve bar blues, and that most popular of his solo singles, “Let’s Stick Together”, the first of several in the concert to feature Bryan’s harmonica. Then, back to Dylan, and the new album, with “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”, again replete with harmonica warbling. A return to the familiar with “Don’t Stop the Dance” was equally followed by a return to Dylan and “Gates of Eden”. This was the fourth and last of the new tracks. Thus, from here to the end, the audience was now on familiar territory with, firstly, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, then the delicious “I Put a Spell on You” from the album “Taxi”. Mandy Drummond played viola on “Hard Rain” while Ian Dixon played the sax solo, and long-term Ferry collaborator Chris Spedding the guitar, on Lennon-cover “Jealous Guy” as the whistled melody closed an all-too-brief but electrifying re-acquaintance with the Ferrymeister!