"I and I" is from "Infidels", not "Slow Train Coming".  Mark Knopfler does play the guitar, but the keyboards are exercised by Alan Clark. Barry Beckett did play the keys on "Slow Train Coming", as well as co-producing the album, but he didn’t work on "Infidels".

But, Mr. Beckett did work on Paul Simon’s "There Goes Rhymin’ Simon".  Catch his exquisite work on "One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor".  And why has "Rhymin’ Simon" been forgotten?  Because it had so many hits?  Or maybe Paul has been revealed to be anything but warm and fuzzy…  Be sure to revisit this masterpiece, which unlike much ancient work is even better today than it was yesterday.  In addition to listening to "One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor", be sure to check out "St. Judy’s Comet" and "Something So Right".  The latter’s lyrics are the words of the suspicious, verging on being losers:

When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
I’m the first to admit it
And the last one to know

When something goes right
Oh, it’s likely to lose me, mm
It’s apt to confuse me
It’s such an unusual sight
Oh, I can’t, I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right

Ain’t that love.  When you finally stumble into it and can’t believe you’re truly engaged (and I don’t mean on the road to getting married!)

I’d much rather see Paul Simon perform "Rhymin’ Simon" in its entirety than reunite with Art Garfunkel for another tour performing the old warhorses, but touring isn’t about music, it’s about money.

Maybe if Paul could even employ the same players on the record, the same way Chris Blackwell bought the time at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and made David Hood and Roger Hawkins go on the road in support of Traffic.

As for Mr. Dylan…  Despite being labeled his Christian album, I’ve always loved "Slow Train Coming".  Sure, the opening cut, "Gotta Serve Somebody" is great, but be sure to listen to "When You
Gonna Wake Up" and the following "Man Gave Names To All The Animals"…delicious!

But really, my favorite Dylan album is "Bringing It All Back Home".  I was there, at Madison Square Garden back in 1974, when Dylan reunited with the Band and sang the famous line "But even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked" and everybody stood and cheered.

That’s from "It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)", my favorite Dylan cut ever.  There’s endless truth in the lyrics.  My favorite verse?

For them that must obey authority_
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be
Nothing more than something_
They invest in.

But I also love:

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in.

And now I’m sure I’ve made another mistake.  That’s how I fucked up originally, by adding the coda about "I and I", it wasn’t in the original piece.  I figured I’d get e-mail condemning me for leaving the credit out.  Instead I got e-mail chastising me for fucking up!

Mea culpa.

P.S. Checking the lyrics and credits, trying not to make any mistakes, I realized my favorite verse from "It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)" is really:

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

Ain’t that America.

____________________________

And speaking of truth, I love this e-mail I got quoting David Foster Wallace:

From: Rob Johnson
Subject: Selling vs Leadership: Obama and David Foster Wallace and McCain
Date: March 6, 2009 7:58:48 PM PST

Cynicism and Salesmanship:  A Challenge for Obama(in some respects he is remarkable)

David Foster Wallace was my favorite writer of this age.   He wrote a book called McCain’s Promise and in it he talked about how bombardment by marketing is a tremendous numbing device to trust. He was talking about how JFK had the ability to inspire but that sophisticated marketing was just in it infancy.  John McCain (in 2000) was having difficulty reaching people with similar inspiring thoughts.

Wallace says:

"Now you have to pay close attention to something that’s going to seem obvious at first.  There is a difference between a great leader and a great salesman.  There are also similarities, of course.  A great salesman is usually charismatic and likable, and he can often get us to do things (buy things, agree to things) that we might not go for on our own, and to feel good about it.   Plus a lot of salesmen are basically decent people with plenty about them to admire.  But even a truly great salesman is not a leader.  This is because a salesman’s ultimate overriding motivation is self interest-if you buy what he is selling the salesman profits.  So even though the salesman may have a very powerful, charismatic and admirable personality, and might even persuade you that buying is in your interests (and it really might be) – still a little part of you always knows that what the salesman’s ultimately after is something for himself. And this awareness is painful… although admittedly its a tiny pain, more like a twinge, and often unconscious.  But if you’re subjected to great salesman and sales pitches for long enough- like from your earliest Saturday morning cartoons, let’s say – it is only a matter of time before you start believing deep down that everything is sales and marketing, and that whenever somebody seems like they care about you or about some noble idea or cause, that person is a salesman and really ultimately doesn’t give a Sh** about you or some cause but really just wants something for himself.