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"Too Much of Nothing" is a song written by
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
in 1967, first released by him on the album ''
The Basement Tapes ''The Basement Tapes'' is the sixteenth album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his second with the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed b ...
'' (1975).


Themes and history of song

One of the most haunting themes of ''The Basement Tapes'' is an apprehension of the void. Biographer Robert Shelton hears in this song an echo of the bald statement that Shakespeare's Lear makes to his daughter Cordelia, "Nothing will come of nothing" (King Lear, Act I, Scene 1). Marcus asserts that this was one of the songs recorded at the end of "the basement summer" in August or September 1967. He writes that these songs "are taken slowly, with crying voices. Dylan’s voice is high and constantly bending, carried forward not by rhythm or by melody but by the discovery of the true terrain of the songs as they’re sung. Richard Manuel’s and Rick Danko’s voices are higher still, more exposed."


Cover versions

By November 1967, this song was a Top 40 hit for
Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...
. According to ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', this version's "clever driving blues arrangement compliments the trio to the fullest." ''
Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' said that it is "
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
in a folk manner with plenty of funk." In Dylan's original, the chorus addresses two ladies—"Say hello to Valerie/Say hello to Vivien/Send them all my salary/On the waters of oblivion"—but Peter, Paul and Mary changed the second name to "Marion," displeasing Dylan. The trio's
Paul Stookey Noel Paul Stookey (born December 30, 1937) is an American singer-songwriter who was famous for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary; however, he has been known by his first name, Noel, throughout his life. Nowadays, he continues to w ...
speculated that this mistake may have caused Dylan to consequently became disenchanted with the group: "We just became ''other hacks'' that were doing his tunes." Patrick Humphries notes that, whether by accident or design, the chorus's two women originally named share the names of the two wives of the major 20th-century poet T. S. Eliot.Eliot married
Vivienne Haigh-Wood Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, also spelt Vivien (28 May 1888 – 22 January 1947), was the first wife of American-British poet T. S. Eliot, whom she married in 1915, less than three months after their introduction by mutual friends, when Vivienne ...
in 1915; they separated in 1933. Critics consider their marriage central to his writing ''
The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the Octob ...
'' (). Eliot married Valerie Fletcher in January 1957, near the end of his life ().
Lachlan MacKinnon Mackinnon, Lachlan, "T.S.Eliot's carelessness towards John Hayward", ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', London, 12 March 2014
writes that the lines do refer to Eliot's wives and are "remarkably shrewd", suggesting the poet's "strange combination of self-distancing and financial propriety". Peter, Paul and Mary's recording of the song was also included on their 1968 album ''
Late Again ''Late Again'' is the nіnth studio album by folk-pop trio, Peter, Paul and Mary and reached #14 on Billboard 200, ''Billboard's'' Top 200 Albums Chart. The same week that this album was released, group members Mary Travers (singer), Mary Traver ...
''. This song also appeared on Spooky Tooth's debut album ''
It's All About ''It's All About'' is the 1968 debut album by British band Spooky Tooth, released in the United Kingdom by Island Records on 26 July 1968. In West Germany the record was released by Fontana. The American version of the album, entitled ''Spoo ...
'', and on
Fotheringay Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition " Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay ...
's debut album, as well as
Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also mai ...
's ''Black Claw & Country Fever'' sessions. All three versions substituted "Marion" for "Vivien".


Personnel

*Bob Dylan – vocal, guitar *
Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...
– electric guitar *
Garth Hudson Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...
– organ *
Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...
– piano, backing vocal *
Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...
– bass, backing vocal. Overdubbed 1975: *Hudson – additional keyboards *Helm – (possibly) drums, backing vocal


Notes


References


External links


"Too Much of Nothing"
nbsp;– Lyrics reproduced on Dylan official website.


Bibliography

* * * * * * * 1967 songs Songs written by Bob Dylan Bob Dylan songs 1967 singles Peter, Paul and Mary songs Song recordings produced by Albert Grossman Song recordings produced by Milt Okun Warner Records singles {{1960s-single-stub