SAFETY IN NUMBERS

THEME TIME RADIO HOUR WITH BOB DYLAN - SEASON 3
#10 "NUMBERS ELEVEN AND UP"
Broadcast December 17, 2008 on XM Radio

Instead of wrapping up the calendar year with the usual 'Countdown' (or Top Ten) show, Bob takes us in a different direction this time and sees off 2008 by looking at songs containing references to larger numbers. Considering the huge flurry of bad numbers the year produced (see my blog of 12-30-08), Dylan offers up a nice batch of good numbers in this hour.

A lot of the songs seem to be about human size and measurements, starting off with Bobby "Blue" Bland's 36-22-36, which I'll let you guess as to what that's about. Later on, we get to hear Ann Peebles sing about her weight in 99 Lbs. - a song subject not much explored by today's tunesmiths - followed up by Howlin' Wolf bragging about himself in 300 Pounds Of Joy. Two rather bizarre numbers round out this numerical subcategory, one, by The Snowmen (I never heard of them, but the lead singer sounds a little like Tom Jones, way before anyone ever heard of him), who croon a paean to an extreme version of female measurements, 39-21-46, and the other, by someone named Jim Ford, who decides he's a 12-inch ruler (as in measuring stick) in the remarkable 36 Inches High. It came out in 1969, which may explain it somewhat.

Money is all about numbers, and is fairly represented by Dylan favorite, Prince Buster, with his early-reggae-sounding Thirty Pieces Of Silver. The Joe Mooney Quartet cautions against greed and worrying about money in A Man With One Million Dollars, a song that recommends a treatment for ulcers (something no longer needed, thanks to government bailouts for the avaricious), and somehow works cartoon cutups Tom and Jerry into the lyrics. Country music - as usual with Bob - gets a look-in with the gleefully up-tempo 100,000 Women Can't Be Wrong by the completely un-modest Lattie Moore, and the show's number is up when Merle Haggard achingly longs for retirement in C'mon Sixty-Five. Do they still give out gold watches anymore?

The between-platters banter segments are numerous and informative. One, by frequent guest-by-cassette-tape, Tom Waits, gives us a number on how the Baker's Dozen came to be, and Mr. D. himself explains why the number 40 crops up so much in the Bible. While this show might not number among the greatest of TTRH, you can always count on the host to be endlessly entertaining as he shares his record collection - which must easily run into the millions.