Seven Days

Listen while you read:  Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Ron Wood . . .

Seven days, seven more days, she'll be comin'
I'll be waiting at the station for her to arrive
Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive

She been gone ever since I been a child
Ever since I seen her smile, I ain't forgotten her eyes
She had a face that could outshine the sun in the skies

I been good, I been good while I been waitin'
Maybe guilty of hesitatin', I just been holdin' on
Seven more days, all that'll be gone

There's kissing in the valley
Thieving in the alley
Fighting every inch of the way
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that's always brighter'n the day

Seven days, seven more days that are connected
Just like I expected, she'll be comin' on forth
My beautiful comrade from the North

~  Bob Dylan

Perhaps you've been unaware of this little Dylan ditty? It was new to me, even though it was written back in the mid-70s. It appears on the Bootleg Series, Vol. 3: Rare and Unreleased which came out in 1991. But the video linked above is another story.

In 1983, Ronnie Lane, a former bass guitarist with Small Faces and then later with Rod Stewart in Faces, was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Several musician friends, including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Steve Winwood, got together to do some benefit concerts for Lane. The concerts were billed as an "Appeal for Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS)." In December 1983, ARMS, now joined by Joe Cocker, came to Madison Square Garden. The video linked above, featuring Cocker on lead vocals, was recorded at that concert.

After suffering with MS for 21 years, Lane died in 1997 at age 51.

As for Dylan's history with the song, he added it to his setlist for concerts in April 1976, but then dropped it after a few performances. It was added again twenty years later in April 1996 and had a longer run. I'm not surprised, as it seems not to live up to expectations of a Bob Dylan song. The covers of the song seem to be just excuses to jam. So why did I pick it for today's post?

In seven days, I am flying to Atlanta and meeting my man at the airport. We'll drive two hours north to his brother's home in Clayton, which happens to be in the path of totality for the solar eclipse! Yes, I am counting down the days! There will indeed be a night that's brighter'n the day, at least for eight seconds! (See Sperling's 8-second Law.)

Let the countdown begin!