New Dylan EP From The Peacocks!

We went to see "A Complete Unknown" in King's Lynn when it came out at the Corn Exchange. We went at noon to avoid the Bobomania, met a folk guitarist and Dylan fan we knew from a Folk Club in nearby Marks and Spencer's and, talking this as a surefire sign of how the town was embracing the film assumed the cinema would be full. As it turned out, we watched the film on an epic screen in a cavrounous empty space with two octogenarians and a carer. Not even the guitarist was there. It was however a superb film and the image of Dylan hurtling off on his motorcycle into an almighty fall at the end powered by all those brilliant Icarus songs soaring out of control and off balance along the edge of his life and apocalyptic times was unforgettable. We came home, got out our old Dylan vinyl from the 1962-1966 period, played them for days and then started covering some of our favourites. In all the hype, the genuine race/generation/culture wars, and all the philosophical swerves he made to try and stay on his own course, you can forget what a skilled guitarist and powerful voice he was and what tremendous songs they were. And what a performer, standing alone up there holding the zeitgeist like a note and later with a rock band in front of a crowd not always on his side. Th e first three of the songs on this album are a reminder of the quality of that songwriting. The fourth is some counter-genius female context to all the lone wolfing.

credits

released September 18, 2025

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar (fingerpicking on track 1)- Maz
Bass, foot drums, overdubbed snare/common flute) - Gaz.

In deference to the folk vibe, most of this is the two of us live and acoustic as seen in the films.

Diamonds and Rust

Our Halloween performance this year is an absolute gem by Joan Baez. A ghost story "("Well I'll be damned, here comes your ghost again") that haunts your heart rather than your mind. This song appealed strongly to both of us. The supercharged emotion conveyed through a storm of many vivid details (like an imagist or concrete poem and it may well have started as one) each detail sparse and understated but diamond clear, the finger plucked heart not given to displays of emotion here shaken to its shattered core by the heartbreak recollected in tranquility; the hard glittering edges of naked female vulnerability; holding a mirror up to Dylan "You who are so good with words And at keeping things vague 'Cause I need some of that vagueness now It's all come back too clearly Yes, I loved you dearly And if you're offering me diamonds and rust I've already paid" giving a counter-voice to all those women though history objectified into a Mother Mary/Venus by the male wand. plus of course the throat-throbbing Baez vocal. Maz's first venture into finger plucking guitar.

Well, I'll be damned

Here comes your ghost again

But that's not unusual

It's just that the moon is full

And you happened to call

And here I sit

Hand on the telephone

Hearing a voice I'd known

A couple of light years ago

Heading straight for a fall

As I remember your eyes

Were bluer than robin's eggs

My poetry was lousy you said

Where are you calling from?

A booth in the midwest

Ten years ago

I bought you some cufflinks

You brought me something

We both know what memories can bring

They bring diamonds and rust

Well, you burst on the scene

Already a legend

The unwashed phenomenon

The original vagabond

You strayed into my arms

And there you stayed

Temporarily lost at sea

The Madonna was yours for free

Yes, the girl on the half-shell

Could keep you unharmed

Now I see you standing

With brown leaves falling all around

And snow in your hair

Now you're smiling out the window

Of that crummy hotel

Over Washington Square

Our breath comes out white clouds

Mingles and hangs in the air

Speaking strictly for me

We both could have died then and there

Now you're telling me

You're not nostalgic

Then give me another word for it

You who are so good with words

And at keeping things vague

'Cause I need some of that vagueness now

It's all come back too clearly

Yes, I loved you dearly

And if you're offering me diamonds and rust

I've already paid