OK...So maybe not that extreme. Perhaps an album that helped you out of a very dark time. An album that held so much meaning and power that you started to live your life by it's offering's.

We've all been there. Who (what?) was there with you.

BOB DYLAN - Blood on the tracks - Working a dead end job about 10 years ago. Just broke up with my girlfriend of 5 years. Life was surely heading downhill with a bottle in it's hand.

I'd been a fan of Dylan's for as long as I could remember, But I'd never heard any of the songs from this era of dylan music. I'd been mostly rapped up in his late 60's rock and early folk recordings.

It wasnt until I was set up on a blind date a few months after my break up that I had heard Shelter from the storm at the end of the film Jerry Maguire. I knew it was dylan, but I couldnt figure out what it was from. It was so amazing that I stayed through the final credits to find the name of the song and the album to which It could be located.

About a week later (Even worse shape) I was out driving around looking for answers, when "Like A Rolling Stone" came on the radio. It just clicked. I was on a mission to find Blood on the tracks. I drove 2 hours out of my way to find a record store that I thought would have a copy for sale. Unfortunately I was shit out of luck. With directions from the sales clerk I was sent to yet another location 2 hours away to find the album. By this time I was in Toronto, and because I didnt know my way around I had a cab drive me from record store to record store to find a copy of Blood on the tracks on Cassette. I still couldnt find it.

At about 10 O'clock at night and filthy drunk, I stumbled by a nothing but vinyl record store. In it he had 3 copies of elusive album. The problem was I did not own a record player (Only cassette). But at my wits end I coughed up $100.00 for a record player and 30.00 for 3 used copies just encase..lol

I then proceeded to check myself into a hotel for the night. I hooked up the kit and sat quietly playing the album that had caused me so much trouble in finding. I sat there an listened to the album 3 times in a row. It was needless to say the most musically fulfilling experience I had ever had.

By about 2 O'clock in the morning I felt oddly refreshed. Like I had been shot up with adrenaline and ready for the world when all the sudden a woman that worked for the hotel knocked on the door. She told me that the people next to me were complaining about the loud music. I told her what I was playing and how I had came to getting it. Coincidentally she was very fond of dylan and blood on the track was one of her favourites. She told me she was off at 4 and if I wanted to get a coffee and discuss the album.

So at 4 in the morning I went to a tiny coffee shop on young st. with this beautiful woman. We talked for hours about our lives and about dylan. It was magical. To top it all off. The coffee shop had an old accoustic guitar on the wall, slightly out of tune, but still playable. She asked the owner if she could use it and proceeded to play me Simple Twist of Fate. She had a voice oddly similar to Feist's with a little bit of Joanna newsom sqeek. It was beutiful. In fact the coffee shop owner loved it so much he gave us free breakfast.

I know this is a long story, but this is the end.

3 Months later I Married Linda (The lady from the hotel) I know have 3 kids and could not feel more blessed.

I guess my message here is. Good music will find you. when your down and out, put some old tunes on and turn things around

Sorry about the grammer and spelling mistakes. It a long story and I only have so much time.

Wow. Beautiful story, Robert!

Well, Robert, I doubt a lot that any of us had an album that saved our life at the same level that yours. Prefab Sprout’s “Steve McQueen” helped me in a weak moment at the time, but not that much. Anyway, Robert, that’s a really beautiful story. All I can add is that I will suggest a cover of “Simple Twist of Fate” at the next rehearsal of my band...

The album "After the gold rush" by Neil Young helped me a lot in 2001 when it was bad times for me after a sad, sad, sad love affair. This album will always keep a special place in my heart.

I remember that I listened this record all day and night at that time. "Only love can break your heart" (still one of my favourite songs ever) was the perfect song to express the feelings I had.

Blood On the Tracks is probably my favourite album. I really enjoy your story. It would probably make for a good movie.

I think I externalize art too much for an album to have that profound an effect on me.

I suppose there are a few Dylan songs and such that may have opened up new cognitive and philosophical avenues for me, but again, I tend to see stories as stories, art as art, and rhetoric as rhetoric without really personalizing it unless it's nonfiction.

Me too Bill.

The only album that had a big impact on my life was Elliott Smith S/T.

Ray of Light for me. I was going through a tough period in my life (which, in reality, now looks trivial compared to recent events in my life- lost my mom 5+ weeks ago, and it's been the most harrowing time of my life, and my family's).

But, for its time, Ray of Light was a comforting, soothing album, that helped me deal with separation anxiety (from friends I left behind in college), and just some other issues I was dealing with at the time. The spirituality of the album definitely acts as a healer for me, even to this day (though I don't think it can be a saver for me now in the way that it was back then- different situations).

Aw man, that sucks. My condolences.

Wow, really beautiful story Robert. Just as if it was a Dylan’s song itself.
I don’t really believe in destiny, but reading your story makes me wonder.

Speaking of what, I don’t think I could ever be with someone who didn’t have some good taste in music. You’re lucky.


BTW, I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one having trouble finding old music .

I'm glad everyone enjoyed my story. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy or 3...lol. It is an album of deep sincerity and emotional power rarely seen even in it's day. If your a fan of such classic's like Joni Mitchell's "Blue", Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", Nick Drake's "Pink Moon", or Nick Cave's "A Boatmans Call". Im sure you'll enjoy Blood On The Tracks. Im not saying its one of the greatest albums of all time because I have a deep personal connection to it, but because the music and lyrics speak truely for themselves.

Well, I don't have a great story like yours, Robert, but the closest I could come would be Astral Weeks. The opening lines of the title track always have a calming effect when I hear them. By the way, I was listening to Blood on the Tracks on Sunday. I don't know why, but as many times as I've listened to it, I still haven't figured out exactly what happens in "Lilly, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts."

Yeah, me neither, but I love that song and the mystery in it
It looks like a western shot by Godard

I love that song too. But it's quite simply really. The Jack of Hearts is a thief and while his cronies are robbing the bank he's in the tavern making a mess. Eventually Rosemary kills Big Jim before he can shoot the Jack of Hearts, she goes to jail and he's gone. Even though it's a rather intricate story to sing in a song (even at 9 minutes) I thought it was all rather clear. I think it's one of the songs that prove Dylan's songwriting skills most.