Bagging Area is twelve years old today, a blog that started out as being something I thought I'd try for a year is now only one year short of being a teenager. There aren't many songs with the number twelve or 12 in the title. There are obviously hundreds/ thousands of 12" mixes or versions but that seemed like cheating. The best is this one from Bob Dylan, the opening song on 1966's Blonde On Blonde...
I saw Bob Dylan once, part of his Never Ending Tour, at Manchester Arena (then called Nynex). I'd struggle to tell you exactly which year it was but the internet tells me it was 9th May 2002- the setlist from that gig looks familiar. More familiar than some of the songs on the night some of which were well under way before they became recognisable. I know that's all become part of the fun of a latter day Dylan gig but it does lead to some head scratching moments and then laughter as you suddenly realise 'oh, it's Visions Of Johanna!'. On the night we saw him he finished his set with Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 and it was one of the songs which was identifiable fairly instantly.
Some brief 'research' into the number twelve reveals that it is significant numerologically- it represents perfection or completion and cosmic order. It crops up in mythology, religion and the zodiac. There are twelve months and twelve lunar cycles. Twelve is also the number of years for a full cycle of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system and one of the brightest in our sky. The Jupiter 4 is a vintage Roland synthesizer and gave a name and a sound to this Sharon Van Etten song, a dark, moody, obsessive love song written on the distinctive synth.
And with those two songs we're off into 2022. More stuff incoming no doubt.
