Bob Dylan Debuts "Beyond Here Lies Nothin' " Photo-Montage Video

One week before his new album Together Through Life hits stores, Bob Dylan premiered the video for the album's opener "Beyond Here Lies Nothin' " on Amazon.com. The site will exclusively house the video from today until April 22nd, when it moves to Bob Dylan's official Website.

Spoiler alert: Dylan doesn't actually appear in the video. Instead, like Together Through Life's album cover, the clip makes use of the stark black-and-white photographs of Bruce Davidson's 1959 "Brooklyn Gang" series, creating a photo montage with "Beyond Here" as the soundtrack. A press release explains the history of Davidson's photographs, noting that he met a crew of Brooklyn teenagers who called themselves "the Jokers" in Spring 1959 and spent the summer shooting the gang "in their natural habitat," everywhere from street corners to the borough's Coney Island amusement park. Despite creating a narrative out of photos from a New York street gang, the video somehow works well to enhance the "seductive border-cafe feel" of the Together Through Life opener.

As Rock Daily previously reported, the LP features contributions from Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, who co-wrote the words on nine of the album's 10 tracks. Fans got a full sneak preview of Together Through Life this past weekend at the independent shops celebrating Record Store Day, officially comes out April 28th. For David Fricke's album review of Together Through Life, be sure to check out the current issue of Rolling Stone on stands now.

Related Stories:

• Bob Dylan Rep Confirms Robert Hunter Co-Wrote "Together Through Life" Lyrics
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• Bob Dylan Reveals Together Through Life Track "Feel a Change Comin' On"

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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