About Bob Dylan (1 Viewer)

Well, there was no four minute warning on this it's true:) but it's nice to shake things up a bit. I didn't hear of any writers slamming their bedroom door in a hissy fit about it. Some objected to Dylan because they didn't care for him perhaps... but they would have done that with a given writer too. No doubt normal service will be resumed next year. Bur for me it is deserved.
 
While I suppose this thread (or this post, in particular) might reside better in Music, movies, TV, art, no matter; all of Dylan's known recordings from his '66 tours are coming out very soon:

http://bobdylan.com/news/bob-dylan-1966-live-recordings-released-november/

While 36 CDs of basically the same song list every night might not appeal to many or any of you, it's become apparent that Dylan was still very much in an evolutionary stage with many of these tracks, so they vary considerably from night to night. NPR has released a pre-release sampler that reveals some true gems. As for myself, I consider the '66 Dylan shows to be among the holiest of grails in any form of art that any of y'all could ever bring up, so I sit here in wet seat waiting for Mr. Postman to slake my thirst. You don't have to be as compulsively silly as myself to appreciate some of the tracks NPR has unveiled.

Check 'em out here: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/03/500057219/first-listen-bob-dylan-the-1966-live-recordings
 
Bob's playing in town tomorrow night. But it's at a theater that has about as much character as a Marriott. Then again, the last time I considered going to a show there it was Merle Haggard -- and he died a few weeks later.

0845-2.jpg
 
Finally someone tells the truth behind this thing:

“From a P.R. viewpoint, it’s been a disaster,” said Jens Liljestrand, the book editor at the Swedish newspaper Expressen. “It’s been a very unfortunate autumn for the Swedish Academy.”

That's what it's all about, PR for some academics.

Ironically, if they had any actual PR talent they could make his non-appearance bigger news than an appearance would have been. Maybe it already is. But they're behind it, not in front of it, which is why they're salty and bitter now.
 
Expecting any form of cooperation from Dylan is akin to asking your dog to knit you a sweater. It's amazing that these eggheads don't know some of the most basic traits of the people they hand out awards to. That said, I still think Dylan is completely worthy of this award, as several of his song lyrics are much better than 90% of the books I've read (including Pulp :eek:), whether one considers lyrics to be literature or not.
 
There's this weird thing I remember about the 1992 show at Madison Square Garden to celebrate Bob's 30 year career. Listening to Knocking on Heaven's Door on the broadcast, there was this epic guirar fight with Clapton and Neil Young. But if you listen to the official release, it's all Claptin.

I was never a fan of Clapton and I lost interest in Young a long time ago, but trust me that this was epic.

Young won, in my opinion.
 
Bob definitely has the gift of the gab.
Maybe some of this content will get into his Nobel Prize-lecture - if he ever gives it:

---

-Braggin’” was done by Duke Ellington in 1938 – it’s the sort of big band swinging blues that led directly to rock and roll. As a kid, did rock and roll feel like a new thing to you or an extension of what was already going on?

Rock and roll was indeed an extension of what was going on – the big swinging bands – Ray Noble, Will Bradley, Glenn Miller, I listened to that music before I heard Elvis Presley. But rock and roll was high energy, explosive and cut down. It was skeleton music, came out of the darkness and rode in on the atom bomb and the artists were star headed like mystical Gods. Rhythm and blues, country and western, bluegrass and gospel were always there – but it was compartmentalized – it was great but it wasn’t dangerous. Rock and roll was a dangerous weapon, chrome plated, it exploded like the speed of light, it reflected the times, especially the presence of the atomic bomb which had preceded it by several years. Back then people feared the end of time. The big showdown between capitalism and communism was on the horizon. Rock and roll made you oblivious to the fear, busted down the barriers that race and religion, ideologies put up. We lived under a death cloud; the air was radioactive. There was no tomorrow, any day it could all be over, life was cheap. That was the feeling at the time and I’m not exaggerating. Doo-wop was the counterpart to rock and roll. Songs like “In the Still of the Night,” “Earth Angel,” “Thousand Miles Away,” those songs balanced things out, they were heartfelt and melancholy for a world that didn’t seem to have a heart. The doo-wop groups might have been an extension, too, of the Ink Spots and gospel music, but it didn’t matter; that was brand new too. Groups like the Five Satins and the Meadowlarks seemed to be singing from some imaginary street corner down the block. Jerry Lee Lewis came in like a streaking comet from some far away galaxy. Rock and roll was atomic powered, all zoom and doom. It didn’t seem like an extension of anything but it probably was."

Source: https://bobdylan.com/news/qa-with-bill-flanagan/
 
loved his answer to this:

When you see footage of yourself performing 40 or 50 years ago, does it seem like a different person? What do you see?


I see Nat King Cole, Nature Boy – a very strange enchanted boy, a terribly sophisticated performer, got a cross section of music in him, already postmodern. That’s a different person than who I am now.
 
Thanks for posting this Adam. I saw the link in other places, but kept putting it off. I listened to it on the way to work -- WELL WORTH THE TIME. Beautiful stuff in a non-nasal format.
 
I guess you forgot. He's Bob. He can, apparently do whatever he wants whether we like it or not. Fortunately he hasn't run for president...yet.
 
I wonder if he's still as prolific. Always fascinated by the prolific - Bob Pollard (GBV), Prince, Buk...
 
article in NYT -with this quote - never know what he's gonna say!

You honor many great recording artists in your songs. Your mention of Don Henley and Glenn Frey on “Murder Most Foul” came off as a bit of a surprise to me. What Eagles songs do you enjoy the most?

"“New Kid in Town,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” "Pretty Maids All in a Row" That could be one of the best songs ever."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/arts/music/bob-dylan-rough-and-rowdy-ways.html
 
Bob also said he wished he'd written Johnny Thunders' You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory, which is a fine song, but not something you'd think someone like Dylan would get wound up over.

 
speaking of his likes/dislikes i thought it was interesting in the "no direction" doc that he didn't like
what people were doing to his songs when they covered them. he described in a negative way
the "jingle jangle" sound of them. and he coined the term - i'm guessing - in his "tambourine man!"

his subtle dis of the turtles, who's breakout tune was a cover of his, practically spitting out "some band
called the turtles" made me laugh. and saying sonny and cher ripped off his song style with, as he
called it, "i got me babe" was hilarious too.

there was a great moment in a beatles press conference when reporters were asking if they got any
satisfaction or sense of validation by so many big names covering their tunes. a flat "no" they said and
then someone asked who does the best versions of their songs. of course lennon had the conversation
ender by very bluntly saying "us"
 
i keep rewatching this. he's a genius at not giving the people what they want re answers to questions. reminds
me a bit of bukowski.

and the part with the adorable young girl who gets more than she bargained for @27:15 is really funny. not sure what she
was doing there, maybe reporting for her high school newspaper.

 
You honor many great recording artists in your songs. Your mention of Don Henley and Glenn Frey on “Murder Most Foul” came off as a bit of a surprise to me. What Eagles songs do you enjoy the most?

"“New Kid in Town,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” "Pretty Maids All in a Row" That could be one of the best songs ever."

That's a killer trio right there. As to "Pretty Maids All in a Row", you can't go wrong with Joe Walsh in any of his eras. He was very subdued in the Eagles, though...
 

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