Those who extolled the virtues of American literature, especially in the wake of Engdahl's public comments, advocated for a small but important selection of writers as worthy laureates--DeLillo, Roth, Oates among them--and justified such a list by noting how the work of each embodied not only the virtues of American literature--a focus on internal struggles suddenly borne outward, the pitfalls of dreams against a disinterested reality, the shades of emptiness and regret lurking behind every painted front door--but also honest, excellent, and stylistic writing. However, if you reexamine these same writers when placed beside those who won the Nobel over the previous two decades--that is to say, since Toni Morrison received the prize in 1993--you begin to see the differences. For all the variances in style and subject, the previous 23 laureates fit a certain mold. Their work focuses on the lives of the downtrodden, the dispossessed, the forgotten. They emphasize the experiences of those who are not part of the mainstream, who are not privileged, who walk through the world as innocents rather than troubled patriarchs. They confront issues of the present--genocide, censorship, inequality, totalitarianism--directly while forcing readers to suffer under the weight of the past, often whitewashed and frequently forgotten, as though the book were stitched together from the memories of the dead. The reason why Toni Morrison won a Nobel had little to do with the beauty of her prose or the complexity of her characters, though both were--and remain--stunning. Instead, she wrote books that refused to suffer from a willed amnesia, that refused to compromise content for the sake of commerce, that placed a mirror up not only to her readers but the country in which they lived and asked everyone to take a long, deep look at the reflection. Morrison understood--and understands--that placing the past behind us gives us permission to ignore it, even as it stands waiting for us on the coming horizon. Bob explained that if he put that in first, he could then be as insulting as he wanted (“you’re an idiot, babe, it’s a wonder you can even feed yourself”) because he was “in character”. This is surely a terrible reason to start one of your greatest songs with a daft verse. Author and Xavier University English Professor Graley Herren wrote an essay arguing that Dylan's commentary on Bing Crosby's "The Whiffenpoof Song" is actually a veiled critique of Yale University's secretive Skull and Bones society. Herren sees this critique as being in subtextual dialogue with the book's chapters on Edwin Starr's "War" and John Trudell's "Doesn't Hurt Anymore". [22] She says, “You can’t repeat the past.” I say, “You can’t? What do you mean, you can’t? Of course you can.” The book contains pictures of Dylan meeting Bruce Springsteen (then being described as The New Bob Dylan) for the first time (in the company of singer-songwriter John Prine) and hanging out with up-and-coming New York punk poet Patti Smith during the Rolling Thunder tour in 1975. Dylan attended Smith concerts before she had a record deal and would take long walks around New York with her. “It was sort of a big deal, because Bob Dylan didn’t really go to see anyone,” Smith has recalled. “He was pretty enigmatic. I related completely to him. His arrogance, his humour, his mergence of poetry and performance.”

He deserved the Nobel Prize. He deserved the highest rank of Rolling Stone's greatest songwriters of all time. He deserved all the accolades he earned and perhaps even burned. He deserved his name to be carved in history. Don’t expect it to be definitive - it’s alphabetical, but it’s not a comprehensive reference book. Gray has an appreciation for a wide range of music, and I like the randomness of the book - I pulled it off the shelf when I was writing this post and have spent the last half hour reading: I listen to a lot of Dylan podcasts these days - informed, engaging and fun, these are my current favourites: Just Like a Woman (song cuts in or out, missing the beginning or end) (studio: 1976-01-23: "The Night of the Hurricane 2" studio instrument rental, LA, CA, USA)

Books

So yeah, this is a fantastic collection, up and down as it is, of one of the key icons of 20th Century Music/Literature. Whether you choose to hear him or read him is your choice, both are very rewarding experiences.

And since we're talking Dylan, here it is my Top 5 Dylan's lyrics great to be listened to and to be read: What on earth did this mean? The man who, just a couple of years before, had been articulating widely held fears and concerns about nuclear war and civil rights was now, seemingly, talking gibberish. If you’ve finished chronicles, and want to hear more from Bob, this is the book for you. It’s a collection of interviews which start in 1961, all the way up to 2004, about 20 in all. Defenders of Bob Dylan say – as I do to my profoundly sceptical daughter – well, okay, he does have a funny way of singing (“it’s not singing, it’s talking in a singsong voice – maybe that was singing in the 1960s but people have improved since then” says Georgia) – yes, well, let’s not argue – but he wrote these great songs – listen to the words!

Table of Contents

Simon, Jeff. "Jeff Simon: I was fooled by Bob Dylan in a suit. His newest book proves his genius". Buffalo News . Retrieved December 10, 2022. Then there time, more so in the 80’s. when is a bit less guarded and seems to trust the interviewer a bit more. He still doesn’t give much away, but his answers are a bit more revealing. I liked the interview he did with Sam Shepard, which appears here. I think that Dylan is at his most open when he is talking about his influences, whether that’s in music or cinema. Another favourite interview is one he gives to Paul Zollo about songwriting, and he really opens up about the craft. This edition changes things, giving us the words from officially released studio and live recordings, as well as selected variant lyrics and revisions to these, recent revisions and retrospective ones; and, from the archives, words that, till now, have not been published. The Philosophy of Modern Song consists of 66 short essays on popular songs, the earliest of which is Uncle Dave Macon's 1924 recording of "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy" and the most recent of which is Alvin Youngblood Hart's 2004 recording of Stephen Foster's "Nelly Was a Lady". Most of the chapters are divided into two parts, a poetic introductory segment in which Dylan uses a second-person point-of-view to inhabit the narrator of the song (what Simon & Schuster referred to as "dreamlike riffs" in pre-release publicity) followed by a more conventionally written essay portion. [4] Chapters [ edit ] Song