In my 2024 book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, using the metrics of Popularity (i.e., records sold; concert draw; career longevity), Influence (on the music and culture, in both the short-term and long-term), and Major Awards/Honors Won, Bob Dylan was ranked #2. Coincidently, he was also ranked #2 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s celebrated list. Why? Quite simply, Bob Dylan profoundly changed popular songwriting, recording, singing, and the greater society and culture. With such masterworks as “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Like a Rolling Stone” and countless others, Dylan demonstrated that songs could be about Anything at all, and not simply love won and love lost. When “Like a Rolling Stone” was released in 1965, his record company and radio deejays didn’t know what to do with it— it was six minutes long; should it be edited down? Should the song be stopped mid-stream and then flipped over? Suffice to say, it became not only an enormous hit (#2 on Billboard), but it gave artists permission to record much longer songs (than the typical 2-3 minute singles) and helped give rise to album-oriented artists (Dylan being one of the first and most important) and new FM music radio stations. Likewise, his vocal style— soon there were a host of artists who fell outside the “pretty voice” mainstream— from Jagger to Donovan, Lou Reed to Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen to Tom Waits. As far as Dylan’s impact on the greater culture, it is hard to overestimate that, beginning with his early ‘60s influence on the Civil Rights and anti-war movements as he was an enormous force on college campuses, them morphing into, perhaps, The most important counter-cultural figure later in the decade and into the ‘70s, even if this was a mantle he never sought. Who are some of the many artists who have paid tribute to his influence on their own development? Start with the Beatles (certainly, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison), Johnny Cash, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Gerry Garcia, Bono, Cohen, Waits, John Prine, even Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, and Sly Stone (and there’s just not enough space to go on). Honors and Awards? The Grammys and Rock Hall induction do not set him apart, but what other songwriter has won a Nobel Prize in Literature, putting him alongside such greats as Faulkner, Hemingway, Eliot, and Morrison? He’s won national honors from France and Spain, Sweden and the U.S. he is taught in universities from Harvard to Cambridge to Oslo. But, best of all, listen to the music, as I’ve done all my life, and maybe read along with my newest book, DOIWN THE ROAD WITH DYLAN – LIVING WITH THE SONGS, available online at BookBaby Book Shop. Thanks for reading.
Tag: writing
-
With Bob Dylan, the elephant in the room has always been the Voice. A typical comment— sure, he’s a fine songwriter; he’s written some great songs, but he just can’t Sing. Well, what exactly is good singing? If it’s measured by a pure and pleasing tone, a smooth, sweet sounding, non-threatening style, then no Dylan is not that kind of vocalist. But I would argue that the most effective singers communicate a depth and a range of feeling, emotion, and ideas in a way that is highly affective; if that is the definition of a good singer, then I submit that Bob Dylan has frequently been a great singer throughout his career. Some examples (and I’m asking you to go come along for the ride and Listen to these recordings)— 1964’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” is a concise and expressive depiction of a single incident involving two people that makes crystal clear the sad state of racial injustice in the early ‘60s American south. Or Listen to his wonderfully evocative drug culture, streetwise take down “Subterranean Homesick Blues” from 1965 and his masterful staccato-like, rhythmic delivery that many have heard as a proto-rap style mixed with Chuck Berry. In 1966, “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” gives us yet another Dylan voice whereby he blends humor with genuine existential dread. Listen as he delivers the same closing line nine times, but with a different inflection each time, thus holding our attention. The mid-‘70s masterpiece, Blood on the Tracks, contains some of his most brilliant vocals— “Tangled Up in Blue” is a winding tale of loss and yearning and you can hear it in both the lyrics and Dylan’s inimitable delivery. My favorite example is the heartbreaking “If You See Her, Say Hello” as he “bends, elongates, and wrings every drop of feeling” out of the lyrics to communicate just how desolate and sorry he really feels. In 1991 he released “Blind Willie McTell” and with six minutes and two simple instruments, Dylan presents a stunning summary of over 360 years of African-American history, from the brutality of slavery and the post-Civil War injustice of Jim Crow, but also the artistic flowering of Black music, dance, and more. The singing is as rich as the subject matter. Even Dylan, the old master, can still deliver. Listen to his 2020 “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” and you’ll hear a 79-year-old man’s notes of sadness, weariness, loneliness, and resigned desperation mixed still with a measure of faith and hope.
I hope I’ve interested you in re-checking out Bob Dylan, the singer, and perhaps ,too, my new book, DOWN THE ROAD WITH DYLAN – LIVING WITH THE SONGS, which is available exclusively (in paperback or eBook) at BookBaby Book Shop. Thanks, Steve
-
In my newest book, Down the Road with DYLAN – Living with the Songs, I write, ““Bob Dylan has been a deeply intimate part of my life for over 60 years. John Kennedy was still president when I heard my first Dylan song. I’ve spent countless hours listening to his records; I’ve attended numerous concerts, at both ends of the country; and I’ve sung his songs on the beaches, parks, and street corners of Southern California, in assorted wine bars, clubs, private homes, and at youth gatherings in both the United States and Mexico; in church, and with students in the classroom.
In this book, we’ll look at 100 carefully chosen Bob Dylan songs through three distinct lenses— through the lens of music criticism; through the lens of recent American history; and through the lens of personal memoir. It is my sincere wish that there is an educational element embedded herein, but, above all, this book is a heartfelt labor of love, a way for me to express both my understanding of and deep appreciation for the art of Bob Dylan and how it has moved and shaped me and, indeed, all of us, for over six decades. Bob Dylan’s profound creations have been intimately interwoven with the various strands of my personal life and with the life of the wider world we’ve all shared these past decades. My hope is that I have succeeded in capturing something of the timeless, ineffable, beating heart reality hinted at in the songs of Bob Dylan, by looking at 100 of them anew through these three lovingly polished, personal lenses.”
Down the Road with DYLAN is now available exclusively online at BookBaby Book Shop. I’d be thrilled and honored if you read it, and drop me a line letting me know what you think. Thanks, Steve
