Talkin' Bob Dylan

"Oh, hear this Robert Zimmerman...I wrote a song for you...About a strange young man called Dylan...With a voice like sand and glue...His words of truthful vengeance...They could pin us to the floor...Brought a few more people on....And put the fear in a whole lot more."-David Bowie, "Song for Bob Dylan" from the album "Hunky Dory"

So, before I get into the particulars of Bobby D, I want to talk about how I fell in love with Bob because I feel like it may be similar for some of you. In high school I had a friend named Alby who I used to hang out with and play guitar and he would always be playing Bob Dylan records at his house. I used to always make fun of him because nobody in high school is listening to that type of shit. I thought his voice sounded awful, his guitar playing was frantic and wild and that fucking harmonica might as well have been an air horn it was so unpleasant. I thought that Bob Dylan would never interest me because I was too busy dying my hair jet black and listening to Smiths and Cure albums and being pseudo depressed. Note: I have nothing against The Smiths or The Cure, I love them but this was just one of those times. It wasn't until I began my first semester at NYU that I really began to "get" Dylan. My next door neighbor in my dorm freshman year had a poster of "The Times They Are A-Changin" LP cover on his wall and I would always hear him playing Dylan songs on guitar. I went over there to play with him and he was always trying to get me to play Dylan songs, but like a 5th grade boy picking on a girl I continued to make fun of Bob until Tom burned me a copy of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." I took it home and put it on my ipod and began listening to it from front to back. First listen...still nothing. Second listen...I became infatuated with "Don't Think Twice It's All-Right." Third listen..."Girl From the North Country" creeps in. Two weeks later I find myself only listening to that album and wondering, "What the fuck was I missing all this time?" "Why did I make fun of Bob? I feel blasphemous."

I went to Bleecker Bob's Records and bought all the Bob Dylan albums I could find. I couldn't wait to hear what Bob had to say next. I currently have over 200 Dylan songs on my Itunes. I began going to the village to listen to the folkie-types play songs and shout to the crowds like Bob would have done in his hay-day in New York with the Dave Van Ronks of the world. I started playing that way too. I played fast, rigid folk songs with whailing choruses and spit-fire verses. I started writing to tell. I bought a harmonica and taught myself how to play.

For a good 3 months, no other music mattered. Why should it have? No one I was listening to at that point had written like Bob. No one had a sense of melody like Bob. No one had a voice like Bob. And no one at that point in my life, except for maybe James Brown, was as cool as Bob. Bob is an acquired taste. He may seem pretentious, I always thought he was and maybe he still is. He may seem tone deaf. He may seem just a bit too old for your taste. But I encourage you to listen to what he has to say, because there is a lot there to soak in, whether it be his protest songs, his rock n' roll songs, his long ballads, or his country ditties. It's all worth at least one listen, and maybe after this class Bob will gain more disciples. He is difficult to understand because he has always leaned towards the side of mystery. But that is the best part. You can listen to Dylan for years, even obsessively as I have and do, and never really quite figure out his purpose. Really, I think Bob just wants to be Bob. He never wanted to be the poster child for change, or for rock n' roll, or for artistry. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do, and everyone else should just listen, not question. So I ask you to listen, because you'll find very few answers from me or his music.

Ok well I have class and the Dylan post will be long so I must finish this later tonight...Phil Spector post to come tomorrow. Until then listen to anything by Bob Dylan. But if you are going to get picky, "Freewheelin'" is a good intro to folk-Dylan, "Bringing It All Back Home" is a good intro to rock n' roll Dylan. It is also my favorite album of all time.