Posted on 05/26/2014 5:21:04 AM PDT by don-o
Somehow, after over 40 years of evidence to the contrary, much of the world seems to continue to expect the man who is arguably America's greatest songwriter to sign on to left/liberal causes at the first opportunity. If nothing else, it is proof that in attempting to kidnap Dylan's songs (in Dylan's own words, his songs were "subverted into polemics" in the 1960s), the left succeeded in convincing the average person that both the work and the man did, indeed, belong to them.
In the summer run-up to the 2004 presidential campaign, a concert tour of anti-Bush musicians was being organized, led by Bruce Springsteen. They would perform in swing states in support of John Kerry. The advance press regarding the tour always prominently mentioned Bob Dylan as one of the musicians being talked about for the lineup. There was no surprise about this expressed in the stories; after all, campaigning against Republican presidents is what Bob Dylan has always done, isn't it? But when dates and lineups were finally announced for the "Vote for Change" tour, one name was prominently missing: that of Bob Dylan. And indeed, any scrutiny of the record would show that he has never endorsed a political candidate (although some political candidates have endorsed him). The closest he has ever come would be the statement in his memoir, Chronicles, that his "favorite politician" circa 1961 was Barry Goldwater.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Some of his later songs only he can do, but when he was starting out, you couldn’t hear the beauty in the song until people like Baez and others did them. Only he can do “Like a Rolling Stone”.
VERY GOOD!!!!!!
At this moment I have a “Theme Time Radio Hour” streaming. Replying to a question about small arms from an Army staff sgt, Bob is giving detailed instruction on how to fire a cannon. Then plays Van Morrison “Straight to Your Heart - Like a Cannonball.”
I like Dylan, but I wouldn’t go that far. Some of his stuff is a bit ponderous, imo....”Good As I Been To You” and “World Gone Wrong” I could never wrap my head around....and the one time I saw him live (right around Memorial Day, as a matter of fact, many years ago), it was awful.
I grew up knowing songs and melodies but Dylan, I discovered, does not play the song like the record. For me, it was a disappointment.
This pisses the Left off now, but in the 60's it didn't necessarily do this. Many New Left figures were pro-Israel (seeing Israel as a socialist state in the "reactionary" Middle East), though others (such as the Black Panthers) were fanatically anti-Israel.
As recently as the 1982 Lebanon War (under right wing PM Menachem Begin) Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden entertained Israeli soldiers involved in the conflict.
The hard Left internationally was almost always (except for a brief period in the late 40's) anti-Israel, but for some reason the American hard Left was an exception. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm sure this would not have been so had Moscow not wanted it that way.
“And now for an aficionado of golf and guillotines...”
And then Dylan starts playing Alice Cooper for the school themed show. Pretty cool.
Freegards
One time, I saw Garth Brooks twice on the same tour, back in the early 1990s when he was really big. I saw him in Maryland while on vacation and then in Worcester, MA about a week later. The second time was a waste of money. Every song played exactly the same way in the same order. Even the banter between songs was the exact same which really disillusioned me. I thought at least that would be spontaneous and specific to the audience at hand.
On the subject of Dylan, a lot is made of his nasal gravelly voice and how it is not "professional" singing. I think that adds some authenticity to his performances. Other artists like Neil Young, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen perform the same way. Not polished at all with their vocals but somehow that makes them more genuine and worth paying the money to go see.
I agree.... If the world could only have one musical artist... in my book it would have to be Bob Dylan. No one writes a song like Bob Dylan, and no one “delivers” a song vocally like Bob Dylan. There are impersonators, but he is the real deal.
Nobody owns Bob but Bob. He’s not a tool of the left or the right or the hawks or the doves or the feminists or the hippies or the straights or anybody else. He’s a genius, an American original and a timeless artist. Five hundred years from now, Dylan will be known and taught like Shakespeare is today.
“People are crazy and times are strange, I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range. I used to care, but.... things have changed”
What I get from this is not what it tells me about Dylan (I knew that he isn’t a lefty) but what it says about liberals. They lie. They lie about everything and they’ve been doing it for a very long time. They have to because nothing they stand for will withstand scrutiny.
I have an arlo guthrie bootleg wherein he compares songwriting to fishing, and how you don’t want to be downstream from Dylan.
A little surprised you didn’t mention the Byrds in your post in regards to others recording his music.
My trivia for the day, Graham Nash split from the Hollies when they wanted to do a Dylan cover album. And the rest, as they say, is CSN (and sometimes Y) history.
Best Dylan cover album - Red on Blonde by Tim O’Brien.
good list
Red Knuckles is mighty fine, all right.
For Dylan covers, though, Joanie is pretty far up on my list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1fpDWXwfso
My mom was smack dab in the middle of the great folk scare (I was born in 58) so I grew up with all of that - the new christie minstrels, joanie, bob, and my tastes have certainly expanded in just about every direction, but I still come home to the guitar, mandolin and banjo (i play all 3, thanks mom - she played as well).
Yeah, you’re right. The Byrds of course worshiped Dylan, and I’m sure he was right there on their opening night along with dozens of others.
Have no clue why Nash would split cause of that. He was the glue of Crosby, Stills, Nash etc. IMHO.
Great comment, not to be down stream from Dylan.
Where do you stop with regards to people doing Dylan’s work. I don’t recall the Beatles ever doing one of his songs, but might be wrong, or Michael Jackson.
I’ve never seen him, while one of my friends has 5 times.
Dylan always has great musicians around him. I like the fact that he’s always changing up his songs, changing keys, altering tempos, mixing up the lyrics unlike most artists who play the same 2minute 38 second song in the same key in the same way they’ve been doing it for the last 40 years. I can’t get no satisfaction....
Back in 71 I was hosting musician friends from Toronto who had come to NYC for a Leonard Cohen concert at the tennis stadium. Not a large crowd so we were fairly close to the stage. At the mid concert break Cohen introduces his surprise unannounced guest, Bob Dylan and his back-up group of the time, IIRC “The Army”. Great set and then Dylan sang backup for Cohen. Sometimes you just get lucky.
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