Bob Dylan Plays Bob Dylan, Whoever That Is

New York Times ^ | July 27, 2003 | JON PARELES

[Oorang]

Good old Mr. Dylan. Could be an interesting movie.

[dr_who_2]

I've been wondering if some of the garbage that plays on the radio stations these days is people trying to copy his singing style or the real thing. Either way, pop music/rock has gone from just "dead" to zombie status. Dylan was the beginning of the end, but naturally he won't retire. Too many worshippers and hot 50 year old groupies out there.

[VadeRetro]

Good songwiter in his day. Never could sing much. Not at all in the last 25 years.

[katz]

'Lay, Lady Lay' was a great song with great vocals. His teenage daughter doesn't appreciate his music but benefits from his fame. It was a good thing that he was influenced by the Beatles to do drugs and it really helped his music.

[elbucko]

that he was influenced by the Beatles to do drugs and it really helped his music.

sssssssssssssssspppppppt! Right on, Man!

[Paul Atreides]

Go record a barfly, smashed out of his gourd and singing, and you've the same as heard Dylan.

[DPB101]

A typical elite no-talent SOB:

Bob Dylan Forum Frigate
...
jollyroger.com/zz/yjrrockd/BobDylanhall/ shakespeare1.html - 32k -
Bob Dylan may seek incarceration of Plaintiff in infringement suit
Cached - Similar

This from the guy who claims lifting lyrics from others was simply his genius at work.

[beckett]

Are you actually crediting the fantastic tale of James Damiano that Bob Dylan infringed on his copyright?

Those must be the most ridiculous charges ever made. All one has to do is read the rambling nonsense Damiano writes to realize he's grasping at straws.

Artists get their inspiration from many sources. But as far as is possible --- given that we are all plagiarists to one degree or another, all of us standing on the shoulders of giants -- Bob Dylan is sui generis.

[VeritatisSplendor]

This is going to be a very enjoyable movie for hardcore Dylan fans, but it will be a complete flop commercially and critically.

This is as it should be. Sell your latest record to a million people and you've made a big success. Get a million people to watch your movie and you will lose your shirt. It's simple economics -- to make a feature-length movie with professional production values you need an 8-digit bank account, for which you could produce dozens of albums. Dylan has never attempted to chase a bigger audience, and his not doing so here stamps this as a "vanity production". I'm not complaining, because I'm one of the million hard-core fans who will buy any new Dylan record and will sit still for the movie; but I'll bet that whoever financed it, unless it's Dylan himself, will be very unhappy.

[DPB101]

Dylan was a Gramscian socialist. No big deal in tearing down. No "genius" required there. Anyone can do that. Especially when you appeal to kids. Dylan is nothing but kiddy sociological porn. He never inspired anything. His lyrics were 100% destructive to Western Civilization.

Yes...catchy tunes. So what? Poison better served with honey on it?

[Central Scrutiniser]

Dylan was and is a great writer with a great (though different) voice. Thank god there are folks like Bob Dylan, because today we have such drizzle as Brittney Spears and Christina Aguiliara and whatever slightly post pubescent boy band is in vogue this week.

You gotta listen to music for music's sake not for what the artist is, when you start to enjoy music for the sake of music, you might find that you will slowly become less of a judgmental tightass.

[DPB101]

Yeah...I'm judgmental.

Well....Excuuuseeeeee....MEEEEEE!

Too bad I'm not like you who is just an impartial observer and reasoned in their judgement. But that is me and that is you.

These crap song-writers and their monied producers such as Dylan started what you bemoan.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Yeah, Dylan begat Spears.

Pull your head out, people as dumb as you frighten me, I hope you don't have a driver's permit, as there are too many farmers markets around these days.

Yes I am reasoned in my judgement, and I eat (rhetorically) folks like you for a snack.

[beckett]

Complete hogwash. Dylan could not care less about Gramsci and probably has no idea who he is.

To call his music "kiddie sociological porn" and "100% destructive to western civilization" is so deluded words fail me. Dylan interpreted a transitional period in that civilization. His influence is no mystery for anyone who's been paying attention as the transition proceeds.

Dylan is considered a great poet by many conservatives. He is not a politician. When I hear a "conservative" seek to muzzle a poet, I think not of Russell Kirk or William Buckley but of Stalin.

[Mr. Mojo]

Dylan wrote the (excellent) soundtrack and played a small part - "Alias" - in one of my all-time favorite westerns, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson (as Pat and Billy) and directed by one of the masters, Sam Peckinpah. Definitely worth checking out.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Thank you, Dylan represented lots of things, in his early days he was acoustic, not good looking and with a gravelly voice, he actually took abuse from the purists when he switched to electronic guitar.

His voice is key, not a pretty boy, not a pre-pubescent singer, not some studio flavor of the day, he put his stuff out on the open market, and people bought it and enjoyed it. He spawned many "next Dylans", among them, two of my favorites, John Prine and Tom Waits.

Thank god all music isn't all cleaned up and perpetually 18 years old and aimed at pre-teens. Dylan had the audacity to actually write his own music, use his own voice and pay his own instruments.

Which is why we still listen 35 years later...

[Mr. Mojo]

Good post.

It's also amazing just how many people consider Dylan a "protest singer" (along the lines of Joan Baez). Fact of the matter is that out of Dylan's 30-some-odd albums, only two of them - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1962) and The Times They are A'Changin' (1963) - could accurate be placed in that category. ....both recorded before the Vietnam war. By '64, when his folkie fans tried to pigeonhole him in that genre, he broke out with Another Side of Bob Dylan and Bring it All Back Home and hasn't looked back since. He was "Judas" to the folkie crowd for a long time.

[Bullish]

I've heard this movie is so disorganized and poorly written that it could have been made by a highschool film student. I've also heard that it's ugly and utterly un-watchable.

Dylan should stick to folk music.

[Mr. Mojo]

Tom Waits bump.

And both Dylan and Waits still put out great music. The latter's Bone Machine and The Black Rider were among the best he's ever recorded (imo), and Dylan's recent recordings produced by Daniel Lanois rank with his best as well.

[DPB101]

Dylan is considered a great poet by many conservatives.

So what? Bill Bennett gaves speeches at 50K a pop so he could fund Steve Wynn. Jack Kemp praises free enterprise zones and makes deals with Hugo Chavez. I could care what "many conservatives" think.But I must admit, Lay, Lady, lay always inspired me. Must be the deep, deep meaning I guess. Maybe the rhythm of the words. Bada-bing never had the same impact.