NationStates Jolt Archive

I've come to realize over the last few years that I don't know anyone my age who loves Bob Dylan.

I dated a girl for a year, kept "Gift"ing her songs on her iPod that reminded me of her. A lot were Dylan songs. She finally said one day that she hated Bob Dylan. This led to a fight about other crap which ended the relationship. Good riddance, she didn't like The Beatles or Rolling Stones either.

After that, I was determined to find out if anyone my age had the good taste to adore Bob Dylan as a god. No one does. Not even the stoners.

How did Dylan disappear? Wasn't he considered to be a prophet in his own time?

I really, really don't like Bob Dylan's music. I have nothing against the guy himself, his songs are just... Well, in my opinion, boring.

I don' wanna' work on Meggy's Farm no more.... now I need my CDs. I'm 18, for the record and I wouldn't say I love Bob Dylan, definitely not my all time favourite musician but I do own several of his CDs and listen to his music fairly frequently and generally enjoy him.

Oh and Bob Dylan disappeared the day the music died. *nods*

I've come to realize over the last few years that I don't know anyone my age who loves Bob Dylan.

I dated a girl for a year, kept "Gift"ing her songs on her iPod that reminded me of her. A lot were Dylan songs. She finally said one day that she hated Bob Dylan. This led to a fight about other crap which ended the relationship. Good riddance, she didn't like The Beatles or Rolling Stones either.

After that, I was determined to find out if anyone my age had the good taste to adore Bob Dylan as a god. No one does. Not even the stoners.

How did Dylan disappear? Wasn't he considered to be a prophet in his own time?

HAHAHAHA!

He's never disappeared. He's very good, but he's not this transcendental figure that practically anyone who paints themselves as vaguely bohemian seems to be into.

Seriously, man. He's pretty prevalent. If you're not in college yet, wait for an explosion of Dylan-conciousness.

I've come to realize over the last few years that I don't know anyone my age who loves Bob Dylan.

I dated a girl for a year, kept "Gift"ing her songs on her iPod that reminded me of her. A lot were Dylan songs. She finally said one day that she hated Bob Dylan. This led to a fight about other crap which ended the relationship. Good riddance, she didn't like The Beatles or Rolling Stones either.

After that, I was determined to find out if anyone my age had the good taste to adore Bob Dylan as a god. No one does. Not even the stoners.

How did Dylan disappear? Wasn't he considered to be a prophet in his own time?

I'm 16, and I quite Dylan quite a lot, as do most of my friends.

Dylan? Isn't he the one that does folk covers of popular rock songs?
:tongue:

Well living in this town doesn't help, I guess...

Shit's dope.

How did Dylan disappear? Wasn't he considered to be a prophet in his own time?
He quit drinking, found religion, and lost his touch. I've got an album that he did with the Grateful Dead -- it's horrible.

That, and people just don't seem to like folk music anymore. But don't think twice, it's alright.

I've come to realize over the last few years that I don't know anyone my age who loves Bob Dylan.

I dated a girl for a year, kept "Gift"ing her songs on her iPod that reminded me of her. A lot were Dylan songs. She finally said one day that she hated Bob Dylan. This led to a fight about other crap which ended the relationship. Good riddance, she didn't like The Beatles or Rolling Stones either.

After that, I was determined to find out if anyone my age had the good taste to adore Bob Dylan as a god. No one does. Not even the stoners.

How did Dylan disappear? Wasn't he considered to be a prophet in his own time?

How old are you? I'm 21, and most of the people I know like Dylan.

Erm... Who is Bob Dylan?

Bod Dylan's biggest weakness as a songwriter is that he tends to sing his songs. When the right people sing them, they're phenomenal work; but the right person is never Bob Dylan. :tongue:

The following Bob Dylan albums are utterly brilliant and should be owned by anybody who can get past his voice:
Bringin' It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde On Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Blood On The Tracks

The following Bob Dylan albums are nearly as good and are recommended listening for anybody who likes the five listed above:
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Live 1966

The following albums aren't really in the same league but are all very good, intermittently brilliant pieces of work:
Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin'
New Morning
Desire
Street Legal
Time Out Of Mind
Love And Theft

This lot are all pretty good if you like Dylan and fairly pointless if you don't:
Nashville Skyline
Planet Waves
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (soundtrack)
Slow Train Coming
Infidels
Oh Mercy
Modern Times

After that, you're onto live albums (some of which are excellent) rarities collections and long-forgotten albums that no sane man would touch with a ten-foot pole, but which nevertheless contain a few forgotten gems.
I'm going to listen to some Bob Dylan now, and drink some questionable wine, smoke some cigarettes and be moody.

Bod Dylan's biggest weakness as a songwriter is that he tends to sing his songs. When the right people sing them, they're phenomenal work; but the right person is never Bob Dylan. :tongue:

Rubbish. Bob Dylan is a technically poor singer, but a superlative performer of lyrics. His vocal phrasing is astoundingly moving at times, and hilariously funny at others. He's a uniquely talented vocalist. If you can get past his rather weak voice, then the covers rarely touch upon the brilliance his performances are capable of, with a few notable exceptions.

Bob Dylan didn't disappear. I almost wish he had, his career had some twists and turns but overall it's the story of a folk singer turning into a rock star.

I like the early stuff, the sad ones about real injustices. Around about Highway 61 the self-indulgence takes over, though there are still good songs like "Hurricane" after that. Blood on the Tracks is the last album of his I can stand to listen to all the way through.

Some of his songs about, or to, women are patronizing and even a bit creepy. "Just like a woman" and "lay lady lay" for instance. I think it very much depends on which songs the OP was gifting to the girlfriend.

I always found (in my limited experience) that girls seem to like your music because you like it. Not because they like it themselves...somehow they do manage to fit it in with what they normally listen to.

Example: I'm a huge Yes fan. Yeah, they're one of the most unpopular bands ever, I know. My ex-girlfriend mysteriously was the only fan of them I knew properly- normally she liked modernish music which really isn't that compatible with Yes and the other bands I introduced her to. But she liked them all...until we broke up. Then for some reason she started to enjoy the music her new boyfriend did and only bore a slight interest in Yes even though she bought two of their albums.

As for Bob Dylan...Mr Tambourine Man anyone?

Mr Tambourine Man anyone?

I'll stick with John Wesley Harding, thanks.

Around about Highway 61 the self-indulgence takes over

I don't believe you. You're a liar.

I always found (in my limited experience) that girls seem to like your music because you like it. Not because they like it themselves...somehow they do manage to fit it in with what they normally listen to.

Sounds to me like your limited experience is with a girl who didn't like your music. Period.

As for Bob Dylan...Mr Tambourine Man anyone?

Lovely poetry, but always makes me want to get bent and wander around barefoot.

I'll stick with John Wesley Harding, thanks.

We can agree on that I think.

I don't believe you. You're a liar.

I'm like that. I lie to people. When their name sounds like a venereal disease, I'd rather they keep their distance. :p

Sounds to me like your limited experience is with a girl who didn't like your music. Period.

QFT.

Lovely poetry, but always makes me want to get bent and wander around barefoot.

I don't like referring to Bob Dylan's lyrics as poetry. Mr Tambourine Man reads as pretentious, second-rate garbage. The poetry lies in the combination of word and sound, the timing, the tune and the backing. That's why I think Dylan himself generally has the edge over people who cover his songs - he's a master of interpreting a lyric musically.

I don't like referring to Bob Dylan's lyrics as poetry. Mr Tambourine Man reads as pretentious, second-rate garbage. The poetry lies in the combination of word and sound, the timing, the tune and the backing. That's why I think Dylan himself generally has the edge over people who cover his songs - he's a master of interpreting a lyric musically.

Hey, I think you're right. I have a book of his songs, and certainly it's hard to enjoy as poetry. Singing it, he can make up for extra or missing syllables and some terrible rhymes, without it being obvious.

Hey, I think you're right. I have a book of his songs, and certainly it's hard to enjoy as poetry. Singing it, he can make up for extra or missing syllables and some terrible rhymes, without it being obvious.

You're equally right about the misogyny of some of the lyrics. Just Like A Woman is a really, really spiteful song. I happen to think it works as a piece of art depicting the state of mind of the average "wronged" male (by which I mean, a woman has done something he doesn't like). It's certainly morally questionable (and also not very good) if you look at it in isolation, or if you agree with what's said by the lyrics. I look at it as a stream of self-justifying anger from someone who's probably more sinning than sinned against, but I understand what that state of mind is like subjectively. As long as you assume that the narrator of the song is not a good person, I think it's legitimate to enjoy it. People who just sing along without questioning it are dicks, though.

Sounds to me like your limited experience is with a girl who didn't like your music. Period.

...Which was kind of my point. Why did she even bother to buy the albums!?

I guess being friends with musicians helped me here.
Mother's love of him lead me to at least appreciate Dylan, but then when I moved out of home and started living at a hall of residence, the appreciation grew and grew. Became good mates with young, long-time Dylan fans who could play and sing well. Love it.

Bob Dylan's alright. I wouldn't call him a god of music, but I like his music. People today are too spoiled by the perfectionist studio recordings of pop music today. Folk, bluegrass, and folk rock are perhaps too difficult for the MTV generation as a whole.

how he "dissappeared" was a combination of things. in his own time he allowed, even encouraged people to come to expect certain things of him, but as an artist he decided to move on and explore other perceptions as well. unfortunately too many of those perceptions had to do with gratuitous conventionality and gratuitously conventional beliefs, the latter being where he lost me, pretty much.

he was, in his time, one hell of a lyricist, among other things. nothing wrong with his voice or musicianship either. i really think, morally, he was on the wrong side of his breakup with 'sara', which happens to be the mundane name of another musician he was either married to, or for all practical purposes more or less as well as might have been.

his mundane name is/was robert zimmerman, and as one might infer from that, rather closely related, son actually, if i'm not mistaken, of fantasy author marion zimmerman-bradly, creator of the darkover world and long running series of stories set therein.

(who also suffers, albeit, for the most part, a bit less blatently, from the same 'affliction' that seems to have somewhat overcome her son)

He revolutionised music in the 60s and 70s, he had a phenomenol musical career, took plenty of wrong turns but hey! The guy is a creative genius. He may be past his peak but many of his songs were brilliant.

His voice was good when he was young but it is as gravelly as a cement mixer now.

He was good once. Then he started playing Rock'N'Roll. If he'd stuck to the early stuff he'd still be great. I love early Bob Dylan. Later Bob Dylan is just boring.

He's kinda painful to listen to, now, as he's gotten older. His voice is so breathy that it lacks for the desperate disaffection of early Dylan.

...Which was kind of my point. Why did she even bother to buy the albums!?

Um ... I don't know?

In this thread I have categorized Bob's work according to albums. It's a relic of the golden age of the music industry, really, this idea that if you hear one or two songs "from the new album" you will go out and pay what six tracks would cost you on a vinyl single (2 songs) for ten or twelve songs.

Cheaper by the dozen, buy some pop music!

Perhaps you (ex?)gf was responding to that idea. Don't just take your word for what's best, check the whole album out by buying it. Judge the artist by their album, not the "best of."

Cheaper by the dozen, buy some pop music!

I think it was always a bad idea. Really prolific musicians/groups could pack an album and do another within a year. But there were also good musos/groups who got to their contract time and only had one or two good songs, and had to fill the album anyway. Those albums are terrible both for the musician and for their audience. It's hard to keep your respect for a muso or band when you bought an album which was mostly filler (half-finished songs, reworked earlier stuff, or covers.)

If history had taken us straight from radio (one song at a time) to personal players (make your own playlist, one song at a time) I think we'd all be a lot more aware and respectful of the "one-hit wonders."

"Yes" has really bad associations for me. Nylon board-shorts with sand up my arse, the Worst Hits of Status Quo. Puberty. Wasting my pocket-money on vinyl LP's.

I like early Bob Dylan. I like Nirvana, and dog help me, Led Zeppelin. Can you advise me which track or tracks I might enjoy from Yes ?

Try 'Roundabout', 'Long Distance Runaround' and 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'. If you can't stand those three then you have no chance whatsoever with their more intense stuff. :D

I have no idea what nylon board shorts are, nor do I intend to ever find out. They sound pretty rotten. Status Quo are grim as well! :D

(who also suffers, albeit, for the most part, a bit less blatently, from the same 'affliction' that seems to have somewhat overcome her son)

Stage-fright ? Or something medical ?

If someone put Dylan or The Beatles on my Ipod, I would find it romantic. What a douche.

Brilliant songwriter
Okay guitarist
Bad singer
Terrible harmonica player

When he is good he is brilliant, but a lot of the time like LG says I would rather hear someone else singing his songs.

Brilliant songwriter
Okay guitarist
Bad singer
Terrible harmonica player

When he is good he is brilliant, but a lot of the time like LG says I would rather hear someone else singing his songs.
I'm drawing a complete blank. Who else does good covers of his songs? I'm sure when you start naming them, I'll say "Oh, yeah. How could I have forgotten about ..."

I'm drawing a complete blank. Who else does good covers of his songs? I'm sure when you start naming them, I'll say "Oh, yeah. How could I have forgotten about ..."

The Byrds were pretty good at them. Jimi Hendrix's version of All along the watchtower. Even the Special's version of Maggie's farm. Just found this website which shows quite how many people cover his songs - always a sign of a great songwriter
http://www.bjorner.com/Covers.htm

Enjoying the Flatt and Scruggs cd you recommended. "Pearl Pearl Pearl he's as nutty as a squirrel" is one of the great rhymes.

The Byrds were pretty good at them. Jimi Hendrix's version of All along the watchtower. Even the Special's version of Maggie's farm. Just found this website which shows quite how many people cover his songs - always a sign of a great songwriter
http://www.bjorner.com/Covers.htm

Enjoying the Flatt and Scruggs cd you recommended. "Pearl Pearl Pearl he's as nutty as a squirrel" is one of the great rhymes.
Here's where I say, "D'oh! How could I have forgotten Mr Tambourine Man, All Along the Watchtower, etc." I guess the Alzheimer's must be kicking in early, today.

The Byrds were pretty good at them. Jimi Hendrix's version of All along the watchtower. Even the Special's version of Maggie's farm. Just found this website which shows quite how many people cover his songs - always a sign of a great songwriter
http://www.bjorner.com/Covers.htm

Enjoying the Flatt and Scruggs cd you recommended. "Pearl Pearl Pearl he's as nutty as a squirrel" is one of the great rhymes.

Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, don't give your love to Earl
This here man is such a sap, he won't sit you on his lap
unless you're an old 5-string banjo!

back to topic: Dylan's songs are best heard when played by a good band at a folk music festival or some other live venue.

Bob Dylan, the "Rolling Stones" and the "Beatles" are all very poor. Swing, big band, and early jazz are all I really care for when it comes to popular music.

Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, don't give your love to Earl
This here man is such a sap, he won't sit you on his lap
unless you're an old 5-string banjo!

:salute:

Bob Dylan and Vladimir Vysotsky performing together...that would be heaven. If only...

He quit drinking, found religion, and lost his touch.

That'll do it.

But don't think twice, it's alright.

I sent the girl that song when we broke it off. I hope she understood it better than the others.

Here's where I say, "D'oh! How could I have forgotten Mr Tambourine Man, All Along the Watchtower, etc." I guess the Alzheimer's must be kicking in early, today.

Desolation Row is one of the best poems ever written
Isis is one of the best love songs ever written
Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts is one of the best stories ever written
Hurricane is one of the best ballads
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall is one of the best protest songs...

I could go on, but there'd be no point because you already know the songs I'm going to mention :)

A friend of mine in college said, "He's a great musician, too bad he can't play anything, or sing!"

Dylan's songs are best heard when played by a good band at a folk music festival or some other live venue.

A friend of mine in college said, "He's a great musician, too bad he can't play anything, or sing!"

If someone put Dylan or The Beatles on my Ipod, I would find it romantic. What a douche.

Hmmm and just where have you been all my life?

Bob Dylan, the "Rolling Stones" and the "Beatles" are all very poor.

Um blasphemy.

Swing, big band, and early jazz are all I really care for when it comes to popular music.

Jazz. Okay. The other two I just don't know enough about to comment really. I probably have my own idea of what swing is, and I wouldn't know a "big band" song if it kicked me in the ass, so I guess I can't comment.

...how can you not like the Beatles, though? I mean, I know Dylan's not the greatest singer, but the Beatles? The freakin' BEATLES, man?
They were gods.

Desolation Row is one of the best poems ever written
Isis is one of the best love songs ever written
Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts is one of the best stories ever written
Hurricane is one of the best ballads
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall is one of the best protest songs...

I could go on, but there'd be no point because you already know the songs I'm going to mention :)

Straw poll, how well known is Blind Willie Mctell (the song). I think it's as good as anything he's ever done, otoh some people seem to have never heard of it and others say everyone knows it.

Straw poll, how well known is Blind Willie Mctell (the song). I think it's as good as anything he's ever done, otoh some people seem to have never heard of it and others say everyone knows it.

I was just listening to it :) Smell that sweet magnolia bloomin', hear the crackin' of the whip...
Haunting.
I can't believe he didn't release it earlier.

Desolation Row is one of the best poems ever written
Isis is one of the best love songs ever written
Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts is one of the best stories ever written
Hurricane is one of the best ballads
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall is one of the best protest songs...

I could go on, but there'd be no point because you already know the songs I'm going to mention :)
I put on "Blood on the Tracks" the other night. When I turned it over and finally got to the Jack of Hearts, I remembered how horrible Dylan's harp playing was. He is certainly the poster child for why there should be cover bands.

I asked Bobby Dylan...I asked the Beatles... I asked Timothy Leary, but he couldn't help me either. They call me the Seeker...
That being said, Bob Dylan is a horrible musician.

...how can you not like the Beatles, though? I mean, I know Dylan's not the greatest singer, but the Beatles? The freakin' BEATLES, man?
They were gods.

Lets be friends. :)

*Listens to Dear Prudence*

I appreciate Bob Dylan as a songwriter - there are few better. But with only a very few exceptions ("lay lady lay", "Hurricane") I can't stand his singing. Covers of his work always seem so much better.

Hmmm and just where have you been all my life?

Getting busy with Rotovia (NSer), who plays Bob Marley, Lennon, Yoko and Pink Floyd records for me. :)

And here I am, stuck in the middle with all the people who aren't sure...

Getting busy with Rotovia (NSer), who plays Bob Marley, Lennon, Yoko and Pink Floyd records for me. :)


Ohhh...
Well I guess of all the reasons to get busy with someone, that's not such a bad one.

I've come to realize over the last few years that I don't know anyone my age who loves Bob Dylan.

I dated a girl for a year, kept "Gift"ing her songs on her iPod that reminded me of her. A lot were Dylan songs. She finally said one day that she hated Bob Dylan. This led to a fight about other crap which ended the relationship. Good riddance, she didn't like The Beatles or Rolling Stones either.

After that, I was determined to find out if anyone my age had the good taste to adore Bob Dylan as a god. No one does. Not even the stoners.

How did Dylan disappear? Wasn't he considered to be a prophet in his own time?

No more or less than any other. Arlo Guthrie, for example. He is a gifted lyricist (all who are gifted invariably pen stuff that disappoints or offends, such as "Just Like A Woman"), and knew enough about songwriting to attach his poetry to serviceable melodies, whose chord structures could be adapted to many cover ideas. That's the hallmark of a good writer.

Rubbish. Bob Dylan is a technically poor singer, but a superlative performer of lyrics. His vocal phrasing is astoundingly moving at times, and hilariously funny at others. He's a uniquely talented vocalist. If you can get past his rather weak voice, then the covers rarely touch upon the brilliance his performances are capable of, with a few notable exceptions.

I don't think his vocalizations mark him as uniquely talented. Unique, yes. His lyrical renderings as a young man were adequate to the expression of his own lyrical intention. When his neck was damaged in the motorcycle crash, that finished any kind of vocal presentation for him except those that needed a gravel-heavy, untrained presence to get across a point.

Bob Dylan, the "Rolling Stones" and the "Beatles" are all very poor in my opinion. Swing, big band, and early jazz are all I really care for when it comes to popular music.

Fixed. Like what you like and say it that way. I am a jazz musician, have sung with many big bands and have taught jazz history at the university level. As such, you can dislike the Stones and Beatles all you want -- even to the point of petulantly placing their names in quotation marks -- but that does not make your judgment universal. An overwheming majority appreciates at least some of the oeuvre of both of those groups, even if they don't know who they're hearing. Also, the fact that many jazz artists have covered Lennon/McCartney songs lends some legitimacy to their craft. I'm surprised to see you dismiss artists so glibly.

His songs are all the same, he can't sing, and he can't play guitar.

How did Dylan disappear?
He did a Victoria's Secret ad, then turned into Cate Blanchett.

Seriously though, he ain't dissapeared, and he's still as influential as ever; it's just that he's now charging £75+ for tickets to see him live.



Bob Dylan, the "Rolling Stones" and the "Beatles" are all very poor.
I don't see how anyone can listen to the Whit Album and not think The Beatles were, at the very least, talented musicians. You may not like their stuff, but to say their 'poor', as an evaluation of their skill, just seems ignorant to me.

I love Dylan.

I don't see how anyone can listen to the Whit Album and not think The Beatles were, at the very least, talented musicians. You may not like their stuff, but to say their 'poor', as an evaluation of their skill, just seems ignorant to me.

Ignorant more from youth than anything serious and lingering. He'll get over it.

Stage-fright ? Or something medical ?
something pseudospiritual. you know that big personality cult? the one about the charismatic socialist pacifist who was wrongfully exicuted by a paranoid colonial government a couple of thousand years ago. the one we know almost nothing about the first 30 years of his life, and about the last three, only the hyperbole of the four litterate members of his cadre.

something pseudospiritual. you know that big personality cult? the one about the charismatic socialist pacifist who was wrongfully exicuted by a paranoid colonial government a couple of thousand years ago. the one we know almost nothing about the first 30 years of his life, and about the last three, only the hyperbole of the four litterate members of his cadre.

Actually, other members of his cadre wrote books, too. Oprah just didn't give them the sticker ;)

No more or less than any other. Arlo Guthrie, for example. He is a gifted lyricist (all who are gifted invariably pen stuff that disappoints or offends, such as "Just Like A Woman"), and knew enough about songwriting to attach his poetry to serviceable melodies, whose chord structures could be adapted to many cover ideas. That's the hallmark of a good writer.

Didn't even know Woody Guthrie had a son... shows how much I know :$

I don't think his vocalizations mark him as uniquely talented. Unique, yes. His lyrical renderings as a young man were adequate to the expression of his own lyrical intention. When his neck was damaged in the motorcycle crash, that finished any kind of vocal presentation for him except those that needed a gravel-heavy, untrained presence to get across a point.

Much as I hate to say it, yeah, that's true. I listened to the album "Time out of Mind" the other day and it was almost painful.

Fixed. Like what you like and say it that way. I am a jazz musician, have sung with many big bands and have taught jazz history at the university level. As such, you can dislike the Stones and Beatles all you want -- even to the point of petulantly placing their names in quotation marks -- but that does not make your judgment universal. An overwheming majority appreciates at least some of the oeuvre of both of those groups, even if they don't know who they're hearing. Also, the fact that many jazz artists have covered Lennon/McCartney songs lends some legitimacy to their craft. I'm surprised to see you dismiss artists so glibly.

This ^

Fixed. Like what you like and say it that way. I am a jazz musician, have sung with many big bands and have taught jazz history at the university level. As such, you can dislike the Stones and Beatles all you want -- even to the point of petulantly placing their names in quotation marks -- but that does not make your judgment universal. An overwheming majority appreciates at least some of the oeuvre of both of those groups, even if they don't know who they're hearing. Also, the fact that many jazz artists have covered Lennon/McCartney songs lends some legitimacy to their craft. I'm surprised to see you dismiss artists so glibly.

Really? Sweet.