Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
 Oliver - for a non-fiction wrtier I really got a kick out of a phrase you
used in the "Love Sick" listing.  When talking of Victoria's Secret's use of
the song in their ads you talk about "an elongated snatch" of the song being
used.  Nice turn.
  

    
Heh.
  

    
You're right David. Should have phrased my "Fresh Air" remark more
carefully.

John: Billboard, not FOF, published the Dylan book. Although Billboard
did a good job copyediting the book, there wasn't much "New Yorker"
style fact-checking. And there are errors. I've even caught a couple.
Nothing too major but irritating all the same.

Howard, re: "Victoria's Secret." I always suspected I had a dirty mind
but until you pointed out my use of the "elongated snatch" phrase,
even I didn't realize quite how bad it was.
  

    
One of the things I've enjoyed most is the historical background for songs
like "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," or "Who Killed Davey Moore?"

I would have preferred an index. If I had to cut something else instead,
it would be the lists of cover versions of Dylan's songs.
  

    
I don't think Billboard does much fact-checking. I just read galleys
for a book they're publishing in September that a friend of mine wrote,
and there were some egregious errors in there (which I caught in time
for them to be corrected). 
  

    
Funny, despite "Who Killed Davey Moore," with its implicit abolition
of prize fighting message, Dylan seems o be a bit of fan of the sport.
He attended a Felix Trinidad bout not too many years ago.

Other entries in my book that tread the same ground of revealing the
histories behind the songs that might be of interest: "Stagger Lee,"
"Jim Jones," "Joey," "Blackjack Davy," "Percy's Song," "Ballad in Plain
D," "Peace in the Valley," "Barbara Allen." Those are just a few off
the top of my head that get into some of the deeper stuff.

Much of the impetus/inspiration for doing both this and Dead book came
from an experience I had at a Dead show in the '80s. Weir did Robert
Johnson's "Walkin' Blues." One Deadhead commented to another that this
was "Bobby's new song" said as if it were a Weir composition. Knowing
that it was Bobby Johnson's really old song kind of got my dander up.
It seemed like that there had been a kind of loss of learning, that the
library in Alexandria was burning buthardly anyone was smelling the
smoke. I began thinking that a book that set the musicological record
straight was necessary. I think this less true in re: Dylan and his
canon. But as the audiences get younger, the distance between now and
the past (be it the '60s or traditions of old English balladry) is
getting larger. Do the names Emmett Till, Medgar Evers or James
Meredith mean much to the teenage and twenty-somethings discovering Bob
Dylan or attending his shows? This is not meant as a criticism to them
but I thought a book like this might make some of that history a bit
more  accessible.
  

    

I hear ya, man.  I have the same issue with the people who listen to the
Grateful Dead Hour.  "Hey, guess what?  That's COUNTRY MUSIC!  Now go listen
to some more Merle Haggard!"

I was listening to a Firesign Theatre album the other night and mused that
it owuld be really interesting to see a fully-annotated transcript, showing
all the literary and popcult references, of which there are zillions.

Dylan, Hunter-Garcia, the Firesign Theater, and other great creative artists
of that era are great lenses through which to view what came before.
  

    
Like the Torah:

        The Text

surrounded by Commentary
surrounded by Commentary on the Commentary
  

    
They're not bad lenses for looking at what came after, either.
  

    
Roots and branches, for sure.
  

    
Dylan's a big boxing fan, and he boxes himself. Didn't own a gym in
Santa Monica? And I remember hearing a story where he actually boxed
Penelope Cruz during the filming of Masked and Anonymous (I believe it
was her). I can easily imagine his going through a period of being
anti-boxing in his youth, then becoming a fan later. (just the opposite
of me). And let's not forget Hurricane, of course. 

As for people not knowing the real roots of the music they love,
that's just how a lot of people are. I needed no prompting as a
teenager for my love of the Yardbirds to turn me into a huge blues
afficionado. And later, Dylan led me into all kinds hillbilly music,
and lots more, and he still does. 
  

    
Dylan is now roots, himself.    I was watching footage of Springsteen on his
current tour and was amazed at how much Dylan I was seeing.    And it wasn't
Guthrie and Elliott, Dylan's biggest early roots.    They're mine, too, and
I know them well.   It was Dylan.
  

    
The irony: during the Street Legal era, Dylan was accused of imitating
Springsteen, presumably because of the horns. His response: "I don't
imitate anyone under 50."

He later broke the rule for "Tweeter and the Monkey Man," of course. 
  

    
That was more of a parody than an imitation, tho.  Loved it!
  

    <scribbled by almanac Mon 23 May 05 13:14>
  

    

Well, musically, it didn't work all that well as parody, IMO --
the references to New Jersey and the invocation of lines and images from
Bruce songs aside, it still sounded and scanned more like a Dylan tune
of that period than anything by Springsteen.

I found it very enjoyable and amusing, but not a really effective
parody.
  

    
Well, fair enough. But, while I don't think it was meant as just a
simple, straight-ahead parody (like, say, Paul Simon's send-up of
Dylan, "A Simple Desultory Philipic"), it was more a parody than
anything else.

I think both the music and lyrics could easily have been done by
Springsteen -- and the lyrice especially were quite obviously parodic.
But I don't think Dylan is capable of doing anything that doesn't in
some way sound very much like a Dylan song. And Dylan doesn't often do
anything that can be simply labeled.
  

    

Do you mention "Tarantula" in your book? I found that thin
tome great fun. Why did so many think of it as a dog?
  

    
I think of "Tweeter & the MM" more as an homage than a parody or
immitation. Real cinematic. And yes, there is a "Tarantula" entry in
the book. If read like an extended--real extended--sample of what he
was doing in his mid-60s liner notes (I'm thinking of "Bringing It All
Back Home" and "Highway 61,") they fit right in with hos oevre du jour.
There are some funny, loopy wig bubbles floating through that slender
tome. Not ever really my cup of tea, though. Why it was trashed so
frequently and vehemently? Maybe the critics were expecting
"Chronicles" 30 years ahead of schedule.
  

    
yea, verily
wig bubbles a plenty cats and kittens
  

    
Your short item on "Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" is delish,
especially the description of Dylan as lecher. But how is the song
sexist, particularly? Certainly it's less so than "Is your Love in
Vain," or "Sweetheart Like You" --the sexism in those is quaint at
worst, but more apparent than in "Don't Fall." 

Also, I kinda like the song, and would rather that Joey were
sacrificed in favor of Blind Willie.
  

    
First off: Happy Birthday Bob! Many more.

Those are some weird songs to throw into the mix. The lech comment
really has more to do, in my mind, with the character in the song --
not necessarily the songwriter himself. Re: the sexism in the song. I
think I say its chauvinist which may be a bit different and maybe not
correct either. As I review the lyrics, I feel that the song is sing
from somebody both needy and selfish. Like, "how dare you're having a
hard time when I'm the one having a hard time." I often found that
giving life to the entries for songs like these particularly difficult.
There's not a lot of there there. Ironic how much easier dealing with
the "big" songs were ("Desolation Row," "Visions of Johanna," "Baby
Blue," "Tangled," etc.) than the fairly mediocre, sometimes forgettable
fare. That said, I think there's more going on "Sweetheart Like You"
than might initially meet the eye/ear. And I devote a fair amount of
ink to the song in the book. That whole "you must have done evil deed"
middle section casts it in a darker, far more devious light. Where,
exactly, is this song taking place? A brothel? A prison? Hell? The
stakes seem pretty high, no?
  

    
I got a kick out of reading all the one shots that he did and when they were
done.  Makes me want to pull out my NET Covers Collection.
  

    
Oh, Sweetheart is the better song, by far. I just happened to be
listening to "Don't Fall Apart," so I looked it up. You do indeed say
"chauvinism"
  

    
All those one-off were a trip to track down, research and write about.
Definitely added spice and intrigue to the NET. And that multi-CD
covers collection of which you speak is great -- a valuable resource
for me in writing "Keys." In many ways, Dylan's choice of cover
material through the years is a good indication of where his passions
and interests lie. This is where I see an almost Homeric quality to the
man. In the same way that the ancient troubadors wandered the land
singing the epics and myths. But instead of singing of the wrath of
Achilles or Odysseus' journey home, Dylan gives us "Stagger Lee," "Ring
of Fire," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Delia" and the like. Its amazing how
many songs Dylan has covered.