I hear he was supposed to be 'more influential' than the Beatles, but aside from social politics and all the fluff piled on music, was his music really THAT great? I've listened to quite alot of his work, and while there are some classics: 'Hurricane' comes to mind, they didn't shout 'genius' to me when I listened to them. I know you'll probably put me down as a young Generation-Y kid who knows nothing about the 60s, but music never really changes, does it?

Well, I like a lot of Dylan's stuff, but even I will admit that it wierds me out sometimes.

Politics aside, he wrote very much from a personal standpoint on lots of things...take "Positively 4th Street" for example:

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that's winning

You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"
But you don't mean it

When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them

And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you

I can relate to almost every sentiment in that song (unfortunately)  ::) :(

I guess for me, I just like the way he managed to 'capture' real life...


On another note, I am glad he was from an era when you didn't have to be less than 18, look like a movie star and have a good voice  ;D

These days he would never get past the bouncers at the studio door.

In his era, your ability and talent were what counted in terms of your musical success, not like the media generated cardboard cut out pre fabricated pop stars of the present  :o

/end rant.com  .org

:P

Dylan...

Has written several genuinely influential compositions and helped define the singer-songwriter genre...

Can't sing to save his life though...

Dylan...

Has written several genuinely influential compositions and helped define the singer-songwriter genre...

Can't sing to save his life though...


LOL

That's what I was trying to say Paul  ;D

Next time try not to be so verbose will ya ?  :P

There is a rumour that Bob Dylan may be getting back together again.  :D ;) ;D






Cat

You ask a question that many before you have also asked, Trimac.  The genius of Bob Dylan isn't in his singing.  It's in his lyrics.  He is an INCREDIBLE poet.  Look at the lyrics of "The Times, They Are A-Changin'"  They are timeless.  They're just as relevant today as they were when he wrote them nearly 40 years ago.  As are so many of his lyrics.  He was able to capture the essence of his generation, and really, of humanity in a way that no one ever had before, and hasn't since. 

Something that you might find interesting, being a member of the generation you're in, is that, in my opinion, he was one of the very first rappers.  Ok, so it isn't rap like we know it today, but listen to "Subterranean Homesick Blues" or "Highway 61 Revisited" and tell me that you can't hear it in there. 

I love Bob Dylan with every cell of my body.  Not because of his velvet voice.  Because of his velvet words. 

P.S.  I loved what you had to say, Fussbudget!  Right on the money!


The Times They Are A-Changin'

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

His songwriting...NOT his singing ::)

Dylan...

Has written several genuinely influential compositions and helped define the singer-songwriter genre...

Can't sing to save his life though...


^^^ what he said

yeah, he was a major influence, especially politically, and he produced a huge amount of music, even if he wasnt the most musically talented...

I can't really PROVE or CONFIRM this but I heard that Dylan stole a lot of his material. I especially heard that "Blowin' in the Wind" was stolen.





Cat

I hear he was supposed to be 'more influential' than the Beatles, but aside from social politics and all the fluff piled on music, was his music really THAT great? I've listened to quite alot of his work, and while there are some classics: 'Hurricane' comes to mind, they didn't shout 'genius' to me when I listened to them. I know you'll probably put me down as a young Generation-Y kid who knows nothing about the 60s, but music never really changes, does it?




Trimac, I posted a topic on the 60's Folk singers songs that influenced the cultural change. I think you really had to be in the mix of what was going on in that decade to really understand it. In short, the America we lived in was "sick" and Folk song lyrics sang of the social problems, people listened and heard the messages, and to me, I think it help start the healing process of the Political and Social clashings. Bob Dylan (not Dillon) with his a Beatnik appearance (pre- Hippie) was the anti-establishment leader nominated by a generation of who needed a leaders they're own age who they can trust and look up to for answers or guidance through this sick time. He took a stance and with those "Genius" lyrics, motivated a socially ignorant generation to get involved in re-shaping our destiny.

The Beatles were in the right place at the right time, we needed change in the USA politically and socially and they fit the part with their carefree attitudes anti-establishment haircuts and a their new sound in music Rock'n Roll it was different and at that time anything that was different was accepted into the youth's "Now" generation movement and fed the rolling stone of changes in this country and the world was next.

It didn't take much to get it going, it only took the lyrics of music to get the message across and some one to step out of the box to present it...thank you Bob and thank you John Paul George and Ringo, we needed that, you did more for us today than any one can ever imagine or can appreciate...that's another story for another day!

Hot Wax

There is a rumour that Bob Dylan may be getting back together again.  :D ;) ;D






Cat


ahhh! come on now! be nice! We all have our senior moments!

Hot Wax

I haven't been on the forum for quite awhile, anyway...

Yeah, I guess I wouldn't really understand the whole 60s thing...not having lived in that era and everything. But I still don't get why 'Like A Rolling Stone' was rating 'best song ever' by Rolling Stone Magazine. What do they know about music anyway?  :)

ahhh! come on now! be nice! We all have our senior moments!

Hot Wax




LMAO!!!!




Cat

LMAO!!!!




Cat


This is my senior moment now....I figure out what you mean LMAO... ????

Hot

P.S.  I loved what you had to say, Fussbudget!  Right on the money!


Ooooh Thanks  :)

One of the best songwriters of ALL time....and just a little too weird to ignore. ;D

This is my senior moment now....I figure out what you mean LMAO... ????

Hot



Sorry I didn't answer this a LOOOONNNNGGG time ago (I guess the senior moment for me was the fact that this thread got buried and I didn't bother to check it) but in case you still want to know what LMAO means, it meand Laughing My A$$ Off  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

One of the best songwriters of ALL time....and just a little too weird to ignore. ;D
I couldn't agree more...but his "Voice" sucks :P

I can't really PROVE or CONFIRM this but I heard that Dylan stole a lot of his material. I especially heard that "Blowin' in the Wind" was stolen.





Cat


nope..that is not true.

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/blowin.htm

I heard that Bob Dylan wants to be a guest judge on American Idol

Being told you can't sing by Bob Dylan.  Now there's something to think about  ;D

"Nobel prize in literature won by Bob Dylan – as it happened"

https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblog

"Nobel prize in literature won by Bob Dylan – as it happened"

https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblog


congratulations to him. :)

Everything is is great about Bob Dylan!

I have a Bob Dylan VHS tape that was released in 1999.

I have a Bob Dylan VHS tape that was released in 1999.


What do you have on it? ???

What do you have on it? ???


It's a documentary distributed by Newvideo.

"Commentary: Pity the English teacher, now that Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize"

But what awaits the iconic English teacher? The one who spent her childhood with her nose in a book, who tingled with excitement upon reaching the last page of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" or Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-bob-dylan-literature-nobel-20161021-story.html

"Kurt Vonnegut once called Bob Dylan the 'worst poet alive'"

“He can maybe get one good line in a song, and the rest is just gibberish,” Vonnegut said of Dylan in an interview with Kevin Simonson at a Nebraska strip club in 1991.

http://pagesix.com/2016/10/19/kurt-vonnegut-once-called-bob-dylan-the-worst-poet-alive/

"Bob Dylan removes mention of Nobel prize from website"

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/21/bob-dylan-unacknowledges-nobel-prize-literature-win-removed-website

There's one article that remains in the website, though, that refers to this event; from Japan Times, 2011:

"One of a kind: Bob Dylan at 70"

So there’s a snowstorm of Grammies and Oscars and lifetime achievement awards and, now every year, an argument about whether Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature. He may turn up and accept these awards now, but he knows better than to be swayed by the excessive bestowing of honors.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2011/05/22/life/one-of-a-kind-bob-dylan-at-70/