201–210 of 362 posts
I can't help but come back to: A South politician preaches to the poor white man "You got more than blacks, don't complain You're better than them, you been born with white skin" they explain And the Negro's name Is used it is plain For the politician's gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game. YouTube: https://m.youtube.c…
Dylan himself was something of a hustler in his own way (not being negative here: he was also quite an amazing person) but he worked hard at his craft, delving deeply into Lord Byron and many others to hone his poetic skills - and it showed! So many artists gained fame doing his songs owing to the limitations of his own signing voice (his has a raw quality that is appealing in its own right but probably more for specialized audiences as compared to what the signing groups with more of a popular bent could achieve). "Can't sing, can't play" was one putdown popular in that era. But oh how this music soared from one with a raw force, a poetic inspiration, and a truly superb talent whatever the technical limitations - and all wrapped up with the zeitgeist of the times, perfectly capturing the sense and urgency of the civil rights movement.
Very nice to see the accolades now being bestowed on a man who effectively changed a generation in profound ways.
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Keith Richards and his school buddy, Mick Jagger, bonded by nerding out over American folk music ('Life' is a fun read), including both rhythm and blues and the kind of hillbilly stuff Dylan refers to. So did Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It's kind of amazing how rock and roll became so much greater when it was exported and imported.
> So did Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Do you hear this in any of their work? I only hear it in "Rocky Racoon", which is one of my least favorite beatles songs as a result. I can't say I'm a fan of Stones-style rock and roll. I'd prefer Led Zeppelin; much less caterwauling and more music.
And outside of Rubber Soul, "I've Just Seen a Face" comes to mind. What a brilliant song.
I can't help but come back to: A South politician preaches to the poor white man "You got more than blacks, don't complain You're better than them, you been born with white skin" they explain And the Negro's name Is used it is plain For the politician's gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game. YouTube: https://m.youtube.c…
It is about time to officially introduce the 'Reductio ad Trumperum'.
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That MusiCares speech is a great read if you have 30 minutes to spare. A few favorite bits: On Dylan's immersion in classic folk: >If you sang "John Henry" as many times as me – "John Henry was a steel-driving man / Died with a hammer in his hand / John Henry said a man ain't nothin' but a man / Before I let that steam drill drive me down / I'll die with that hammer in my hand." If you had sung that song as many time…
The MusicCares speech is great; thanks. An interesting excerpt: I learned lyrics and how to write them from listening to folk songs. And I played them, and I met other people that played them, back when nobody was doing it. Sang nothing but these folk songs, and they gave me the code for everything that's fair game, that everything belongs to everyone. Does Dylan allow bootlegging? Are his songs libre? Does he limit…
I'm not sure of the legal rights involved, but he spent nearly the first half of his speech thanking individual artists for covering his songs, so I'd say it's fair game in his eyes.
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>the lyrics by themselves don't have anything like the impact (on me at least) of top-notch poetry To you they don't, to me and others they do. To the current Nobel committee they did this year. At the end, Nobel prizes are highly subjective and people dependent recognitions - so arguments of the form of X deserves and Y does not are not too meaningful.
> To you they don't, to me and others they do Really? I've spent pretty much all my spare time and money on music for the last 30 years, but no lyrics by themselves have ever had the effect on me that, for example "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" has had ... but then maybe I'm looking at this wrong, and the prize is being awarded for the songs rather than just the lyrics. If that's the case then I guess the priz…
One example I might offer on the same line as Prufrock is Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel. From "Save the Life of My Child" all the way to "At the Zoo" we follow a life (or many lives) and its roller coaster. "America" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" are particular favorites.
(as an aside, one of my favorite lyrics of all time is by Gordon Lightfoot in his excellent "Black Day in July" -
"And then the tanks go rolling in
To patch things up as best they can"
Talk about summing up so much in a few words.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Keith Richards and his school buddy, Mick Jagger, bonded by nerding out over American folk music ('Life' is a fun read), including both rhythm and blues and the kind of hillbilly stuff Dylan refers to. So did Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It's kind of amazing how rock and roll became so much greater when it was exported and imported.
> So did Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Do you hear this in any of their work? I only hear it in "Rocky Racoon", which is one of my least favorite beatles songs as a result. I can't say I'm a fan of Stones-style rock and roll. I'd prefer Led Zeppelin; much less caterwauling and more music.
"The band's heavy, guitar-driven sound, rooted in blues( and psychedelia on their early albums, has earned them recognition as one of the progenitors of heavy metal, though their unique style drew from a wide variety of influences, including folk music."
"The four played together for the first time in a room below a record store on Gerrard Street in London.[17] Page suggested that they attempt "Train Kept A-Rollin'", originally a jump blues song popularised in a rockabilly version by Johnny Burnette, which had been covered by the Yardbirds."
A lot of great rock-and-roll has come out of Britain... if you trace how it got there, it comes back to the same people Dylan is talking about (not solely, but the Hillbillies are there).
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'.
The rebel became part of the institution in the end. Somewhat sad if you ask me.
It seems that Haruki Murakami is the Leonardo DiCaprio of Nobel prizes.
Unpopular opinion, but they're both overrated. DiCaprio just overacts and people interpret it as a sign of good acting (c.f.: "he cut his hand and kept acting!"; method acting is also given too much credit these days as well) I've read Murakami and it just felt soulless and bland, like he was just appealing to "lonely and lost" people, but not in any meaningful way. Just my personal opinion. Lastly, if someone keeps…
I would be less salty if another author received it over Murakami, but to make the jump to songwriter sets a precedent I don't particularly like. You can make a reasoned argument for authors who deserve it more than Murakami, but to switch genres sort of implies that either all the Nobel caliber authors have been exhausted, or that nobody cares about literature anymore, or that the Nobel committee made this pick to satiate the complaints over the lack of American laureates, and Bob Dylan was the best the US could offer. In any case I find it troubling.