Bob Dylan at 80
May 23, 2021 9:50 AM Subscribe
Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan!
[Grauniad]
Bob Dylan at 80 – a little Minnesota town celebrates its famous son
Bob Dylan at 80: in praise of a mighty and unbowed singer-songwriter
Beyond Mr Tambourine Man: 80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know
Happy 80th birthday to Bob Dylan, rock’s most prescient, timeless voice
[/Grauniad]
Lucinda Williams On Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's favourite Bob Dylan album is a strange one
It’s all protest music: Bob Dylan at 80
[Grauniad]
Bob Dylan at 80 – a little Minnesota town celebrates its famous son
Bob Dylan at 80: in praise of a mighty and unbowed singer-songwriter
Beyond Mr Tambourine Man: 80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know
Happy 80th birthday to Bob Dylan, rock’s most prescient, timeless voice
[/Grauniad]
Lucinda Williams On Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's favourite Bob Dylan album is a strange one
It’s all protest music: Bob Dylan at 80
Happy Bday Bobby!
the pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handle
posted by goinWhereTheClimateSuitsMyClothes at 11:56 AM on May 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
the pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handle
posted by goinWhereTheClimateSuitsMyClothes at 11:56 AM on May 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Happy Bday Bobby!
Well, yeah, tomorrow to be sure.
posted by y2karl at 12:43 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Well, yeah, tomorrow to be sure.
posted by y2karl at 12:43 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
However, as an occasion, it is a step up from a cameo on Pawn Stars.
posted by y2karl at 12:57 PM on May 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 12:57 PM on May 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Bob Dylan is turning 80 – but his best is yet to come
But here’s the thing. Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter on Earth because he is 80. He started making his best records at 55. He’s a quarter-century better than that now, and I don’t see him going off the boil. I know, plenty of people can’t get past the whiny harp and the voice of sand and glue. For the last couple of decades I’ve been telling them, forget the classics. Listen to his latest. Listen to Time Out of Mind, or Love and Theft, or Modern Times, or Tempest.
As he enters his ninth decade, his latest is Rough and Rowdy Ways. Sprung last year after five discs back at school with the old American songbook, this album is as good as Dylan gets, and the 17-minute Murder Most Foul among his most brilliant.
posted by philip-random at 1:14 PM on May 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
But here’s the thing. Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter on Earth because he is 80. He started making his best records at 55. He’s a quarter-century better than that now, and I don’t see him going off the boil. I know, plenty of people can’t get past the whiny harp and the voice of sand and glue. For the last couple of decades I’ve been telling them, forget the classics. Listen to his latest. Listen to Time Out of Mind, or Love and Theft, or Modern Times, or Tempest.
As he enters his ninth decade, his latest is Rough and Rowdy Ways. Sprung last year after five discs back at school with the old American songbook, this album is as good as Dylan gets, and the 17-minute Murder Most Foul among his most brilliant.
posted by philip-random at 1:14 PM on May 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
I've worked up a rockabilly version of "Happy Birthday" on electric piano for this.
Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter on Earth
"Townes Van Zandt is the greatest songwriter on Earth, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that" - Steve Earle, iirc
posted by thelonius at 1:35 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter on Earth
"Townes Van Zandt is the greatest songwriter on Earth, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that" - Steve Earle, iirc
posted by thelonius at 1:35 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm just glad we got at least one original album out of him again after the Sinatra trilogy (which is great but a different Dylan). Here's hoping he's got another one or two left in him. He's still got things to say.
I'd put him and Townes on about equal footing. Sometimes I lean one way or the other but you can't go wrong either way. I just wish Townes had lived long enough so I could see what he was able to say now.
posted by downtohisturtles at 1:54 PM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'd put him and Townes on about equal footing. Sometimes I lean one way or the other but you can't go wrong either way. I just wish Townes had lived long enough so I could see what he was able to say now.
posted by downtohisturtles at 1:54 PM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
Bob Dylan is turning 80 – but his best is yet to come
He has been quoted as saying any day above ground is a good day but, on the other hand, he wrote Visions of Johanna when he was 23 or 24 and without resorting to collage at that. All the same, he is marching on and producing work of merit -- so had I a hat, it would be off to him.
posted by y2karl at 2:05 PM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
He has been quoted as saying any day above ground is a good day but, on the other hand, he wrote Visions of Johanna when he was 23 or 24 and without resorting to collage at that. All the same, he is marching on and producing work of merit -- so had I a hat, it would be off to him.
posted by y2karl at 2:05 PM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
He started making his best records at 55.
I was taking a deep breath to start arguing with this point, then paused to consider that 'Love and Theft' is probably one of the most enjoyable albums in his catalog. Then I exhaled.
posted by ovvl at 2:17 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
I was taking a deep breath to start arguing with this point, then paused to consider that 'Love and Theft' is probably one of the most enjoyable albums in his catalog. Then I exhaled.
posted by ovvl at 2:17 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Also Bob Moog would be 78 today.
posted by Foosnark at 3:39 PM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 3:39 PM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I’ve always enjoyed that Samuel R Delaney once had top billing over Dylan.
Petty, but true.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:32 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Petty, but true.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:32 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
I still don't know what he's grilling .
Previously
posted by alex_skazat at 7:07 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Previously
posted by alex_skazat at 7:07 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Back in the old days when I was on OK Cupid, I had a line in my profile about how I felt that Love and Theft was the perfect album to listen to when you’re on a road trip, driving out of Vicksburg, Mississippi at 6:00 a.m., watching the sun come up, the week after a hurricane has torn across the South and ripped out everything in its path.
Almost 24 years later, I still feel the same way about that album.
Also, I just discovered that Love and Theft was released on 9/11. Yes, that 9/11.
Anyway, happy birthday, Mr. Zimmerman. You’re quite the curmudgeon, but if anyone’s entitled to be one, it’s you.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:52 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Almost 24 years later, I still feel the same way about that album.
Also, I just discovered that Love and Theft was released on 9/11. Yes, that 9/11.
Anyway, happy birthday, Mr. Zimmerman. You’re quite the curmudgeon, but if anyone’s entitled to be one, it’s you.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:52 PM on May 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Happy birthday to Bob Dylan!
My dad got into Dylan when he was a teenager, so I grew up aware of him. My dad would even play Dylan songs on his guitar and sing as lullabies for me and my sister. So I had the choice of either hating or loving Dylan’s music. I’m glad that I opted for the latter.
posted by Kattullus at 12:48 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
My dad got into Dylan when he was a teenager, so I grew up aware of him. My dad would even play Dylan songs on his guitar and sing as lullabies for me and my sister. So I had the choice of either hating or loving Dylan’s music. I’m glad that I opted for the latter.
posted by Kattullus at 12:48 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Happy birthday, Bob Dylan. My folkie dad might be the last person still mad he went electric.
posted by johngoren at 5:41 AM on May 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by johngoren at 5:41 AM on May 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
“The 100 Best Bob Dylan Covers Ever”—Cover Me, 24 May 2021
posted by ob1quixote at 7:36 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by ob1quixote at 7:36 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I love Subterranean Homesick Blues, but I also think Weird Al's parody of it, Bob, is terrific. Every line is a palindrome.
posted by FencingGal at 8:45 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 8:45 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Movies and movie-adjacent things with Bob Dylan content, ranked:
The Last Waltz
Rolling Thunder Revue
Don't Look Back
The Other Side of the Mirror
Festival!
No Direction Home
I'm Not There
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Eat the Document
Renaldo and Clara
The Hurricane
Hearts of Fire
Masked and Anonymous
Not rated: We Are the World
posted by box at 9:40 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
The Last Waltz
Rolling Thunder Revue
Don't Look Back
The Other Side of the Mirror
Festival!
No Direction Home
I'm Not There
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Eat the Document
Renaldo and Clara
The Hurricane
Hearts of Fire
Masked and Anonymous
Not rated: We Are the World
posted by box at 9:40 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'd put him and Townes on about equal footing.
I like Townes’ thing better - quite a bit better, to be honest - but they are very different things and I don’t think anybody would claim Bob isn’t the best at his thing. He’s kind of the only one at his thing, like the line about the Grateful Dead, even through (like the Dead) he has pale imitators.
posted by atoxyl at 1:48 PM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I like Townes’ thing better - quite a bit better, to be honest - but they are very different things and I don’t think anybody would claim Bob isn’t the best at his thing. He’s kind of the only one at his thing, like the line about the Grateful Dead, even through (like the Dead) he has pale imitators.
posted by atoxyl at 1:48 PM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have loved his words, since I first heard them. I learned to play a guitar, (somewhat,) because of him. His words and songs have kept me company all along the roads I took, the places I stopped, the directions I chose. To dance beneath the diamond sky...
posted by Oyéah at 1:48 PM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 1:48 PM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Movies and movie-adjacent things with Bob Dylan content, ranked:
The Last Waltz
good performance by Bob but if he hadn't been there we'd still be talking about that movie. It didn't need him.
Rolling Thunder Revue
Don't Look Back
both essential (and artful) documents, lightning caught in bottles
The Other Side of the Mirror
Festival!
don't know these two
No Direction Home
Dylan's life contains a lot of acts. This movie covers the first three brilliantly (Complete Unknown, Folk Saviour, Electric Judas). Highly recommended to anyone who is unclear as to why the culture takes the guy so seriously. If he'd died in that motorcycle accident, we'd still be talking about him on the occasion of his 80th birthday. No question.
I'm Not There
The Dylan myth desconstructed, turned in on itself and further mystified. Anyone who complains that nobody makes interesting movies anymore and hasn't seen this needs to shut up and spend some time with it. Great soundtrack.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
a long, meandering, parodoxically beautiful rumination on death and doom that almost transcends its missteps (Kris Kristofferson is at least a decade too old to be playing Billy etc). Dylan's score is one of the best ever composed for any movie. And if you've seen a version that actually includes Knockin' on Heaven's Door, you haven't seen the right one.
Eat the Document
Kind of aimless and disconnected as a I recall. Most of the best parts found their way into No Direction Home.
Renaldo and Clara
All of the best parts found their way into Rolling Thunder Revue.
The Hurricane
Only peripherally Dylan related.
Hearts of Fire
Haven't seen it.
Masked and Anonymous
I'm not going to argue this is a good movie. I am going to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. A wonderful mess that achieves the opposite of synergy. The whole is less than the sum of its parts, but some of those parts are indeed a blast. And the music is uniformly great.
And finally, one that was missed. The Hard Rain TV Special which aired on NBC in September 1976. The weather is shitty. Nobody's happy. The performance of Idiot Wind is for the ages.
posted by philip-random at 6:02 PM on May 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Last Waltz
good performance by Bob but if he hadn't been there we'd still be talking about that movie. It didn't need him.
Rolling Thunder Revue
Don't Look Back
both essential (and artful) documents, lightning caught in bottles
The Other Side of the Mirror
Festival!
don't know these two
No Direction Home
Dylan's life contains a lot of acts. This movie covers the first three brilliantly (Complete Unknown, Folk Saviour, Electric Judas). Highly recommended to anyone who is unclear as to why the culture takes the guy so seriously. If he'd died in that motorcycle accident, we'd still be talking about him on the occasion of his 80th birthday. No question.
I'm Not There
The Dylan myth desconstructed, turned in on itself and further mystified. Anyone who complains that nobody makes interesting movies anymore and hasn't seen this needs to shut up and spend some time with it. Great soundtrack.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
a long, meandering, parodoxically beautiful rumination on death and doom that almost transcends its missteps (Kris Kristofferson is at least a decade too old to be playing Billy etc). Dylan's score is one of the best ever composed for any movie. And if you've seen a version that actually includes Knockin' on Heaven's Door, you haven't seen the right one.
Eat the Document
Kind of aimless and disconnected as a I recall. Most of the best parts found their way into No Direction Home.
Renaldo and Clara
All of the best parts found their way into Rolling Thunder Revue.
The Hurricane
Only peripherally Dylan related.
Hearts of Fire
Haven't seen it.
Masked and Anonymous
I'm not going to argue this is a good movie. I am going to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. A wonderful mess that achieves the opposite of synergy. The whole is less than the sum of its parts, but some of those parts are indeed a blast. And the music is uniformly great.
And finally, one that was missed. The Hard Rain TV Special which aired on NBC in September 1976. The weather is shitty. Nobody's happy. The performance of Idiot Wind is for the ages.
posted by philip-random at 6:02 PM on May 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Bob is an incredible influence on my life, and his importance cannot be understated. I came to him late, but that doesn’t matter. He’s been with me for decades, and I’m still trying to figure him out, figure his songs out, and that’s the sign of any great artist.
I’ve seen him five or six times, and every appearance only confounds my understanding of him. It’s wonderful.
My best Bob moment was when I went looking for the Big Pink house in Saugerties, NY. It was about half an hour too late for daylight in the mountains, and so while I found where Big Pink was, it definitely had the vibe that I shouldn’t be there, that someone would show up on this private road with a shotgun, so — change of plan, and I high-speed reversed on this mountainside gravel driveway, trying not to hit trees or slide down the slope. I came so close to finding some authentic Bob, but it just slipped away — which is true of everything he did. The closeness maddeningly denied.
The sign of any great artist.
Here’s Bob a few blocks north of my house, in 1986. So good with his fans, but ever elusive, ever the trickster.
Happy birthday, Bob. Thank you.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:12 PM on May 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
I’ve seen him five or six times, and every appearance only confounds my understanding of him. It’s wonderful.
My best Bob moment was when I went looking for the Big Pink house in Saugerties, NY. It was about half an hour too late for daylight in the mountains, and so while I found where Big Pink was, it definitely had the vibe that I shouldn’t be there, that someone would show up on this private road with a shotgun, so — change of plan, and I high-speed reversed on this mountainside gravel driveway, trying not to hit trees or slide down the slope. I came so close to finding some authentic Bob, but it just slipped away — which is true of everything he did. The closeness maddeningly denied.
The sign of any great artist.
Here’s Bob a few blocks north of my house, in 1986. So good with his fans, but ever elusive, ever the trickster.
Happy birthday, Bob. Thank you.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:12 PM on May 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
The one thing about Dylan that does not get as much play is his sense of sardonic humor. Plus being a pessimist myself; I also appreciate his dystopian viewpoints.
posted by indianbadger1 at 8:17 AM on May 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by indianbadger1 at 8:17 AM on May 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
80-some musicians pick their favorite Bob Dylan song (Stereogum)
Lotta deep cuts in there, which is cool, and a lot of really earnest thoughtful responses, which is cooler. I will say that more people that I expected went with 'Murder Most Foul.'
posted by box at 1:48 PM on May 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Lotta deep cuts in there, which is cool, and a lot of really earnest thoughtful responses, which is cooler. I will say that more people that I expected went with 'Murder Most Foul.'
posted by box at 1:48 PM on May 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
thanks, box -- some great stuff in there.
Devendra Banhart on Music Most Foul:
This song,
From his THIRTY NINTH album!!! has a number of fascinating elements…
From its myriad of cultural and political reference points, its heartbreaking time traveling dream gospel prophetic lucidity, and its gentle matter of fact delivery…
But it’s the totally set in stone arrangement that somehow also has the feeling of being totally ethereal and structureless that really blows my mind…
It has the ability to stealthily float through the windows of your consciousness or completely ensnare your attention depending on where your focus is at that moment… This is not easy to do…
Released at the beginning of the pandemic, it feels like this whole year.
posted by philip-random at 8:37 PM on May 25, 2021
Devendra Banhart on Music Most Foul:
This song,
From his THIRTY NINTH album!!! has a number of fascinating elements…
From its myriad of cultural and political reference points, its heartbreaking time traveling dream gospel prophetic lucidity, and its gentle matter of fact delivery…
But it’s the totally set in stone arrangement that somehow also has the feeling of being totally ethereal and structureless that really blows my mind…
It has the ability to stealthily float through the windows of your consciousness or completely ensnare your attention depending on where your focus is at that moment… This is not easy to do…
Released at the beginning of the pandemic, it feels like this whole year.
posted by philip-random at 8:37 PM on May 25, 2021
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I tried to organize something for Mick Jagger's 50th but the lack of interest (in a Rolling Stones group, no less) was deafening.
posted by stevil at 10:04 AM on May 23, 2021 [3 favorites]