Lately I've been on a Bob Dylan kick. Is/was he great or what? Since I grew up on commercial radio, I didn't learn about Dylan until late. In fact Lay, Lady, Lay was the first new Dylan song I ever heard on the radio. As I grew away from the radio and into underground music I found out more about how instrumental he had been in the creation of modern rock.
Dylan released his first album in 1962. In 1963 there were three of his songs in the top 100. None of them were his recordings. It is something when you discover some of the best songs by the performers you love the most turn out to be either a Dylan song or an attempt to be Dylanesque. The mark of a great song writer is one who does not need to cover others' music but is covered often by even the best. The Beatles, probably the most proficient song writers in rock, Talked about Dylan. "You've got to hide your love away" was Lennon's attempt to be Dylan and they featured him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's along with other Icons of the era. Simon and Garfunkle covered a couple of his songs and did a lot to emulate his style. Though they were better singers and had more elaborate arrangements, I think Paul Simon admired Dylan greatly.
Dylan had the ability to write songs that not only were very profound, but his minimalist approach left room for others to create bigger arrangements. His style, of course, was modeled after the folk singers of the forties and fifties. The man is still going and has a following of professionals too long to list.
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1 comment:
David likes his stuff...I never liked it. His singing sucks. I like it better when other people cover his music since they actually put a tune to his words :)
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