Author Archives: TonyAttwood

By Larry Fyffe Bob Dylan modernizes and mingles the style and content  of the writings of Plutarch: I’ll strip you of life, strip you of breath Ship you down to the house of death One day you will ask for … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst The Fleet Foxes, a most charming band from Seattle, has been playing in the Premier League since 2008. Pillars are craftsmanship, catchy melodies and especially music historical awareness: the comparisons with the Beach Boys, Van Morrisson and … Continue reading →

By Aaron Galbraith and Tony Attwood “Red Cadillac and a black moustache” was recorded by Bob Dylan for the “Good Rockin’ Tonight” Sun Records tribute album. Of all the Sun Records songs he picks one neither of us hade ever … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe As previously noted, singer/songwiter Bob Dylan mixes the religious, albeit amusing, outlook of the TS Eliot-based musical ‘Cats’ with Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Marxist-oriented musical ‘The Three Penny Opera’. According to Eliot, though life on … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst It is confusing reading, Donovan’s autobiography The Hurdy Gurdy Man from 2005. From the first pages the self-mystifications, selfcongratulating boasting and the clearly pumped up tall hero tales are piling up, whereby the autobiographer increasingly fails to … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe Singer/songwriter/ musician Bob Dylan drinks from the artistic well of both the Marxist-oriented Threepenny Opera, starring MacHeath, and the conservative satire of Thomas Eliot’s poetry, featuring Macavity. Many an artist of these recent times, due to the … Continue reading →

Aaron Galbraith Before writing this article I assumed Willie Nelson would have had many interactions with Bob throughout the 60s and 70s and covered him many times on album and concert, but my (admittedly limited) research since would suggest that … Continue reading →

  Performances selected by Paul Hobson, commentary by Tony Attwood This series takes live performances of Bob Dylan, in which he has re-worked three of his songs to give them a new direction or new meaning, or simply a new … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe In his analysis of Bob Dylan songs ‘Long And Wasted Years’ , Kees de Graaf would have it that the singer/songwriter doesn’t really consider life wasted because, gee, by golly, peace and happiness will be found after … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst By now Stephen King has joined the pantheon of Great American Writers, and rightly so. Since the 1970s, after the breakthrough with the blood-curdling Carrie (1974), he has been working his way up to become the grandmaster … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood and Aaron Galbraith In this series, “Why does Dylan like,” many of the songs that we have looked at have been suggested by Aaron, with the commentary written up by Tony – as is the case here.  … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe The ‘Song Of Solomon’, of the Old Testament Bible, can be interpreted thusly. The narrator, God (Jesus, if you prefer) is speaking to His beloved, His faithful; He tells her that she can find Him in … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood, with lyrics for the song transcribed by Larry Fyffe, research by Aaron Gailbraith Right Hand Road Blues is a song from the “After the Empire” outtake album which was recorded in 1984 but not released (unofficially of … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst They may be a bit awkward and bewildering sometimes, but more often they are touching still, the advertising miniatures Dylan occasionally lends himself to in the twenty-first century. The Pepsi commercial is slick, sweet and not very … Continue reading →

Research and track selection by Paul Hobson, commentary by Tony Attwood This series of articles now has its own index which is generally more or less up to date.  You can find it here.  The aim throughout is to take … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe Construed as a religious allegory, the narrator is Moses in the song ‘Red River Shore’ who’s stuck inside of Egypt with the Israel blues again. He’s a ‘stranger in a strange land” (Exodus 2:2). The allegory … Continue reading →

Commentary by Tony Attwood.  Research by Aaron Galbraith Bob Dylan has only played this song the once in public, which is a great shame, since Richard Thompson is one of our greatest innovative songwriters and Bob’s version is extraordinarily innovative … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorst On fan forums, YouTube, Dylan sites and in Dylan books, the “Answerphone Song” has been bouncing around for several decades now, the recording of a short, funny song, supposedly sung by Dylan as a message on … Continue reading →

  by Patrick Roefflaer Bob Dylan Released:                     March 19, 1962 Photographer:               Don Hunstein Sleeve notes:                Robert Shelton Art-director:                  John Berg       Columbia Records   On October 26, 1961, Bob Dylan signs a record deal with … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe According to the Old Testament, Moses flees from Egypt, and marries an Ethiopian by the name of Zipporah, and then returns to Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery there: And she bare him a son,  and … Continue reading →