Author Archives: TonyAttwood

  Let’s have a quick look ahead at what’s coming this year in the world of Bob Dylan. First up is Trapper Schoepp’s album “Primetime Illusion”. The album is already released and came out on January 25th. This album includes … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst Captain Haddock is not introduced until the ninth album, in The Crab With The Golden Claws (The Crabe aux pinces d’or, 1941). The character is a golden find from Hergé. The impulsive, physical and upbeat Haddock gives … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood, with research by Jochen Markhorst Of late I have been writing about some of the songs that Bob Dylan appears to have a particular affection for.  There’s a list of the other songs already covered in this series; … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan And William Saroyan: A Thousand Miles From Sure  By Larry Fyffe Ramblin’ Jack Elliott performs the satirical song ‘Acne’ with the young Bob Dylan on radio. Elliott’s well known for a rendition of a traditional folk song that … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorst T Bone Burnett is a fan. A great find is “Just Dropped In” in the performance of Kenny Rogers & The First Edition under the psychedelic trip scene in The Big Lebowski. When the popular ‘multimedia … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe ‘The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze’ is a short story by William Saroyan, based on a song by the same name, in which a struggling and starving writer performs the amazing feat of surviving on … Continue reading →

  By Michael Johnson I’m not the first to approach this question. Ever since Dylan’s Christian period (1979 – 81) that question has been asked, and was raised again by the box set compilation of live and studio recordings, Trouble … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe To draw the attention of the listener to his thoughts concerning the alienation wrought by an industrialized society, singer/songwriter Bob Dylan compares humans to machines (See:”Bob Dylan And Depersonalization“). He’s not a one-trick pony, however – Dylan … Continue reading →

Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread (1967) by Jochen Markhorst In 1968 Beatty Zimmerman, Dylan’s mother, stays with the young family of her son in Woodstock for a while. In an interview with writer Toby Thompson (Positively Main Street, … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood The classic analysis of the content of lyrics of popular songs is that there are three options: love, lost love and dance.   And indeed for many a long year those three subject areas have dominated popular music. … Continue reading →

 by Larry Fyffe Bob Dylan’s oft down in the basement mixing up the musical medicine in a big pot. He notes that a good medecine man always attempts to balance the elements of  earth, air, fire, and water. Could be … Continue reading →

Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)  by Jochen Markhorst At most concerts in 1978 Dylan has a hardly enlightening introduction talk to the Tales Of Yankee Power. A chat which, as the year progresses, fans out wilder and wilder. Initially, Dylan … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This article is part of our occasional series on why Bob Dylan likes specific songs that he either mentions in interviews or occasionally performs.  Other articles in the series are listed at the end. “Not Fade Away” … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe Most analysts of the song lyrics of Bob Dylan do not grasp that all of his musical works are closely interconnected, centred on mankind’s existential condition with lyrics focused on common human needs. They see him … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorst  After Star Trek he certainly has an admirable follow-up career. Prizes (a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his role in Boston Legal, for example), bestsellers, amassing a fortune of around $450 million with a … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This is a rather obscure Dylan song about which different people have written different things (not for the first time!)  For example it is stated in some quarters that the first and last performance was at the … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan: Strengthen The Things That Remain  By Larry Fyffe Make the style of art over anew, says Ezra Pound,  holding that a thing of beauty, a piece of art well done, is a joy forever; however, its wishful thinking … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorst   The world’s best songwriter does not always strike home and occasionally misses to such an extent that simple mortals overcome all humility and dare to bark at the boss. Wiggle wiggle like a bowl of … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood With much thanks to Aaron Galbraith for his help in unearthing this, and many of the other more obscure Dylan moments that we’ve added to the site of late. In terms of reviewing Bob Dylan’s compositions I think … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe Robert Frost is a middle-of-the-road poet. In his lyrics about the cosmos, nature, society, and the individual, Frost swings back and forth between a gnostic-like vision and a romantic transcendentalist one: I’d like to go by climbing … Continue reading →