Author Archives: TonyAttwood

By Tony Attwood The first thing to note is that the song that Dylan played 30 times in concerts between 1999 and 2002 was one of two songs called “Somebody touched me”.  The one Bob got attached to was written … Continue reading →

By Filip Łobodziński This is rather a long piece, but its length is necessary in explaining how Bob Dylan songs can be translated into languages other than English.  The article is based on a university lecture I gave in Polish to … Continue reading →

This is the fourth episode in our series on Bob Dylan’s work on the harmonica.  You can read the earlier episodes Bob Dylan: Master Harpist (Part 1) Bob Dylan Master Harpist part 2: performances you will simply not believe. Master … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe Considering poet Arthur Rimburd as a precursor thereof, Andre Breton comes to lead the Surrealist Movement, an offshoot of absurdist anti-bourgeois Dadaism, and he attempts to reconcile the thoughts of Sigmund Freud and with those of … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorstf In Chronicles, the autobiographer recalls that producer Bob Johnston is trying to tempt him to come and record in Nashville. The first impressions and associations are not too positive: “The town was like being in a … Continue reading →

By Paul Hobson and Tony Attwood In this second article in the series we continue to look at versions of Dylan’s songs which turn out to be quite different from the original recordings.  This time we are looking at Like … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan And The Jitterbug  By Larry Fyffe Many of Bob Dylan song lyrics comment on the human social predicaments that have existed from time out of mind; for example – sexual, racial, class, and generational antagonisms: They walk among … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorst In 1968 Alan Lomax selects 111 titles from his many books on folk songs for the compilation Penguin Book of American Folk Songs. He categorizes the songs into six chapters, under titles such as Southern Mountain … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood I’ve not seen any articles about Bob Dylan and gambling as such, so I can’t say if Bob likes the odd flutter, but I can say that Bob does, from time to time sing about gambling.  And … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe As previously noted by me, the influence of the writings of Percy and Mary Shelley be detected in Bob Dylan’s song lyrics. It has even been suggested  that ‘All Along The Watchtower’ has a Shellyan shade to … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood On Disc 3 of the Bootleg series 13, there is a song “Stand by Faith”.  As far as I know it was never performed in concert, and just appeared once in a rehearsal in September 1979, and … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst It’s a peculiar chapter, the New Morning chapter in Dylan’s autobiography, Chronicles Vol. 1. Not so much because of the content, although that is also remarkable and, just like the other four chapters, packaged in a grand … Continue reading →

 by Aaron Galbraith and Tony Attwood This song turned up in the volume “Bob Dylan in his own Words” in 1978, having been originally performed in New York by Dylan in April 1962.   Dylan was a regular visitor at … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe The United Kingdom Of Judah/Northern Israel takes the lion as its symbol, a strong country that ought not to be messed with – protected  by a wrathful God who punishes His own people for straying from His … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst In his days, the Italian baroque composer Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) is considered one of the Big Boys. After early years in Bologna, he experiences successes in Rome and Venice, becomes court composer for Leopold I in Vienna, … Continue reading →

By Paul Hobson and Tony Attwood This is the first in what we hope will be a series of articles looking at Bob Dylan’s live performances; performances which offer us quite different versions of the songs when compared with the … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe For the pleasure of the readers of ‘Untold Dylan’, take heed that ‘Tell Ol’ Bill’ is a Dylan song that’s loosely based on Shelley’s poem ‘The Revolt Of Islam’. The Renaissance humanist poet Francesco Petrarch looks back … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood This is another of the songs from the “After the Empire” based on a chord sequence – in essence the two primary chords of the major scale with a passing chord tucked in between.  The sequence is … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst In April 2014, BBC Radio 4 starts with the entertaining theme series “I Was …” and they are actually always fascinating shows. The broadcasts of half an hour focus on a completely unknown main guest with one … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe This article continues from “The Ace of Spades” Call it ‘black baroque’ or call it ‘gothic gnosticism’, the theme that haunts many of the songs by Bob Dylan is the certainity of death, often figuratively associated in … Continue reading →