Author Archives: TonyAttwood

  by Jochen Markhorst In November 2015, Andrew Lloyd Webber is considering adding yet another cat in a next revised version of Cats, one of the most successful musicals of all time. The musical is based on T.S. Eliot’s playful … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe Romantic writers, like Blake, react against the views expressed by those in the deistic Age of the Enlightenment (reason and science be the best path to follow in search for a better world) because the ridding of … Continue reading →

Performances selected by Paul Hobson, commentaries by Tony Attwood You can find the first article in the series here where we looked at Pretty Peggy O, Ring them Bells and the total reworking of Visions. The second article took in … Continue reading →

Aaron Galbraith The two icons met for the first time in a smoke filled room in New York in 1964. Whilst it seems that Lennon was initially taken with Dylan, (it was he who passed around copies of “Freewheelin’” to … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood The End of Innocence written by Bruce Hornsby and Don Henley was performed nine times by Bob Dylan during the autumn 2002 tour.    The song was released by the composers as a single as well as … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst “Here’s a mighty, mighty man, a mammoth talent…He’s the father of 14 daughters and 7 sons…He has 64 grandchildren, and 8 great-grand children. No wonder he’s singing this song!” Thus deejay Dylan announces “Cry To Me” by … Continue reading →

 by Larry Fyffe His poems abounding in objective correlatives, the preRomantic William Blake, depicts social authorities dampening the fiery spirit of childhood – innocence lost; the light of motherly love, overshadowed by the sternness of a cold-and-distant father; the teachings … Continue reading →

By Paul Hobson and Tony Attwood In this series we are looking at live performances by Bob Dylan in which he transforms a song in a most unexpected way.  Paul has selected the videos; the commentary is by Tony. You … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst “I Wanna Be Your Lover” is officially released only twenty years after the recording date, on the collection box Biograph (1985). Part of the charm of that box is the accompanying booklet with the liner notes from … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe  This article follows on from “Things have changed or have they? (Part 1)“ UberChristian Kees de Graaf takes control of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed”; then he shouts out “God is Great”, and plunges the song … Continue reading →

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 →