Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Tony Attwood We all know the score: Dylan walks on stage, doesn’t say a word, performs the songs, maybe shares a few comments with members of the band, at the end takes the applause, walks off stage, moves onto  … Continue reading →

I Shall Be Released (1967) by Jochen Markhorst “Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” Despondent words with which the well-meaning Red tries to help his friend Andy Dufresne, … Continue reading →

You might also enjoy: Bob Dylan and Hank Snow: Little Buddy, Drunkard’s Son, Moving On.(Part 1) By Larry Fyffe The influence of Nova Scotian Hank Snow can be detected everywhere in the lyrics of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan: Please meet me tonight … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Ask someone who knows some Dylan songs (maybe has listened to the lyrics, but is not necessarily a great aficionado of the man’s works), about Bob Dylan’s politics, and the chances are that somewhere in the answer … Continue reading →

 by Jochen Markhorst  “A negro named Mage” gets his face a little scratched in a wrestling match with the 15-year-old John Wesley Hardin and does not handle it in a very mature way, as we can learn from Hardin’s posthumously … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Time.com, pitching itself as the absolute arbiter of taste, style and quality announced “Street Rock”  as “one of the 10 worst Dylan songs of all time,” which perhaps tells us more about Time’s view of their place … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe The portrayal of the Christian Messiah in the Bible shows evidence of the historical influence of the alchemists of Egypt, and the philosophy that is now known as Gnosticism (found in Jewish texts as well). The human … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This is a song maybe by Bob Dylan, maybe by Old Crow Medicine Show, maybe by Donna Terry Weiss and maybe not.  I’ll try and untangle it and give you my view, but obviously I have no … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst The name of Dorsey William “Billy” Burnette III will be mentioned in an still-to-be-written Great Definite Rock Encyclopedia. Billy is visible to the general public from 1987 to 1995, when he is a member of Fleetwood Mac. … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan And Wilf Carter by Larry Fyffe In the popular song below, there are references to a traditional American folksong which has a number of variations – titles include: ‘Rye Whiskey’, ‘Jack-o-Diamonds’, and ‘Moonshiner’: Bye, bye, Miss American Pie … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood “The Love that Faded” is a song with the music composed by Bob Dylan around the song notes that were found after Hank Williams died.  It appears on “The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams” album, which is … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe Everybody knows that Canadian Maritimers rule the world even though the popular music industry, dominated by American promoters, underplay the fact. The persona that Bob Dylan takes on when he starts out on his musical journey … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood The composition Jack O’Diamonds has been reported as being composed by Bob Dylan and Ben Carruthers, and it has a very interesting origin and evolution.  Whether this is a “real” Bob Dylan composition, I’ll leave you to … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst An older couple strolls through a park in Rome, when the man is suddenly struck by a shocking insight: he does not love his wife at all. He shares this awareness with her, but it does not … Continue reading →

Preface by Tony Attwood I have received information from James Dring which updates the original article on this song published here in 2008.  I’m adding this today (1 May 2023) prior to the original article so that if you are … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe In the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s songs are bird symbols derived from the writings of the ancient alchemists. A precursor of modern chemistry, alchemy searches for a means to transmute base metals into silver or gold. From … Continue reading →

By Jochen Markhorst Already in the first English translation of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, 1823 by Edgar Taylor, the bloody, cruel originals are watered down. Later, in the twentieth century the edifying theories of influential child psychologists like Bruno Bettelheim and … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan and Edar Allen Poe: the howl in the songs, can be found here. By Larry Fyffe Throughout many of his songs, Bob Dylan mixes the Judeo-Christian good God and evil Devil working in the world side by side … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood According to one article I have found Ronnie Wood seemed  to be expecting some lyrics from Bob Dylan when they worked together on Wood’s album “Not for beginners” which included as its final track “King of Kings” – … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Steel Bars is a song that Bob Dylan wrote with Michael Bolton for his Time, Love & Tenderness album. Commenting very briefly on this song Heylin makes two points.  One was that Dylan was at a very … Continue reading →