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This piece has been updated several times.  The latest update was 23 September 2017.  Since 2015 this has been the most read article on this site. By Tony Attwood In September 22, 1962, Dylan performed “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” … Continue reading →

Dylan’s Lyrics about Women – Have they Evolved? By Dearbhla Egan I am going to spare you the tedious and markedly uninteresting details of each and every woman that may or may not have been the subject of Dylan’s love … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood It has never been part of the rules that the poet has to know what his best lines are.  Most poets are saved from the inquisition because either we don’t have the earlier versions of their work, … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Dylan has often turned to the step by step base line in his music, the base guitar either working its way down part of the scale, or up it. The descending bass used here turns up in … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood I have to say I’ve had a great time reviewing this song, not least because no one that I know says, “it’s all good”.  But I recalled a song from around 2007 by Seasick Steve called “It’s … Continue reading →

  By Tony Attwood It has been suggested that Dylan’s 2009 song Jolene, written with Robert Hunter as was much of the album, is a song that somehow relates to Dolly Parton’s 1973 hit about the woman who can have any … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood “My Wife’s Home Town” is a variation on Willie Dixon’s song, “I just want to make love to you”; Dylan writing with Robert Hunter, the non-performing member of Grateful Dead with whom Dylan wrote bits of Down in the … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood In one very real sense “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” is just a nice country song of reassurance, of the singer holding the lady’s hand and saying, “of course I am not a drifter on the road … Continue reading →

  By Dearbhla Egan Reading Dylan as Poetry – It’s Not Dark Yet 1997 How does one go about reviewing one of Dylan’s songs if you come from a standpoint of having a long term love for the singer and … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Call Letter Blues is a song that is said to have come from the lost Bell Tower Blues and the backing track of which became Meet Me in the Morning (which is performed in a much slower style … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood All music evokes an emotional response, which of course means it evokes a personal response, and I am always suspicious of people who try to remove their personal views from commentaries on music, writing as if their … Continue reading →

CHANGING OF THE GUARDS AND THE TAROT by Dearbhla Egan I would like to preface this review by stating that I have no expertise on the music of Bob Dylan or on the life of Dylan himself and neither have I … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood The reports suggest that for some time Dylan was in the habit of announcing that “this was a song about the first girl I ever loved, but she left me for an older man and she’s in … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood I have to admit that there are some early Dylan songs which I bought upon release and played to death, and now haven’t listened to for years.  This is one of them. So I came back with … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Sometime in the summer or autumn of 1961 Bob Dylan played harmonica on the title tune of Harry Belafonte’s new album, “Midnight Special”.  From the accounts available it appears that Belafonte’s producers were looking for a new, … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood If I had to cut everything down to one type of music and one concept that Dylan has spent his life being fascinated by I would not say “folk music” or “rock music” I’d say 100% the … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Red River Shore combines a series of themes that are as old as folk music, and uses lines that can turn up anywhere.  Even the title is akin to a Ledbelly song Red River Blues, although that is … Continue reading →