Monthly Archives: January 2018

by Tony Attwood We’ve got four titles circulating for this song Definitively Van Gough, Definitely Van Gough Spuriously Seventeen Windows. Positively Van Gough The suggestion in some quarters is that this is a song Dylan had been working on it … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood This is a classic rhythm and blues in the “12 bar” style (there are of course not 12 bars in most latter day 12 bar blues, but the structure is always called that).  And I particularly like … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe The Surrealistic, allegorical as well as alchemist, songwriter Bob Dylan mixes American folk legend, slave history, the working class struggle, and Biblical imagery into his music to produce powerful songs that retain an outlook of coal-black … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood There are three “Tell me” songs by Dylan all told Tell me which appeared on Bootleg 1-3 and has never been performed by Bob, which was written in 1983 Tell me it isn’t true which appeared on Nashville Skyline … Continue reading →

  Following is a relatively unknown chapter in the life of Robert Allen Zimmerman; right here, told for the first time by ‘Untold Dylan’. As the story goes, dressed in rags, with a record named ‘Desire’ under his arm, singer/songwriter … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood What song did Bob Dylan write just before Visions of Johanna? It is an interesting question, because so many people (including me) see Johanna as such a masterpiece, it would be interesting to know quite what did … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This was another piece from 1965 that was created around the time of “Jet Pilot” and “Can you please crawl out your window.”  Jet Pilot got nowhere, “Can you please” became a single – the follow up … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe The song lyrics of Bob Dylan reveal the influence of two major playwrights: William Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams – the first living in a time shattered by the discovery of a New World; the second, in … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Updated 7 May 2018 with a link to a version of Desolation Row that seems particularly relevant. “Desolation Row” was subject to a brief review in the early days of this website; brief because I found it … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe Though influenced the singer/songwriter is by the sentimental and emotional Nature-guided Romantics, no poetry affects the song lyrics of Bob Dylan like that of the ornate and witty writing of the Baroque Metaphysical poet John Donne, … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This little snippet of a song (there’s a link to it at the end of my comments) comes from The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965 – 1966 Deluxe Edition released in 2015 wherein it … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe In today’s entertainment news: Big time wrestler Yahweh refuses to step aside and allow business partner Messiah establish peace in the Middle East. The excuses given by the God of the Hebrews for not doing so are … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood I have no idea how many 12 bar blues Dylan has written in his career but I think there are quite a few of them.  Some are memorable and some are, well, not so memorable. “California” was … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan: Like Every Sparrow Falling by Larry Fyffe Fed up with watching the Christian team drink from the Cup of the Golden Baal, singer/singwriter Bob Dylan turns to “Monty Python’s And Sigmund Freud’s Playbook Of Practical Advice” in search … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood In writing these reviews I have found a few songs I have never heard before. But there are more songs I have heard, and then have forgotten – and suddenly I hear the song again and am … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan’s Ol’ Time Incongruous Log Cabin By Larry Fyffe The 1964 CBC-TV performance by Bob Dylan in a ‘log cabin’ is described by Clinton Heylin as “the most incòngruous of settings, a log cabin filled with working men pretending … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood The suggestion is that Dylan took the title from the song of the same name by Randy and the Rainbows – it was a hit the previous August, but of course sounds nothing like Bob’s song, which … Continue reading →

Concerning Dylan’s Conversion To Islam by Larry Fyffe Time to settle the rumours, against the advice of our lawyers. Because stories are being planted in the mainstream press, ‘Untold’ has decided to reveal that, yes, Bob Dylan a few years … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood To put this song in context we have to look at what Dylan had written at the end of 1963 – this is an unedited list (by which I mean I haven’t taken out the lesser known … Continue reading →

  by Larry Fyffe In a vault at the Untold Dylan offices, gathering dust, we uncovered some sheet music with handwritten lyrics and notes by Bob Dylan. The lyrics to one of the songs: We were all just hangin’ around … Continue reading →