Monthly Archives: December 2018

By Tony Attwood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1em7qHwYyI4 “Baby coming back from the dead” is a song that doesn’t get a listing in Heylin at all, but is reported as being recorded in 1985.  It turned up on the bootleg album “After the Empire” … Continue reading →

. Part one of Dylan and Rudyard Kipling appears here. by Larry Fyffe When singer/songwriter Bob Dylan sources a poem to augment his song lyrics, he often pays a tribute to the author of that poem. Whether consciously or subconsciously, … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst Herodotus tells in Book III of his Histories about the power-lusting empire-builder Cambyses, the king who wanted to expand his Persian empire. In the south of Egypt he recruits Ethiopian-speaking Ichthyophagi, ‘fish eaters’ from the Elephantine Island … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood “Nowhere to go” also known as “When everybody comes to town” is listed in many places as a Bob Dylan – George Harrison co-composition which was in the long list of songs to go onto All Things … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst “Once the record was released, I heard all the Dylan comparisons, so I steered away from it. But the lyrics and spirit of Greetings came from an unself-conscious place.” (Springsteen on his first LP Greetings From Ashbury … Continue reading →

  by Larry Fyffe The dramatic romantic comedy movie “Picnic”, starring William Holden and Kim Novac, influences a number of Bob Dylan’s song lyrics. A coincidence perhaps, but “Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues” could be one. The satirical song … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood It is primarily because there are very few Dylan songs left to review that I’m including a few songs now that may or may not have had any real input in terms of songwriting from Bob Dylan.  … Continue reading →

  by Larry Fyffe Usually containing the word ‘like’ or ‘as’, a simile is a trope that creates a vivid comparison between an object (or action), and a different thing that has some similar aspect. Bob Dylan constructs lots of … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood The issue recently arose on this site recently about certain somewhat obscure songs that Bob Dylan has mentioned that he really likes and which it seems may have been an influence upon him.  I considered one of … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst The first time we can hear Charlie Chaplin’s voice is in Modern Times (1935), in – very appropriate – “The Nonsense Song”. Chaplin has to sing a song for a waiting audience in a restaurant. He has … Continue reading →

  By Larry Fyffe To liven up a thought, writers employ figures of speech known as ‘personifications’ – human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things (and to abstract concepts), ie, ‘daffodils flutter and dance in the breeze.’ Singer/songwriter Bob Dylan … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Aaron Galbraith kindly pointed out to me that I’d missed out a few songs of Dylan’s recently, so we’re carrying on always trying to play catch up. “When I got troubles” was recorded in 1959, and appeared … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst Understandably, son Jakob stays away from his father’s oeuvre, but unfortunate it is all the same. With his Wallflowers he repeatedly demonstrates his talent to upgrade songs of others; very successful covers of “I Started A Joke” … Continue reading →

  by Larry Fyffe Because this particular figure of speech is more open to interpretation than others, metonymy is often used in Post Modern poetry and song lyrics. Metonymy twists one term into another associated with it as when a … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This article follows on from a comment made by Jochen Markhorst in his excellent review of  Buckets of Rain relating to Bob Dylan’s professed adoration of the song “So Cold in China”  In case you missed it, here is … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst (“The image that was here has been removed due to copyright infringement.”)   Leo Kottke is an exceptional world-class guitar player, whose records have led to open mouths and despondency among industrious guitar students since 1969. His … Continue reading →

  by Larry Fyffe Synesthesia is a literary technique whereby ambiguous senses of words, and the five conventional physical senses – hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching – are meshed together to create striking images that transmit layers of meanings to … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Before I started doing any reading around this song I wondered how Dylan and Ginsberg could write a song together, both being lyricists.   And I was further puzzled when I noticed that Eyolf Østrem who knows a thing … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst No hard feelings, for their part. The listening preferences of the three African Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus) Léo, Zoé and Shango are being monitored in 2012 by researchers at the University of Lincoln on possible love for … Continue reading →