Monthly Archives: April 2019

by Larry Fyffe  With black humoured onomatopoeic lyrics, Beat poet Gregory Corso sarcastically chides his generation for being spooked by the A-bomb since it’s just another step in the wonderful technological achievements of man, a leap in the development of … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood “The World’s Gone Wrong” was the opening track, and title of Dylan’s 29th studio album released in 1993.  It was a return to the approach of the first album – consisting of songs written by people other … Continue reading →

By Jochen Markhorst When Sonny Bono dies after a skiing accident in 1998, he is still the only member of parliament in the history of the American House of Representatives with a number one hit (“I Got You Babe”) – … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe This article continues on from Bob Dylan and the Synaesthesia of Nettie Moore. The depiction of the traditional senses of touch, taste, smell, sound, sight, and other sensations (in similes and metaphors) as intricately entangled is a … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This article comes from the series “Why does Dylan like” – you can find other articles from this series in the index. “Spanish Is The Loving Tongue” by Billy Simon and Charles Badger Clark appeared on the … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe  As previously pointed out, singer/song writer Bob Dylan, who comes from a Jewish background, hits the over-demanding God of the Old Testament with a low burlesque blow: Well, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son” Abe … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst; musical examples selected by Tony. They are Holden Caulfield’s last words in Catcher In The Rye (1951): “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” Some testimonies from people who knew Dylan in … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood Aaron Galbraith, who has provided us with so many Dylan songs that I’ve missed in the past has found this previously unreviewed Dylan original from 1959… As he says, “I believe the writing of this may even … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe This article continues from the previous piece A lot of the whiskey made by European settlers after the Revolution in America is made from corn as it’s a native plant; apple seeds (originally brought over from Europe) … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe Emanuel Swedenborg mixes together orthodox Christian dogma with various Gnostic mystical beliefs to come up with a new religion based on Jesus appearing as the physical correspondence of the far-away spiritual Godhead.  Gnostics focus on the continued … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood If you know “Let It Be Me” the chances are you will know it as an Everly Brothers hit and as a song Dylan recorded a couple of times.  Here’s the most famous version. And if you … Continue reading →

  by Jochen Markhorst The song has since long been forgotten and covered in dust, when the teenager Ketch Secor first hears “Rock Me Mama (Like A Wagon Wheel)” in the 90s, the half-mumbled, unfinished patch of a non-existent song … Continue reading →

By Aaron Galbraith with a footnote from Tony They eventually released the YouTube video for the Dylan/Savoretti track Touchy Situation,   Here are my take on the lyrics (with help from my wife on a few places i couldn’t work … Continue reading →

By Mike Johnson (kiwipoet) Please note that the original posting of this article contained the wrong copy of “Masters of War”.   This was entirely the mistake of the publisher (Tony Attwood).  Mike sent the correct recording – I got … Continue reading →

by Larry Fyffe Ben Carruthers And The Deep perform a jacked-up version of a John Lee Hooker traditional blues tune, but with the following fragmented lyrics: Jack O’ Diamonds On the move Jack O’Diamonds One-eyed knave On the move Hit … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood My absolute thanks to Aaron Galbraith for finding this track.   It is a leftover from The New Basement Tapes collection with lyrics by Dylan of course, and this time music by Elvis Costello. Elvis is believed to … Continue reading →

by Jochen Markhorst He is quite the dreamer, our minstrel. Browsing through the collected lyrics, dreams and dream descriptions appear to be among the constants in the catalogue. After sad, cheerful and dark dreams such as in “Bob Dylan’s Dream”, … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe The self-proclaimed ‘garbologist’ AJ Weberman’s “A Listener’s Guide To Bob Dylan’s Tempest” might be hailed as Juvenalian satire at its best except the  savage invective is so over the top that it makes Jonathan Swift look slow. … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Bill Monroe is not one of those names that crops up all the time in Dylan’s commentaries about Dylan himself and his musical influences, but the references are there, including a reference in a 1987 Rolling Stone … Continue reading →

by Mike Johnson (Kiwipoet) Nothing really matters much It’s doom alone that counts (Shelter from the Storm) It seems that there is a convenient Bob Dylan quote for just about every occasion. My poor partner has had to put up … Continue reading →