{"id":83,"date":"2023-02-06T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T01:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetmanuel.com\/dirk\/?p=83"},"modified":"2024-07-06T19:11:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T01:11:34","slug":"god-like-genius-2-bob-dylan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.planetmanuel.com\/dirk\/god-like-genius-2-bob-dylan\/","title":{"rendered":"God-like Genius #2: Bob Dylan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Several years ago, over a dinner where I had my Apple Airport spinning random songs from my collection, my Dad asked me who I considered to be my overall ‘favorite’ artist.\u00a0 After mulling it over for a couple of minutes, I confessed that I didn’t know.\u00a0 I’ve got a lot of (what I’d consider) varied music, and I listen to different stuff at different times.\u00a0 It’s kind of difficult to rank Zappa<\/strong> against Mogwai<\/strong>, or Steve Earle<\/strong> against Radiohead<\/strong>, or Nick Cave<\/strong> against Godspeed You! Black Emperor<\/strong>.\u00a0 Plus, whenever I discover someone new I’ll obsess over them for ages and switch into full-on completist mode (as I’m currently doing with the The Fall<\/strong>) so that’s<\/em> my favorite, now.\u00a0 But an absolute<\/em> favorite? I couldn’t say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve had the question in the back of my mind ever since, and I finally have an answer.\u00a0 It’s Dylan<\/strong>.\u00a0 It’s always been Dylan. My Last.FM profile says as much, listing 14,736 plays since I signed up, versus 5,117 for the next closest, Frank Zappa<\/strong>.\u00a0 True, Frank Zappa has probably influenced my life to a much greater degree (in terms of attitude, motivation, etc.), but the soundtrack has always been Bob.\u00a0 Maybe I was just in denial because Dylan’s not exactly oozing street-cred (although that seems to have changed over the last album or two), but it’s time to stand up and admit it.\u00a0 Dylan is my guide.\u00a0 The man is a stone genius<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year or so back, Mojo magazine published a list of their top 100 Dylan songs.\u00a0 They then invited their readership to do the same and published the reader’s top 100 the next issue.\u00a0 And there really wasn’t that much overlap.\u00a0 There’s a lot of artists that that you couldn’t pull 100 decent tracks together, period, let alone 150 top ones – and these were all<\/u> top songs – every one of them a classic that the average songwriter would have given their right arm to have penned.\u00a0 The Bob Dylan Database<\/a> currently lists 470 songs written by Dylan songs, which is a phenomenal body of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, Dylan has produced some absolute crap, but in his defense he himself has acknowledged it as crap, saying in his excellent Chronicles<\/i> autobiography that he released it purely to drive away his fans and free himself from the burden of their expectations.  There’s an old Buddhist Proverb (Although Farhad tells me it’s actually a Persian saying) that says “A fool who recognizes his foolishness is a wise man.  A fool who considers himself a wise man is a fool indeed”.  Extrapolating, a genius who recognizes what he does as crap is a genius.  Indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people take issue with his voice – a kind of nasally whine for the most part. Dylan is most commonly seen as a folk singer, but his range goes well beyond folk and he can really kick out the jams when he wants to.  Listen to the bile-fueled anger of the Hard Rain<\/em> version of Idiot Wind<\/em>, the pure rock of Groom Still Waiting <\/em>from Shot Of Love<\/em> and When The Night Comes Falling<\/em> from Empire Burlesque<\/em>, and the lust-driven groove of New Pony<\/em> from Street Legal<\/em>.  Even his staple Like A Rolling Stone<\/em> has more edge<\/em> to it than any amount of rock and\/or roll. Who could fail to be moved by the sheer beauty of I’ll Remember You<\/em> (from Empire Burlesque<\/em>)?  Who can deny the pure emotions of Forever Young<\/em> (from Planet Waves<\/em>)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A testament to the legacy of Dylan can be found in the number of people who have covered his songs – sometimes so convincingly that people forget that Dylan wrote them.  Witness:<\/p>\n\n\n\n