I don't "get" Bob Dylan

Since people are talking about Neil Young in here, goddamn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2-Wp7D7BVk&feature=related

Neil Young is fucking AWESOME. I don't think I've heard anything from him that hasn't been absolutely amazing. Including his electronic albums (Landing on Water is excellent!).

  On 6/11/2012 at 8:52 PM, beerwolf said:

Remember you don't listen to Dylan for melodies or great music moments. It's all about the words...

The way I see it is, if the music isn't worth listening to on its own, then it might as well not exist at all. Leave the lyrics on their own and call it poetry. Otherwise, hire someone who can actually write decent music.

I'd say the other way around would apply as well, but vocals work well as a textural accompaniment to instruments, imo. Bland music with awesome lyrics will always be bland music, to me. Then again, I'm primarily a musician and only just getting into lyrics so what would I know..

I do actually like Bob Dylan, he can hit me on an emotional level. But yeh like someone said it's mostly about the lyrics with him.

i used to hate Dylan, and I still sorta dislike the majority of his work...

but goddamn if I wasn't weeping like a child the first time I heard Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands....in my defense i was in a really bad place at the time...what a beautiful moment.

Check out the albums Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan.

I really prefer Dylan to Young. Like, a lot.

That said it took me a while to get into him. There is little other music that goes so well with being depressed and frustrated. It really pulls you out of that because you feel like Bob is down there with you.

Also, the lyrics are fun to listen to, the less you "try" to get into it the better. Just someday if you're feeling horrible put on Highway 61 Revisited and experience the down to earth feeling.

The music itself is good, I wouldn't listen to that album if it wasn't.

That said I don't know much of his other music, and I don't like folk at all. Go with the electric albums.

Blast "It Takes a Lot to Laugh it takes a train to cry" when you're drunk. It feels good.

It took me a bit to get used to Bob Dylan's musical style. At first it sounded like his singing was so disconnected from the backing band. Now I've gotten used to it and it sounds like a nice unified whole.

Also, bear in mind that he's usually not trying to sound beautiful. There's a passion behind his voice that is very powerful, but not in a beautiful way. "Idiot Wind" is a good example of this.

Also, Bob Dylan writes great lyrics. This is one of the best parts of his music. It's amusing and gets you thinking. It's very fun to try and interpret. Sometimes it's devastatingly powerful.

bob is a god and a fucking genius, but it's pointless to try and convince someone of that, you have to come to it on your own, naturally.

i completely disagree with the "you don't listen to dylan for the melodies or great music moments" statement. dylan has written some of the greatest songs of our time, not just poetry.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TSpV4wJC2Y[/media]

bob and sony don't want him to be on youtube, so there's not enough great stuff on there.

mid-to-late '60s he was flawless.

i know for years i was a fan of his songs, but only as sung by other artists. now i'm all in on bob.

and here i am trying to convince you he's great.

i completely drank the bob kool-aid, because when i saw him in concert i was awestruck, and i couldn't understand a fucking word or even recognize the songs. but i was in his presence...

i felt like one of those pitiful folkies waiting for him to show up at their sit-ins or be-ins or whatever, waiting to touch the hem of his garment.

I still don't like much of his electric stuff (it's too blues rock-ish for my taste). It's the early and more melodic songs that hit me. The albums that best sum up my taste for Dylan are "The Times they are a-Changing" and "The Freewheelin...".

I love his droney guitar voicings - sometimes the parallell shifting triads over a steady keynote reminds me of impressionists like Debussy and Satie. And the lyrics and vocal phrasing of certain songs are just mesmerizing.

What first pulled me in was the whimsical and innocent appearance coupled with the beauty of the music in his Newport performance here. I had heard the song a million times before, but never like this:

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL52HsDUT-8[/media]

I tried to find songs with a similar vibe, and I soon discovered A Hard Rain's a gonna Fall, My Back Pages, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Corrina, Corrina, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, One too many Mornings, Boots of Spanish Leather, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll and It Ain't Me Babe.

I would post youtube links, but Dylan seems to be pretty much gone from there.

BTW, check out the endless arrogance here:

[media=]

Donovan: "I'll sing a song for you, that's what I'm here to do, to sing for you..."

Dylan: "You must leave now..." "...it's all over now, Baby Blue"

On the Neil Young tip, the soundtrack for "Dead Man" is my favorite thing by him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6aCMgy0ES4

Neil Young is fantastic, yeah, but why not make him his own thread?

  On 6/11/2012 at 9:04 PM, joshuatx said:

 

I actually find his interviews, especially in his heyday, far more entertaining than his music.

 

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  On 6/12/2012 at 8:01 AM, psn said:

BTW, check out the endless arrogance here:

 

[media=]

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Donovan: "I'll sing a song for you, that's what I'm here to do, to sing for you..."

 

Dylan: "You must leave now..." "...it's all over now, Baby Blue"

Gotta say. It's videos like these that add to my suspicion that the main reason I don't like Bob Dylan is because he is a smug cunt.

Edit

Donovan > Dylan

i went through a period of having this knee jerk hatred for dylan, but then id hear a track like "song to woody" or "a hards rains a-gonna fall" and things began to click.

been playing "masters of war" alot lately. man does that track have some powerful lines:

[media=]

  On 6/12/2012 at 12:10 AM, kaini said:

  On 6/11/2012 at 10:54 PM, Awepittance said:

someone should have handed bob dylan a lyric sheet for 'masters of war' when he was here

 

 

either hes now senile, or forgot the lyrics to his own song

 

blah blah obama is bad. seriously. get a new schtick.

Dylan wrote songs about what was going on in the 60s. Unlike the stereotypical liberal entertainer he wasn't vocally anti-Bush and pro-Obama. In fact, have no idea what his current political leanings are and I don't give a shit. He's always been over-analyzed and had way too many activists and intellectuals try speak for him. He's an accepting a national award and Obama is the current president. Big fucking deal.

Another big Neil Young and Donovan fan here, but I'll also add Townes Van Zandt to the list:

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Also, long ago I thought I might actually get into Bob Dylan when I heard this song, but then I realized it isn't him at all...

yeah. the muse probably left bob a long time ago.. doesnt take away from the power of those early songs tho..

edit: fucking a. van zandt is amazing

Certainly the generation that Dylan inspired has its merit.

I like a lot of his tunes done by other artists. The Byrds & Dylan were a magic pairing.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PFagiY_CQw[/media]

Them / Van Morrison perhaps have the best version of Its All over

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As for Neil, On the Beach is a classic for sure. Really dig his epic Buffalo Springfield tunes too.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAjr0xyyt0Q[/media]

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Stephen Stills from Buffalo Springfield is very underrated in my opinion.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg-7S_m8W_Q[/media]

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqfqt473j8&feature=related[/media]

Our Mother the Mountain is a killer Townes album. Maybe my favorite.

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thread got straight up hijacked. i love townes van zandt. daniel rossen from grizzly bear did a good cover of kathleen:

[youtubehd]Qbf0pSc-YCE[/youtubehd]

I don't like Bob Dylan very much, but I approve of every other artist mentioned in this thread.

STEPHEN STILLS PROMETHEUS TRIBUTE

Also I take my folk more fucked up than Bob can deliver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHHZhIZOF44

  On 6/12/2012 at 9:37 PM, igloos unlmtd said:

vid

haha good call. the family produced some good music. too bad they were a murderous cult

just to add to the derailment:i love these two tracks by family members paul watkins and brooks poston. haunting and creepy

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GEtL2QTHZQ[/media]

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKYFRwr18ik&feature=related[/media]

Okay Dear jefferoo,

Since being on here at HQ Watmmer I think you have a wise choice in music (in other words like mine ), since I remember agreeing with a lot of your opinions and I think our backgrounds are fairly similar.

Youtube is a bit redundant with Bob, so go round a friends house or ask them to lend you a copy of The Times are a Changin and play The Ballad of Hollis Brown. If you don't get it or don't feel floored by the sheer power of the words/imagery that Dylan weaves, then you can feel safe in the knowledge Dylan isn't for you.

Epic track (words) set to the most basic and rudimentry music (twanging one chord and a brief wailing harmonica). It makes sense when you hear it, (trust me). If you don't understand what to get after those 4 minutes I'd suggest you forget about Mr Zimmerman altogether and search somewhere else for a pot of gold.

  On 6/12/2012 at 9:04 PM, baph said:

Also I take my folk more fucked up than Bob can deliver.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHHZhIZOF44

Yes! A friend of mine introduced me to them on the weekend. They're like a more fucked up version of early Genesis without the rock. Like if Tony Banks and Anthony Philips took acid or something. Amazing stuff!