It seems that at some point in our lives Bob Dylan was in the background doing his thing as singer-songwriter, activist, author, performer, Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Awards winner as well as recipient of a 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. The lyrics of his songs contain out spoken views on pretty much everything and evoke for many a poetic advocacy for social injustice, the disenfranchised and the environment. From the 1960’s to present Dylan’s songs have given our conscience a jolt when it comes to mostly relevant issues that appear in hits like Subterranean Homesick Blues, Like A Rolling Stone, The Times They Are a-Changin,’ Things Have Changed – and numerous albums such as Modern Times and Rough and Rowdy Ways. His The Never Ending Tour of concert gigs which began in 1988 is still never ending.
Now 81 years young Dylan is still as feisty and introspective as ever as evidenced by his latest book A Philosophy of Modern Song (Simon & Schuster, 2022) – in which handpicked songs recorded from 1924 to 1980 are given lush commentary about their provenance and why they represent a big slice of vocal Americana. While some of the artists might be unfamiliar (Johnnie and Jack, Little Walter) there are plenty who topped the charts like Perry Como, Little Richard, Roy Orbison, The Temptations, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra. Dylan provides a personalized analysis of each song in typical lyrical, rough and tumble fashion with particular emphasis on the libretto, which he explains in Chapter 2. “Knowing a singer’s life story doesn’t particularly help your understanding of a song…It’s what a song makes you feel about your own life that’s important.”
Of course there are tidbits about artists’ lives but what makes this a really cool read is the way he unabashedly spins his own views about what a song is really telling us, be it romance, politics, religion, social issues, peppered with slang and occasional expletives - as if new perspectives emerge from classics we thought we knew like Mack The Knife (Bobby Darin), My Generation (The Who), Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (Nina Simone) and Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins who recorded it before Elvis Presley). Each description is chock full of historical insights such as Uncle Dave Macon’s Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy predating rock and rollers by thirty years and a list of pop songs that Dylan points out were inspired by classical music.
The hardcover is compiled in retro style which takes us down a path filled with nostalgic photos that depict a bygone era where people went cinema hopping and vinyl record shopping (although the LP is making a limited comeback) for rock and roll, Motown, crooners, bluegrass, country western or R&B genres. Although the images and artists span several generations, there seems to be an ongoing desire to bond with charismatic musicians that helped shape American pop culture – and to remember where you were and what you were doing when listening to Blue Moon, Viva Las Vegas or On The Road Again.
It’s been 18 years since Bob Dylan’s last book was published so The Philosophy of Modern Song is worth the wait, especially with its highlights of America’s cultural scene which Dylan himself is quintessentially linked as a musical icon of our time. In the last chapter he closes with some of these words: “But so it is with music, it is of a time but also timeless; a thing with which to make memories and the memory itself.”