Drilling for Dylan

May 16, 2021, 2:37 pm , by Bob Zimmerman

The troubadour from Hibbing Minnesota is 80 next week, warns Richard Lutz

Last week we were all raising our glasses as Eric Burdon of The Animals hit 80.

Next week, we’ll be doing the same for Bob Dylan. Boy, time goes fast- or, maybe, fast-ish when you’re having fun or just paying the bills.

But don’t worry about Dylan being left in the trail dust of the past. He will live on, if not in his music then in the arcania of academia. There’s happily an Institute of Bob Dylan Studies firmly implanted in Oklahoma. But don’t go stuffing your 12 string in your duffel bag just yet. You have to be a student at The University of Tulsa before you can dig into its 100,000 documents and assorted stuff.

It’s the way of the world of Dylanology, unfortunately, which has ranged from impenetrably serious scholastic pieces about his songs to weird guys rummaging around in Dylan’s garbage back in Greenwich Village.

There’s also a cavalcade of new books too, of course. Three come out this week alone, according to the Financial Times. But I have to say, the best ever written about Dylan is by Dylan himself that takes non sequential recollections, alibis and memories from his early days (see photo above with Joan Baez) on to his latter life of music, half truths, self baked myths and great name dropping.

“I’ll see them all in their graves…”

It’s called Chronicles and the author promises this 2004 autobiography is the first of a trilogy. There’s no sign yet of number two or three. But still, it is his voice typing away and he describes how he went from a chubby- cheeked pursuer of truth and lyrics to a grizzled old pursuer of truth and lyrics. It’s worth a read.

And if not worth a read, the singer is still worth a listen after close to six decades of music making. His last album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, is a good release (but not as good as Nashville Skyline …) and includes a kaleidoscopic 17 minute single called Murder Most Foul which reads as a rambling tour through history and the past 100 years of western popular music. As for his critics and doubters, Dylan, as recently as 2012, is quoted as saying testily: ‘Fuck ‘em. I’ll see them all in their graves.’ Grumpy son of a gun. But still ticking.