The voice of a generation with a rhyming dictionary
I'm a big Bob Dylan fan. The guy's a genius and a legend. Most of us never get to be either one, and if you're like me, you know you've got one in the bag and have to leave to history whether or not the second will obtain.
There are a bunch of fogies who still think Dylan hasn't done anything worthwhile since "Blood on The Tracks.'' These people are idiots. "Every Grain of Sand'' is among the best he ever did. And who can doubt the haunting beauty of, say, "It's Not Dark Yet'' or "Tryin' To Get Heaven'' from the recent ''Time Out of Mind'' album.
I even tend to like the Dylan nobody likes: the symbol-riddled "Street Legal'' album, for example.
Dylan's latest quiet ''end of the world'' work, "Modern Times'' is really good. I particularly like the "When The Deal Goes Down.''
Having said all that, Bob Dylan has been known to get a little weird or lazy in his couplets. What do you make of this doozy from the new album's otherwise fantastic song about sex and faith and the signs of the apocalypse, "Thunder on The Mountain:''
" I've been to St. Herman's church, I've said my religious vows/I've sucked the milk from a thousand cows.''
Is this a guy who wrote himself into a lyrical corner, or am I missing something?
There are a bunch of fogies who still think Dylan hasn't done anything worthwhile since "Blood on The Tracks.'' These people are idiots. "Every Grain of Sand'' is among the best he ever did. And who can doubt the haunting beauty of, say, "It's Not Dark Yet'' or "Tryin' To Get Heaven'' from the recent ''Time Out of Mind'' album.
I even tend to like the Dylan nobody likes: the symbol-riddled "Street Legal'' album, for example.
Dylan's latest quiet ''end of the world'' work, "Modern Times'' is really good. I particularly like the "When The Deal Goes Down.''
Having said all that, Bob Dylan has been known to get a little weird or lazy in his couplets. What do you make of this doozy from the new album's otherwise fantastic song about sex and faith and the signs of the apocalypse, "Thunder on The Mountain:''
" I've been to St. Herman's church, I've said my religious vows/I've sucked the milk from a thousand cows.''
Is this a guy who wrote himself into a lyrical corner, or am I missing something?
posted by Michael Riley at 10:57 AM
7 Comments:
he just sucks
Most people seem to view Bob Dylan as an iconoclast and maverick poet, etc. But how about his plain love songs? Love-song writing is sort of a sub-specialty in itself, and Dylan was one of the absolute, all-time best at it.
Dylan could also write anti-love songs, so cold and cruel they could make your blood freeze: "You're an idiot, babe/It's a wonder you still know how to breathe.''
"Dylan could also write anti-love songs, so cold and cruel they could make your blood freeze: 'You're an idiot, babe/It's a wonder you still know how to breathe.'"
And this is the "genius" of your generation, huh? Might I suggest you take some time to read, say, the bathroom stalls at any rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. Using your standards, that crap would be worthy of a Pulitzer.
might i suggest, last poster, that before you write something that's going to be published on the internet, you sit down and say to yourself "come on, pal. you don't need to take your pent up resentment out on mike riley and bob dylan" You might try subtly taking it out on coworkers and family members, maybe even take up kickboxing.
or get a job at the post office..you know they're hiring when the flag is flying at half-mast (to honor their fellow employees gunned-down by the wacko guy with the pent-up anger who went "postal")!
Thanks for the tip. Let me return the favor:
Hooked on Phonics
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