Bob Dylan – The philosophy of the modern song. : CH Beck
The final part of the Dylan’s Country Reviews series finally features Johnny Cash and his sidekick Waylon Jennings, as well as Old Time musicians Uncle Dave Macon and Charlie Poole.
Johnny Cash: Big River & Don’t Take Your Guns To Town
Dylan isn’t telling us the story of Big River, in which a loving man follows a woman down the Mississippi and yet never meets her. He uses the song to get to the Johnny Cash remember who is behind the larger-than-life labels Man In Black and American Recordings. He was a witty storyteller, a rough trapper, a true giant. “He parts the clouds and drinks nitroglycerin. This is the real Johnny Cash, and “Big River” is the song to recognize him. His review of “Don’t Take Your Favor To Town” is laconic: “Going into town armed to prove you’re a man might not be the best idea – better think about it while there’s still time.” .”
Uncle Dave Macon: Keep my Skillet Good And Greasy
In the essay, Dylan becomes a music theorist, talks about the musical structure of the song before making it clear what the song is actually about. It sounds like cocky erotica, but the song isn’t an extended sexual metaphor. Rather, it’s about cooking and stealing, drinking and dancing, about bloodhounds and pigs. It’s a series of snapshots, random snapshots that conjure up a larger picture.”
This conjures up the image of a hedonistic good-for-nothing who makes every mess imaginable. And the song is so onomatopoeic and rich in imagery that Dylan compares it to Chuck Berry. And so is this one Old Time Song much closer to rock ‘n’ roll than the polished one Country music the 1950s and 1960s. And Dylan comes out of this meeting with a great punch line: “The man is a thief. He steals meat, he steals chickens and gets his women pretty drunk. It is said about entertainers that although they sing and act well, they are not good people. This song reveals why.”
Waylon Jennings: I’ve Always Been Crazy
Waylon Jennings, the big outlaw, the roughneck, who could dump his sweet and sooty Luckenbach, Texas so wonderfully. He also struggled with his demons, so this song is sort of a self-assessment of Waylon. This one feeds Bob Dylan skillfully in his reef. In the essay, he takes up the image of the entertainer again and compares him to a psychiatrist: “Therapy works for many, although entertainers have it easier than others. Instead of paying an hourly fee for someone to feign interest and listen to them rant at length about their lives, a savvy performer calls his audience in, pours his heart out, and not only earns admiration, but a pretty one as well collect the fee. What problems did Elvis work through when thousands of teenage girls were shouting his name out loud? With what fear of death did he fight Screamin’ Jay Hawkins around when he was taking people’s money for seeing him stepping out of a coffin?”
Dylan’s humor volle capers become even more violent: “Entertainers understand that a good story is an excellent raw material that they cannot simply give away. The therapist is on the wrong side of the transaction – if you have a compelling story to tell, like shagging your dad or sleeping with your mom, why pay a psychotherapist to listen to it? He or she should pay to be able to listen to it.” Crazy and funny – Dylan is such a great humorist!
Charlie Poole: Old And Only In The Way
Just equipped with biting, evil humor, the master lets himself be overwhelmed in his essay Charlie Pooles “Old And Only In The Way” about aging in America. The way the now 81-year-old writes here about the lack of respect for older people is touching. “Old and in the Way describes the modern way in which many Americans deal with the elderly. You push her aside. There was a time when elders were respected and looked up to for their wisdom and experience. But not today. Some say the modern world is made up mostly of misbehaved kids — who don’t seem to understand that they, too, will one day be old and get in the way.”
Dylan, who for many is still the young protest singer from the 1960s, becomes the advocate for the elderly. He’s anything but an old man himself, but still touring around the world at concerts.
It’s fitting that the last Old Time song makes old Dylan ponder the role of the old in society. Apparently a topic that worries him a lot. It seems to be important to him, who was once the idol of a young generation, that “young” is nothing positive in itself and that every new, young, demanding, rebellious generation is at some point the older generation, which is younger generation is being questioned. Like today’s Baby Boomer by the “Fridays For Future Generation”. At another point in the book he deals with the subject again. Of course, when he’s reviewing “My Generation” by The Who.
Conclusion: So much for our country tour of the new Dylan book. Anyone who gets involved without first putting up walls in their own heads can get a lot of food for thought, new information or interesting perspectives. It’s a treasure chest and we can all open it.
Bob Dylan – The Philosophy of the Modern Song: The 2022 Book
title: The Philosophy of Modern Song
authors: Bob Dylan
release date: 18. November 2022
Verlag: C.H. Beck
Format: Buch
pages: 352 pages
language: Deutsch
