The Dylan Chronicles

I'm currently in the midst of reading Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One, the widely praised autobiographical ramblings of the great singer-songwriter/rock star/poet/cultural icon. Now, let me start off by divulging that I've never been a huge Bob Dylan guy. It always seemed to me that Dylan's songs are primarily about the lyrics rather than the music, which frequently tumbles on repetitively for minutes on end without any attempt at musical contrast (see: "Hurricane"). The popularity of some of his songs baffles me. For example, I've never understood why "Like a Rolling Stone" was so groundbreaking. Maybe the lyrics are brilliant, but the vocal melody grates on me to the point that I really don't care.

Now that I've probably offended any Dylan lover reading this, let me say that I do enjoy his earlier music—“Don’t Think Twice It's Alright" is one of my favorites—and some of his "later” music—Nashville Skyline is one of my favorite albums to listen to front-to-back—and heck, I even like some of the less popular songs off of his landmark albums—“I Want You" off of Blonde on Blonde is charming, and the dark "Ballad of a Thin Man" off of Highway 61 Revisited gives me chills—but I've just never subscribed to the "all hail Dylan", "voice of a generation" crap. The Beatles (and the Stones, and the Beach Boys, and many others) made better music, plain and simple.

Nonetheless, I was hopeful about Chronicles. After all, here were Dylan's words without any music to get in the way. But, so far, I've been disappointed for a number of reasons. The book rambles, occasionally touching on interesting scenes or thoughts, but just as often jumping from unremarkable detail to unremarkable detail. Some of the sentences, while sounding poetic, just don't seem to actually mean anything. And, most of all, the book comes across as arrogant and dishonest. It paints the image that Dylan wants to paint, the image of a man thrust into the role of cultural icon who really just wants to retreat from the fame. But then he goes on to paint his achievements in the most grandiose terms: "The big bugs in the press kept promoting me as the mouthpiece, spokesman, or even conscience of a generation. That was funny. All I'd ever done was sing songs that were dead straight and expressed powerful new realities." So, Bob, how did you expect to express "powerful new realities" without taking on some sort of iconic mantle?

Anyways, I still need to finish the book. Maybe it will win me over yet. But until then, I’d recommend that you devote your time to listening to Dylan rather than to reading Dylan. Enjoy

Bob Dylan – Girl from the North Country (w/Johnny Cash) (YSI) (dropbox)
Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man (YSI) (dropbox)
Bob Dylan – I Want You (YSI) (dropbox)