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Summary
Summary
The Philosophy of Modern Song is Bob Dylan's first book of new writing since 2004's Chronicles: Volume One --and since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.
Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan's unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work's transcendence.
In 2020, with the release of his outstanding album Rough and Rowdy Ways , Dylan became the first artist to have an album hit the Billboard Top 40 in each decade since the 1960s. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains much of what he has learned about his craft in all those years, and like everything that Dylan does, it is a momentous artistic achievement.
Author Notes
Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. He is a singer-songwriter and artist. He emerged on the New York music scene in 1961. He has recorded 38 studio albums including Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Oh Mercy, Time Out Of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times. His songs include Blowin' in the Wind, The Times They Are a-Changin', and Like a Rolling Stone.
He has published poetry and prose including a collection entitled Tarantula in 1971, a memoir entitled Chronicles: Volume One in 2004, and The Lyrics: 1961-2012 in 2016. He has received numerous awards including eleven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. In 1988, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. In 2016, Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nobel-winning songwriter Dylan (Chronicles: Volume One) offers a marvelous survey of the recordings he loves. Across 66 chapters--each delving into a song recorded between 1924 and 2004--Dylan considers what a particular number might mean to listeners of many stripes: "Knowing a singer's life story doesn't particularly help your understanding of a song," he writes. "It's what a song makes you feel about your own life that's important." The passage on Carl Perkins's "Blue Suede Shoes" pulls this off brilliantly, drawing a line from 1950s rockabilly through the past four decades of hip-hop and giving voice to the aggression required to protect one's "point of pride": "If you want to live and know how to live, you'll stay off my shoes." Chronicles: Volume Two this is not, but there's plenty of unfiltered Dylan; his entry on Johnnie Taylor's "Cheaper to Keep Her" swerves into a riotous screed on the divorce litigation industry, while his ode to the Grateful Dead's "Truckin' " praises Bob Weir's performance in a way that fans might describe Dylan himself: "The guy singing the song acts and talks like who he is, and not the way others would want him to talk and act." There's no end to the joy of joining this elusive and voracious artist in musical appreciation. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wiley Agency. (Nov.)
Guardian Review
When the young Robert Zimmerman discovered folk music in the late 1950s, he was transfixed. It seemed weightier and more serious than anything he was hearing on the radio. Overnight, he shunned his old favourites Little Richard and Fats Domino for singers of songs that he considered to be deeper, sadder, more despairing and more triumphant than regular pop music. Having created a new persona and invented a wandering minstrel backstory he became a figurehead for the folk movement, a messianic singer. He then spent the next 50-odd years playing with, and gradually unpicking, this persona. Now in his 80s, Dylan wants to bring us closer than ever to his teenage self, the kid soaking up everything he heard on the radio in his bedroom, before he became the masked character with seemingly biblical powers. The Philosophy of Modern Song features 66 short essays on songs Dylan loves, beautifully illustrated with shots of old American record shops, casinos, fairgrounds, movie theatres and record-pressing plants. Here he is, guard down, eulogising Frank Sinatra's Strangers in the Night. It's unlikely, but it's wonderful. When, at the height of his fame, Dylan started to show a little more of himself, revealing influences and personal favourites that didn't chime with how his fanbase perceived him (covering Gordon Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain on 1970's knowingly titled Self Portrait, for example), some assumed he was being lazy, or even trying to get a rise out of the public. Maybe his music wasn't the best way to peel back the layers of self-invention. Books might have presented an alternative route - but he hasn't made use of it very often. After the impenetrable prose poetry of Tarantula - written in the mid-1960s and published in 1971 - fans had to wait until 2004 for the autobiography Chronicles Volume One. Like Self Portrait, this was another playful, winking title (how many more volumes might there be? Answer: none). Still, it contained some beautiful writing on New York in the 1960s, though at least a third of it was taken up with the recording of 1989's Oh Mercy, a great album but absolutely not what anyone expected or wanted to read about in depth. Like Chronicles, The Philosophy of Modern Song zigzags in subject matter and style. You read about the Fugs' song CIA Man, about how the band got their name from a Norman Mailer novel and how they should really have been called the Fucks, then turn the page and you are learning about crooner Vic Damone, his marriage to doomed actor Pier Angeli, and a number from My Fair Lady. The Philosophy of Modern Song has more in common with Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, the satellite radio show he hosted from 2006 to 2009, than it does with his previous books. Much of it reads like his DJ patter. Some of it could even be simple transcription: "The guy in the Platters, Tony Williams, is one of the greatest singers ever. Everybody talks about how Sam Cooke came out of gospel to go into the pop field. But there's nobody that beats this guy." Dylan writes glowingly of Tommy Edwards' 1958 rock-a-ballad It's All in the Game, the "layered counterpoint parts on the strings", and the "communal voices filling in the gaps." He is all about feel. There are darker entries. Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou takes you "back to happier times, where folks are lively and merry, where you can have a blast, make the most of things and clown around". But that's all in Orbison's imagination. Like millions of others, the song's protagonist had left this idyll for work in the big city, and Dylan can relate, having left Minnesota for New York at the turn of the 60s. "You found the Tower of Babel - you found skyscrapers of gibberish and double talk, superstructures and frameworks of hot air and bullshit." There is anger and sorrow for what had been and what was destroyed, lost in the wind. Not all the entries are straightforward or canonical. Rosemary Clooney's harpsichord-led novelty Come On-a My House, from 1951, is seen by Dylan as "the song of seduction, the big come on" that will "sucker you in with desserts and multicoloured Easter eggs ... Are you tempted? You bet." Turn the page and he suddenly hears it a completely different way - it's the song of "the deviant, the paedophile, the mass murderer ¿ a Little Red Riding Hood song". Snobbish takes are so rare that they really stand out; as an aside in an essay about Elvis Costello, who went on to collaborate with Burt Bacharach, Dylan writes: "When you are writing songs with Burt Bacharach, you obviously don't give a fuck what people think," which is baffling. Much more often, he is winningly enthusiastic and all-encompassing in his taste. He raves about Perry Como's Without a Song ("his performance is just downright incredible"). He sees Como as the ultimate anti-star - no booze, no drugs, no womanising, the unassuming "anti-flavor of the week" in every respect. And that appeals to Dylan; he sees an authenticity in Como's blank persona - a man who just stood there and did nothing but sing like a nightingale - in the way many of Dylan's followers might see authenticity in Johnny Cash or Nick Cave. He also considers his next entry, Jimmy Wages' Take Me from This Garden of Evil, to be "the real deal", with nothing cosmetic or plastic about it. A ferocious rockabilly howl against a world of lust, greed, cruelty and insanity, it couldn't be further from Como's world. So Dylan, unsurprisingly, enjoys being a contrarian. He can have a little pop at George Gershwin's classical pretensions, or Bobby Darin's untamed ambition to be Sinatra and Buddy Holly rolled into one. He can make a convincing argument that it was lazy-voiced child star Ricky Nelson, more than Elvis Presley, who was the true ambassador of rock'n'roll, the one who introduced it to American television on a weekly basis and made it "part of the family". Nelson had previously received props from Dylan - as being on a par with original rockers like Elvis and Gene Vincent, "right up in the stratosphere" - on Theme Time Radio Hour, so there is some continuity here, and I'm quite sure patterns will emerge for devoted Dylan observers. Other times, he revels in absolutes - of all the sad songs ever written, he reckons there is "none sadder" than Stephen Foster's Nelly Was a Lady, a song from a time way before recorded sound, let alone rock'n'roll. He also wants you to dig, wants you to work to get the most from the book. Who are the three characters on the cover? Everyone will recognise Little Richard, some will get Eddie Cochran, but the young woman with the guitar standing between them is a mystery to me. The book's dedication reads "for Doc Pomus", who he covers briefly when talking about the Drifters' Save the Last Dance for Me. But Dylan knows most readers won't recognise his name. This would all seem like flat one-upmanship if Dylan weren't such an engaging and lively host, prone to grumble occasionally, but more likely to make you laugh out loud. He'd had enough of being a symbol, the voice of the people, long ago - now he's entirely comfortable and can have a lot of fun with it. The Philosophy of Modern Song compares Roger Daltrey singing My Generation to Norma Desmond raving against the modern world in Sunset Boulevard, and I'm never going to hear the song the same way again.
Kirkus Review
The iconic singer/songwriter reflects on a lifetime of listening to music. Nostalgia abounds in Bob Dylan's eclectic and eccentric collection of impressive musical appreciations. Examining 66 songs across numerous genres, going back to Stephen Foster's "Nelly Was a Lady" (1849), the author offers an extensive hodgepodge of illustrations and photographs alongside rich, image-laden, impressionistic prose. There is no introduction or foreword. Instead, Dylan dives right in with "Detroit City," Bobby Blare's 1963 single: "What is it about lapsing into narration in a song that makes you think the singer is suddenly revealing the truth?" Throughout the text, the author is consistently engaging and often provocative in his explorations. Regarding "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles, he writes, "The lips of her cunt are a steel trap, and she covers you with cow shit--a real killer-diller and you regard her with suspicion and fear, rightly so. Homely enough to stop a clock, she's no pussycat." Deconstructing Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's "Pancho and Lefty," Dylan describes songwriting as "editing--distilling thought down to essentials." We can see the author's mind working, reminiscing, but there's little autobiography here. Where needed, he tosses in some prodigious music history and biography, and some appreciations read like short stories. Often, Dylan straightforwardly recounts what a specific song is about: "By the time you get to Phoenix it will be morning where she is, and she'll be just getting out of bed." Pete Seeger's "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" is a "remembrance of things past," and Dion and the Belmonts' version of the Rodgers and Hart song "Where or When" is about "reincarnation." Also making appearances are Carl Perkins, Perry Como, The Clash, Roy Orbison, Cher, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Cash, Judy Garland, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead. Bobby Darin and Willie Nelson appear twice. "A record is so much better when you can believe it." Dylan is clearly a believer, and he will convince readers to follow. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Nobel laureate Bob Dylan is known for his eclectic tastes as well as his deep, encyclopedic knowledge of popular music. He puts that expertise to the test in this widely entertaining romp through popular-music history. Even if readers aren't familiar with a song under discussion, they will still enjoy and appreciate his take on it. Starting with Bobby Bare's "Detroit City" and ending with Dion & the Belmonts' "Where or When," Dylan runs through 66 songs, explaining why, in his opinion, these particular compositions work. Throughout, he shares his views on songwriting. "Knowing a singer's life story doesn't particularly help your understanding of a song," he offers. "It's what a song makes you feel about your own life that's important." The book is also a plaint against conformity as he praises songs that stand out for their originality, individuality, and inventiveness. Dylan's prose is often as vivid as his own lyrics, such as when he discusses Johnny Paycheck's "Old Violin." Referring to the country singer's short stature, he notes that, "Like a lot of small men, he was wrapped tighter than the inside of a golf ball and hit just about as often." Many of the songs here, as with perhaps most songs, were written with the ear in mind. An important distinction, Dylan believes. What's more, he compares what happens between the marriage of words and music to alchemy, "chemistry's wilder, less disciplined precursor." Illustrated with a rich collection of images ranging from vintage photos and movie stills to album and pulp-fiction covers, this quirky book is not only full of surprises but also a wonderful consideration of contemporary songs by the modern era's master songwriter.
Library Journal Review
Nobel Prize-winning singer/songwriter/musician and American icon Dylan pens his first book in nearly two decades. This collection of more than 60 essays breaks down big music hits, overlooked ballads, and music staples. These aren't necessarily Dylan's favorite songs; rather, they are strong songs that provided him with inspiration. From Elvis Presley to Elvis Costello, from Bobby Darin to the Clash, Dylan shares the musical knowledge, philosophy, and insight that he has accrued during his storied career. Examining lyrics, beats, history, and more, each essay is written in Dylan's signature rambling, fast-paced style. While the book contains over 150 curated photos, the audiobook features an amazing full-cast performance from luminaries Jeff Bridges, Renée Zellweger, Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Rita Moreno, Sissy Spacek, and Dylan himself. Nearly half of the songs discussed are from the 1950s; others go as far back as 1924 and all the way up to 2003. Listeners may be disappointed to note that out of these 66 songs, only four are sung by women; more of the songs, about a third, are by people of color. VERDICT While listeners won't necessarily agree with all of Dylan's selections, they will likely enjoy learning about both obscure songs and chart-toppers. The all-star narration makes this audiobook shine.--Erin Cataldi
Table of Contents
Detroit City | p. 1 |
Pump It Up | p. 7 |
Without a Song | p. 11 |
Take me from this Garden of Evil | p. 15 |
There Stands the Glass | p. 21 |
Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me | p. 25 |
Tutti Frutti | p. 29 |
Money Honey | p. 33 |
My Generation | p. 41 |
Jesse James | p. 45 |
Poor Little Fool | p. 49 |
Pancho and Lefty | p. 55 |
The Pretender | p. 61 |
Mack the Knife | p. 65 |
Whiffenpoof Song | p. 69 |
You Don't Know Me | p. 71 |
Ball of Confusion | p. 75 |
Poison Love | p. 81 |
Beyond the Sea | p. 85 |
On the Road Again | p. 91 |
If You Don't Know me by Now | p. 95 |
The Little White Cloud that Cried | p. 99 |
El Paso | p. 105 |
Nelly was a Lady | p. 113 |
Cheaper to Keep Her | p. 117 |
I Got a Woman | p. 123 |
Cia Man | p. 127 |
On the Street Where You Live | p. 131 |
Truckin' | p. 137 |
Ruby, Are You Mad? | p. 141 |
Old Violin | p. 147 |
Volare | p. 153 |
London Calling | p. 159 |
Your Cheatin' Heart | p. 163 |
Blue Bayou | p. 169 |
Midnight Rider | p. 173 |
Blue Suede Shoes | p. 177 |
My Prayer | p. 183 |
Dirty Life and Times | p. 191 |
Doesn't Hurt Anymore | p. 195 |
Key to the Highway | p. 201 |
Everybody Cryin' Mercy | p. 205 |
War | p. 211 |
Big River | p. 217 |
Feel So Good | p. 219 |
Blue Moon | p. 225 |
Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves | p. 231 |
Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy | p. 237 |
It's all in the Game | p. 243 |
A Certain Girl | p. 247 |
I've Always been Crazy | p. 249 |
Witchy Woman | p. 253 |
Big Boss Man | p. 259 |
Long Tall Sally | p. 263 |
Old and Only in the Way | p. 265 |
Black Magic Woman | p. 269 |
By the Time I Get to Phoenix | p. 277 |
Come on-a My House | p. 279 |
Don't take Your Guns to Town | p. 285 |
Come Rain or Come Shine | p. 289 |
Don't Let me be Misunderstood | p. 293 |
Strangers in the Night | p. 301 |
Viva Las Vegas | p. 305 |
Saturday Night at the Movies | p. 313 |
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy | p. 319 |
Where or When | p. 327 |