Friday afternoon off, I'm sitting in a cafe listening to the three Dylan songs
that Bruce mentioned. He was right on about that, BTW. If there is a Top Ten
Best Songs Ever Written, these three are all on it. Here they are, if you feel
like listening, too.
Desolation Row:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=Desolation+Row+Bob+Dylan
Visions Of Johanna:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=Visions+of+Johanna+Bob+Dylan
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=Sad+Eyed+Lady+of+the+Lowlands+Bob+Dylan
From: TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]
FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 2:17 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Bruce on Bob
I'm counting down the days until the arrival of Rumors Of Glory, the upcoming
memoir by Bruce Cockburn. Until it arrives, I've had to make do with a couple
of excerpts -- the introduction to the book, called Overture, and chapter 4,
which is about the time Bruce spent at Berklee School Of Music in Boston:
Rumours of Glory: A Memoir by Bruce Cockburn (Excerpt: Overture and Chapter 4)
Rumours of Glory: A Memoir by Bruce Cockburn (Excerp...
Legendary Canadian singer and songwriter Bruce Cockburn delivers his
long-awaited memoir—a chronicle of faith, fear, and activism that is also a
lively cultural and...
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Here's an excerpt from these excerpts, Bruce giving credit where credit is due:
When
I think about sitting in a place that had an association with Dylan,
I’m reminded of the impact he had. I tend to be influenced creatively by
everything I hear that I like, but Dylan remains the songwriter who has
had the greatest effect on my music. When The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan hit
Ottawa in the summer of 1963, our little group of folkies all had to
learn “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Hard
Rain,” and “Masters of War”: these are brilliantly written songs that
were shaking not just our world, but the world. When Dylan went
electric, he did it again. At the time a few folk purists moaned about
how they’d been let down by Dylan plugging in, but the rest of the world
got it. This was an electric moment! And I don’t mean the guitar. By
this time Dylan’s songwriting had evolved to its most masterful level.
“Desolation Row,” from Highway 61 Revisited, came out in 1965, and in my
mind it remains one of the best songs ever written. The following year
Dylan released Blonde on Blonde, with “Visions of Johanna” and “Sad Eyed
Lady of the Lowlands.” No one has ever written songs better than these.
The influence I got from Dylan was less stylistic than it was
motivational: Look at what you can do. Look at how broad the field is;
you can do any damn thing. You can be as wordy as you want. I’ve always
liked words.
