I will have a zoom meeting on this subject on Saturday, October 10 at 10:00 am. You are invited, since you showed interest at some time in the meetup domain.
The link to the zoom meeting is below.Dylan's 60+ year career began in 1961 at age 19 in NYC, and has evolved continuously since then. This evolution involves many aspects, such as lyrical subject matter, musical style, vocal quality, and band accompaniment. Attached is a preliminary list in date order from the sixty years,with quotes from each song,and comments on the lyrical content.
There are around 50 studio albums, a large number of official and unofficial bootlegs, as well as many movies, books and interviews available.
Dylan started with solo vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica. He had been leader of electric bands in high school, and went back to electric bands in 1965 at Newport. His first album featured impassioned vocals of old folk, blues and gospel songs, but then Freewheelin' presented only his own songs, while catapulting him into stardom as the "voice of a generation." In 1964-5, possibly shying away from media heat after the Kennedy assassination, he turned his lyrical creativity to a more introspective, surreal, and stream of consciousness style. Throughout his career he has displayed great poetic talent, critical analysis of situations, elaborate storytelling, romantic depth, connection to both recent and ancient history, immersion in musical rhythms from many, many sources, and courageous leadership in advanceing new forms of aesthetic expression. So many quotable expressions, e.g. "He not busy being born is busy dying. . ", and "time is an ocean, but it ends at the shore. You may not see me tomorrow. . .", and "How long must I listen to the lies of prejudice. . . .drunk on fear, out in the wilderness. . ."
The subject of Dylanology is important in current college English departments. Since 2018, the Definitely Dylan podcast led by Laura Tenschert in London has been encouraging Dylan afficionados to chime in, and to connect. This meetup group hopes to promote Dylan understanding and appreciation among fans and interested people here in Phoenix. We will have both in-person and zoom meetings.
Link to document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uv6cUAgj4JTwkf5ITXLo7ZSQhha4drOv/view?usp=sharing
Tom Perry
