A Bob Dylan Must Read

I finished reading Bob Dylan’s autobiography Chronicles this weekend. It was such a wonderful read. I’ve always known Dylan as a singer-songwriter, never as a prose writer. The thing that really struck me was the honesty in the unfolding of his life. He gives very little detail about his personal life in the account but always tells you what he thinks about this or that. He is suddenly married, he refers to his kids, gives a few bits of info etc., but never gives details about any of that. Very Dylanish!

The book ends after he signs a contract with Colombia Records in 1961. Still, there is a goldmine of info in this book that will really open up a new window of understanding to his music as well as his escape from the public’s eye and its quest to make him into this spokesperson for causes he really didn’t think too highly of and certainly did not want to get entrenched in the middle of.

There’s an excellent black and white film documentary from 1964 called “Don’t Look Back” that’s worth the watching when you are reading this book as it brings a lot of material together and gives you a clear cinematic take on what you are reading. Just watching Dylan totally perplex journalists with his Socratic approach to their interviewing pursuits is worth the watch all of its own. The documentary covered a concert tour to England that he took with his manager, as well as with Joan Baez (who, interestingly, never performs once with him during the tour!).

I just can’t say enough about this book. It will definitely get read again this year. As a result of reading this book I went out and purchased music by Hank Williams, Joan Baez, Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, all individuals that greatly impacted Dylan in his formative years… the book really put the hook in me for classic folk music.

I’m now reading Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”