Hi folks,

Firstly, let me apologise to everyone I offended for the somewhat disrespectful tone of last week's newsletter about Bob Dylan. I'll try to be more specific this week. I realize that many of you, (including myself, believe it or not) have long and EMOTIONAL relationships with Zimmie's music, some going back to our teens, and even early childhoods.

My article was also in poor taste, in light of the recent tragic events about Dylan's bust at a nightclub in Duluth. He was arrested by the FBI, dressed in women's clothing and a Alicia Keys wig, after they had monitored an online internet chat group, 'MojoHand Rabbitfoot Love', where he was known by the handle 'Mr Jones.' Internet investigators lured him to the nightclub where he was entrapped by a midget agent dressed in a nappie. As he was escorted out, he was seen clutching the small pet rabbit he carries with him everywhere, Uncle Remus, and yelling, 'You gotta lotta nerrrrrrrrrrve . . to say you are my friennnnnnnnnd." As they pushed his head down to put him in the back seat of the police van, he whispered to one of the female agents, "Yeah, you make luuuuv juuuust like a buhhhny, but you breaaaaaak just like a little squirrrrrel!"

Only kiddin' folks! I'm pullin' your John da Conqueroo - 'cause I realize that some of you:
" . . . you know you rather see me paralyyyyyyzed -
why don't you just come out one time and screeeeeeeam it!!"

I acknowledge Dylan's cultural contribution and have personally been influenced immeasurably by his music. I probably should have left out the humorous pieces that followed my opening broadside of his new album, 'Modern Life', but I got caught up in the spirit of satire and adventure and as anyone knows who has been following my newsletters for the past four years, I like taking on the big ass icons like Cruise and Christianity, with a certain devil-may-care charm - most of the time. I guess I wasn't that charming, eh? But hell, I couldn't have asked for a more overwhelming response had I written an essay on the Fat Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich Eating Elvis (easy . . . . all you Elvis fundamentalists!).

I find it somewhat ironic, folks, that the venomous, bile, bitter, mean-spirited and immodest comments directed at me about last week's newsletter, using words like 'venomous', 'bile', 'bitter', 'mean-spirited' and 'immodest' to describe MY writing, forget that Bob Dylan, in his PRIME as a songwriter, was also venomous, bile, bitter, mean-spirited AND immodest. I'm sure you have forgotten the following typical exchanges like this one between Dylan and journalist AJ Weberman in the 70s:

" . . . Dylan reveals a strong animosity toward Roger McGuinn:
"F*ck him. You can put that in [your article] twice."
In another amusing exchange Dylan asks rhetorically who writes better songs than he does and Weberman replies, "I can name you a hundred" to which Dylan replies "Bullsh*t!".
Weberman proceeds to name some pretty lame songwriters along with some good ones and Dylan gives his opinions, mostly negative.
John Lennon: "Never!"
Creedence Clearwater: "Bullsh*t!"
George Harrison: ". . . Maybe".
. . . Dylan insist(s) that Weberman . . . leave mention of his children out of any article Weberman has planned and says if they are included " . . . My wife will hit me, man". " from AJ Weberman vs Bob Dylan

So I will devote this entire newsletter to some of the hundreds of comments I received. The ones that made me think and do some more homework.

Then I'm letting go of this songwriters' family squabble - and moving to more pressing concerns and back to beating on George W Bush's head some more 'cause that fool is starting to stir up the war drums again.

Over the years there has been every conceivable kind of criticism levelled at Dylan's music. Much of what I find fault with him today, isn't really new news at all. In fact, Dylan came under similar criticism - that of remaining mute on the Iraq War and US warmongering in general - during the Vietnam War, as anti-war activists then, too, thought he should have taken a more outspoken stand because of his respected position and celebrity. So none of this is surprising.

There is a very strange collection of people floating around out there in Dylanland, almost as strange as the ones in Elvistown. Way back in the 70s, there was, of course, journalist, AJ Weberman and the 'Dylan Liberation Front', who claimed Dylan had sold out and been brainwashed by Albert Grossman and the Record Company mafia. They wore badges that said, 'Free Bob Dylan' (much like the 'Free Katie Holmes' folks today). Weberman pioneered the lovely practice of 'garbology' - the forerunner of modern papparrazism - by probing through Dylan's garbage to find out details about his personal life. Weberman was even beaten up by him when he refused to cease and desist:
" "I'd agreed not to hassle Dylan anymore, but I was a publicity-hungry motherf*cker . . . . I went to MacDougal Street, and Dylan's wife comes out and starts screaming about me going through the garbage. Dylan said if I ever f*cked with his wife, he'd beat the sh*t out of me. A couple of days later, I'm on Elizabeth Street and someone jumps me, starts punching me. I turn around and it's like -- Dylan. I'm thinking, 'Can you believe this? I'm getting the crap beat out of me by Bob Dylan!' I said, 'Hey, man, how you doin'?' But he keeps knocking my head against the sidewalk. He's little, but he's strong. He works out. I wouldn't fight back, you know, because I knew I was wrong. He gets up, rips off my 'Free Bob Dylan' button and walks away. Never says a word. The Bowery bums were coming over, asking, 'How much he get?' Like I got rolled. . . . I guess you got to hand it to Dylan, coming over himself, not sending some f*cking lawyer." article

Today, there is something called the DylanPool - a website where fans bet on who can correctly guess which songs Dylan will include in his set on any particular night! There are message boards and blogs where folks express how much they either love or hate his latest moves. DylanPool

Even I have had a link on my website to the complete lyrics of Bob Dylan for five years. Many of my readers weren't even born when Dylan was singing the very songs that influenced me the most and have only really known the 'Modern Bob' so to speak. So there are a few Bob Dylans out there, just like there are several Davie Bowies, and it is easy to be misunderstood when talking about just one.

The Dylan that influenced me does not exist anymore. R.I.P. There is another one out there performing. One who's convinced he's the old bluesman.

If you recall in my last newsletter, I commented on how I thought Dylan should be producing his own albums instead of letting other producers 'steer' his vision? Well, I found out a couple of days ago that Dylan, in fact, actually produced 'Modern Times' under the name "Jack Frost." Asked why he chose to do this one himself:

" I don't like to make records . . . I do it reluctantly . . I feel like I've always produced my own records, anyway, except I just had someone there in the way. (my emphasis)" Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone Interview, Sept 7, 2006.

The illustrious pantheon of producers he has worked with on his 31 albums must love that quote. But I am not alone in my disappointment with the song writing on 'Modern Times'. Although 60% of my reader feedback from last issue supported Dylan, and only 40% supported my comments, almost 95% expressed dissatisfaction with 'Modern Times' as an album - but still felt I had no right to criticize Dylan.

Alexis Petridis, of The Guardian, was the first major critic to ridicule the hype of 'Modern Times' - which he called a "competition to see who can slather Bob Dylan's 32nd studio album with the most deranged praise known to man." Jim DeRogatis of The Chicago Sun-Times was particularly critical of the ballads, writing that " Dylan disappoints with...[his] inexplicable fondness for smarmy '30s and '40s balladry." The title of the album is the same as one of Charlie Chaplin's most noted films, Modern Times. The cover photo "Taxi, New York at Night", 1947, is by Ted Croner and has been already used as a cover by the defunct band Luna for their 1997 Single "Hedgehog/23 Minutes in Brussels"! article

The most fascinating interview I have read in awhile is Dylan's last year's Rolling Stone chat with JONATHAN LETHEM:
Interview

" I don't listen to any of my records. When you're inside of it all, all you're listening to is a replica." Bob Dylan

The last person I remember saying they never listened to their own records was Frank Sinatra, the icon of my parent's generation. I never forgot that because I thought . . . 'how odd not to like listening to your own music'. All of us young aspiring musos looked forward to the day when we could actually record an album of our own and couldn't imagine not wanting to listen to them once we had one!

Well, if all one was listening to was a replica, then they would call them 'replicas', not 'records'. Use your words, Bob.

What a record is, is precisely that. A record. Of what happened in the studio.

If Dylan isn't interested in listening to what he does during his recording sessions, why should I? Fair enough?

I also wouldn't think of eating the cooking of a chef who didn't like eating their own food?
" I don't-a eat that - that's-a just-a for the people in the restaurant."
My grandmother ate her own cooking. And it was so GOOD that I had to learn how to do that myself, that's how much LOVE she put into it.

If Dylan doesn't like recording, he shouldn't record anymore. How hard is that for someone who is known for going his own way? Why does he do it, then? For the money? I doubt it. For the people in the restaurant? For the money? Probably.

I wonder if Stradivarius ever played his own violins for enjoyment after he made them? Did Van Gogh drift off in his own finished paintings on many a drunken night for satisfaction? How else is one supposed to self-correct and keep improving if you don't build on your previous efforts - through study of what you've done, through analysis, through reverence for the process and the people who have helped you learn. Through LOVE. And then returning fondly to re-live the little miracles that you have been part of. Like looking through photo albums.

The Greek poet, CP Cavafy wrote a beautiful poem:

In my experience, the only reason an artist doesn't like listening to their own recordings is because either the recording goes so off track or becomes compromised from the original vision that it doesn't represent the songs, or the artist, correctly - or else nothing happened in the studio that surprises; no miracles, nothing that escapes your control and becomes BIGGER than yourselves. To me, those are the real goals of recording. To prepare and perform and prepare and perform and prepare. Until you know your onions. And then go into the studio and not just make a musical documentary but allow MAGIC to happen. And record it.

I would think any artist who succeeded in those goals would like to be reminded of it. Would like to rest from their toil in the beauty of their creation, like Cavafy's painter. Enjoy eating their own cooking.

"I've had a rough time recording. I've managed to come up with songs, but I've had a rough time recording. But maybe it should be that way. Because other stuff which sounds incredible, that can move you to tears -- for all those who were knocked off our feet by listening to music from yesteryear, how many of those songs are really good? Or was it just the record that was great? Well, the record was great. The record was an art form. And you know, when all's said and done, maybe I was never part of that art form, because my records really weren't artistic at all. They were just documentation. Maybe bad players playing bad changes, but still something coming through." Bob Dylan

Probably true, most of the time. But he got it right enough times that he ought to know the difference and say so.

But this is the key to why I think Dylan has chosen to remain steadfastly uncritical of himself:

" Puncturing myths, boycotting analysis (my emphasis) and ignoring chronology are likely part of a long and lately quite successful campaign not to be incarcerated within his own legend. Dylan's greatest accomplishment since his Sixties apotheosis may simply be that he has claimed his story as his own." JONATHAN LETHEM

Fair enough. After all who amongst us can truly understand the pressure these super mega-stars have had to live with their whole lives.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton

LETTERS FROM READERS

Joe Dolce,
Subject: your a idiot - but you know that - go back to 1965
Your comments on Dylan show you're a moron - his new work is as good as anything he's done but your deaf and its perspective shows his age .. your still angry he's not in protest marches with Cindy Sheehan and all the other people like you who know the true answers - Dylan said there is no right wing or left wing just up .. but in your case you're a bitter has been man - who had one moment of fame and thing your so great - pathetic fool is you .. but that is the intend of your Dylan rants - you get a hard on only when putting down someone who's worst day and shit work is more then you'll ever do - happy new year you fuck  John B.
- (later) Hey, sorry for the rant - you have a right to your opinion like anyone else - just disagree with you but that's life for every opinion there is contary ones, Take care, John

(Note: Whew! John. Sometimes I feel lke a Red Cross nurse helping people lance carbuncles. Or an exorcist with a face full of chunky pea soup. This is the kind of letter that I've heard President Abraham Lincoln used to write to the Generals that he was angry with - and then throw away before he could actually send them. Good thing Lincoln didn't have email. I glad you included the after thought, though, John. I don't mind a little anger. I get angry, too. It's good not to sleep on it, though. You'll wake up with a face like Bob Dylan. Let me see if I can comment without accidentally burning you with more holy water. Dylan's new work is NOT as good as anything he's done. I'm not that deaf yet. (Well, maybe a little.) 'Your' is spelled 'you're' most of the time, in your case. I graduated in 1965. It was a great year. I went to my first dance, the Harvey High School graduation prom, with Carol Dunlop, my first serious girlfriend, a poetry honours student two years older than me from Lake Erie Girl's College, (but she asked me not to tell anyone at the dance), who had once danced on the same stage with Nureyev, who finger-picked guitar and sang 'Plaisir d' Amour' in French just for me, and who planted the seed of music and poetry in my heart forever; but broke it later, as it had to be; who I have never gotten over, who I never saw again, and who I heard later died of cancer, and is buried alongside the love of her life, Julio Cortazar, the writer of 'Blow Up', in a cemetery in Montmartre. But I would not choose to go back to that time, if you paid me. Except maybe to dance with Carol again. 'Its' spelled it's. Perspective has nothing to do with age. I am very angry that Bob Dylan, with the power of his position and well respected voice, remains neutral and did not, and still refuses, to take a position of protest against the invasion and occupation of Iraq, US war mongering, or to support Cindy Sheehan, who had no voice, position or power at all, but lost her son and still was willing to risk everything else she had to speak out - the way Dylan used to when he was still someone's young living son and wrote songs like 'Masters of War' and 'With God on Our Side'. I don't know any 'true' answers to anything but, right or wrong, one still has to stand for something. In flying, as in politics, without a right or left wing, the direction is probably down, not up, unless of course, one is full of hot air. Anyway, right and left wings have nothing to do with invading countries, stealing oil and murdering innocent families. One is either a peace maker, a war maker or a fence sitter (but it's not advisable to sit on the fence GATE.) And there's that word 'has been' again. Funny, I never think of myself that way until someone else brings it up. I consider myself fortunate to have any commerical success at all, and hope to have some more, as I have bills to pay, and mouths to feed, but feel particularly fortunate to have had long and lasting success in love, and family which, unfortunately, is neither commercial, nor is there a Hall of Fame to honour it. But I like the term 'Has Been Man'. Sounds like a good name for a transsexual band. 'Thing' is spelled think. I agree, I am a pathetic fool sometimes, but not in the kitchen. 'Intend' is spelled intent. I honestly did not get a hard-on once while writing that last newsletter, nor did I turn to Viagra for a single metaphor. Dylan's worst day and shit work is not more than I'll ever do, but is probably equal to my worst day and shit work (but that would be hard to measure with any known instruments - other than perhaps toilet paper, but that would only be sketchy. Boom boom.) Thanks for the Happy New Year greeting! I accept your apology. I do have a right to my opinion and so do you so don't back down. Disagreement is healthy - and Dylan has been known to disagree with everything including himself. 'Contary' is spelled contrary. I will take care, and same to you. Ya'll come back soon now, y'hear?)

Joe Dolce,
Modern Times isn't great, but it is u my good sir who is full o' shit, it's easy 2 judge from afar, but u mean little & Bob ... well he means the world 2 me & many others worldwide, get a clue! (by the way his last 2 albums are GENIOUS, as is almost everything he penned). David Vandenbroucke

(Note: David, I mean a lot to me. And I certainly meant a lot to my dearly departed mama. I don't think you are being very objective here. I don't think too many people in the world would agree with you that almost everything Dylan has written is of equal temperament. Just read through some of these responses, even from long term fans. Most of them don't much like 'Modern Times' either, when is all is said and done. They just don't like me saying ca-ca things about Bob. But, a bit of fatherly advice, I don't mind being called 'full o' shit' but if you want to be taken seriously in your assessment of what constitutes Genius, I suggest you first learn how to spell the word.)

From: The Dai Woosnam Bumper Bundle UK Newsletter
" This is from the latest "Joe Dolce Peace & Love Weekly". It is the best critique on the work of Robert Zimmerman I have read in YEARS.  And it is from the pen of Joe himself. Like Joe, I too worshipped for many years at the shrine of Dylan.   (Golly, I can recall queuing for 6 hours to buy tickets for his Cardiff gig in 1966.)  But I gave up buying the new-release Dylan albums a long time before Joe.  At least Joe "stuck by his man", hoping that Bob would regain his former glory. I knew Dylan was a "spent force" ages ago.  But how I wish I could have expressed myself THIS well!   Joe really does not pull any punches. . . Not quite sure I agree with Joe that artistes get better as they grow older.  In my experience, there is a steep learning curve and they peak about album 3 or 4.  (Same with novelists and their books.)  And then the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in. But that minor point apart, this Dylan critique was really heady stuff.    And how I just PURRED with delight at the rhetorical flourish of these lines:
 
 ' - just plain laziness and bad writing - and the fool thinks he can get away with it on account a he's Bob Dylan. WELL, HE AINT BOB DYLAN NO MORE. AND I AIN'T GONNA WORK ON BOB DYLAN'S FARM NO MORE. He's a husk of a shell of a vapour of a whiff of someone who shook the little finger of Bob Dylan. At least the Bob Dylan I was influenced by.- '
 
 Bravo, Joe!   Pity the 2006 Bob Dylan couldn't write with THAT sort of energy and wit. " Dai Woosnam, UK

(Note: Dai, thank you for the mention in your newsletter once again. I always look forward to see what you find of mine worth passing on. The cul-de-sac of pop artists peaking out early is one of the main reasons I shifted to the classical composers like Beethoven, and Schubert for songwriting and performing inspiration. They NEVER seemed to peak out. All through my fragile youth, fellow musical influences were either killing themselves, overdosing, or burning out. Maybe it was too much fame and fortune at an early age. Who knows? I just knew I didnt want to follow them that far. I probably was lucky NOT to be successful during those days. Probably why I am still alive. The Beatles were one of my lifelines through the mighty shipwrecks of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and even poet, Sylvia Plath, all incredibly strong influences on me. When The Beatles finally short-circuited, I even clung to the shirttails of their producer, George Martin, which led me to the mystical harbours of JS Bach, the Composer de tutti Composers who figured out the most important lesson of all: how to integrate and balance your personal genius with your everyday life.)

Joe,
Don't put Dylan on a Pedistal (sic) ... ...and you won't feel the need to tear him down so savagely. He's written some fantastic songs, knows a shitload about American music and is a slow-burn funny, thoughtful guy. Don't invest so much in the Dylan genius-or-bullshitter debate. Either enjoy his work or ignore it. Even if it's true and his best work is behind him, why shouldn't he enjoy putting out albums, touring, DJ-ing a radio show and writing a memoir at this point in his life. Thanks for your time. Alan

Joe Dolce,
I'm hearing a cover of Dylan on the air right now. Tom Russell is doing 'Jack of Hearts'. Funny, haven't heard anyone covering you lately.. . . Though I even agree with some of your viewpoints, I dislike bullies on any side of the fence.... and knee-jerk reactions to artists from those who may be insecure about their own artistic accomplishments. Gary Allegretto, Founding Director, Harmonikids hamonikids.org

(Note: Gary, I haven't heard anyone covering you lately either, mate - does that mean that you have nothing to say? Or does it mean that unless you are popular, you have nothing to say? In which case, by your logic, 'Yesterday' which is the most covered song in history, is a stronger song than any of Dylan's - even his best.

What I am trying to promote is: thinking. . . I looked at your site. Special Needs Kids Playing Harmonicas. That's a great endeavour, mate. I like it. The harmonica is my first instrument, you know. I took it up when I was 19. I even give harmonica workshops at folk festivals, when they let me! But I think Bob Dylan ought to take your course, as he also hasn't improved his harp playing either whatsoever in four decades. He still plays harp like a squeezebox with asthma.

And Gary, calling ME a bully - compared to Dylan's mouth - is like the Pot calling the Kettle African-American. Up until Liam Gallagher, of Oasis, came along, Dylan held the unoffical record for the rudest intellectual bully in music history for his power trips on media, women and the general public, especially back in the late 60s. Just watch 'Don't Look Back' and Scorsese's documentary, and cringe at the way he takes advantage of the unaware, the unconscious, the wide-eyed and the vulnerable from his position of celebrity. Has he changed? His people skills have much improved but he still capable of dumping a bucket:
" I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really. You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like . . . static. . . . I remember when that Napster guy came up across, it was like, 'Everybody's getting music for free' I was like, 'Well, why not? It ain't WORTH nothing anyway." Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone Interview, Sept 7, 2006.

Now I would like all my fellow musicians and recording artists who fawn after Dylan uncritically to pay particular attention to the above last quote. He has basically said that probably anything YOU also have recorded in the past twenty years he would consider crap. People who continue to admire those who put them down are called masochists. All I'm doing is deconstructing some of Dylan's own 'static'. It doesn't mean I don't respect his great songs. (I revere them probably more than he does as I am learning from them all the time. He obviously isn't.)

Hey Joe,
I just finished your newsletter on Dylan and I pretty much agree with you. I kind of like some of the songs but, you're right, they just don't come close to his earlier stuff. . . . I finally released a full CD . . . There's a parody I did of Dylan on it and you can hear an .mp3 of it on my site: It's called "Get Back on That Train, Marie (or Tripping Over Dylan)".Take care, Todd McKinney 
(later) Joe, you know, you should consider a career in song writing. I know it's not as sexy as, say, civil engineering or even social engineering, but I hear the pay is fabulous and I think you might just have a talent for it. Todd website

(Note: Folks, Todd and I used to have a smokin' psychedelic folk-rock band in Athens, Ohio, in the early 70s, called 'The Headstone Circus,' with his brother Malcolm, and Jonathan Edwards ('Sunshine'), singing three part harmony on all the great Dylan and Byrds songs as well as our own eclectic originals. This was well before my singer-songwriter days, and I was just the lead guitarist and blues harp player. Tom Rush has recorded one of Todd's songs and Jonathan Edwards calls his new CD, Songs from Prospect Mountain, ' . . an acoustic music jewel not to be missed'. There are a few old pictures on Todd's website, from those Athens days, of the band and the big house we all used to live in together, down by the railroad tracks.)

Joe,
Re: Modern Times
Hmmmm, 'come senators, congressmen please heed the call 'cause... '
* "Someday Baby" is based on an old standard, made famous in versions by Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters. It is sometimes referred to as "Trouble No More".
* "Rollin' and Tumblin'" is thought to have been authored by the bluesman Hambone Willie Newbern. An arrangement very similar to Dylan's was a hit for Muddy Waters.
* "When the Deal Goes Down" uses the melody of "When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day", a signature-song for Bing Crosby.
* "Beyond the Horizon" takes it's entire melody and structure from the song "Red Sails in the Sunset," written by Jimmy Kennedy and Hugh Williams in 1935.
* "The Levees Gonna Brake" is based on "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. It has been previously adapted by rock acts such as Led Zeppelin.
* "Nettie Moore" takes it's title, and some of it's chorus, from an old standard, though Dylan's melody and lyrics are otherwise unrecognizable.
* "Aint Talkin" derives it's chorus from the more up-tempo "Highway of Regret" by the Stanley Brothers.
None of these previous incarnations or their authors are credited. While not a legal problem - copyrights on the songs having long run out - it troubled some journalists, such as Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal. Fusilli thought that this was contrary to Dylan's long track record of noting his influences, as in the liner notes of 1994's World Gone Wrong. Joe Levy of Rolling Stone claimed to have raised the question with Sony BMG executives, who shrugged it off as a non-issue. Levy and others have supported Dylan, noting the longstanding tradition among bluesmen of evolving and then claiming credit for each other's songs. Henry Timrod: In September 2006, The New York Times ran an article exploring similarities between some of the lyrics in '' Modern Times" and the work of 19th century poet Henry Timrod. Albuquerque disc jockey Scott Warmuth is credited as the first to discover at least ten substantial lines and phrases that can be clearly traced to the civil war poet, across several songs. Dylan and Sony have declined to comment on the matter, and Timrod's name is nowhere to be found on the liner notes. Wikipedia has it all. love mh

Hello Joe,
Happy New Year ­ boy, you are game sending this to a Dylan tragic such as me ­ I adore him and he can do no wrong ­ I'm one of those ­ Warmest regards, Di
 
(Note: Di, Bob Dylan can do no wrong? Did you really say that? He's been divorced twice but has SIX kids and NINE grandkids! Do you think his ex-wives think he can do no wrong. He must be doing SOMETHING wrong. He ain't batting a hundred in relationships, doll. I'd be interested to hear why you like 'Modern Times' and what you think Dylan is on about in his songs and specifically the excerpts I mention down below in my album notes- about women - which means you.)

Hey Joe,
You should go on the Dylanpool. They all hate him there too. As far as Modern Times lyrics, I guess it's you're perogitive (sic) to leave out the best songs (like Ain't Talkin'), but you wanted to make some kind of point. One of your quoted lyrics ('a real fine woman to do just what I say') actually comes from a Robert Johnson song. I'm sure you heard about the Henry Timrod & Ovid liftings, which gives this album it's 'vision'. Some of the language on this record is literally thousands of years old. [ie. ancient language like 'Yon'.] This music is grounded in history, but made into something new. You're double diss (Modern Times & Chronicles) seems pretty harsh and uninformed. If that's not bad enough you start with this Lanois rant: The job of a producer is to bring out the vision of the artist. Just ask Bob Johnston. Would you say that Time Out of Mind has no vision? All of his later albums have extreme vision. Look, I'm a songwriter & have been into Dylan since I started out as a kid. I saw the direct connection between his music & punk rock. Bob Dylan doesn't need me to defend him either, so I'll stop, but I think you should check out the later day Dylan a little more. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, J. Bendik website

(Note: Dear J. Bendik, Thanks for the Dylanpool link. Everytime I take on an 'icon', I step in the poo, so to speak, but it makes for excellent discourse between myself and readers.

Ok. Let me comment on your email. There is no such thing as 'ancient language' at least in these songs. Dylan is simply cutting and pasting bits and pieces from various sources. 'Yon' is just a word, like 'ye' and 'thee'. Using words like this out of context doesn't work much. In fact, they just sticketh out like a soreth thumb, alas, forsooth, anon.

Go back and look at Modern Times from another point of view. Forget what you have read in the press:

Every song on Modern Times has to do with Dylan's relationships to women. That's the only theme that is consistent throughout (and also throughout the lyrics to 'Time Out of Mind' if you care to check.) That is the main emotional driver of both of those records. There is no Vision worth noting. Only a Voice. The sound of Bob's voice is what links everything.

Here is an example of nineteenth century language, written by Henry Lawson's mother, Louisa Lawson, which I set to music a couple of years ago:

These words have a simple and beautiful Vision: that of Death as a Mountain to be climbed, rather than the traditional image as a descent into the Valley of Shadows. I wouldn't worry about the 'elder cats dying' and 'losing our culture'. Culture is all around us in books, poetry, music, dvds, and songs, too - you simply have to go on a self-education journey to find it. Same as Dylan probably does every day with his old 78 records. The internet makes it a lot easier these days as everyone has a library at their fingertips.)

G'day Joe,
re: Bob Dylan and your analysis of his BS factor -- you have to remember here is a guy who doesn't even travel under his own name. Rock 'n roll is fairly forgiving of pretenders, eg, white guys pretending to be black (come on down Mick Jagger).  At least Elvis Costello tried to re-adopt his real name when he woke up to himself. have a good year, Shane at the Fin (all real names!)

Joe,
[You wrote:] 'You know who else writes better lyrics than Dylan at the moment? Judy Small. Eric Bogle. Bruce Watson. Kath Tait.  Lin Van Hek. . . Paul Kelly'. Just add JOHN WARNER to this, I don't know if you know any of John's songs but they are well worth looking at. Patricia  John Warner website

Hey Joe,
You done spitting chips and got all that shit off your liver now? Feel better? Personally I love "Modern Times" and I'm not going to be outfluenced by your assessment. As for [Denzel Washington] playing [Woody Guthrie] ... well it's a bit odd, but if that's [Bob Dylan's] dimension of reality, then so be it. I don't think any of us have the right to limit other people's realities, and we certainly don't have the right to call them idiots just because their reality is different to ours. But I agree on principle about the autobiography coming out in volumes. Let's get the whole thing in one package please. By the way, have a read of Alan Alda's autobio, "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed". It's certainly different from the run of the mill Hollywood autobio pot boiler where halfway decent actors become super heroes of stage and screen in their own eyes. Alda actually seems to have retained some humility and self-doubts right from his beginnings to modern times.'Tis a good read. Happy New Year and keep the newsletters flowing. Best, Mike Edmonds

(Note: Mike, thanks for writing and as always I appreciate feedback from someone who loves music as much as you do. I know I was a bit sharp and who am I to tell anyone else what kind of music to enjoy? That wasn't my intention. I would like to limit John Howard and George Bush's reality, though - wouldn't you? And does shit actually accumulate on the liver? I thought it was bile. Or does bile collect in the gall bladder. Or is that a lot of gall? And maybe venom actually gathers around our reptilian brain stems. Anyway, I know what you mean. Yeah Mike - Denzel playing Woody. Let's pitch that idea to Mel Gibson! That's probably a film that you and I ought to produce. But who would play Dylan? Maybe Russell Crowe. He could sing the songs himself. And Oprah Winfrey as Joan Baez. See, in my reality, all that would be possible, too - but it still don't make it right! Now about calling other people idiots - once again, the Pot calling the friggin' Kettle Aboriginal! - my, my, how soon we forget that sensitive lovesong of depth and kindness (to a woman, of course)!:

Dear Joe,
This is the most mean-spirited attack on any musician I have ever read. I go to Dylan shows every chance I get,  and attended my first one in 1974. Why should a 65 year old Dylan try to be the 25 year old Dylan you want him to be? That's Bob's genius - not being who everyone else thinks he should be, but being himself. So you don't like Dylan. Who cares? I don't. I'll bet he doesn't. Ordinarily I find your rants pretty entertaining. When you write a song as good as High Water (2001) please let me know and I'll buy it. Chris

(Note: Chris, you have raised an interesting point. The pattern of Dylan's 'multiple betrayals' as the recent Rolling Stone interview called it - 'he's gone Electric! Country! Domestic! Unavailable! Christian! The 'repossession' of his voice. etc. It seems someone somewhere has always felt Dylan is letting them down. (Especially his two ex-wives, I would think.) Well, maybe he is and maybe he isn't. He certainly is letting me down.

Now, as far as High Water, it is a good song, but spoiled by several things:

Name dropping. And Dylan's habit, lately, of using colourful but superficial imagery, and lines lifted from other people's songs for no good reason. He mentions quite a few people by name in High Water but does not develop their characters within the body of the song. This would not fly in a film script and it doesn't fly in a song lyric. He is assuming we either know who these people or will go find out. He never used to write with this kind of 'go figure it out yourself' attitude. His best songs tell you everything you need to know within the songs. He mentions Charley Patton, Big Joe Turner, Bertha Mason, George Lewis and someone called Fat Nancy. Fat Nancy is the only one I am familiar with. She's the one down at the Commonwealth bank that wouldn't give me a loan for a new weedeater. Who are these people? Ok, I'm glad you asked. I'll tell you:

1. Charley Patton (father of delta blues). Ok - this is the dedication - so it is acceptable to me. We don't really have to know anything except Dylan admires him. But if you are interested, long before Jimi Hendrix , Patton was the entertainer's entertainer with dazzling showmanship, often playing guitar on his knees and behind his head, as well as behind his back. Although Patton was a small man at about 5 foot 5 and 135 pounds, the sound of his whiskey- and cigarette-scarred voice was rumored to have carried for over 500 yards without amplification. In 1900, however, his family moved 100 miles north to the legendary 10,000 Acre Dockery Plantation sawmill and cotton farm near Ruleville, Mississippi. It was here that both John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf fell under the Patton spell. It was also here that Robert Johnson played his first guitar.

2. Big Joe Turner was a blues shouter who wrote 'Shake Rattle & Roll', and 'Corrina Corinna', the latter recorded by Dylan on 'Freewheelin'. So why doesn't he tell us something about this in the song? Or at least say, 'Go look it uuuuuuuupppp on Wikipeeeeeeeedia!'

3. Bertha Mason was a character in the novel, Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte.   Rochester's clandestine wife, Bertha is a formerly beautiful and wealthy Creole woman who has become insane, violent, and bestial. She lives locked in a secret room on the third story of Thornfield and is guarded by Grace Poole, whose occasional bouts of inebriation sometimes enable Bertha to escape. Bertha eventually burns down Thornfield, plunging to her death in the flames. . . Others have seen her as a symbolic representation of the "trapped" Victorian wife, who is expected never to travel or work outside the house and becomes ever more frenzied as she finds no outlet for her frustration and anxiety. But if Bronte had wanted to speak out in the name of the oppressed slaves of Jamaica, she would have cast Bertha Mason in a better light. Bertha is the most obvious character used to represent colonialism in the Caribbean. But Bertha Mason has NOTHING to do with Dylan's song theme even if he had told us something about her, which he hasn't.

4. George Lewis was a jazz clarinetist from New Orleans. So why is George here telling the other three good ol' boys - the Englishman, the Italian and the Jew - to keep closed minds? How does that move the theme of the song anywhere constructive?

5. Fat Nancy, of course, as I mentioned before, is the Loan officer at the Commonwealth Bank, in Melbourne. She should be fired from the bank - and the song.

Meanwhile:

" The Cuckoo is a pretty bird" is pinched from an old traditional song for no good reason.
"I believe I'll dust my broom" is pinched from a Robert Johnson song. No context for it to be in Dylan's song.
"I'm no pig without a wig" is probably just some slang he heard somewhere. It just jars here and distracts. (I used to have a band called 'Skin the Wig'. That was jarring too.)

Then, what about that B-grade throw-back verse to 'Highway 65'?:

"Well, George Lewis told the Englishman, the Italian and the Jew
"You can't open your mind, boys to every conceivable point of view."
They got Charles Darwin trapped out there on Highway Five
Judge says to the High Sheriff, "I want him dead or alive,
Either one, I don't care."
High Water everywhere.

Notice the jerky tone when he brings back in the High Water theme? Cut and paste. As though someone were imitating writing a Dylan lyric (like Barry McGuire's 'Eve of Destruction' - a photocopy of a photocopy.). This verse should have either been rewritten to actually say something or omitted. The first couplet has no message worth learning - and the second couplet has no meaning worth extracting, no matter how long you ponder over it. You can READ meanings into lyrics, of course, just like you can 'hear' the voice of Satan if you play Beatle songs backwards. I'll give you a humourous example of that down below.

Back to Fat Nancy:

"I asked Fat Nancy for something to eat, she said, "Take it off the shelf
- As great as you are a man, you'll never be greater than yourself."
I told her I didn't really care,
High water everywhere."

Another bit of woof woof. The second line is like a Mobius Strip of meaninglessness. It sort of goes around in circles back in on it self but says nothing. Of course, I can read some meaning into this verse if I wanted to. Let's light up a joint and try:

"See, man, Dylan's asking Fat Nancy (the loan officer) for something to eat. Dig it, man, that's one of them metafours for the bank loan he need. Now "Take it off the shelf' mean he got to work his shit out himself 'cause he dont have 'nuff collateral. And 'as great as you are a man, you'll never be greater than yourself' mean he obviously don't have the income situation coming to repay the loan he want, and Fat Nancy know it, despite the fake tax return he give her - which she ain't buying, no way. And he's calling it 'High Water' - dig it, that's cause 'everything's too damn expensive' you know, like, money's too tight to mention, dog."

Why does Dylan RUIN such a good atmospheric song idea as this one is - by including all this lazy writing mixed in with all this good writing? He doesn't seem to have the judgement any longer to know one from the other.)

Dearest, dearest Joe,
Your brief but oh so valid and measured outburst about the somewhat overrated phenomenon who is Bob Dylan was sooooooooooooooo refreshing having just endured an interminably long New Year's Eve with an old friend who clings to the belief that the man is the only bard and and went on to treat me to hours of crappily played Dylan hits all bloody evening. I was almost sobbing with frustration by midnight  (he bravely strummed on till 2 - uurrrggh) at the blind worship of he who has blossomed into such mediocrity. This all got in the way of a good hearty New Year chatter/jam/lusty sing-along/music feast. Apparently Bob's latest 'work' is sooooooooooo authentic and 'where it's at'* and everyone else is over-engineered but Bob Dylan and John Lennon are still the only writers worth anything blah blah etc . . .. At a time where big truths need telling, he treats his massive, receptive audience to 'revelations' about love and romance. Deary me. I finished New Year's Eve utterly miserable sobbing at the sky after everyone had gone to bed, privately wishing I'd tossed the tosser down the back steps.  Your gems of wisdom have lifted my spirits more than you can imagine. Happy New Year Joe, Wendy

(Note: Thanks Wendy, I needed that. I've been under a barrage of negative comments about my mailout. Still, I am finding a lot out - that there is an entire generation out there who have discovered a 'modern' Dylan and have no idea about the Dylan who protested racial injustice, the Dylan who wrote 'Masters of War' and 'With God on our Side'. Also, you have correctly identified Dylan's obsession with women and cliched romance in 'Modern Times', forsaking the important issues he made his name on. Shame on him for letting Iraq and New Orleans go down without screaming at the top of his lungs. He was wrong to stay out of the Vietnam War resistance movement and he is wrong to stay out of the Iraq War resistance as well. Woody Guthrie would have been singin' about it, 'from the New York Island', no doubt.)

Joe,
I'm sorry to hear that YOUR STORY about Bob Dylan is so full of venom. If you wanna be a peace maker sign up to do the Landmark Forum, read Byron Katie's "Loving What Is" and Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth - Awakening to Life's Purpose" and get yourself free. You'll be able to accept Bob Dylan (and everyone and everything else) exactly the way he/it is, and exactly the way he/it is not. If you continue to argue with reality you'll continue to not be free. When you do get yourself free you'll be way more effective. Cheers, Jim Dyson 

(Note: Jim, I like how your email is a complete refutation of your own advice. If you had accepted reality as it is (and not argued with it) you wouldn't have bothered to send me the email arguing with me. (?!?) So I assume that you still like arguing with reality a little, too. Good on ya!

' In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand,
at the mongrel dogs who teach,
fearing not that I'd become my enemy,
In the instant that I preach. "
My Back Pages

Some clarifications: Venom is a snake's perfectly natural defense against old folksingers who attempt to step on their heads while hiking. I did the Forum years ago. Right before I did Amway. (True!) In fact, I met the very people who introduced me to Amway in the Forum. The Forum made me a very prompt person. I am always on time now. Which is handy when playing with drummers. I also know about Eckhart Tolle. But I don't recall seeing any links on his site to his lyric writing or song writing skills. So what do you say: I don't tell him how to do the lotus position on the head of a pin, and he doesn't tell me how to compose. I learn by being shown, not by being told. Send me one of the song lyrics that Ecky, or yourself, has written using the 'don't argue with reality' technique -please make sure that it doesn't sound like a tofu recipe - and then we can discuss it. Personally, I take great satisfaction in arguing loudly with realities I cannot tolerate. Like George W Bush, in general, our illegal invasion of Iraq, in specific, our screwing with the planet in such a way that makes it a trash heap for our kids, and Bob Dylan's present day song non-writing. I consider myself free and effective doing this. (Great God Almighty! Free at Last!) But thanks for trying to jailbreak me! Very Australian of you. Here's a little link you might like from an old friend of mine from my commune days in California, Ramon Sender. He has developed an interesting and alternate method of achieving Purrfect Harmony.)

Ramon's Purring to Nirvana site

Hi Joe,
Been reading your newsletters.  Don't know how I got on your list but I've let you stay simply for your force of personality (eh, angora co sta personality). I've been hosting the annual Lamb's Retreat for Songwriters in Michigan for 12 years.  Folks have attended from throughout the midwest and farther reaches. . . . Might you entertain being one of our special guest instructors for November 2007? Sincerely, John D. Lamb, Director
- (later) . . . I did get a look at your EPK and read up some more about you. Thanks for sending that. I'm intrigued with you and I have a feeling others are, too. If not, I'll make them take notice. If you find yourself planning a visit to the USA . . . I would still be most interested in bringing you to Michigan for the songwriters retreat. Thank you for writing to me, for writing the newsletter, for writing songs. Keep in touch. Yours sincerely, John
Sonicbids Website
Sonwriter's Retreat Site

(Note: Folks, normally I don't publish this kind of somewhat personal letter but as much of the negative correspondence from my Dylan newsletter has been coming from the States, it felt good to get something like this. I'm sure John won't mind. He an excellent singer-songwriter himself and I recommend having a listen particularly to ' That Photo of You' on his Sonicbids website. I hope to get over to his retreat later this year if I can manage a trip to the States around that time.)

Joe,
I'm jealous of bob i met him in '86, he owes me nothing! Im Jewish like him but hes rich really rich but he speaks the language of the poor blacks and whites like his mentor Woodie who died broke and sick. Im not his judge I always wanted to be like him , but I got a wife of over 30 yrs, yep Im old-ish (remember the ish) and I count that as success. Im still strugglin to pay bills cos Im a lazy dreamer, thats it thought id share that with you. Peter

jealous like hell
he owes me nuthin
he got nickels
he got 1000 dollar bills
hes talkin jive
like the one
that lay himself down
to give over his crown
he paid some dues
on that lonesome road
and i gotta wife
no she dont give me no strife
im a hollerin at the top of my voice
im a strugglin to pay my bills
cos i got my head in the clouds
shoutin out loud
amen

(Note: Peter, Thirty years of marriage. In this day and age! That's equal to about 120 dog years. Good on ya. So answer me this: how can a mega-rich and privileged white man speak the language of poor blacks? You'll have trouble selling that idea to the Black Panthers, mate. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie - hell, even Jesse Jackson, yes - but Rabbi Robert Zimmerman, NO. But I do have a remedy: why doesn't Dylan take one hundred million dollars of his Albert Grossman-made dollars and help rebuild part of the town of New Orleans in a REAL WAY, if the culture there means so much to him? Even Arlo Guthrie - Woody's son - is doing something about it. That would impress me. Not lifting song lyrics from Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. He might love these artists he's 'borrowing' from, but love, without giving due credit, is called theft. Good title for an album, eh?)

 Hi Joe,
Happy New Year. I too am disappointed with Modern Times but the subsequent venomous rave you went on with regarding Dylan made me mad. Then I realised it was probably a joke. A good old "let's see 'em react to this" kind of Joe Dolce gag. Why else would anyone write that load of puerile pointless crapola about arguably the greatest singer songwriter of the last four and a half decades. Not to mention the enormous role he has played in shaping and influencing popular music. If by some remote chance you were being serious all I can say is allow the man some peace and honour his genius. Best, Doug Ashdown 

(Note: Doug, once again I hear the word venom used to describe my criticism. What did a snake ever do to you, mate? Watch where you are walking and they won't f*ck with you. Or should supply anti-snake bite medicine free with every copy of future newsletters?
I assure you, I wasn't joking. Or maybe I was. If I was Dylan, I would keep you guessing, Doug. Play with your head in the grey zone there like he does with people all the time. But I'm not Dylan so I can be honest. Let me take an actual stand on an issue here!

I wasn't joking.

I see that you are still thinking in terms of Greatest, Next-Greatest, Third-Greatest and Last-Greatest when referring to music, but the reality is this: it is about Uniqueness of Vision, not the Cosmic Top Forty.

Let me give an example.

Who was the greatest guitar player of the past century? Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, or BB King? Albert King, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton or Django Reinhart?

It is impossible to answer that question because each guitarist mapped out some different area.

Who was a greater poet? Sylvia Plath, or Walt Whitman? You can't measure by sheer volume of works either. Whitman wrote hundreds of things. Plath wrote a couple dozen.

Who was the greater recording artist? Bob Dylan or Slim Dusty? Dylan has recorded 32 albums. Slim recorded 100. All this comparison of apple pie to mojo hands is a futile exercise.

The one thing that geniuses do share is this: Uniqueness of Vision and Voice. They all create an untouchable space of their own. Their work is beyond comparision - even with each other. But not within their own body of work. It is quite possible to contrast good and poor poetry and songwriting, mature work and juvenilia within the career of the same artist. Certainly Dylan is way up there in songwriting Nirvana for all time, but so is John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy St Marie, Donovan, Van Morrison, not to mention Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Pete Townsend, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Van Morrison (did I mention him already? Sorry, folks, I would have corrected it but I had already mailed it out. boom boom!) and thousands of others nameless souls who have left us the world's great song repository. But one day Dylan may be just another 'anon' like so many lost writers in the mists of history.

So is 'Imagine' a greater song than 'Like a Rolling Stone'?

Is 'Satisfaction' a greater song than 'Just Like a Woman'?

Is 'Blowing in the Wind' a better song than 'Johnny B Good'?

How do you measure Uniqueness of Vision? You don't. Dylan still has a Voice but he's lost the Vision - or, at least, 'he's got the wrong glasses on', as songwriter Kath Tait might say.

The artist HAS to construct, and de-construct, their own work, with an almighty amount of focused consciousness, as well as intuition, in order to improve.

" If I've got any kind of attitude about me - or about what I do, what I perform, what I sing, on any level, my attitude is, compare it to somebody else! Don't compare it to me. Are you going to compare Neil Young to Neil Young? Compare it to somebody else, compare it to Beck - which I like - or whoever else is on his level. This record should be compared to the artists who are working on the same ground. I'll take it any way it comes, but compare it to that." Bob Dylan

But this is dead wrong as that is precisely what has to be done. You cannot compare Dylan to Beck just like you can't compare 'Imagine' to 'Like a Rolling Stone'. Self-growth is really about personal best so, in fact, you have to compare it to other work in the artist's own catalogue. And that is my point: when you do that, Dylan's contemporary work pales in comparison with his best work. He is on a descending path. He performs hard - but he writes . . . too easy.

So why isn't he capable of transcending that early stuff? Who knows? Why did JS Bach create fifty solid years of white hot masterpieces that only ceased with his death? Who knows? How could Beethoven create the Ninth Choral Symphony - the key work that influenced all of Wagner's work - at the END of his life, when he was DEAF? Who knows? Some folks keep going, some explode, some implode and some fade away. Dylan is on the slow fade. I've been holding my breath for a decade hoping for another real masterpiece from Bob, but I think its time to exhale.

As far as the enormous role he has played in shaping and influencing popular music, well, it is exactly the same for Elvis and Frank Sinatra. Elvis, another young genius, morphed into a pill-poppin' fat f*ck in a white jumpsuit flashing a phoney FBI badge in Las Vegas (uh oh! keep those cards and letters comin' folks!), and Frank Sinatra, the good looking young stringbean in a suit, with the awesome vocal phrasing, who first made girls swoon on their seats, ended up preferring gangsters to poets, and probably had interests in the very Las Vegas casinos Elvis played in. According to your 'leave 'em in peace and honour their genius' theory, does that also mean that we must hold our tongues about Elvis and Frankie, too, because of their 'vital contribution to popular culture'? I think it is one of the JOBS of the artist to shine some light on this process of disintegration which we see happening before our very eyes, over and over again. There is something much greater at stake here other than popular culture.)

Joe,
I couldn't agree with you more, JD, regarding your take on the Man from Minnesota. What the f*ck happened to him? It's like Dick Clark, post-stroke, still trying to bring in the New Year: Embarrassing for everyone but him. Best, JJ

Dear Joe,
Subject: Dylan: You blew that one, Joe!
I love ya to bitz, I really do. But the day you write anything CLOSE to Dylan at his worst I'll be the first to cheer! Sure, Bob is a shitty performer. Sure, he's grumpy (met him once; he grunted). Sure, he's prolly totally fucked up. Sure, he plays fast and loose with history (including his own) and he steals from one and all (taking composer credit for Rollin' and Tumblin' was a bit much!). And the new album, indeed, is not as strong as its predecessor... His output over the years has been prodigious, his sense of humour is contagious, and his his "hits" are ingrained in us all. And, I'm sorry, but Chronicles was a GREAT read, and I can't wait for the second volume, if he ever does one (which, alas, I doubt). It's not Bob's fault that so many people, from the early days on, think he is some sort of prophet, seer, genius or god. But I know you wrote that rant just to annoy. I prefer Dylan, who writes rants to inspire! Love ya , Richard Flohil, Canada
(- later) . . . I know poor Bob has been mythologized to death, and I'm sure that he's as pissed off with it as anyone, which is probably why he's such a self-isolated, unhappy and miserable old sod. And God knows he's done some AWFUL albums (the only one I actually threw out, though, was the one he did with the Grateful Dead. That's even worse than the out-takes from Self Portrait, and that was also appalling maybe because they were all bad covers)! Logic indeed is on your side, but emotion isn't - and before you say I should be logical about Dylan, I really can't be. Cheers and best wishes from an unseasonably warm "frozen" north. Richard

(Note: Richard, I respect the emotional connection you have with Dylan. I have one too, in a different way. But do you remember what Hitler said once, 'I reserve emotion for the masses and reason for the few." (That almost sounds like a Dylan line.) What do you think Hitler meant by that remark? Of course, Dylan was one of the greatest song writing geniuses - but in his early years - no argument there - and a MIGHTY icebreaker for the rest of us, same as Elvis. We can remember fondly and be inspired by their best work - but let's also learn from their mistakes.)

I spent a little time last week going back through recent Dylan's material to try to find the last really memorable song that he wrote, in my opinion, and give it the ultimate litmus test for me: did I like enough to want to sing it myself - today. Ironically, it is the one song that Dylan once publicly said he wished he hadn't released. After his break up with his first wife, Sara, " . . he filled a small red notebook with songs about his marital problems, and quickly recorded . . Blood on the Tracks in September 1974. Word of Dylan's efforts soon leaked out, and expectations were high. But Dylan delayed the album's release, and then re-recorded half of the songs."

He might have had a Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath at conflict within him after the marriage breakup: the Sylvia Plath part, which had to get the personal, painful, bleeding, vulnerable, tender and angry details into the work, and the Ted Hughes part, which had to burn half the diaries before anyone else could read them. But still, throughout Blood on the Tracks, there's the 'humble and contrite' voice, as Rudyard Kipling called it, and some excellent honest lyric writing, although they don't necessarily translate into great songs, for me, due to some rather mundane musical settings. But I like the following song, which I think is sincere. I also think that this one was probably the early template for much of Australian Paul Kelly's most memorable earlier 'confidential' writing, as well, especially 'When I First Met Your Ma': Kelly Lyrics

RECIPE

Figgy Pudding

I have heard that there is a Bob Dylan recipe out there for his Christmas "Figgy Pudding" but so far have not been able to locate it. If anyone can find it, please send it to me and I'll pass it on.