Rough And Rowdy Ways - Bob Dylan (2020)
You’re actually lucky: I could write a daily blog about Dylan and nothing else, and you’re spared from that.
I wish I could get a glimpse into the man’s head. Since he was quite young, he’s been a sponge for anything he could soak up: literature, music, film, history, and life in general. He tumbles it all, and out comes something like no one has ever seen.
As an effect of this, Dylan’s art is not entirely reality, even though he seems to act as if it is. The experiences he relates are often made up. While he has many great turns of phrase of his own, he also never misses a chance to use somebody else’s. If any of that is shocking to you, you have not been paying attention. Some people call it appropriation or plagarism, but I really don’t think it is. It’s more of an experiment in manufacturing a reality.
Regardless, he dropped Rough And Rowdy ways in the middle of the pandemic and caused quite a stir with it. It’s a brilliant record, full of pathos and pain and beauty and what passes in Dylan’s world as honesty with himself.
Tracks I Liked
My Own Version Of You - an absolute classic. Even after all he’s done, this is one of the best songs he’s ever written.
Crossing The Rubicon - Not the first time he’s used imagery from the Roman Empire to get across a point about modern culture.
If you’ve got 17 minutes and an excess of concentration to apply to something, check out Murder Most Foul which–oddly for several reasons–is Dylan’s first #1 single.
