Comments on: Roundup

By: fairest

fairest — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:54:11 +0000

I’m gonna grow my hair down to my feet so strange
So I look like a walking mountain range
And I’m gonna ride into Omaha on a horse
Out to the country club and the golf course.
Carry the New York Times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds.

Now you’re probably wondering by now
Just what this song is all about
What’s probably got you baffled more
Is what this thing here is for.
It’s nothing
It’s something I learned over in England.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:06:59 +0000

Dylan is far from po-faced. There is humor all over his records, particularly the first several. (Also, “Love & Theft” is very funny.) It’s beyond me how one could miss this.

By: J.D. Finch

J.D. Finch — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:47:19 +0000

Ed, you make a good point about Dylan, although you have to consider the proper context. At the time that Dylan was putting out nasty pop songs like “Positively 4th Street”, we had songs like “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In”, “The Men In My Little Girl’s Life” by Mike Douglas (!) and the boneheaded “Wild Thing” by the Troggs. Believe me, Dylan’s relatively intellectual intensity was a welcome offset to such dippy and syrupy fare. And if one couldn’t tolerate the man’s intensity, there were all sorts of softer versions of his tunes, from The Byrd’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” to Manfred Mann’s “The Mighty Quinn” to Sonny and Cher’s “All I Really Want To Do”. And you’re right about “Desolation Row” — it’s one of Dylan’s most remarkable achievements. But yeah, he’s not exactly a laff-riot. (And when he went electric at Newport he was basically saying “I whipped folk music’s ass and now I’m going to give pop music a good thrashing.” And guess what? He did.)

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:40:00 +0000

I’m not a big Dylan guy either, but I’ve always sort of figured that he’s being goofiest when he’s being most serious. On his (terribly mediocre despite great reviews) most recent album, he spits the line “the fighting power of the proletariat’s gone” or something to that effect. It’s just such a weird line that I think he’s half joking. I always thought “Masters of War” was half a serious ‘I don’t much like this war business’ song, and half a tweaking of anger on the anti-war side. ‘Spit on your grave’ type stuff. I’ve just always gotten the vibe that he doesn’t take himself all too seriously at all, and the more he seems like he is, the more he’s actually poking fun at himself.

By: Dan Green

Dan Green — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:37:32 +0000

Ed, Ed, Ed. Dylan has no humor? “Subterranean Homesick Blues?” “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”? “Highway 61 Revisited”?

By: Jim L

Jim L — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:46:40 +0000

I guess I “get” Dylan, and love his stuff, but until I read your post I never recognized his relative humorlessness. Even when he is being “funny” it always has an ironical/knowing edge that stops it from being whimsical.

As Nick says above – Neil has more of the common touch to let himself go and be wacky. Re-ac-tor might not be his best album, but I love “Ain’t got no T-bone”.

By: moc

moc — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:46:35 +0000

The Basement Tapes is a rowdy affair, isn’t it? There’s a lot of early Dylan where he sounds like he’s having fun. There is perhaps more of this on the bootleg material than on his official records.

Pollard, Jim O’Rourke, Will Oldham and Nina Nastasia are current faves…

By: Nick Ray

Nick Ray — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:14:57 +0000

Robert Pollard is the best songwriter of the last 25 years, and Neil Young is way better than Dylan.