No Direction Home

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:57 am

I figuure that if LC is a 100 floors beneath Woody then Dylan must be 99 and I am about a million.

Once again, I may be right, and I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure LC claimed he was 100 floors beneath Hank Williams.

That aside, I do like Dylan's earlier material, vocal style and all. Don't Think Twice, is a very good example. Highway 61 Revisited is another favourite, one of my desert island picks. LC's vocals went in another direction on the advice Judy Collins, as I recall, and I much prefer his later vocals to his earlier. The deeper tone is more suited to his sensual lyric, IMO.

However, there was a period in his (Dylan's) later career (late 70's, early 80's?, Rolling Thunder tour?) when his vocals seemed to take a real dive into the mumble zone. It could have been due to the all the backup singers and instrumentation he was packing around. It must be difficult for a 'folk singer' to make himself heard above all the background racket.

Nonetheless, I'm certain there's a Dylan forum out there that will suit me. More than anything, I'm hitting myself hard on the head, for missing No Direction Home. Who knows? I may even stumble upon that item in my internet travels.

A million floors beneath Dylan??? Hmm. I'd keep my day-job, if I were you. LOL - that's one, very tall Tower of Song.

Regards,
Linda.

muddy · Post by **muddy** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:25 am

QUOTE:

"Nonetheless, I'm certain there's a Dylan forum out there that will suit me. "

I dont think it's not true. What I was suggesting was that in most of Dylan's forum there's not great discussion about him, about his music, about his place in the art's world, but rank his albums like High fidelity's characters (it's a great movie, though). I meant that fanatism is just something that make you see the tree, but not the whole forest. Discussions about poetry and existential issues are not well welcome there, but gossips about who of his wife was the best.
I'm a member of one these forum, but I dont enjoy it as much as this.

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:53 am

Really? That surprises me, as I thought Cohen and Dylan were pretty much considered to be of equal profundity. I'll still check out a few, though. I might find something of interest. But, yes, it's too bad that often people are interested more in who the artist is sleeping with than the music he wrote. I would have thought that, as Dylan is still a working musician, there would be more talk about his work. Not so?

As far as Cohen goes, you picked the right forum. This one has it all. The main site has a wonderful collection of Leonard's poems (many in his own hand), and artwork. I would have thought that there would be similar forums for Dylan.

Thanks again, muddy, I hope you enjoy your experience here. There are many good people, and you can open a topic of any kind. You are not forced to conform, or limited in what you can say.

Thanks again, for your response.
Linda.

Nightstalker · Post by **Nightstalker** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:25 pm

linda_lakeside wrote:
I figuure that if LC is a 100 floors beneath Woody then Dylan must be 99 and I am about a million.
Once again, I may be right, and I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure LC claimed he was 100 floors beneath Hank Williams.

A million floors beneath Dylan??? Hmm. I'd keep my day-job, if I were you. LOL - that's one, very tall Tower of Song.

Regards,
Linda.

With my memory these days I don't know which is correct. (Isn't that a sad state of affairs for a person who once had an uncannily accurate memory. It will be easier for me when I can no longer even remember that I was once that way.) I tend to 'remember' the larger picture but I get the smaller details all mixed together. However, I do believe that you are correct on third thought. TY

And I took your advice 40 years ago and never persued anything associated with a music career. Consider yourselves lucky! LOL Anyhow a friendly letter from my Uncle inviting me to join his venerable armed forces in 1965 interrupted my young, unpretentious, innocent life and the remainder is history -- basic training, enlisted man, Infantry Officer Candidate School, commissioned 2d Lieutenant, Special Forces, 1st Lieutenant, killing people heroicly (and keeping my people and my ass alive), Captain, area specialist for Mideast and Africa, disgust with military and country, civilian life, career as engineer, etc (the list gets boring) and eventually (thankfully) that longest sleep.
"Some of it's magic and some of it's tragic, but it's been a good life all the way."

I took the liberty of placing little Bobby Zimmerman one floor above Mr Cohen not to spark a debate but because I suspect the world at large would place him even higher due to his more ostentatious success, and because I suspect that Leonard would view him in that light, even though I personally tend to appreciate Leonard's songs better now.

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:32 pm

"Some of it's magic and some of it's tragic, but it's been a good life all the way."

Yes. That's life. It's unfortunate that your Uncle Sam had more pressing things in mind for you than music. Still, we can appreciate without making it our livelihood. Hmm. Reminds me a of a song by Harry Chapin, called Mr. Tanner.

He sang from his heart
He sang from his soul
He never knew how well he sang
But the music made him whole.

Who knows what might have happened if you hadn't been called to duty? I always like to remember on this particular day, another one who's musical career was cut short. If you're so inclined, take a moment out for John Lennon. He gave us much.

Regards, once more,
Linda.

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 3:03 am

"Before you cross the street,
take my hand: life is
what happens to you
while you're busy making
other plans".

(quoted from "Beautiful Boy", John Lennon, 1980, "Double Fantasy")

Andrew.

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:59 pm

Victoria's Secret model, Starbucks pitchman and now radio DJ. Life sure is interesting for DJ Bobby

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10453887/

Kevin W.M.LastYearsMan · Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:57 pm

What I took from that commercial was, Buy this underwear or Bob Dylan will kill a model. Didn't see the Starbucks one, fortunately.
Kevin

lightning · Post by **lightning** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 5:06 pm

We could have an "invent new roles for Dylan" contest. He once told an interviewer he wished he'd been something useful like a doctor so how about psychoproctologist?

muddy · Post by **muddy** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 6:18 am

he could be Robert Allen Zimmerman...

owner of a pawnshop...