August 2, 2008, 1977 (I was 32)
Another Side of Bob Dylan Columbia Records KCS 8993; released Aug. 1964
This was probably
the album that confirmed Dylan’s greatness in my mind. It was the one that taught me the
instrument of Dylan’s voice was part
of the message. I’ve always heard of the legendary
phrasing of Frank Sinatra.
I never could get it. I get this. Dylan’s dramati-comic intonations blow me away. You pay upright attention to the
delivery of these songs. Their
significance lies beyond rejection.
Their truthful beauty is beyond prettiness. The ears must learn to read past the aural massage. These images are hung out on the line
with the wash, “Tolling for the outcast burning constantly at stake.” if there
is nothing new under the sun, then the poet behind the times is the same one
running ahead.
The ambiguous “you”
addressed by the narrator in To Ramona
creates a personal association with the lyric. It is here the connotations implicit in Dylan’s voice become
important, plaintive and direct connections. He is able to fire flaming arrows of relationship into
moments of my life. Lines I have
listened to thirty or forty times suddenly ignite to illuminate a recent
experience or encounter.
Dylan also tells
stories. I can’t understand why
more people on the Iron Range don’t appreciate his fine art of comic bullshit. There is a certain idealism, maybe a
self-sacrificial purity. Make no
mistake about the contributions this man has made to America’s new poetry. Can you imagine a recording of Walt
Whitman reading from Leaves of Grass
with some Civil War soldiers strumming guitar and banjo behind him? Do not mistake the common product of
pop records and disposable art with this man’s work. The songs on this particular record have sounded through thirteen
busy years. I think they will
speak through quite a few more.
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