Folk-rock's first and most illustrious troubadour turned 70 yesterday
Folk-rock's first and most illustrious troubadour turned 70 yesterday. In a career which has spanned five decades, Robert Allen Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan has won nine Grammy awards, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and won an Academy Award for a song on the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys. I'm not certain how Dylan celebrated his birthday, but at least he's not actually on the road ufffd his informally dubbed "Never Ending Tour" is taking a break this month, although it will resume in Europe in mid-June. Only last month he was playing 17 dates in arenas from Taiwan to New Zealand. His concerts in Beijing and Shanghai were clouded by controversy over reports ufffd denied by Dylan ufffd that he was censored by the Chinese authorities.
Through the 1960s, Bob Dylan was extolled as a prophet, first of folk music, then of rock 'n' roll ufffd at least by those who excused him the heresy of having "gone electric." In the midst of all this, he also found time to contrive the modern music video with the promo for Subterranean Homesick Blues and introduce the Beatles to drugs. Armed with a harmonica and an acoustic guitar, Dylan contended with social injustice, war and racism, quickly became a prominent civil rights campaigner and also recorded an astonishing 300 songs in his first three years.
More than anything else, Dylan is a study in change, the most striking statement on this being his own career, starting out as a Woody-Guthrie-obsessed folk singer from Minnesota and ending up where he is now ufffd a 70-year-old legend playing blues-infused rock to packed stadiums all over the world.
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His voice is battered and craggy, rich with experience but worn down by use. Yet he still delves deep into 30 and 40-year-old songs and discovers new nuances, previously overlooked twists and turns of phrase, seemingly channelling something far beyond the conventional rock concert experience.
Henry Timrod became a celebrated poet because of Dylan's liberal 'borrowing' of his material. And I became familiar with Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt, and others, as Dylan used their inspirations to create his own. On the occasion, a brief sample of lines from "Forever Young" seems appropriate:
u00a0u00a0u00a0 'May you have a strong foundation
u00a0u00a0u00a0 When the winds of changes shift
u00a0u00a0u00a0 May your heart always be joyful
u00a0u00a0u00a0 May your song always be sung
u00a0u00a0u00a0 May you stay forever young'
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