Public Republic

Drew Logan

Photo: badosa

Dylan is older than me and he deserves my respect. The fact that he is older than me is not a real good reason to respect someone; the fact that he is older than me and is still being wonderfully creative is a real good reason to respect someone. “It’s All Good“ is a title of a song from his latest album, Together Through Life. In his case it is all good. Some things are better than others but everything is excellent. The song itself is good. He spends 8 clever stanzas mocking this advertising jingle and those who have incorporated it into their own patois.

Some numbers other than his age, 67, will give you a full appreciation of the man. He has done 44 albums and sold over 100,000,000 records. Since he started the “Never Ending Tour” he has had over 2100 engagements. He is in every Hall of Fame available to a singer-song writer. The Pulitzer Prize committee awarded him a special citation. For at least three times, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Some good advice that he offers is to “Keep on walk-ing don’t be hang-ing a-round_ I’m
tell-ing you a-gain that Hell’s my wife’s home town_. “ Hell as a hometown is probably better than being the spawn of the devil. I have know more than one woman who must have had the devil for a father. Anyway “My Wife’s Home Town” is great fun and as the directions on the music say, bluesy. I have to learn how to play this one.

Of the ten songs on the album, five of them are most exceptional poetry. They are: “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’“, “Life Is Hard”, “Forgetful Heart”, “This Dream Of You”, and “I Feel A Change Coming On”. Each of these five is about an attempt to love a woman or about having loved a woman deeply.

Actually, they seem to be about not being alone. If your alone you end up reading James Joyce and listening to Billy Joe Shaver; you end up with all your tears gone and lost in the crowd; you end up with life being hard to live;you end up losing the way and the will; you end up with nothin’ done and nothin’ said. I hope he has someone to love and if he doesn’t I hope he finds someone.

I hate to admit it but I am in the same place listening to Dylan instead of Billy Joe Shaver. The dance tunes really make me want to get up and dance but there isn’t anybody with which to dance. That probably sounds awkward and it is awkward not having someone to dance with. “I Feel A Change Comin’ On” will probably be around for a long time.

Robert Hunter, Dylan’s co-lyricist, was a collaborator with Jerry Garcia. In addition, he has translated Rilke and is a recognized poet in his own right. He has 8 books out and shouldn’t be ignored because he gets to write songs with Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan.

Your probably thinking that you would be very happy if you could write songs with Garcia and Dylan. I want to point out that these two guys picked him to do some heavy lifting with them. He couldn’t have better references.

Two things I didn’t know before I started this review was that Dylan paints and that he is a disc jockey. Actually the disc jockey deal is more like the Maestro giving a Master Class. He is on satellite radio. The program is called “Theme Time Radio Hour”.

Riding the dog used to mean riding the greyhound and now it means being on Sirius XM. You can find more information here. All of his paintings from Drawn Blank are sold out so if you want to be real nice to me your going to have to buy me the book .

One final thing is necessary, maybe two things, his web site is one of the best produced that I have ever seen with pictures and videos. If you like there are videos on
YouTube that you might enjoy. I sang along to Subterranean Homesick Blues.

There is a video for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’“ that is available and you can get a CD or MP3 of the album.

Photo: badosa

Song Book:
ISBN:978-0-8267-3721-6
Together Through Life
www.musicsales.com