Bob Dylan, have an opinion?

Thanks, everyone, for not crucifying me (with Good Friday just past). Individual tastes vary, and some of the jazz singers I like certainly don't appeal to everyone -- a good example is the late Betty Carter. Or in the folk vein, maybe Odetta would be a good example. In thinking more about Dylan, I like some of the song lyrics he wrote, and the reference to Joan Baez's version of "Don't Think Twice" is a good example -- I like her version a LOT better.

SD rather than crucify you ironically enough I really can relate to where you are coming from. Until that 1st time I saw him in that August evening of 29-30 summers ago my sentiments concerning Dylan could have been summed up similar to yours. Maybe it was the venue of that warm summer evening when he performed and all that could be heard were the sounds of the crickets and his guitar/harp and words that moved me for the very first time. “The Times They Are A-Changin” sure connected with that point in my life. I came to a different realization of the man from then on. It was a connection thing plain and simple.

SD, in terms of uniqueness of delivery, the analogy with Betty Carter (whom I love) is not too shabby. Dylan's songwriting prowess (both lyrics and music) is for the ages, I think, and maybe as good as any way to appreciate it is by listening to other artists' covers. This morning, I listened to a cover of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" by a reggae artist named Arthur Lewis that is really cool.

Dylan's music is a major part of my history and how many people viewed the world 30+ years ago. I have not been loaded for years though and therefore stopped claiming that I understood much/most of his early lyrics. He lost me musically for a while (around Nashville Skyline) though I know that he was in a serious motorcycle accident at that time and this may be why. He also lost me on a personal level, both with his interviews of the 60's (I felt like cuffing him and I was far from being "the man") and later on with his religion swapping (I am not religious but it just parodied my experiences with close friends that had also gone through this phase and I was tired of it already). When Rolling Thunder was touring the violin player, Scarlet, stopped by my rehearsal space to play with the band that I was with (I gave her my old Ernie Ball belt operated volume pedal, to keep as they were hard to find at the time, and hooked her up through a Dynaco Pas3x/Fender Princeton Reverb setup that had her drooling - kind of a Hi-fi meets music amplification thing:-). I had briefly met his ex-wife before this event and had also looked after his son one Saturday afternoon (I just recently realized that he is the kid in the Wallflowers). His son was normal and a good kid and I assume that he was/is a good father (quite a trick considering what he does for a living). Me and my buddy ended up buying the kid two six packs of "Billy Beer" (this was in 1978 or so) which he had wanted, not to drink, but for the novelty. I never saw him perform live, even when they were in LA as I was busy at the time, my wife though saw him at Carnegie Hall, front row center, maybe in 1964 and has told me that I missed out on something that I would have really enjoyed (I was 9 in 1964 but could have easily seen him a few years later as I started attending concerts at the age of 12 or 13 with older musicians). Think my first one was the Lovin Spoonful followed by Cream. Anyway, not a lot about Dylan in this little ramble, but hope the "fringe" stories wit an audiophile twist are somewhat entertaining.

Ditto to what SD and Winoguy wrote. Nothing against him, he just never "spoke" to me through his music. He ain't done too badly though for a kid from Minnesota.