"I sleep with life and death in the same bed." Two weeks ago, the great Bob Dylan released his first new song in eight years, "Murder Most Foul," a beautiful ballad about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Today, he surprised us with the stunning "I Contain Multitudes."
I’m just like Anne Frank, like Indiana Jones
And them British bad boys, the Rolling Stones
I go right to the edge, I go right to the end
I go right where all things lost are made good again
I sing the songs of experience like William Blake
I have no apologies to make
Everything flowing all at the same time
I live on a boulevard of crime
I drive fast cars, and I eat fast foods
I contain multitudes
Read the rest
Bob Dylan just released his first new song in eight years. It's a 17-minute murder ballad about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. From the lyrics to Murder Most Foul:
“It was a dark day in Dallas, November ’63. The day that will live on in infamy. President Kennedy was a-riding high, good day to be living and good day to die.”
Read the rest
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 went to Bob Dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition". From the New York Times:
Sara Danius, a literary scholar and the permanent secretary of the 18-member Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, called Mr. Dylan “a great poet in the English-speaking tradition” and compared him to Homer and Sappho, whose work was delivered orally. Asked if the decision to award the prize to a musician signaled a broadening in the definition of literature, Ms. Danius jokingly responded, “The times they are a changing, perhaps,” referencing one of Mr. Dylan’s songs.
"Bob Dylan Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature" (NYT)
Read the rest
Bob Dylan, interviewed in 1962 when he was 20-years-old, playing Manhattan coffee houses, and trying to make enough money to eat. The day he earned $1 and a cheeseburger for a gig was a good day. Read the rest
