Raphael Falco: How Bob Dylan used the ancient practice of ‘imitatio’ to craft some of the most original songs of his time
Bob Dylan is both a modern voice entirely unique and, at the same time, the product of ancient, time-honored ways of practicing and thinking about creativity.
Barbara Hamby: Ode to Forgetting the Year
remember the day at the beach when the sun
began to explain Heidegger to you while thunderclouds
rumbled up from the horizon like Nazi submarines?
Video: Odetta | Waterboy
Martin Luther King Jr. called Odetta “The Queen of American Folk Music.”
Norman Solomon: Bob Dylan and the Ukraine Crisis
I’ve learned to hate the Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It’s them we must fight
Baron Wormser: Conceit
If the great motive force in this world is love, how do we love the earth so that the harmony the earth embodies is acknowledged in daily life, to say nothing of adored?
Alessia Carneval: The history of protest songs in Tunisia and their link to popular culture
In Tunisia, the protest song is called al-ughniya al-multazima in Arabic, or chanson engagée in French. Both literally mean “committed song” and put an emphasis on the political and social aim of this genre.
Mike Schneider: Bob Dylan’s Ballads of Murder, Drowning & Other Songs of Love
If one of the defining tendencies of post-modernism is breaking down borders between high and low culture—such as between Beethoven and Elvis, Dylan is a supreme post-modernist. The cultural compass inscribed by his work is huge, flattering us by the depth of his learning and song awareness. We can follow or not—the songs don’t care.
Daniel Burston: John Prine, Working Class Poet (1947-2020)
John Prine was a national treasure, whose songs about love, loss and aging – many written while he was still a relatively young man! – reflect his working class roots. But even so, they have a universal and timeless relevance.
Video: All Along the Watchtower — Playing for Change
I remember having a daydream about the opening acoustic guitar part of “All Along The Watchtower” ending with a Native American scream and a big native drum on the downbeat. … Continue reading
Video: Patti Smith sings A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” at the 2016 Nobel Prize ceremony
. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son And where have you been, my darling young one I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve … Continue reading
Mel Packer: Is It Time To Be Outlaws Again?
Only large-scale civil disobedience will make our leaders address economic injustice. In 1989, Bob Dylan recorded a song titled “Everything Is Broken”. That song seemed to go largely ignored, perhaps … Continue reading
Vox Populi 