While watching some of those delightful late night tv shows (Jay Leno and Conan O'Brian) I had an opportunity to watch a delightful commercial. I was just sitting, lounging on the futon in our basement. A rhythm guitar started the steady beat and a rough voice rasped over-top. The pictures on the screen was of a scantly clad woman with wings.
I said to myself, "That sounds like Bob Dylan. Hot Damn!"
I dug into my limited Dylan collection to see if I could identify the song. No mistake. The same song on the commercial is the first track from "Time Out of Mind" titled Lovesick.
Entertianment Weekly has a writer who has some interesting commentary/opinion on this here at their website.
Their basic point is, Dylan to sell underwear? "Is nothing sacred?"
I tend to agree with them to a point. While it is odd and not something I would choose for a Dylan song, the commercial and the song fit together well.
But... but... still! Dylan and... porn! (For that is all Victoria's Secret commercials are.) Arrrg!
peace.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - beka
ok i cannot thank you enough for posting this. i too was watching my favorite Conan O'brien and i saw that commercial and imediatley fell in love with the song. Of course it sounded so mych like bob dylan but he is a little past my time and i've not heard of most of his tracks. Anyway i know that a lot of artists are selling out 'n shuch these days but i feel like the ad was done in a very classy sexy way. Plus i know have a new favorite song by bob dylan because of it.
2 - Breonna
I was watching some tv show when I heard a familiar voice and knew that it was the one, and only, Bobby Dylan. I knew that I hadn't heard that song before (I only own Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, The Rolling Thunder Revue Tour, and Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits) and so decided to view the commercial several more times before drawing a final conclusion. I was shocked in a very nonchalant way (does that make sense to anyone else?) that Dylan, of all people, would sell out. But maybe I expect too much from him - unfairly, granted that I am 15 and only just became obsessed with him 3 months ago. However, underwear is the last thing I would envision him promoting.
3 - tracy
SELL OUT? you are talking about BOB DYLAN for the love of god!Even if he used his music to promote dorritos from now on he could NEVER be a sell out, and that commercial is HOT and the song fits perfect, which just goes to prove even more- HE IS STILL THE MAN!
4 - M L Squier
Boo Bob! I never thought you'd do it. Except in a nightmare I once had. (But hasn't Mr. Dylan already let one of his songs go into a commercial?) Everything's been sold American [said Kinky Friedman], right Bob?
5 - Natalie Davis
I had no problem with Dylan going electric, but now I know how the old-school acoustic-only folkies must have felt on the day he did.
Dylan certainly has the right to use his music however he sees fit, but UGH.
Boo Bob, indeed. Time for Neil Young's "This Note's for You."
6 - ASD
I hate those cheeze commercials that are ruining excellent songs just to promote, but in these case, I have to applaud whoever got Bob Dylan to take the offer (I believe it was not an easy task), and matched that peace of the song with these commercial. It is very sexy… and I’m latino, I know sexy… :)
7 - Rodney Welch
Sure it's sexy and sure it works -- that's why they wanted Dylan, but it's still a complete and total sell-out. Before you jump on the bandwagon in Dylan's support, I advise you to settle back, gather your thoughts, read this sobering and impassioned article by John Densmore of The Doors and this beautiful response by Tom Waits.
Waits words should be engraved in stone: Songs carry emotional information and some transport us back to a poignant time, place or event in our lives. It's no wonder a corporation would want to hitch a ride on the spell these songs cast and encourage you to buy soft drinks, underwear or automobiles while you're in the trance. Artists who take money for ads poison and pervert their songs. It reduces them to the level of a jingle, a word that describes the sound of change in your pocket, which is what your songs become. Remember, when you sell your songs for commercials, you are selling your audience as well.
8 - Meg
Geez. Any fan of Dylan knows that he himself has said he sold out-- before he got started. He only did folk because it was popular and got him into the public eye. He wanted to plug in from the beginning, so the people whining about his departure from acoustic obviously didn't pay any attention to his real ambition. It'd be nice if people could get the guy's story straight.
9 - Eric Olsen
I don't have a problem with the song being used - nothing is sacred musically anymore and what's one more venue for a song and some extra cash for the artist and songwriter?
But why on earth would he himself appear? THAT was the startling aspect. He looks like a Golden Ager gigolo.
10 - The Theory
good lord, why are we digging up these embarrasing old posts? let them rot...
11 - Eric Olsen
Because they started showing the ad again and I had never seen it before - I didn't even notice the year of the post.
12 - Mark Saleski
c'mon theory, you can take it!
13 - Brantley Brock
Behind it all, this is a very funny joke, and those who would criticize Dylan for what he's done should lighten up. At a December 3, 1965 press conference in San Francisco, Dylan was asked: "If you were going to sell out to a commercial interest, which one would you choose?" After a brief pause, the 24-year-old Dylan replied, "Ladies garments." It was funny then, and it's even funnier now, nearly 40 years later, in light of the Victoria's Secret commercial. Dylan is an immortal artist of Shakespearean stature who has always walked to his own drummer, and anyone who expects him to nurse a guilty conscience over something so inconsequential and amusing will be disappointed.
14 - Al Barger
Really, people, can the pinko stuff. Dylan is not in any significant sense even vaguely "selling out." He's still Dylan, and he's going to be Dylan. He's not trimming his art in any way to do this.
Nor is he pimping one of his better songs. He's maybe getting some exposure for a not too bad track from a recent album, not putting "Blowin' in the Wind" out for air freshener.
Dylan's personal appearance in the ad was GREAT. His old (but incredibly cool) appearance and raspy sound are the grain of sand around which is formed a beautiful little pearl of a commercial.
I know I'd much rather see this than one more shot of that damned Geico lizard.
15 - Mark Saleski
the above Tom Waits quote just about sums it up.
i hate it when songs are sold to advertisers.
but then again, i am a pinko.
that said, there is something perfectly fitting about seeing dylan's surreal mug in the middle of those models.
16 - Winston Freeman
Congratulations on being a Pinko, Mark. But the above Tom Waits quote sums nothing up. It is great-sounding rhetoric tailor-made for people who don't think. Bob Dylan is 10 times the artist Tom Waits is. I don't feel sold! I only feel pleased that Dylan is getting the exposure he deserves for his newer material. What sums it up is that post by Brantley Brock. Dylan made a joke; it is funny; so the proper response is laughter.
17 - Mark Saleski
It is great-sounding rhetoric tailor-made for people who don't think.
right.
Waits made the quote in the context of winning a lawsuit against frito-lay, who tried to swipe Waits voice by making soundalike music to be used in an ad. Waits won.
sorry if i attach something other than dollars to music. if you can't take it, too fuckin' bad.
pinko.
18 - Shark
Shark's (Minority) Opinion:
Dylan is the most over-rated hack whore in the history of Western music. He stole his sctick from a number of people, some well known, some not.
Does he need the money?
No.
So a friggin' underwear commercial just confirms the obvious: he's more interested in chasing the almighty buck than artistic integrity.
PS: Is he still a born-again Christian?
Feh. Whatta dick.
19 - Winston Freeman
Nothing of what Waits says in the above quote applies directly to his case, as you describe it. The poster evidently took it out of context because he believed it applied to the situation with Dylan and Victoria's Secret. I just don't think that Waits' quote applies in practice. It's a lofty speech, though.
20 - McBrady
Let me just say I was initially shocked at seeing Dylan in an advertisement. However, after reading your insightful comments I have decided its not so bad. Dylan will always be Dylan and do things his way. I always laughed at the folk purists who huffed at the change to electric. This move is similar because he's pissing off a lot of his fans. At least he's surrounded by beautiful women. Sorry I can't say the same for James Taylor with his pathetic MCI commercial.
21 - Donna
Shark wouldn't know artistic integrity if it harpooned him in the tail.
And by his definition of "stole," Dylan really is right up there with Shakespeare.
22 - Shark
Donna, you can argue with my taste, (that's why it's called 'taste') but ya gotta admit:
when an artist sells their 'voice' to the highest bidder, EVERYTHING HE SAYS IN THE FUTURE IS SUSPECT.
No matter how you slice it, Dylan is a WHORE.
(I don't make the rules; just point 'em out.)
23 - Mark Saleski
none of what Waits says applies to his case?
he was defending the idea that his own music not be used in an advertising context.
how the heck does that not apply?
24 - Mark Saleski
and i don't agree with shark about dylan.
don't think he's overrated, not at all.
25 - Donna
Shark, if you believe that Dylan sold his voice to the highest bidder, then you're an idiot.
If you believe that it matters whether what Dylan says is suspect or not, then you're an idiot.
You want me to admit to the fact that you're an idiot?