It’s great to see Bob Dylan at any time, really, with the exception perhaps of the Ed Bradley interview, which to me anyway, was painful and so brief that it seemed almost not worthwhile. It was Dylan pulling his usual press routine. But to see him in the Scorsese interview is to see a strikingly candid Dylan, telling his story as if for the first time ever. Yes it may be well be the apt time for a Dylan retrospective but as Dylan might say, "It’s not dark yet…”
Dylan has plenty more to say and certainly much more to write, we pray. Here is Dylan by turns frank, offering up his past, his present, and even at times contrite about his past. Perhaps one of the most interesting things, or that I found interesting was the language that Dylan uses throughout the interview, noting that the record player he saw when he was growing up had “mystical overtones” and that Johnny Ray had a “strange incantation in his voice” a certain “voodoo” he says.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all insinuating that Dylan has gone new age, only that the man who is the myth, (like it or not) has a side that clearly believes in a certain fate – the record player drawing him in, the strange incantations and the like, and the fact that he always knew he would be someone – or some the story goes.
This Dylan feels, is as real as Dylan gets. It’s the most real I have ever seen him in one sitting and likely the longest as well (a two sided disc). He trusts Scorsese, trusts his judgment and equally important if not more, he trusts his manager who is the interviewer here.
It’s clear that there are several things that Dylan wants to get across that are important to him: how he escaped Hibbing; how he is self taught and very proud of this and his reverence and a respect for Woody Guthrie – a fact that would have him almost wanting to be him so much so that in early promotional photographs Dylan strikes a pose just like one of Woody’s early poses: his cap just barely hanging on, cockily sideways, the cigarette dangling from the lip, the just open pout of the mouth and the titled angle of the head as if the whole thing would fall apart in a second and perhaps it did, but the camera snapped and hey – The two shots are remarkably similar.
But Dylan did keep his promise to see his hero. Not only did he head for “New York Town” as he calls it to visit Woody, who was by then in a sanitarium of sorts (where, Dylan says, he didn’t belong with those other people, and is likely right). But Dylan accomplished part one of his goal – to meet and greet Woody and time would take care of the rest. Anyone who you respect as much as Dylan respected Guthrie you are bound inevitably to emulate to some extent, though in Dylan’s case it is more than this.
Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
I plan to actually read this at home... just wanted to stop in and say I have been wondering when you'd be checking in to discuss the latest Dylan releases. Looking forward to this.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Sadi, impressive and thought-provoking. If your nature is to be changeable but you remain "in the moment" as you put it, then fans nad critics have little choice but to follow along on the ride. Sure, you can like "this Dylan" better than "that Dylan," but you can't say one is more "true" than the other.
Thanks!
3 - Mark Saleski
i loved this documentary, so much so that i bought it. now if i can only get the danged stepkid who swiped it to bring it back.
this article is headed to the printer, and then home for weekend reading.
4 - sade
i'm glad you liked this Eric, and all i look forward to your thoughts. it's a bit much to read online, granted, and i almost ran it in two parts since the footage is in two parts but decided against -- sorry for the length. And i agree with you Eric, you can't say This or That dylan or one is more true because they are ALL Dylan, just as all of us are multi-faceted and if we are allowed, so to speak, they so is he... and that's just it. Small wonder he was often so frustrated with the press etc and those who tried to pigeonhole him or still do...
Anyway - i'm off for the wkend. Apologies if i don't respond to any comments after this afternoon... i'll be back online sunday...
i'm glad you liked this and look forward to hearing what you think Mark and DJ... :)
cheers,
s.
5 - sade
oh, also, sorry i haven't been around - the death of a friend rather threw me and i've been busy w/ my own book, but now i should have more time. thanks all - next up is Chronicles, which i should have reviewed sometime next week...
6 - Eric Olsen
have a good one, Sadi!
Have you ever met Dylan? I was in the same room once, but that's it
7 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
cheers! ;)
8 - Matt
The interview perhaps seemed so candid and frank because it was conducted by Dylan's long-time friend and manager Jeff Rosen - not Scorcese. Scorcese was brought in after everything was collected and he put all the pieces together.
9 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
hi, and thanks for the comment - i actually put that in there (his manager, if you check it) and i know / khnew it was Rosen, but thanks for the tip anyway. i know Scorcese put the thing together but yes, Dylan was relaxed because it was Jeff Rosen..... i did my homework, but it still never hurts to reiterate for anyone who maybe didn't know...
thanks, and be well,
sadi