Contents:
Dylan gives nothing at his concerts. Paul, I will spare you the rave review of Leonard. You will be pleased to hear that there is good news. The Ian Bell I talked to was erudicate and entertaining and informative…. So you can relax. View all 5 comments.
Once Upon A Time: He won the George Orwell Prize for political journalism. Bell is also the author of an award winning biography of Robert Louis Stevenson. That is not a slight on the man and his music, but more of a statement about the time of my youth and my ignorance of Dylan beyond the pop culture sound bites. He did briefly popped back into prominence for a short period when in my Catholic education I was told Saved was Dylan finding his way, but I liked Slow Train Coming better.
Bob Dylan is a man of legend and that is where the "Once upon a time" comes into play with this biography. Dylan, was born Robert Zimmerman and was raised in a Jewish household in a mining town in Minnesota. He was 19 when he arrived in New York with a new name, new history, and without living parents. He tells how he ran away from several times starting at age The stories continued in interviews of how he listened this singer or guitarist or his experiences with Woody Guthrie. Eventually he was caught on many these stories.
His embellishments on the truth were not malicious or attempting to hide, but rather to be more interesting. It is not unusual for public figures. Bell puts everything in historical perspective discussing in parallel Dylan's life and national and international events. The Beat Generation, the folk music movement, civil rights, Vietnam, all bring change to America and American's views.
Likewise, Dylan's music changes too. From folk, blues, rock, and country Dylan drifted into all forms of American music except for jazz.
All the rest is noise. There is, perhaps, a problem of method. Other times, the story changes, depending on when and to whom it is told. What is its purpose and how does it function? Dylan changes his name legally, and pretends his parents are dead. The world is still coming to terms with what Bob Dylan accomplished in his artistic explosion upon popular culture. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
His personal life is included. Joan Baez, the motorcycle accident, challenges with his music, and other aspects of his life are included. These events are well documented with end note following each charter as well as a bibliography at the end of the book. This is a comprehensive biography. There are over pages of text and this book stops at An excellent biography of one of America's most well known and long lived musician. Although "not authorized" it does seem to be a fair account of events.
View all 4 comments. More an extended essay about Dylan than a proper biography, Bells book is thoroughly engaging because of his voice. This guy can write. Sometimes in nonfiction, the reader willingly sacrifices turn-of-phrase for the sake of the content. There are too many. I read the last pages in a single three-hour sitting at the kitchen table as if they were the climax of an espionage thriller. So what if the reader disagrees? Bell sometimes allows himself to make sweeping generalizations about America and its people.
So what, as long as he keeps us turning the pages? Instead, the reader is given long set pieces on a number of topics and events: Oct 26, Sarah Paolantonio rated it really liked it Shelves: The entirety of this book and part two, its counter-half is summed up on page I picked up this book at Greenlight Books in Brooklyn contemplating reading a whole bio of Dylan. I've read Elijah Wald's 'Dylan Goes Electric' and loved The entirety of this book and part two, its counter-half is summed up on page What sold me on Ian Bell's page keep in mind, part 2, which begins in , is about the same length bio was the opening scene: The beauty of his prose and fact checking in this scene and all the others is astounding.
It's as if Bell was there. Bell covers the background of each place Dylan "existed" MN. I didn't know that Dylan disowned his faith he was bat mitzvah-ed at 13 , said his parents were dead the same year he paid their way to NYC to see him perform at Carnegie Hall , and legally changed his name. Bell discusses the anti-semitism of Minnesota during Dylan's younger years and his parents' and the support-by-ignoring-the Jews-of MN. Bell also discusses, at length, American politics across the decades.
Also important to note that the entire book is footnoted extensively. Bell's writing as a prose writer and as a journalist Bell was a Winner of the George Orwell Prize for journalism is admirable and wildly underrated. I'm not sure why this book isn't everywhere. I underlined nearly the entire book because I couldn't stop myself. There is some favoritism among Dylan's records but that is also due to their popularity. I felt there was too much discussion of 'The Basement Tapes' and Dylan's bootlegs releases through his labels over the years period.
But then again, what they meant and what we are supposed to decipher from Dylan from them is just as important to the fantasy Dylan built that Bell explores throughout the text. Interesting to note how much time Bell spends on discussing Dylan's relationships to poets like Ginsberg and Berryman whom he studied under, albeit briefly, at the University of MN. The Nobel Prize is mentioned, the questioning of whether Dylan's work IS in fact poetry, and what other people have to say nay or yay on that matter is discussed at length for the last several pages of the book.
Bell passed away a year after both of the volumes were released. I'm sure he would want to provide an updated afterword for these texts now that Dylan has in fact won the Prize and to this day has ignored it. Say what you will about his lyrics translating poorly to the page. That you don't like his voice. That Dylan is not a writer, and that Tarantula Dylan's only book of poetry that is widely panned as awful and "word vomit" is a blip. I didn't know "Visions of Joanna" was about his heroin addiction and I didn't know that he even had one.
I could spend time typing up quotes from this book but I'll let you make up you're own mind. It took me a while to get used to Bell's writing. HIGHLY stylized and idiosyncratic, his prose reads more like poetry or conversation at times; you realize quickly that you're not reading a traditional stodgy biography. The other element of Bell's writing one must get used to is his recursiveness. This book is NOT linear or chronological in any way. If hard pressed, I'm certain I cold try and plot out the chapters and how they correspond to forwards and backwards in Dylan's life.
But that would b It took me a while to get used to Bell's writing. But that would be to lose so much of the fun. But obviously so is the mythology that Dylan has constructed. The structure and style of Bell's writing eloquently mirrors Dylan's early fumbling around with identity creation, his "love and theft" of things past and future, and the storybook lunacy Dylan asked us to believe once upon a time; the beauty is that we DID believe it and continue to because we need to and because Dylan's story is our story more than it's his. Dec 22, Charles rated it it was ok.
Wow, did I have a problem with this volume. On one hand, I congratulate Bell for truly burrowing into the details of his topic, especially with research that is exhaustive and quite admirable. On the other hand, if he could write a paragraph on a topic, his default mode was to write five, in a tediously verbose manner. Let me provide a comparison: I history of the Beatles, which is pp plus, and never did my attention flag, never did Lewisohn shirk the re Wow, did I have a problem with this volume.
I history of the Beatles, which is pp plus, and never did my attention flag, never did Lewisohn shirk the research on his topic, and never did he overdo analysis of any particular matter. In contrast, Bell's vol. I on Dylan is about half the length of Lewisohn's vol. I, and as my previous remarks suggest, this was a slog, and at some moments, I screamed "enough! Yet, I do plan to read his vol. II, just knowing that the going may not be as smooth as I would like. Oct 21, Simon rated it liked it.
Plenty of interest and if he could have edited pages into he would have had a decent book. It rambles, it repeats, it puts forward a thesis here and a thesis there and wears its intellectualism proudly; if misguidedly. I'm not sure which Ian Bell wrote this. He's obviously a fan and obviously well read in Dylanology. But it all seems like an overblown student dissertation to me.
Not helped by the fact that I've listened to it on audio book with an actor who obviously doesn't know much ab Plenty of interest and if he could have edited pages into he would have had a decent book. Not helped by the fact that I've listened to it on audio book with an actor who obviously doesn't know much about Dylan and whose impression is awkward and comical.
I've been interested in it at times. I've been bored by it. I haven't always agreed with the book but it hasn't involved me enough to care much either way. I'm glad I listened to it all the way through and even more glad that I don't have to listen to any more of it. Man this book started out very good but my interest waned at the mid section on out. I think if I was a Bob Dylan fan that was more familiar with his songs, perhaps it would have rocked my world of experience.
I did like how the author wrapped Dylan's story with the history and the sociological aspects of the time. I must say though that I don't think that the author really even likes Bob Dylan, he constantly referred to him as basically being a liar. I never felt I got any closer to understandi Man this book started out very good but my interest waned at the mid section on out.
Well, this is not a biography of revelation. Those hoping to discover what really happened when Dylan crashed his motorcycle will be disappointed. Or rather, there was an accident. There is, perhaps, a problem of method. Bell shows every sign of being the best kind of Dylan fan, with a questioning spirit and an abiding fascination with the music. The inverted commas are part of the deal. He was, even in , a recognised American type, a ghost from the back roads.
His writing is his response to a deep problem of identity. As its title hints, Once Upon a Time tells a familiar story. But Bell, a past winner of the Orwell Prize for political writing, tells it in an unfamiliar way — with a coruscating intelligence and historical sweep not often found in books about rock musicians. He writes beautifully, too, in rhythmic, at times incantatory, prose. In short, this is the best Dylan biography yet — an imagined reliving of an already imaginary life, and a book to sit alongside Ellmann on Wilde, Richardson on Picasso, Ackroyd on Dickens.
That would be my assessment, too. Bell offers plenty to savour, and think about, too. For myself, I was pleased to be re-acquainted with this classic example of the take-no-prisoners Dylan style that was an inspiration back in the sixties. I think that like many people I still have mixed feelings about Bob Dylan. In his book, Bell writes:. Dylan is lauded as one of the most original artists of the age and accused, simultaneously, of relentless pagiarism. So what if both claims are true? And would nusic be better off if Bob Dylan had never borrowed?
During my brief encounter with Mr. Z he had a thing for black girls; imagine finding one who had been to Laugharne and quoted D. Gerry this is another fascinating blog. Harvey seems to entirely miss the point. He is a vast, classical enigma and for that reason love is theft.
I agree that I entirely miss the point. That is something in which I have specialised all my life and got rather good it, even though I say it myself. In that case I am sure that he will love it if I steal the title. Maybe I should take my tongue out of my cheek. Not too much wrong with those, but Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dylan encapsulate the myth and the manifold musician, artist, actor, performer, family man, ultra-private individual and all else that Dylan has and continues to be — some start! He is to the latter 20th and early 21st century what Robert Burns was to the 18th: Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands was my theme tune when it came out — must be poetry!
Might be better to let it lie — Bell has some pretty critical things to say about it, suggesting that Dylan soon came to realise that verse, not prose was his forte. I remember skimming it when it first came out and being less than impressed. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email.
Notify me of new posts via email.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Perceptively, Bell argues that Dylan is an avant-garde conservative: Dylan arrived in New York in a college dropout with limited musical abilities. But what Bell reveals, time and time again, is how fast Dylan learnt, absorbing musical, political and literary influences like a sponge, at breathtaking speed.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed Graveyards, false gods, I scuff At pettiness which plays so rough Walk upside-down inside handcuffs Kick my legs to crash it off Say okay, I have had enough, what else can you show me?
We never truly discover what these visions contain. Mistake or not, what made you decide to go the rock and roll route?
I lost my one true love. I wake up in a pool hall. Then this big Mexican lady drags me off the table, takes me to Philadelphia.