I listened to the whole "song" last night. I'm not going to be extreme in my comments, because then they would just be dismissed completely, especially by this audience.
To begin with, the music part of it, which not surprisingly for contemporary Dylan work was almost nonexistent; sort of a bland, tired background presence.
As far as the lyrics are concerned, I listened carefully, and to my mind, they were neither great poetry nor brilliant observation; just pretty ordinary, like many people might write, and of course rambling all over the place with expected allusions and phrases conjuring up images of the period to those of us at that age who remember.
As usual with Mr. Dylan, I don't see the king's new clothes. What was really surprising to me were the comments beneath the video. I read several dozen of them, and not one of them was critical...and this is you tube!
An aside; after I listened to it, I looked up "Bob Dylan 2019" on you tube out of curiosity, and found a 2019 live performance of "Simple Twist of Fate". I was truly shocked. There was an excited audience there who had actually paid for tickets to see this. I am certainly not a Dylan hater. Like many people, I thought his early work was often very observant and clever, even poetic, and even up to Blood on the Tracks there was interesting work, but I think that it may be true that poets do their best work when they're young.
To begin with, the music part of it, which not surprisingly for contemporary Dylan work was almost nonexistent; sort of a bland, tired background presence.
As far as the lyrics are concerned, I listened carefully, and to my mind, they were neither great poetry nor brilliant observation; just pretty ordinary, like many people might write, and of course rambling all over the place with expected allusions and phrases conjuring up images of the period to those of us at that age who remember.
As usual with Mr. Dylan, I don't see the king's new clothes. What was really surprising to me were the comments beneath the video. I read several dozen of them, and not one of them was critical...and this is you tube!
An aside; after I listened to it, I looked up "Bob Dylan 2019" on you tube out of curiosity, and found a 2019 live performance of "Simple Twist of Fate". I was truly shocked. There was an excited audience there who had actually paid for tickets to see this. I am certainly not a Dylan hater. Like many people, I thought his early work was often very observant and clever, even poetic, and even up to Blood on the Tracks there was interesting work, but I think that it may be true that poets do their best work when they're young.