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No Direction Home, Dylan documentary by Martin Scorsese.

This afternoon I rewatched this great film, probably the best documentary on a musical figure I've ever seen. It is not only interesting from a historical perspective, but is also very entertaining and funny, particularly Part 2. Methamphetamine really seemed to enhance Bob's sense of humour. ;-)

The movie contains one segment I found particularly relevant in our current state of affairs. In December of 1963 the ACLU presented Dylan with their Tom Paine Award. He accepted it, but not without making the following statement:

"There's no black and white, no left and right to me anymore. There's only up and down, and down is very close to the ground. I'm trying to go up, without thinking about anything as trivial as politics."

Needless to say, the ACLU was not pleased. Dylan obviously had no desire to be the organization's poster boy, so I then wonder why he showed up at the awards ceremony, and accepted the "award"? IMO, Jackson Browne should have followed Dylan's lead; he hasn't been worth sh*t since he started making political statement albums.

Remember the scene in The Last Waltz in which Band bassist Rick Danko says " We're not trying to save the world, only improve the neighborhood"? Speaking of neighborhood, I am reminded of Dylan's song "Neighborhood Bully". Not explicitly political, but mighty close.

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bdp24 OP
9,487 posts
 
Damn, 80 years old. Of course some people live to be 100, but not often in the music biz. On the road at 80 years old---brutal! Though he stays in nice hotels, has a crew to do all the heavy lifting, etc., performing under hot lights for an hour or more night after night is not easy, even when young. He has a nice tour bus, but driving those long miles between cities is a real grind.

These days taking pain killers to combat injuries is commonplace, and can (and does) easily lead to death. Prince and Petty thought they had it under control; unfortunately, they were mistaken. But Dylan's been around a long time, and has obviously learned his substance tolerance.

Still, any day now we could wake up to the news that he has died. I had a friend who went to bed one night, and died in his sleep. Only 55, but he had a terrible diet. In the past five years, three guys I worked with have died---Emitt Rhodes, John Wicks (of The Records semi-fame), and Evan Johns, the last two younger than I. Heck, I could wake up in the morning dead. ;-)
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,487 posts
 

@tomcy6, Dylan’s statement was his announcement that he had moved on, above and beyond the plane of left vs. right (politics), to that of right vs. wrong (morality). He has done that for many years; not in the literal, obvious way of his early (pre-Blonde On Blonde) work, but in a more subtle, artistic, abstract manner. It’s like the difference between Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch. ;-) But every once in a while, Bob violates that dictum, as he did in "Hurricane." I doubt he would now write and record a song about the killing of George Floyd, but he has just done his new one about JFK. Not exactly literal, is it? ;-)

As I above said, I love Iris Dement’s "Wasteland Of The Free", which can be considered a "protest" song. It is written from the perspective of Christian values (she is a believer, raised Pentecostal), bemoaning how those in positions of religious and political power use that power not as they profess---in the service of their Savior and congregation, or constituents, but in the cynical pursuit of their own self-interest. She makes her feelings about hypocrisy very obvious.

I appreciate that, but the lyrics are not the only thing I love about the song; it is great musically. I don’t begrudge Jackson Browne his efforts in the cause of pursuing social and/or economic justice (though he does it in an entirely too "earnest" manner for my liking), but the music he puts those lyrics to just isn’t that good, not nearly as good as his earlier, pre-overtly-political lyric songs are. In my opinion, of course.

bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,487 posts
 
@terry9, you missed the important qualifying word in Dylan’s statement: "There’s no black and white, no left and right to me ANYMORE." The songs you cite were all in his rear view mirror by the time he made that statement.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,487 posts
 

Fair enough, @rpeluso. I assume then that you also disagree with Dylan's assertion that politics is trivial? ;-)

Iris Dement recorded a great political song I love entitled "Wasteland Of The Free", so I'm not against them in principle. But when Jackson focusses on politically-themed lyrics, he tends to put less effort into the musical content of his songs. At least, that's how it sounds to me.

I love the great chord progressions and melodies in his earlier songs, his newer ones sounding rather common, nothing special. When he gets together with Graham Nash and David Crosby, for me there is entirely too much lecturing going on. Still love the man, and his earlier albums.

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