From backwoods vagabond to creating international anthems that have spanned decades and generations, Bob Dylan has been called a God. A liar. A prophet. Rock rebel. Poet. Seer. Spokesman of a Generation. Fake. Judas. You’ve probably heard it all.
And All Of It Was True!
Bob Dylan is whatever the heck he wants to be, to anyone. We know by now that we each taste reality’s flavours on our own special terms. What matters is how we share and communicate those terms - so that people, who might not have found their own just yet, can.
He certainly helped me.
It all started when I was 19. I’d just heard “Visions of Johanna” on YouTube. I never heard music like that until then. Those majestic words that flew from the headphones, heading straight towards you. Like a bullet aimed right at your mind’s eye.
It’s Music That Changes You
As Bob has for a long, long time. How you perceive the world - how you feel about yourself and other people. To say Bob Dylan is a spokesman… Well…You know he’s never really dug that.
How he feels about the role is irrelevant - what matters is, by doing the very thing he was born to do… he inspired countless others to pursue their true love/life’s calling. There isn’t anything new you can say about how powerful that makes you, as a person. As an artist. As a creator.
Bob Dylan is the only constant that’s fared the forever-changing storms of my hectic, crazy world.
And just how has he helped me in my life? How has he helped me play a song for creativity, and stand on the edge of Life’s cliff… and without fear… Just howl for life itself? PROVING beyond doubt that you’re alive?
Let’s take a look.
Defying Expectation
To score a seat in posterity, shaking up the times is crucial. Bobby did this with finesse - like a chameleon shedding its skin every other year or so.
Take for example, his beginnings. The guy wanted to be in a high school Little Richie tribute band. Pure rock’n’roll.
Sadly, Hibbing (his hometown in Minnesota) offered little in this arena. So he flipped the script and turned to acoustic guitar. Then comes the early sixties, and he creates time-chewing masterpieces like Blowin’ In The Wind, Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, The Times They’re A’Changin’, etc.
And then he picked up an electric guitar again… And the rest is history. Not before angered crowds ‘round the world called him “traitor”, “liar”, “fake”, and Judas.
Time would inevitably prove that, despite the backlash, this need for constant change is a human’s greatest asset. We can’t evolve mentally, emotionally, and spiritually if we stick with what’s expected of us.
And it also goes to show that, when you have a vision burning deep inside you (no matter what it is)... That you need to have the nerve, guts, and tenacity to follow through and bring that to light. No matter whoever or however many people don’t like it at the time.
“You can’t let other people get your kicks for you.” - Like A Rolling Stone
Live Outside The Lines
At the peak of his world domination and songwriting mastery (between ‘64-’66), Bobby was doing things with words other master-class songwriters weren’t.
Or probably couldn’t. What, with lines like… “Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly through the sun” from Mr. Tambourine Man…
“The ghost of ‘lectricity howls in the bones of her face/Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place” from Visions of Johanna…
“Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll/We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing/As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds/Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing” from Chimes of Freedom…
Or how about “The empty handed painter from your streets/Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets/This sky, too, is folding under you/And it’s all over now, baby blue” from It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue…
Or maybe even “The wind howls like a hammer/The night wind blows cold n’ rainy/My love, she’s like some raven/At my window with a broken wing” from Love Minus Zero/No Limit.
Go Where You’ve Never Ventured
This was a time he was writing words like no other popular musician (or authors) dared to. In fact, there’s quite a few things everyone can learn by studying his passion for words. It’s just a matter of… How far are you willing to go inside yourself?
And once you do, one thing Bob himself couldn’t do was…
Preventing The Inevitable Fall
What most people remember in the musical world circa 1966 is Bob Dylan’s infamous motorcycle crash. Some say it was an accident.
Others think the hell of constantly touring, in a different city every day (and sometimes a new country each week!) drove him to the life-defying madness of purposely making himself crash.
Whatever the cause, the effect was this: being bedridden for months of recuperation. This accident (which he cracked his vertebrae. Ouch.) gave him an escape - he fled from the public spotlight, holing up in his Woodstock refuge.
Before this crash, Bob was on the warpath to total devastation. Rock stardom turned his life into a blur. He tore curious reporters new holes as he lashed venomous words at them, famously documented since then. He famously took boatloads of amphetamines just to maintain.
It got harder and harder just to do the one thing he wanted to do…
Stay In Control Of Your Own Fate
His life at the time was getting out of control. Imagine the stress of meeting dozens of reporters each and every single day. People who want to grill you about things you did years ago. He wasn’t the ruler of his own destiny anymore.
Throughout history, reports of artists turning mad is to our culture as the Kardashians are to reality TV.
What can we learn from the frantic chaos of our history’s famous musicians? How to stay stress free in times of trouble. When to step back from the table and fold your cards.
Seems like a struggle now, more than ever in today’s world, doesn’t it? It does. That’s why it’s IMPORTANT, now more than ever, to endure the struggle. Keep your head and wits about you.
And maybe, just maybe, you’ll sort of be alright. That was the biggest lesson I gleaned from the man himself: that no matter what we do, no matter how much B.S. takes place in our day-to-day activities… We will, in the end, be alright.
Right, Bob?