People talk about Bob Dylan in varying superlatives or degrading terms, depending on their inclination toward him and his music. But the longer he keeps writing songs and performing, the more the voices of naysayers become dimly heard in the fog surrounding their confusion.
There is not doubt many great things about Bob Dylan and his poetry and music. They are difficult to measure at times, that is true, and I agree that album sales and even tour receipts cannot tell the story of how greatness is defined. Here are some things to consider...
One thread to Bob Dylan's remaining so popular for more than 40 years is that he transcends current trends and sets his own pace about musical creativity, sound, lyrics and poetry. He did this in the 1960s, defining the turbulent social times then moving on to inventing "folk-rock" with an electric sound that moved him well beyond his acoustic Martin guitar music to that point. He faced a major obstacle here, for by "abandoning' his folk music roots he turned off a lot of his fan base. At least for a moment. He stuck to his electric creative urges and immediately knocked out "Highway 61 Revisited," "which introduced the immortal "Like a Rolling Stone" (Rolling Stone magazine dubbed it the best rock song of all time a few years ago).
While he turned on the beat generation and turned off their parents, today he crosses all generations. You find measures of this at his concerts, where you will see old and new hippies, executives, good ol' boys and their gals, and others from a cross-section of America. I met a guy at a Winston-Salem, NC, concert last year -- put on at a local ball park -- who wasn't yet 30 but had been to 18 Dylan shows since he was 16. He was an engineer at a local manufacturing company. And, he tours Europe every year, performing before a similar fan base there.
Along the way, Dylan also spawned, inspired and influenced other rock greats, such as Bruce Springsteen, The Band, The Grateful Dead and Elvis Costello, who opens for him in Atlanta this September.
He keeps that creative edge, which is a challenge for any songwriter who always has to best his last big hit -- whether that was last year or two decades ago. Clearly, Dylan's productive period for rock hits was in the middle '60s. Some slumps followed here and there. He always found a way to come out of the funk and write more songs, sometimes lovelier and more lyrical than any others. Listen to his "Blonde on Blonde" album, then to last year's CD, "Modern Times."
I think for Dylan the greatest thing is that his music thrives, and he thrives on tour. Now, if he'd only point that tour bus south again. Haven't heard him in over a year.
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