Kent Allard
06-29-2010, 05:25 PM
Quote from an article in the Italian Independent, 27 June
Analysing Bob Dylan with any accuracy is like trying to pick up mercury with a spoon with holes in it. He is elusive. Once you think you have him, he becomes something else: he releases a sublime Tex-Mexy album (Together Through Life) followed by a straight Christmas album (Bob Dylan: Christmas in the Heart) worthy of Bing Crosby.
Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941, has remained faithful to himself from the beginning regardless of the consequences.
He lost his way in the Eighties (and possibly, to quote from Shelter From The Storm, "burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,poisoned in the bushes and blown out on the trail"). But It is said Bob only found his way back in late 1987 after an epiphany of sorts at a concert of his in Locarno, Switzerland, when Bob heard a voice in his head.
Four nights before at a concert in England, Bob sang I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine. St Augustine had heard voices in his head too. In the Confessions of St Augustine, The Struggle Of Conversion: "So I was speaking to the Lord and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when lo! I heard from a neighbour's house a voice, as of a boy or a girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, 'Take up and read; take up and read ... '"
He interpreted it to be no other than a command from God -- as did Dylan that night in Switzerland. For years prior to that night, Bob felt he had "kind of reached the end of the line". Then he heard the voice in his head tell him: "I'm determined to stand whether God will deliver me or not."
He said: "And all of a sudden everything just exploded. It exploded every which way. And I noticed the people out there -- I was used to them looking at the girl singers because they were good looking girls, you know? And like I say, I had them up there so I wouldn't feel so bad.
"But when that happened, nobody was looking at the girls any more. They were looking at the main mic. After that is when I sort of know: I've got to go out and play plays these songs. That's what I must do."
That was the start of The Never Ending Tour. Last month, 245 miles south-east of Locarno in Parma, the Never Ending Tour is still rollinga and showing no sign of slowing down.
There is a buzz about this great Italian town tonight -- Dylan, generally regarded as America's greatest songwriter, is in town. Giant posters in the main square proclaim his arrival in their midst. When he shuffles on stage at 9.30pm with just his band -- Bob Dylan doesn't need to hide behind backing singers any more -- 20,000 people greet him like he is the Messiah returned.
Analysing Bob Dylan with any accuracy is like trying to pick up mercury with a spoon with holes in it. He is elusive. Once you think you have him, he becomes something else: he releases a sublime Tex-Mexy album (Together Through Life) followed by a straight Christmas album (Bob Dylan: Christmas in the Heart) worthy of Bing Crosby.
Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941, has remained faithful to himself from the beginning regardless of the consequences.
He lost his way in the Eighties (and possibly, to quote from Shelter From The Storm, "burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,poisoned in the bushes and blown out on the trail"). But It is said Bob only found his way back in late 1987 after an epiphany of sorts at a concert of his in Locarno, Switzerland, when Bob heard a voice in his head.
Four nights before at a concert in England, Bob sang I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine. St Augustine had heard voices in his head too. In the Confessions of St Augustine, The Struggle Of Conversion: "So I was speaking to the Lord and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when lo! I heard from a neighbour's house a voice, as of a boy or a girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, 'Take up and read; take up and read ... '"
He interpreted it to be no other than a command from God -- as did Dylan that night in Switzerland. For years prior to that night, Bob felt he had "kind of reached the end of the line". Then he heard the voice in his head tell him: "I'm determined to stand whether God will deliver me or not."
He said: "And all of a sudden everything just exploded. It exploded every which way. And I noticed the people out there -- I was used to them looking at the girl singers because they were good looking girls, you know? And like I say, I had them up there so I wouldn't feel so bad.
"But when that happened, nobody was looking at the girls any more. They were looking at the main mic. After that is when I sort of know: I've got to go out and play plays these songs. That's what I must do."
That was the start of The Never Ending Tour. Last month, 245 miles south-east of Locarno in Parma, the Never Ending Tour is still rollinga and showing no sign of slowing down.
There is a buzz about this great Italian town tonight -- Dylan, generally regarded as America's greatest songwriter, is in town. Giant posters in the main square proclaim his arrival in their midst. When he shuffles on stage at 9.30pm with just his band -- Bob Dylan doesn't need to hide behind backing singers any more -- 20,000 people greet him like he is the Messiah returned.