Thanks for letting me sit in your friend's red Ford, and listen to the longings of a 17 year-old boy. It made me realize how long it's been since I've read anything by a male writer, longer since I've read anything this good. You're the real deal. Grateful to have discovered your writing.
It feels GOOD to hear the male voice again in your writing. So much anodyne bs out there. Bring on the essence of being young and being made and wondering when your odyssey begins. All the best fiction of my youth followed this path - from Hornblower to Frodo.
Like a lot of bands/singers who gained a footing in the 1960s, Dylan had a bloody awful 1980s. Very few artists from that era were able to resist the pressure modernise their sound and their image, which was always to their detriment. No-one who came of age in the era of tie dye did themselves any favours by picking up a keytar. I can't think of any exceptions.
I have wondered whether the two albums of traditional folk songs that he released in the early 90s, prior to Time out of Mind, were an attempt to use the same founding influences that guided his early work to produce a slightly different type of music, appropriate to his age and interests, in the Autumn of his career.
Not Dark Yet is oddly prophetic. It was recorded in January 1997. A couple of months later, Dylan was hospitalised with histoplasmosis and was reportedly at death's door. From a purely selfish perspective imagine what would have never existed had he passed away: The equally brilliant Love and Theft, his batshit Christmas album, and his 16-minute account of the fallout from the Kennedy assassination - Murder Most Foul - which is the first time I was ever moved by a Dylan song. It caught me off guard.
Although I own a lot of Dylan's music, I am not a huge fan. I much prefer his work from Time out of Mind onward, over his earlier iconic songs, which I think often fare better in the hands of others. I really like PH Harvey's cover of Highway 61 which, once it gets going, sounds like its being violently shaken in the jaws of a wild animal.
Plunging down the Free Press rabbit hole this morning i discovered Perez' wonderful critique of current Woke publishing, then Elizabeth Ellen's Hobart with Perez, then The Probe. Caught me because Not Dark Yet caught me when i first heard it in Hibbing with Natalie Goldberg in BJ Rolfzen's fifties dining room where Mrs. Rolfzen served us cookies and strong coffee. BJ was Dylan's English teacher. We were part of a documentary called Tangled up in Bob. as a white heteronormative scot's-norse male of educated lower-middle class midwesterners, i was able to publish with Shambhala in the nineties--but had to (argh) self-publish thereafter--or once anon in quillette to shield my kids, both teachers.
Thanks for letting me sit in your friend's red Ford, and listen to the longings of a 17 year-old boy. It made me realize how long it's been since I've read anything by a male writer, longer since I've read anything this good. You're the real deal. Grateful to have discovered your writing.
This is great.
It feels GOOD to hear the male voice again in your writing. So much anodyne bs out there. Bring on the essence of being young and being made and wondering when your odyssey begins. All the best fiction of my youth followed this path - from Hornblower to Frodo.
*male
Great writing. There must be millions of us out there, Dylan fans, who have such a story. I know I do, but you articulated it far beyond my abilities.
This essay, quite frankly, is one of the best things I’ve ever read. What a beautiful work. My Lord.
Excellent piece. Thanks for writing it.
Like a lot of bands/singers who gained a footing in the 1960s, Dylan had a bloody awful 1980s. Very few artists from that era were able to resist the pressure modernise their sound and their image, which was always to their detriment. No-one who came of age in the era of tie dye did themselves any favours by picking up a keytar. I can't think of any exceptions.
I have wondered whether the two albums of traditional folk songs that he released in the early 90s, prior to Time out of Mind, were an attempt to use the same founding influences that guided his early work to produce a slightly different type of music, appropriate to his age and interests, in the Autumn of his career.
Not Dark Yet is oddly prophetic. It was recorded in January 1997. A couple of months later, Dylan was hospitalised with histoplasmosis and was reportedly at death's door. From a purely selfish perspective imagine what would have never existed had he passed away: The equally brilliant Love and Theft, his batshit Christmas album, and his 16-minute account of the fallout from the Kennedy assassination - Murder Most Foul - which is the first time I was ever moved by a Dylan song. It caught me off guard.
Although I own a lot of Dylan's music, I am not a huge fan. I much prefer his work from Time out of Mind onward, over his earlier iconic songs, which I think often fare better in the hands of others. I really like PH Harvey's cover of Highway 61 which, once it gets going, sounds like its being violently shaken in the jaws of a wild animal.
Terrific article, glad you’ve got a Substack
Loved your piece!
Plunging down the Free Press rabbit hole this morning i discovered Perez' wonderful critique of current Woke publishing, then Elizabeth Ellen's Hobart with Perez, then The Probe. Caught me because Not Dark Yet caught me when i first heard it in Hibbing with Natalie Goldberg in BJ Rolfzen's fifties dining room where Mrs. Rolfzen served us cookies and strong coffee. BJ was Dylan's English teacher. We were part of a documentary called Tangled up in Bob. as a white heteronormative scot's-norse male of educated lower-middle class midwesterners, i was able to publish with Shambhala in the nineties--but had to (argh) self-publish thereafter--or once anon in quillette to shield my kids, both teachers.
erik fraser storlie
Yes! Myself as well...Free Press to Hobert and now here - and a wonderful place ‘here’ seems to be.