Song and Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan

I was particularly interested in “Blind Willie McTell” and found an entire long chapter devoted to this wonderful song.

How could anyone if they are honest say anything nagetive about a book about Dylan. Christ he just got a pulitizer dosen't that say it all. Even if I was not a fan, Even if I had never heard of Dylan,{ if that was possible}I would have to say that the book is well worth the time and money spent.

Didn't think it was a library copy or as old as it is...there is an update edition I will buy now though.

As an avid fan of rock scholarship (oxymoronical as some still consider the term), I've read many a bio and interpretive book through the years, and I have to say that this one, hands down, is the absolute most amazing one I've ever come across. Only Dylan - with his 40+ albums, 4-decade career, half a thousand songs, countless gigs, and sheer depth of material - could be subject to such a gargantuan examination as this, and Gray milks it for all it's worth. At over 900 pages, this book examines every aspect of Dylan's recorded work. The level of scholarship is almost insane. The footnotes alone are massive (some taking up the majority of a page); one chapter alone contains over 220 of them. This is not a book that attempts to "explain" the songs (Gray knows better than that.) What it does, instead, is give detailed background information on them: shedding light, at long last, on their genesis - showing us what songs, poems, books, movies or what have you may have influenced them. One gets a sense in reading this of Dylan's own vast knowledge of music. We learn here how deeply and thorougly he has mined such treasure troves of art as pre-war blues, folk songs, the Bible (though Gray borders on overkill on this particular subject), poetry of all sorts, and, surprisingly, nursery rhyme, fairy tales, and Hollywood movie dialogue. Some might claim that knowing such things takes the fun or novelty out of simply listening to a song, or of self-interpretation, but surely, it gives an extra layer or two of depth to Dylan's work, allowing you to appreciate them that much more. Some passages are surely revelatory. While some of the chapters are admittedly not as interesting as others, many are enlightening and downright ground-breaking. The chapter on his use of pre-war blues lyrics poetry is a cornucopia of exhaustive reasearch (the footnotes alone in this chapter could almost comprise a book.) Undoubtedly revelatory to many are the chapters on Dylan's use of nursery rhyme and movie dialogue in his lyrics (the use of the latter shines an entirely new light on the Empire Burlesque album.) Another element of the book worth noting is that it doesn't skimp over his too-often-unnecessarily-derided 80's and 90's work (a period where it actually became cool to despise Dylan.) Gray offers excellent analyses of such 80's masterpieces as Blind Willie McTell, Caribbean Wind (three versions!), Foot of Pride, Jokerman, Brownsville Girl, and the entire Oh Mercy album. All of these songs (and more) are thoroughly examined, and lend needed credence to truly excellent Dylan compositions that often do not get the credit they deserve. His 90's albums - Under The Red Sky, Good As I Been To You, World Gone Wrong, and Time Out of Mind - all have thorough chapters dedicated to them as well. The latter chapter I particularly enjoyed. I should also take time out to ackwnoledge not only Gray's parlaying of information, but his sheer excellence of writing. His prose is very, very good and he can be devastatingly funny at times, as well as scholastically serious. He also manages to avoid the two main traps of writing a book like this: hero worship, and promoting your own work through the medium you are trying to interpret. He's not overly idoltary towards Dylan: certainly he gives him much praise (all deserved, of course), but he also issues forth monumental drubbings at times - perhaps even too much at times. For example, Gray is extremely, extremely critical of such things as the Empire Burlesque and Unplugged albums, which is bound to upset some fans. But surely such critical honesty of opinion is preferable to the "Dylan is God and never makes a mistake; bow down and worship his incomparable art" vibe that is prevalent in so many other books of this type. Also, as I said, he manages to avoid the horrible pitfall of pushing his own works through the guise of interpreting Dylan; he wisely barely mentions himself here. Now, all this is not to say that the book is perfect. There are certain drawbacks; personally, I think Gray rides the Bible-influence hobby horse a bit too much, and I disagree with some of his opinions (only natural, and he doesn't overburden us with them), and certain parts of the book do seem a bit long-winded. Also, if you are looking for an in-depth study of what Dylan's lyrics "mean", or for a study of his live performances, then this is not specifically the book for you. However, any, and I mean ANY Dylanophile will want it regardless, as it casts such a deep, illuminating light on so many aspects of his career. There are a lot of books on Bob Dylan available, but this is one of the few truly indispensable ones. Comes absolutely reccommended.

It seems like a page of my life has turned: I finished Michael Gray "Song and Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan". At 900 pages including references it is a major tome on Dylan, the blues and folk music. I like the book and found it irritating all at once.Gray is a musicologist and Dylanologist who gives a detailed look at the art of Dylan's songwriting. He details, often excruciatingly, the sources for songs to the oldest version to the post-WWI versions, to the post WWII versions. It is enlightening to read that material but some editing would have helped the book move along.Gray discusses Dylan's infatuation with Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music" which myth has it Dylan stole early in his career from a friend in Minneapolis since he was so enchanted with it a source. I am giving in and will study Smith's 4 volumes to gleen what I can.I learned quite a bit about song-writing and sourcing from this book. Since I started read this book my own songs have come faster and are better. For that I thank Gray.The paper cover book weighs too much to hold in you hands for long. Try to find the hardcover so you can lay it on a table or desk. Seriously.However, he needs editing. Every once in awhile Gray goes on a rant - personal, vituperative criticism of Dylan. Since all that is his taste who cares if he likes Unplugged or not? Unprofessional.When he is discussing "As Good as I've Been to You" and "World Gone Wrong" Gray analyzes each song to some length; however you can be reading another paragraph before you realize he had finished with one song and is now discussing another. Either write more clearly or use sub-headings.The book is like that. It feels like the editor was asleep.Still, now I have to go back and study some parts over.

thanks

Very good read.

This book is about 650 pages too long and desperately needed an edit. Gray's passion for his subject is remarkable but what starts as engaging ends up too much like rantings off the point. The first edition was lean, hip and got to the heart of matters. This has gone badly off the rails and even some of the very interesting remarkably diligent criticism and source finding, misfires when surrounded by tetchy, off-subject ramblings which are prevalent in the later stages in particular.The book has become something of a personal monologue. Only for very tolerant hard core Dylan book readers.

This is a real joy...a fantastic collection of writings on Bob, o.k. only for dedicated fans maybe, but the article on Dylan and the Blues is terriffic reading, dare you miss this !...this book is packed with great info. Gray's insights are spot-on, i.e the wasted ' Unplugged ' t.v. show for one. This book is BIG and teriffic value for money, you may break your wrist holding it up as it is as heavy as Bob's wallet. No Dylan fan should be without this monumental work.

A massive book, full of interesting material. I found this second hand for only a few bucks, and it came to me obviously read, but in excellent condition. If you can find this at a reasonable price and in good shape, I recommend that you get it.