Film: Apes & Scrapes

These changes have been fodder for countless “Dylanologists” masticating the messages in his often-cryptic lyrics. Was “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” really about radioactive fallout? Who was the clueless Mr. Jones? Was “Like a Rolling Stone” a covert attack on South Vietnam’s Madame Nhu? And is the latest lyrical reference to light or angels taken from the Gospels or from the Hebrew Bible?

My concern, however, is not with Dylan’s words but with his music. Most culture pundits focus on the words and treat the music as mere accompaniment. But to neglect Dylan’s music is to neglect his most enduring influence— not as a radical counterculturalist but as a deep-dyed musical traditionalist. I say this in spite of Dylan’s patent limitations as a performer. His rough and approximate vocalism is often compared to that of the blues, but the comparison is ill informed: The great blues singers (the late John Lee Hooker, for example) may sound rough, but their pitch, attack, and timing are always precise. As for Dylan’s guitar-and harmonica-playing, suffice it to say he is rarely in demand as a session musician.

JS

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John Simon

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These changes have been fodder for countless “Dylanologists” masticating the messages in his often-cryptic lyrics. Was “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” really about radioactive fallout? Who was the clueless Mr. Jones? Was “Like a Rolling Stone” a covert attack on South Vietnam’s Madame Nhu? And is the latest lyrical reference to light or angels taken from the Gospels or from the Hebrew Bible?

My concern, however, is not with Dylan’s words but with his music. Most culture pundits focus on the words and treat the music as mere accompaniment. But to neglect Dylan’s music is to neglect his most enduring influence— not as a radical counterculturalist but as a deep-dyed musical traditionalist. I say this in spite of Dylan’s patent limitations as a performer. His rough and approximate vocalism is often compared to that of the blues, but the comparison is ill informed: The great blues singers (the late John Lee Hooker, for example) may sound rough, but their pitch, attack, and timing are always precise. As for Dylan’s guitar-and harmonica-playing, suffice it to say he is rarely in demand as a session musician.