The Albums of Bob Dylan, Part Three

By Russell Shortt

Dylan continued to forge links whilst in the uber-cool environment of Greenwich Village, as he burrowed away in the second-hand stores and beetled away in the libraries, studying the past, rooting out rare recordings, discovering lost ballads; examining the way that songs were crafted. It would serve him well, linking the stony ballads of old with the stylish leanings of the Village.

He had his finger on the pulse but he created his own zeitgeist, he was re-inventing the role of folk singer-songwriter. He couch-surfed in some funky houses with fine literature which he hovered up, it would influence his later writings and it was diverse, very diverse, so the influence was rare and distinguished one. A smattering of which includes - Pericles, Machiavelli, Faulkner, Ovid, Byron, Shelley, Poe, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Milton ... they all contributed into the moulding of the young Dylan. He was studying in an old school manner, like Joyce he was creating his own curriculum, keeping an eye on the city, matching the two, sussing how the modern bootlegger linked to The Prince. Indeed, later on when he was branded the mouthpiece of a generation it rankled him greatly.

The accusers couldn't understand his bitterness, why wouldn't anyone desire to be the leader of the counterculture? Perhaps, one who believed himself to be more than simply the main man of a fleeting movement, one who believed himself to be around for a lot longer than that. However, the branding was inescapable, his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) contained the protest songs, the articulate fury and catchy melodies that the movement were seeking. He became a pillar and he hated it.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net
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