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The Philosophy of Modern Song Hardcover – November 1, 2022
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Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence.
In 2020, with the release of his outstanding album Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan became the first artist to have an album hit the Billboard Top 40 in each decade since the 1960s. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains much of what he has learned about his craft in all those years, and like everything that Dylan does, it is a momentous artistic achievement.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateNovember 1, 2022
- Dimensions7.38 x 1.3 x 9.13 inches
- ISBN-101451648707
- ISBN-13978-1451648706
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From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
“[The Philosophy of Modern Song] is less a rigorous study of craft than a series of rhapsodic observations on what gives great songs their power to fascinate us. Dylan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, worked on these for more than a decade, though they flow more like extemporaneous sermons.”—Ben Sisario, The New York Times
“[A] rich, riffy, funny, and completely engaging book of essays.” —David Remnick, The New Yorker
“An homage to songwriting by the master of the art”—AARP
"THE great book of 2022....utterly extraordinary....not only one of the great books of the year, but of the past decade...It is unexpected in every way...a magnificent book of music criticism disguised as a memoir and a set of off-the-cuff fantasies and confidences...That's its genius. It is not framed as a work of music criticism; it is a lifelong performer's attempt to get deeply into a pop song panorama and a lifelong consumer of other singers' takes as a member of their audiences. He is talking to the reader in a way that is unique and immediate and familiar to us. He is saying things that are fresh—even wild and radical—on every other page of the book…The book has gobsmacked me…In these pieces of unique music criticism, he's doing something with his voice few of us ever imagined he would do...If the Swedes want to go ahead and give him still another Nobel Prize for Literature, I for one, will applaud vigorously. Let any possible objector read this book first."—Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; First Edition (November 1, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1451648707
- ISBN-13 : 978-1451648706
- Item Weight : 2.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 7.38 x 1.3 x 9.13 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #17,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #77 in Earth Sciences (Books)
- #354 in Arts & Literature Biographies
- #695 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when his songs chronicled social unrest, although Dylan repudiated suggestions from journalists that he was a spokesman for his generation. Nevertheless, early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. After he left his initial base in the American folk music revival, his six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" altered the range of popular music in 1965. His mid-1960s recordings, backed by rock musicians, reached the top end of the United States music charts while also attracting denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.
Dylan's lyrics have incorporated various political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the performances of Little Richard, and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Dylan has amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning 50 years, has explored the traditions in American song—from folk, blues, and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and the Great American Songbook. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but songwriting is considered his greatest contribution.
Since 1994, Dylan has published six books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a musician, Dylan has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He has also received numerous awards including eleven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." In May 2012, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz (Bob Dylan) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Edited: So, I finished reading the book. It's like everything Bob Dylan: liberating, cool, gutsy, full of appetite for life. So inspirational. He still has it!
And I finished reading the book the 2nd time. This book is a masterpiece. He freestyles. Pulls in, combines cool words, exciting characters, songs, stories, his emotions, different ideas, his wisdom, solutions, beautiful places, fantasy, reality, interactions between characters, and does it all with deep sensitivity, wisdom and unmatched style for 300+ pages. Must be fun doing this kind of dreaming. He touches the core of reality as it is, goes to the core of how he feels, is way cool, is successful and I relate to all that. He's one of the very few people who walks this earth that I can like and tolerate. There are people who understand reality as it is and are tough, they may not feel that much. I tolerate them well, they offer me sweet relief from my own emotionality. I work in tough industries and they build my houses, build my apps. Then there are people who have no clue what reality is. Emotional, stylish or not, I can't stand them. They are a pain with every interaction. And there are people I neither like nor dislike. I don’t see them at all. I read somewhere that you can consider yourself lucky if you find one single person that inspires you. Well, so far I found Bob Dylan and nothing else. I’ve always felt lucky for sure. In this book Bob Dylan plays on all sides. I barely can play on the side I can see with my eyes. I’m a bum blank in my head but at least I see well. I've been sitting at the feet of Master Bob Dylan trying to see how to walk from where I am to where I want to go as effective as I can without hurting myself. I'm hopeful that if he made it (like in making a good living) I can make it too. I like that he puts himself out there, can communicate and has so much to give. Many of us, simple people, non-mainstream, unrepressed, bored to tears, drinking too much, roaming too much, can relate to him and take what he gives with both hands. From the list of songs I only looked up one song and a half. It's too hard. I like and trust what Bob Dylan picks and chews and I eat all. I like everything, everything he gives. I'm happy and well-nourished. How not to like a person so lovable, who vibrates with life, fun, interesting, precise, true to himself, fearless like crazy, so precious and who benefits me.
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Reviewed in India on February 20, 2023