Friday, November 11, 2022

Anti-Pantheon One-Off - Bob Dylan on Elvis Costello, from The Philosophy of Modern Song




Yeuch thanks but no thanks Bob for that glimpse into your psyche 

Apart from that, simply one of the worst bits of music-writing I've ever read. 

The first longer bit is almost as bad. 



























Bonus Dylan shitewrite, mystifyingly singled out for its excellence, by UK reviewer: The Clash, "London Calling". Not actively execrable like the Costello but surpassingly mediocre. 



















Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

3 comments:

  1. TylerNovember 11, 2022 at 5:31 PM

    Here's the fun (or 'fun', depending on how you look at it) part - in all probability, these words have nothing to do with their ostensible subjects, because Dylan doesn't actually write books - he collages them from seemingly any text he can get his hands on, disguising them just enough that those unaware wouldn't suspect anything: https://www.thedailybeast.com/bob-dylans-da-vinci-code-revealed

    Why he does this is another matter, one that I don't think is adequately explained by the 'code' hypothesis - I think it's more that he enjoys doing it as a writing exercise and as an incredibly perverse (and profitable!) prank, both on the readers and the publishers - his one uncamouflaged novel, Tarantula, bombed, and cut-up novels in general are a no go for mainstream publishers now, but who would say no to a 'memoir', or a 'guidebook'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SIMON REYNOLDSNovember 12, 2022 at 5:06 PM

      That would be interesting - although his written reaction to the Costello song / persona does seem to have a relation to the song in so far as he's picked up on the nastiness of Costello, or at least the aspect that relates to the famous early-albums Costello quote that goes something like "the only emotions I understand are revenge and guilt".

      Delete
    2. Matt MNovember 16, 2022 at 6:29 PM

      Declan M orgasms over the thought of Bob Dylan thinking about him.

      If I hadn't have known this was by Dylan, I would have assumed that it was some aging American dude from the 60s who grew up on Roth and Mailer and didn't think about music very much and had got into blogging.

      I assume this is from The Philosophy of Modern Song.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)