No Direction Home...

I recently finished watching this documentary about the one and only Robert Zimmerman...Who is better known as Bob Dylan. Not only was this an extremely well done documentary (Martin Scorsese Directed), but it also made me think Dylan was that much cooler.

The entire music scene was completely different back then. There was so much more freedom and people always getting together and just playing and singing. Especially in the Folk scene. It was amazing to see. Stuff like that doesnt happen anymore...And a lot of the Musicians were out there to change the world, or do there part. Which we all know isnt very common place anymore. I dont remember who said it in the Movie, but it was some painter guy who was Dylans friend...and he talked about how art wasnt financially driven back then. People were rated by whether or not they had something to say.

Which was the ironic part about Dylan. Dylan had a lot to say as a musician, and even as a writer...I mean the stuff just poured out of him. But the world saw this as him having a lot to say about the world, and politics and whatnot. He became known as this topical songwriter. But in my opinion, alls he wanted to be was an entertainer, and you could tell how much he hated being labelled as otherwise.

Its like when he recieved some sort of Freedom award...Im not exactly sure what it was Id have to go back and check the movie sometime...But anyways, upon recieving the award his speech involved him telling the crowd that he was no political thinker, he was young, he liked being young, and politicians were old. It was a huge kick in the ass to the award, and the people who gave it to him. Which I thought was great. And he was constantly fucking with interviewers and the media and everything. He refused to be their dancing bear. There was one scene where a photographer was asking Bob to "suck on his glasses" for a photo...Bob just looked confused and was like "no...here you want to suck on my glasses?". I mean the guy was great. He did whatever he wanted in the studio, in front of the media, and on stage...he was a genius.

Like when he brought out the blues band to back him at the Newport folk festival and people booed him. It was amazing to see, and to think about. And this happened to him for a while, as he toured the US and eventually Europe with the guys who would later become "The Band". People would call him "Judas" and yell at him to get off the stage, or they would ask "whos side are you on?" or "where are the protest songs?"...And Bob would just shrug it off and say something like "this isnt British Music, its American Music"...and he would turn to the band behind him and say "Play fuckin loud". He loved every second of it. And in the interviews for the documentary he said "I dont think the boos had anything to do with what the people were hearing". Which I believe is true, because the music was great. People were just so upset about the ideology behind it. They felt Bob was bastardizing his brilliance. But he was merely just showcasing it in a new way...the way he wanted to, as an entertainer. Even the fellow musicians were upset about it. Pete Seeger (I believe from Peter, Paul and Mary) had to be subdued backstage at the Newport Folk Festival because he was going to cut the electrical chords. Thats how upset he was.

Dylan wrote some of the most important songs ever written. And what makes them so important is that most of them, if not all...can still be applied today. They dont mean the same thing as they did back then, but they continue to be passed down, cause they still have powerful meanings. He is by far the greatest, and most important songwriter who ever lived, and alls he wanted to do was be a song and dance man.