Bob Dylan: Kindred Spirit?
I must confess I’ve never had the kind of hero-worship for Bob Dylan others possess. I have lots of Dylan albums and love some of the work. It’s not as if Dylan and I are brothers from another mother.
In his fourth installment of an interview with Bob Dylan, Bill Flanagan coaxed some info from Dylan that made me love him: a list of Dylan’s favorite songwriters. Dylan reported loves Jimmy Buffett, Randy Newman, Guy Clark and John Prine. Whoa…that’s startling and somewhat refreshing.
BF: Who are some of your favorite songwriters?BD: Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers.
BF: What songs do you like of Buffett’s?
BD: “Death of an Unpopular Poet.” There’s another one called “He Went to Paris.”
BF: You and Lightfoot go way back.
BD: Oh yeah. Gordo’s been around as long as me.
BF: What are your favorite songs of his?
BD: “Shadows,” “Sundown,” “If You Could Read My Mind.” I can’t think of any I don’t like.
BF: Did you know Zevon?
BD: Not very well.
BF: What did you like about him?
BD: “Lawyers, Guns and Money.” “Boom Boom Mancini.” Down hard stuff. “Join me in L.A.” sort of straddles the line between heartfelt and primeval. His musical patterns are all over the place, probably because he’s classically trained. There might be three separate songs within a Zevon song, but they’re all effortlessly connected. Zevon was a musician’s musician, a tortured one. “Desperado Under the Eaves.” It’s all in there.
BF: Randy Newman?
BD: Yeah, Randy. What can you say? I like his early songs, “Sail Away,” “Burn Down the Cornfield,” “Louisiana,” where he kept it simple. Bordello songs. I think of him as the Crown Prince, the heir apparent to Jelly Roll Morton. His style is deceiving. He’s so laid back that you kind of forget he’s saying important things. Randy’s sort of tied to a different era like I am.
BF: How about John Prine?
BD: Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone” the soldier junky daddy and “Donald and Lydia,” where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be “Lake Marie.” I don’t remember what album that’s on.
Usually pretentious songwriters name other pretentious songwriters when asked to name influences or other songwriters they like. It becomes a game of naming the most obscure acts as if to claim the crown for being more informed than others.
And I’d always pegged Dylan to be pretentious. While I can’t say Bob isn’t a bit pretentious, his willingness to admit his appreciation for somewhat common songwriters sure seems like an honest act.