portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Friday, May 24, 2024

Happy 83rd birthday to Bob Dylan!

Bob Dylan & Suze Rotolo, New York City, 1963 , Photo by Don Hunstein

"I can't define that word poetry. I wouldn't even attempt it. At one time I thought that Robert Frost was poetry. Other times, I thought Allen Ginsberg was poetry. Sometimes, I thought Francois Villon was poetry. But poetry isn't really confined to the printed page. Hey, then again, I don't believe in saying, "Look at that girl walking! Isn't that poetry?" I'm not going to get insane about it. The lyrics to the songs? It just so happens that they might be a little stranger than in most songs. I find it easy to write songs. I have been writing songs for a long time and the words to the songs aren't written out just for the paper. They're written so you can read it, you dig? If you take away whatever there is to the song -- the beat, the melody -- I could still recite it. I see nothing wrong with the songs you can't do that with either -- songs that, if you took away the beat and melody, wouldn't stand up. Because they're not suppose to do that, you know. Songs are songs -- I don't believe in expecting too much out of any one thing."


from IN-BEAT MAGAZINE, May 1965 



Hope your birthday looks a bit like this! . . . . . . . . . 

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