God forgive me, I was one of the millions
of young men who wanted to be Bob Dylan.
Here's what the new film DOESN'T tell you
Daily Mail,
by
Peter Hitchens
Original Article
Posted By: OhioNick,
1/22/2025 8:12:38 PM
Millions of young men once wanted to be Bob Dylan. God forgive me, I was one of them. [SNIP] But the film misses the true importance of the folk superstar Pete Seeger and of Suze Rotolo, though it spends a lot of time on the way they helped the young Dylan to fame. Seeger, later famous for his liberal ‘peace’ songs, had at one time belonged to the tiny, ultra-Stalinist US Communist Party.
He wasn’t quite as keen on peace in those days. When most sensible people were very much in favour of fighting the Nazis, in from 1939 to early 1941, Seeger had been a sort of pacifist.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
HPmatt 1/22/2025 8:38:51 PM (No. 1879542)
Never wanted to one of the famous musicians, while talented musically, they seemed to have tumultuous lives.
12 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Hazymac 1/22/2025 8:51:04 PM (No. 1879550)
Nice memoir by Christopher Hitchens' (conservative) younger brother Peter. The new film about the inscrutable Dylan, alone in his own category in the worlds of music and poetry, should be interesting. As an English major, a musician, and a singer, I cottoned to Dylan in all of his phases, and remain a fan. The greatest of his work is close to immortal, and even the worst is interesting. No popular songwriter except Dylan, in 1962, could have written the classic breakup song, the acidic "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." Dylan said it took his six months to learn exactly how to sing this song correctly. He nailed the master take.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv7K9ghgcgA ("Don't Think Twice, It's Alright": Bob Dylan)
When you hear it for the first time, you're thankful not to be in his sights. Oh, the hurt. The Lord broke the mold when He made Dylan. It's always nice to learn a few things I didn't know about this indispensable artist.
10 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 1/22/2025 8:55:42 PM (No. 1879555)
Every time I hear Dylan or Peter, Paul and Mary singing “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” I think of a toxic girlfriend I had in college, and it reminds me how good it was to get rid of her. A few other Dylan songs were good, too. But a lot of the fuss made about him was overblown. And Pete Seeger? Gimme a break. He was a Commie until the day he died.
16 people like this.
I've been seriously rockin' since first seeing the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964 (Mom: "You will NEVER have their records in this house!"). But through it all, I never understood any of the fuss over Dylan. Went to the theater 10 years later to watch "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" and when Dylan appeared and spoke his one line ("Alias.") all the girls grabbed each other and started screaming: "There he is!" "Oh my God, that's HIM!" I still didn't get it, although will admit that "Blood on the Tracks" is a rather listenable album.
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
PostAway 1/22/2025 9:10:52 PM (No. 1879574)
I didn’t discover Dylan until later in life. I found out that some of the songs with lyrics by someone who seemed to know and understand my innermost thoughts and feelings were written by him. “My Back Pages”, “Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight”, “Positively 4th Street” and quite a few others that I’d heard for years but finally listened to astounded me. I always thought Dylan was overrated, probably because I don’t like his voice, but I don’t anymore. I heard him once say that he believed his songs were given to him by a superior power and some thought he meant Satan but his conversion to Christianity and then back to Judaism seems to contradict that. I also heard him say that singing wasn’t his first choice for his occupation. He said his boyhood wish was to gain admittance to West Point and make a career of the Army but he wasn’t accepted.
7 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Venturer 1/22/2025 9:11:38 PM (No. 1879575)
I wanted to be like my dad.
9 people like this.
I still listen to him everyday. There is still so much to discover. He saved us from the Beatles and the crooners. He stood up to Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and the folkies who wanted to box him in and continue to ride his coat tails If they had won the great music of the 60s and 70s would never have happened. And rest in peace Garth Hudson.
11 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Strike3 1/22/2025 9:33:35 PM (No. 1879592)
Bob Dylan and the other folksters filled a niche back then and were a nice break from the wild rock 'n roll. He performed along side Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Mary Travers, etc. and were a quiet island amid the noise.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
erod111 1/22/2025 11:20:04 PM (No. 1879637)
So what was it that the film did not reveal? That his mentor and girlfriend were communist? Hey, it's a film not a documentary. How accurate was the "Elvis" movie? I am looking forwards to the four Beatles film coming out. Will those films reveal all the sex with groupies? This is just standard soft brush by the industry. And one more thing, Hitchens seems a little high handed talking about his disdain for the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
6 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 1/22/2025 11:48:29 PM (No. 1879652)
#2 - I'm a big Dylan fan also, probably have most of his albums. I'm going to have to bring some out. (TK will just love that! /s) Thanks for the link to "Don't Think Twice". I love his poetry, the guitar/harmonica together and as a person that can't sing, I can sing along with Bob! I admit he is not for everyone; you either like him or not.
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is my favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4HW33SgZlM
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 1/23/2025 1:17:08 AM (No. 1879692)
Pete Seeger was a Stalinist Communist, and I have always despised him for that.
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
5 handicap 1/23/2025 6:08:25 AM (No. 1879739)
Peter, It was only you...In my 78 years, thats the very first time I've heard that claim. Lots of folks liked Puff the Majic Dragon, but no one wanted to be Bob Dylan!
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 1/23/2025 6:53:50 AM (No. 1879765)
Built a fire on Main Street...
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Skinnydip 1/23/2025 7:59:33 AM (No. 1879815)
I didn't care much for Dylan until I saw him live in Dallas. The first half of the concert was just him playing acoustic guitar and I was impressed, but the second half blew me away when he went electric with The Band. Easily the best live music I have ever heard.
3 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
FJB 1/23/2025 8:14:11 AM (No. 1879825)
I've been a big Dylan fan since 1962, but much of his stuff played on YouTube sounds like a bunch of gibberish.
Dylan and Baez did a decent job with Martin Hoffman's song,Deportees, about the 1948 plane crash near Los Gatos Canyon, California. But watch. As soon as President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, begins shipping traitor Biden's illegals back to where they belong, the Marxist left will dig that song out again and tie it into DJT! MAGA Vet
0 people like this.
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