How Did Bob Dylan Get So Weird?

[Lit]

Great thread, albeit bittersweet to be reminded of Sissy and Benny.

Very interesting to read that Dylan quote that included Trump now.

Also very interesting that both Dylan and Norm McDonald were guests on Letterman's final show.

[Lit]

Ha:

"I mean, who's the last individual performer that you can think of – Elton John, maybe? I'm talking about artists with the willpower not to conform to anybody's reality but their own. Patsy Cline and Billy Lee Riley. Plato and Socrates, Whitman and Emerson. Slim Harpo and Donald Trump. It's a lost art form. I don't know who else does it beside myself, to tell you the truth."

[teetertotter]

The brown acid.

[MormonMatthew]

Norm apparently didn't tell almost anyone about his 7 year long "Battle With Cancer" (he had a great bit about that specific term) but I just saw an interview with Vulture Magazine he gave back in 2018 that might have been a little bit of foreshadowing, in his own unique, signature way...
-----------------------------------
Vulture Magazine: I can imagine laying on my deathbed and asking myself "Why did I waste so many meals on yogurt?"

Norm MacDonald: You know, I actually find myself thinking about my deathbed a lot.

Vulture Magazine: What do you think about it?

Norm MacDonald: I think I should have never purchased a deathbed in the first place.

[Kemp]

I don't think Dylan is any weirder than some Threadheads are, including those who wear round Royal Navy sailor hats. (and yes it is very sad about Norm McDonald).

[McGregor]

The tour got started last night, same setlist as last year. You'd think the guy with the most amazing catalog ever would change a song or two up but he likes this setlist I guess. Looking forward to seeing him in a few weeks. Keep rockin Bob!

https://www.bobdylan.com/date/2022-03-03-phoenix/

[revjimk]

I was wondering why this started back up, read the first page & this hit me: "in a pantheon of great rock stars, at or near the top of a select list that includes the Stones, Springsteen, maybe U2,"......
WHAT??? Stones/Dylan, great rock stars
Springsteen & U2? mediocrities
Dylan was always weird, but brilliant
Unfortunately, "the Muse" abandoned him sometime in the late 70s or early 80s
Now he's just weird

[Lit]

Dylan was always weird, but brilliant
Unfortunately, "the Muse" abandoned him sometime in the late 70s or early 80s
Now he's just weird

Keep beating that drum Rev.

[Jim]

Unfortunately, "the Muse" abandoned him sometime in the late 70s or early 80s
Now he's just weird

Have you even heard anything he’s put out in the last 30 years? For instance, “High Water(For Charlie Patton)”

[revjimk]

Have you even heard anything he’s put out in the last 30 years? For instance, “High Water(For Charlie Patton)”

I lost interest after Blood on the Tracks, especially his "Jews for Jesus" period. And seeing him twice at JF was the final nail in his coffin for me... awful
I wouldn't be surprised if he's still capable of a good song, I'll check that one out. I actually liked a few songs from his 80s or 90s albums, that I discovered when I used to DJ at KDNK, Carbondale, Colorado

[revjimk]

I lost interest after Blood on the Tracks, especially his "Jews for Jesus" period. And seeing him twice at JF was the final nail in his coffin for me... awful
I wouldn't be surprised if he's still capable of a good song, I'll check that one out. I actually liked a few songs from his 80s or 90s albums, that I discovered when I used to DJ at KDNK, Carbondale, Colorado

I liked "Everything is Broken" & "Cats in the Well"

[revjimk]

Have you even heard anything he’s put out in the last 30 years? For instance, “High Water(For Charlie Patton)”

I checked it out... good song!

[kh1958]

I was wondering why this started back up, read the first page & this hit me: "in a pantheon of great rock stars, at or near the top of a select list that includes the Stones, Springsteen, maybe U2,"......
WHAT??? Stones/Dylan, great rock stars
Springsteen & U2? mediocrities
Dylan was always weird, but brilliant
Unfortunately, "the Muse" abandoned him sometime in the late 70s or early 80s
Now he's just weird

In the late 60s, I would say.

[HankAndLeeStamper]

Ignoring Dylan's last 40 years is ignoring a LOT of great songs. And calling Springsteen live a mediocrity is simply a mis-statement of fact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uf5gi3E_rQ

[duende]

Hearing some of the stories about Bob Dylan touring and recording sessions, I'm wondering what kind of "weird whisperer" you'd have to be to properly capture what the artist wants but can't articulate to those who haven't already had to deal with a 2-3 hour soundcheck, coming back from dinner to find you're playing an entirely different setlist - and in Dylan's case to be behind the front line and facing side-stage playing Fender lap steel (or is that just how I remember the one Fest performance I caught?). As a side-man, it would have to be exhausting and exhilarating at once. Like Stephen Bruton's Single Star did years ago, Bob's Not Dark Yet resonates deeply at this point in my life.