Welcome to the fourth installment of the 2011 Bob Dylan Examiner holiday gift guide.
Sean Wilentz is not only one of the nation’s most prominent historians, but a huge admirer of Bob Dylan. He grew up in New York City, and his family owned the 8th Street Bookshop in Greenwich Village. In fact, Allen Ginsberg first met Bob Dylan in his uncle’s apartment above the shop.
Since 1979, Wilentz has taught at Princeton, where he is currently George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History.
Wilentz has also gone on to write the Grammy nominated liner notes for The Bootleg Series, Volume 6, Bob Dylan Live, 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall. Since 2001, he has served as historian-in-residence at Dylan’s official website. For more on Wilentz' many accomplishments, please visit his website.
Last year, Doubleday published his book, Bob Dylan In America, a New York Times bestseller. It has recently been published in paperback by Anchor Books, a division of Random House.
Can you tell our readers about your first exposure to Bob Dylan?
I dimly recall hearing about him first in 1963. Not long after that, a friend turned up in my Sunday School with a copy of Freewheelin'. (It was quite a Sunday School.) I first laid eyes on him in 1964, at Philharmonic Hall.
What inspired your unique perspective of Bob Dylan in your book?
If there's anything unique about my perspective, it comes from being a young fan -- not-quite and then barely in his teens -- who grew up inside the Greenwich Village milieu where Dylan first made his name as a performer and writer. I think one's early surroundings, the feel of them, sink into the marrow, and that feeling surely went into the book.
Your book received widespread praise. Were there any unexpected comments or reactions from anyone since 'Bob Dylan In America' was published?
I was gratified that, among the reviewers, musicians like Philip King, the Irish songwriter and filmmaker, thought so highly of the book. In general, musicians have been particularly friendly and have seemed to connect with what I was trying to say. I'm a historian by trade, so I was a little worried that the book wouldn't do justice to the musical fundamentals in Dylan's work. It's been a pleasant surprise.
When I heard you speak in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October , many long-time Dylan followers attended, including those that saw Dylan at Newport in the 1960s. I was surprised that despite their love for Dylan's music, these fans appeared to be unaware of Dylan's post on his website refuting his alleged "censorship" in China, or knew little other than superficial accusations of plagiarism for his recent paintings. What is your take on this?
It seems to confirm that, once they are created, modern-day pseudo-scandals are very hard to dispel. Then they harden into conventional knowledge, even in circles that ought to know better. Most people, and maybe even most Democrats, still take it for granted that Al Gore really did claim he invented the Internet! This kind of misinforming by the press been going on a long time. I've seen it transformed into pseudo-history. I do think it's worsened, though, over the past twenty years or so. The plagiarism charges are especially silly. If Dylan is a plagiarist, so was Cezanne.
There were two particularly interesting observations you made in your lecture. One was about the 2003 film, 'Masked and Anonymous,' the other was Dylan's version of "Lone Pilgrim" (from 'World Gone Wrong'). Could you please elaborate?
Thanks for saying so. In 2003, Masked and Anonymous got creamed by the movie critics, who greatly preferred My Big Fat Greek Wedding. They dismissed Masked and Anonymous as an incoherent vanity vehicle made by a rich rock star, with help from the guy who wrote Seinfeld (Larry Charles). I think the film deserves more serious attention as a layered, glancing quasi-allegory -- with the emphasis on the "quasi." The book describes it as "a manic film about the death throes of one America and a chilling portent of a new one." Maybe someday everybody will take another look.
World Gone Wrong is the album on which I think Dylan finally recaptured his muse after his struggles of the mid- to late 1980s. "Lone Pilgrim," the final track, is an old Sacred Harp hymn. Dylan says he took his version from Doc Watson's. But Dylan inhabits it in his own powerful way. In the book, I call it "a reprieve, a coming to rest, a ghost note of a different order [that] is also a benediction." Dylan's performance brings me solace.
You have written the liner notes for the upcoming benefit album, 'Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International.' How did that come about? It's an impressive collection. Were there any unexpected favorites?
The album has been in the works awhile. I got involved when my friend Julie Yannatta, who produced the project, asked me to write the notes. It is impressive, so much so that it's taken four CD's to include everything worth including. The roster is so diverse, in every way, that there is some thing (or there are some things) for Dylan fans of all ages and inclinations. I'm especially taken with the Carolina Chocolate Drops' rendition of "Political World." It may just be generational, but I also liked Patti Smith's "Drifter's Escape" and Mark Knopfler's "Restless Farewell." The ticking "false clock" on the latter brings back what you said earlier, Harold, about the China fracas. That track also brings to my mind the late Liam Clancy, on whose rendering of "The Parting Glass" Dylan based the song's melody. If this be plagiarism, make the most of it.
Bob Dylan In America is available from Amazon and all good book stores.
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