Have you heard that Bob Dylan has been accused, once again, of plagiarism?
Isn't it ironic that there has been article upon article about Dylan creating art based on uncredited sources, from numerous publications and other media that obviously came from uncredited sources? How can they call it "news"? Who did the original research on this story? It appears the press "borrowed" this information from bloggers and fan-sites, embellished it, gave it their own spin, and made it their own.
Sound familiar?
Many of the articles are so similar that it's dizzying to read one after another. I ignored most of them at first, but just clicked on the most recent links at the number one Dylan fan news source, Expecting Rain. Most posts that I skimmed refer to the website's Discussions forum, Dylan scholar Michael Gray's blog, and, of course, Rob Oechsle (a.k.a. Okinawa Soba), who claims, quite convincingly, that Dylan copied six of the paintings from Oechsle's own Flickr collection. (Note: Oechsle did not create the art, he just posted photographs - with his own unique "crop-lines.")
The avalanche of stories about the controversy were so imitative that Expecting Rain's top listing today, posted by webmaster Karl Erik Andersen, was: "I am not linking to sites that tell the Asia Series story by crediting only the mainstream media for discovering the story, unless they add something new to the discussion."
I guess it is possible that over the past two weeks, dozens of journalists coincidently decided to research Expecting Rain, Gray, Soba, the New York Times, and other sources independently. However, it's more likely that once word got out, the press had a field day regurgitating stories about Dylan's history of "plagiarizing" other artists, and the revelations about the Asia Series.
I started writing this piece a few days ago, but was more focused on listening to the new Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams CD. When the story was too big too ignore, I decided to write something (hopefully original) about the controversy. However, the evidence just got bigger and more bizarre, and I had to continuously update the content. In the meantime, everyone was already putting in their two cents.
In my early drafts, I planned to quote the Bob Dylan-Sam Shepard composition, "Brownsville Girl" ("Oh if there’s an original thought out there, I could use it right now"), but then I saw Michael Gray tweeted it. I was going to point out that in 1960, while in Colorado, Dylan literally stole someone's LPs, including the cast recording of My Fair Lady, but someone wrote about a different, similar incident.
I had these quotes ready to go as well:
- "What did I steal? Did I steal the word 'the', the word 'a', the word 'so'? Everybody has to get their words from somewhere. Woody didn't write ten original melodies, but nobody ever called him a thief." Bob Dylan to Robert Shelton, 1963.
- “Do you think there will ever be a time when you’ll be hung as a thief?” Allen Ginsberg to Dylan at a 1965 press conference. (Dylan stifled a laugh and said, “You weren’t supposed to say that!”)
I was hesitant to use them now. What if someone else had already done so? It would seem like I stole it from "them," whoever "they" are, even though Dylan's quotes have been obsessively documented, and are easily available in books and on the Internet.
If you want to read some innovative, original detective work on possible inspirations for Dylan's ideas, I'd suggest you check out the newest post in Scott Warmuth's blog, Goon Talk. In his past research, Warmuth found instances of Dylan borrowing from sources as diverse as Civil War poet Henry Timrod, Time magazine and Henry Rollins. If you ask me, Warmuth should be awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
As for the controversy itself, who knows what Dylan thinks? Is it hypocritical to "borrow" from others while protecting his own copyrights? Is it a game? A joke? Is he just too busy, or preoccupied? Arrogant or flakey?
In any case, Soba has gotten more publicity for his Flickr account than he even could have hoped for. For that alone, he should be grateful.
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