I have read Ian Bell on the Scottish
Independence questions in the only press for YES, The Sunday Herald, and he writes well on why Scottish Independence is the most sensible way
forward.
Bell gave an informed and entertaining chat on the most famous songwriter for more than a generation, of our times and also timeless, with fellow Scottish journalist Alan Taylor at Edinburgh International Book festival 2014. He said Dylan was enigmatic, elusive and perhaps unexplainable and hard to unravel. When the character that he created became successful was Dylan content with what he had created? Dylan's time as the folk singer of protest songs was only brief and he shied away from any leadership role. He was an artist, not a leader. He thought art tends to flee when politics arrive and that is propaganda and not art.
Bell gave an informed and entertaining chat on the most famous songwriter for more than a generation, of our times and also timeless, with fellow Scottish journalist Alan Taylor at Edinburgh International Book festival 2014. He said Dylan was enigmatic, elusive and perhaps unexplainable and hard to unravel. When the character that he created became successful was Dylan content with what he had created? Dylan's time as the folk singer of protest songs was only brief and he shied away from any leadership role. He was an artist, not a leader. He thought art tends to flee when politics arrive and that is propaganda and not art.
Dylan
always had a need to reinvent himself. Bell
said he was a brilliant editor of verses. He was both defiant and fearless, and
he doesn't care what others may be doing. He was also terrifically ambitious.
Bell said Dylan's 1974 Blood on The Tracks was an extraordinary return to an even higher artistic form.
He said although
Dylan's Chronicles was embedded with many quotations he wasn't allowed to
quote directly from his autobiography. Dylan wrote about how he steals. The
fact is all artist steal it just depends how we do it and what we do with it
and with the worldwide web its just all become a much hotter thing to deal
with.
He spoke of
Dylan's Bootleg series and that some are terrible recordings but we need them
to understand Dylan. He said that Dylan was royally ripped of by his first
manager Albert Grossman.
Bell thought today's generation has it
too easy with access to millions of artists.
Back then you followed the artists, curating material. In a sea of music,
authenticity becomes important to a minority.
Dylan was
influenced by poetry, American history, Joan Baez, Robert Burns and the
Scottish border ballads. He took bits and pieces from My Hearts in The
Highlands. He then stepped away from any political commentary in his songs such
as the Vietnam war.
Ian offered
some favourite song lines. We all have them, any of us long time Dylan
listeners - although he said he didn't particularly like to have favourite
ones.
'Ain't it
just like the night when your tryin' to be so quiet/ Once upon a time you dressed so fine,
'I'm not
There' was a favourite song he said, about those connections between what you
understand and why you understand it.
He said
that Dylan had a 'Burned cathedral of a voice which worked, especially for Dylan
the live performer.' We know Dylan through his songs.