An exceptional tribute, extremely lyrical. The depth of Mr. Mc Carthy's knowledge and the intensity of his passion, for America’s greatest songwriter, will not be questioned by those who have chanced upon his moving tribute to Bob Dylan.
The type of knowledge presented in this loving tribute isn’t acquired, it’s accrued. It’s not a dry litany of objective truths previously documented by mere biography. It’s deeper than that. “The Perfect Voice” is a lyrical outpouring of subjective truths, truths that are validated by the intensity of Mc Carthy’s individual relationship to the masterpieces realized by Dylan’s genius. An authentic relationship such as this, only accrues after a lifetime—and only if it’s a poet’s lifetime— immersing his or her self in the works and life of a great poet who may be just a song and dance man…or the man who happens to be the final flickering beacon of creative sanity in an insane world gone wrong.
So thank you, Mr. Mc Carthy for writing this exceptional tribute to the poetic outlaw who shaped the creative lives of so many poets, who first realized the power of words when they heard Dylan over the radio, and he was asking his fellow travelers, who were watching the sixties erase what had been etched in stone: “How does it feel? To be on your own? Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone?” Mr. Mc Carthy’s tribute helps us understand the answer to that question.
Patrick, I am very moved, but not totally surprised that you wrote this amazing comment, which I consider to be another tribute to Dylan, because true Dylan followers have always been very articulate people who understood what was going on in his work when the big crowds deserted him from time to time . They (and I include you and me and all of the people who have commented here) know, beyond doubt, that Dylan is the ultimate creative artist and that the world won't see another like him for a long, long time, if ever. Dylan is, and has been since he started back in '61, the Mozart of our time, and that he's not done yet.
Thank you so much for writing this comment and for including it here. Would you consider restacking my post with your comment? I'd love other readers to read what you have just written about him. Let's honour, in whatever way we can, the greatest poet/songwriter of our time while he's still here - still with us - and still writing exceptional songs!
Thank you so much, Patrick, for restacking that. It even brought a few interested readers to my own personal website to view the comments there. As far as I'm concerned, the more people that listen to Dylan and read what he has done, the better off the world will be.
Martin's poem opened the locks of memory, evoking the full breadth of Dylan's work: Ballad in Plain D, Boots of Spanish Leather, Blood on rhe Tracks, etc.
Bur to me the wonder is that Martin used very fine poetry to commemorate the accomplishments of a seminal composer of poetry and song.
Hello Bob, and thank you so much for you kind comments. They are very much appreciated coming from a poet with your talent. I have been just blown away by some of the poems you've posted recently. All of us 'forever young' guys seem to be finding a great rush of life and energy at the moment. Maybe the Muses are smiling favourably upon us!
I am pleasant surprised that age and a mild tbi have not silenced me. Hesiod tells us that while seated on Mr. Helicon he would watch the Muses dancing and dipping their feet in the spring. In the last year of my Uncle Joe's life he used to be visited by the Virgin Mary, whom noone else could see or hear. For two years now I've suffered from mild speech, aural and visual aphasia. It often makes writing difficult, and embarrassing when in conversation I find myself struggling to complete a thought. But in some ways I think the aphasia pries open a gateway in my mind.
Yes, I think you're right about that 'gateway'. I've noticed that even your prose has become very poetic, unusual, and totally captivating. My mother used to say 'God gives with on hand and takes with the other.' In your case I feel that could easily be reversed: God (or the great spirit) took with one hand and gave something extraordinary on the other.
Thank you so much for commenting, Fred. I only thought of restackig this late in the day. But now that I've done so, I will do the same thing every year on Bob's birthday. It will be an additional little tribute, and so obviou, yet it just never occurred to me before.
He's a very wise man. In years to come, Dylan will be gone and millions of people will be wondering why on earth didn't they go to see him while it was still possible to do so. And, in fairness to Dylan, he's 84 and still touring the US right now. This is the same singer who sang his own unique version of "Man of Constant Sorrow" on his first album way back in 1961, with the rather prophetic lines:
"The very last thing I want to do
is say, I've been hitting some hard travellin' too."
Smashing Sir, did you say”Irish” !!! Boom I’m in my happy place here, charming and enchanting a real treasure trove of secrets and memories. Have a stellar Summer,
You, too, Geraldine, and thank for your comments. It's great interacting with others who have a strong creative streak in them because we all need something that totally transcends the mundane - even for a short while.
Thank you, Frederick. Bob Dylan, in my opinion, is the best poet alive because his songs go back to Keats and Blake and Verlaine and Rimbaud. There was never any half-measure with Dylan. He has always measured himself against the greats.
Deborah, you've just made my day. But the poem is not quite an elegy just yet because Bob Dylan is miraculously still with us. Sadly, though, it will become an elegy one of these days because Bob Dylan is 83 now and none of us are getting any younger. I especially wrote this poem to pay tribute to him while he's still alive. I guess I wanted to say 'thank you, Bob Dylan', for being there for most of my life.
Now I wish to say a big thank you to you for joining in and commenting, and for your genuine emotion. Your words are very much appreciated. They add a little more to what is already there. Yes, I like that idea very much: "The man who set off thunder in our souls." I'm almost in tears myself. God, what will I be like when this tribute does become an elegy!
The chapbook is incredibly beautiful, and I am thrilled with the quality of the paper. There’s nothing cheap or mass-produced about these wonderful little books. I absolutely love my copy, and I’m sure you will too.
It's so wonderful of you to say that! I hope you liked the few black and white pictures I selected for inclusion in it. I was thinking of this line from 'Born in Time' when I did so: 'You come back to me in black and white when we were made of dreams.'
I love the black and white photos! It gives it a classic look that colored photos would not fully provide. I also love your reasoning for going with black and white photos—a profound idea inspired by profound lyrics!
When Dylan first started writing songs - especially protest songs - back in the early sixties, under the influence of his then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, who was an active pacifist, he tended to see the world in stark term of good or evil, wrong or right, black or white, and his song lyrics at the time reflected this. Later his world view became more complicated and his songs reflected this also.
It is interesting to be able to see someone’s worldview change and develop through their art. I guess my worldview is already somewhat complicated, because I don’t necessarily view everything in terms of black and white anymore. It seems that there is much about people and the world in general that is cast in some murky shade of grey.
Yes, our worldviews can become more complicated, but I do think that some truths remain simply either true or false ... black or white. For example, Yeats won't suddenly become a bad poet just because we live on and read a bunch of crazy theories about him by someone trying to make a name for himself.
The same can be said for Dylan himself and his vast catalogue of songs. On the evidence of this alone, he is beyond doubt the greatest songwriter of all time. There is no grey for me in that assessment. It's the same as saying you're my friend - there's nothing grey about that either!
I agree with this as well. There are indeed certain things that are either true or false, such as the value of the work of Yeats and Dylan and other artists like them. And there’s absolutely no grey for me in saying that you are my friend either!
I am delighted to see the masterpiece that is “The Perfect Voice” here on Substack. In my own humble opinion, the more people who read this profound tribute to Bob Dylan, the better. Martin is doing really great work here with republishing his poems as they appeared on The Chained Muse and preserving the comments they received on the original website. I am also very moved to see that Martin has given my original comment on this fine piece the honor of “Top Comment”. Thank you, my friend!
Shannon, thank you for your comment now, and for the original comment which I think is profound, wholehearted and a tribute in itself. As you know, this poem and that comment have travelled a long way together, now they have found another home.
Thank you so much, Martin! You’re most welcome for the comments. This poem and my original comment have indeed traveled a long way together. My comment was first on YouTube, and then I posted it on your website after YouTube deleted my account for reasons best known to themselves. Then I posted it on The Chained Muse when David Gosselin published your fine masterpiece, and now it is here, on your own Substack. It’s pretty amazing if you stop and think about it.
With that being said, I think posting your tribute to Dylan is very timely, given that the “Masters of War” are growing more and more brazen in their attempts to start another major war.
Well, at least, they have no control over where I've posted it this time, and they can't erase it or take it down. The shadow of authoritarianism now looms over everything.
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike. It is much appreciated. I wrote this tribute for Bob Dylan's 82nd birthday a year ago because I wanted to have it out there where people could read it and appreciate him while he is still with us, still alive, because he is, without doubt, the best songwriter the world has ever known. He started when he was only 15 years old and he is still writing outstanding songs, such as 'Key West', even now. His power and relevance have not diminished in any way. To say that he is a man on a mission, a man with a true calling in life, is almost an understatement.
I sincerely hope that somebody seeing this will actually take up that baton and pay tribute to you as a poet because you, too, have been working tirelessly at your own craft since your were only 15. I was just amazed recently to see the sheer volume of work on your own Substack - all good - and I commend you for it! You and Dylan have a lot in common in that both of you have one very specific purpose in this life. As Yeats said: 'Hearts with one purpose alone seem enchanted to a stone to trouble the living stream.'
I like to think someone will write something about me one day, but then hope does spring eternal. If not, I gave it my best shot. And I like to think some good poems resulted, that may have a chance to survive me. However, I may have fallen a bit short of Mr. Dylan in the earnings category!
You're not done yet. You may live another 30 years. Then you'll need at least another Substack for all the poems you'll have. Hopefully the rewards will follow - especially if one of your poems becomes a hit song. Wouldn't that be great?
I currently have 59 poems set to music by 32 composers, all of whom sought me ought, and that does seems like a recommendation for the musicality of my poetry, but so far no revenues to speak of, alas!
To be honest, that depends on whatever Dylan album I'm listening to. This man is a genius and has so many great songs that it's not possible to pick just one. I could easily pick a hundred and would relish the task of doing so. At the moment Iyw, I'm listening to Blood on the Tracks, and every time I hear this album, I'm just going Wow! inside. A particular favourite from it would be "If You Her Her Say Hello". Any guy who has ever broken up with a girl will tell you how perfectly he has captures the pain and the heartache of all that - just a guy, his guitar, and sheer talent! And what great lyrics:
For the poetry, my first pick is Jokerman and Shelter from the Storm. But I love his voice in Like a Rolling Stone and Tambourine Man. And i love the guitar in the Hurricane. Also, an incredible story and cause goes with the Hurricane.
It's amazing that a musician made himself so on the pulse of his day.
They are all great picks, lyw. I love all of those, and you will find terrific live versions of "Mr Tambourine Man" & "Hurricane" on "The Bootleg Series: Vol. 5." At that time in 1975, he formed the Rolling Thunder Revue, and they were playing live concerts to raise money to get the Hurricane out of jail. He was, as you say, really on the pulse of things. Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it.
Thank you so much for the recommendation BB. I have to say (rather immodestly) that it's a really fine book done on beautiful recycled paper with a few illustrations specifically in black and white to honour Dylan's words regarding his girlfriend Suzie Rotolo: "You come back to me in black and white when we were made of dreams." Heartfelt words from a genius!
Thank you so much for the recommendation BB. I have to say (rather immodestly) that it's a really fine book done on beautiful recycled paper with a few illustrations specifically in black and white to honour Dylan's words regarding his girlfriend Suzie Rotolo: "You come back to me in black and white when we were made of dreams." Heartfelt words from a genius!
What an extraordinary work. Extraordinary experience for me.
The way you weaved the content of his songs into the flow and still kept the continuity of the piece from start to finish.
The even, steady, but driving tempo of the reading conveyed a real sense of the steadiness and unflinchingness of Bob's walk through life.
I have never seen him play live. I don't know if I will have the chance or not, but he has always been a leading light for me and I appreciate the honor you did him with this work.
I can't imagine if he would ever be able to read this himself, or if he would even want to.
But a part of me hopes that he will have the chance.
Thank you, Jed, for this wonderful comment, and for being part of this small tribute to Bob Dylan, while he is still with us ... still alive .. and still performing some extraordinary concerts by all accounts. In regard to him seeing 'The Perfect Voice' or having any desire to read it - who knows? He ability to surprise people remains undiminished - even at 83!
Your comment is much appreciated - especially while Dylan is still here, still with us, and still setting the bar for all musicians and writers. Thank you so much.
"... and felt the first stirrings of their true selves ..."
"... … The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure
To live it you had to explode ..." (Bob Dylan)
Thank you so much for honoring Bob Dylan in the way you have here. Grateful for his presence in my life since I first heard his compelling voice on television in the summer of 1963 from the Washington March for Jobs and Freedom. I was 12 years old, going on 13, feeling the first stirrings of my true self.
I wrote this poem for Bob Dylan's 82nd birthday because I wanted to pay tribute to him while he is still alive. It has been published four times since then, and it has greatly pleased me that others Dylan enthusiasts have joined in and paid their tributes also. So, thank you Amanda, your contribution is much appreciated. May you stay forever young!
An exceptional tribute, extremely lyrical. The depth of Mr. Mc Carthy's knowledge and the intensity of his passion, for America’s greatest songwriter, will not be questioned by those who have chanced upon his moving tribute to Bob Dylan.
The type of knowledge presented in this loving tribute isn’t acquired, it’s accrued. It’s not a dry litany of objective truths previously documented by mere biography. It’s deeper than that. “The Perfect Voice” is a lyrical outpouring of subjective truths, truths that are validated by the intensity of Mc Carthy’s individual relationship to the masterpieces realized by Dylan’s genius. An authentic relationship such as this, only accrues after a lifetime—and only if it’s a poet’s lifetime— immersing his or her self in the works and life of a great poet who may be just a song and dance man…or the man who happens to be the final flickering beacon of creative sanity in an insane world gone wrong.
So thank you, Mr. Mc Carthy for writing this exceptional tribute to the poetic outlaw who shaped the creative lives of so many poets, who first realized the power of words when they heard Dylan over the radio, and he was asking his fellow travelers, who were watching the sixties erase what had been etched in stone: “How does it feel? To be on your own? Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone?” Mr. Mc Carthy’s tribute helps us understand the answer to that question.
Patrick, I am very moved, but not totally surprised that you wrote this amazing comment, which I consider to be another tribute to Dylan, because true Dylan followers have always been very articulate people who understood what was going on in his work when the big crowds deserted him from time to time . They (and I include you and me and all of the people who have commented here) know, beyond doubt, that Dylan is the ultimate creative artist and that the world won't see another like him for a long, long time, if ever. Dylan is, and has been since he started back in '61, the Mozart of our time, and that he's not done yet.
Thank you so much for writing this comment and for including it here. Would you consider restacking my post with your comment? I'd love other readers to read what you have just written about him. Let's honour, in whatever way we can, the greatest poet/songwriter of our time while he's still here - still with us - and still writing exceptional songs!
Thank you so much, Patrick, for restacking that. It even brought a few interested readers to my own personal website to view the comments there. As far as I'm concerned, the more people that listen to Dylan and read what he has done, the better off the world will be.
Martin's poem opened the locks of memory, evoking the full breadth of Dylan's work: Ballad in Plain D, Boots of Spanish Leather, Blood on rhe Tracks, etc.
Bur to me the wonder is that Martin used very fine poetry to commemorate the accomplishments of a seminal composer of poetry and song.
Hello Bob, and thank you so much for you kind comments. They are very much appreciated coming from a poet with your talent. I have been just blown away by some of the poems you've posted recently. All of us 'forever young' guys seem to be finding a great rush of life and energy at the moment. Maybe the Muses are smiling favourably upon us!
I am pleasant surprised that age and a mild tbi have not silenced me. Hesiod tells us that while seated on Mr. Helicon he would watch the Muses dancing and dipping their feet in the spring. In the last year of my Uncle Joe's life he used to be visited by the Virgin Mary, whom noone else could see or hear. For two years now I've suffered from mild speech, aural and visual aphasia. It often makes writing difficult, and embarrassing when in conversation I find myself struggling to complete a thought. But in some ways I think the aphasia pries open a gateway in my mind.
Yes, I think you're right about that 'gateway'. I've noticed that even your prose has become very poetic, unusual, and totally captivating. My mother used to say 'God gives with on hand and takes with the other.' In your case I feel that could easily be reversed: God (or the great spirit) took with one hand and gave something extraordinary on the other.
You captured the multifaceted Bob Dylan well in this piece. It's a fine tribute.
Thank you so much for commenting, Fred. I only thought of restackig this late in the day. But now that I've done so, I will do the same thing every year on Bob's birthday. It will be an additional little tribute, and so obviou, yet it just never occurred to me before.
I should mention that a younger brother is a huge Bob Dylan fan, and for years has attended his concerts each time he performs in or near NYC.
He's a very wise man. In years to come, Dylan will be gone and millions of people will be wondering why on earth didn't they go to see him while it was still possible to do so. And, in fairness to Dylan, he's 84 and still touring the US right now. This is the same singer who sang his own unique version of "Man of Constant Sorrow" on his first album way back in 1961, with the rather prophetic lines:
"The very last thing I want to do
is say, I've been hitting some hard travellin' too."
"That he blew great smoke rings for the mind- Love this! & enjoyed the tribute.
Thank you so much, Lori.
Smashing Sir, did you say”Irish” !!! Boom I’m in my happy place here, charming and enchanting a real treasure trove of secrets and memories. Have a stellar Summer,
You, too, Geraldine, and thank for your comments. It's great interacting with others who have a strong creative streak in them because we all need something that totally transcends the mundane - even for a short while.
Yes indeed, poetry is remedy and is that something that transcends the mundane.
Brilliant tribute to a poet who was ignored by others as little more than a folk singer.
Thank you, Frederick. Bob Dylan, in my opinion, is the best poet alive because his songs go back to Keats and Blake and Verlaine and Rimbaud. There was never any half-measure with Dylan. He has always measured himself against the greats.
dear Martin,
your words cover me in tears
yours is the most tender elegy
we will ever hear
for the man
who sets off thunder
in our souls
Deborah, you've just made my day. But the poem is not quite an elegy just yet because Bob Dylan is miraculously still with us. Sadly, though, it will become an elegy one of these days because Bob Dylan is 83 now and none of us are getting any younger. I especially wrote this poem to pay tribute to him while he's still alive. I guess I wanted to say 'thank you, Bob Dylan', for being there for most of my life.
Now I wish to say a big thank you to you for joining in and commenting, and for your genuine emotion. Your words are very much appreciated. They add a little more to what is already there. Yes, I like that idea very much: "The man who set off thunder in our souls." I'm almost in tears myself. God, what will I be like when this tribute does become an elegy!
Martin,
when a man is immortal
it doesn't matter
when anyone declares him dead
dylan is huck
up in the church rafters
listening to elegies
for years
he is grinning
hearing yours
'People don't live or die, people just float;
she gave her heart to the man in the long black coat.'
-Bob Dylan
he knows yours
is as much a birth announcement
You have a truly enlightened way of seeing everything. It's a pleasure to read your comments. Let all of us have a great birth announcement every day!
amen
By the way, if anyone would like to purchase The Perfect Voice Chapbook, I have attached a link to the “Store” part of Martin’s website below:
https://mccarthypoet.com/store/
The chapbook is incredibly beautiful, and I am thrilled with the quality of the paper. There’s nothing cheap or mass-produced about these wonderful little books. I absolutely love my copy, and I’m sure you will too.
It's so wonderful of you to say that! I hope you liked the few black and white pictures I selected for inclusion in it. I was thinking of this line from 'Born in Time' when I did so: 'You come back to me in black and white when we were made of dreams.'
I love the black and white photos! It gives it a classic look that colored photos would not fully provide. I also love your reasoning for going with black and white photos—a profound idea inspired by profound lyrics!
When Dylan first started writing songs - especially protest songs - back in the early sixties, under the influence of his then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, who was an active pacifist, he tended to see the world in stark term of good or evil, wrong or right, black or white, and his song lyrics at the time reflected this. Later his world view became more complicated and his songs reflected this also.
It is interesting to be able to see someone’s worldview change and develop through their art. I guess my worldview is already somewhat complicated, because I don’t necessarily view everything in terms of black and white anymore. It seems that there is much about people and the world in general that is cast in some murky shade of grey.
Yes, our worldviews can become more complicated, but I do think that some truths remain simply either true or false ... black or white. For example, Yeats won't suddenly become a bad poet just because we live on and read a bunch of crazy theories about him by someone trying to make a name for himself.
The same can be said for Dylan himself and his vast catalogue of songs. On the evidence of this alone, he is beyond doubt the greatest songwriter of all time. There is no grey for me in that assessment. It's the same as saying you're my friend - there's nothing grey about that either!
I agree with this as well. There are indeed certain things that are either true or false, such as the value of the work of Yeats and Dylan and other artists like them. And there’s absolutely no grey for me in saying that you are my friend either!
I am delighted to see the masterpiece that is “The Perfect Voice” here on Substack. In my own humble opinion, the more people who read this profound tribute to Bob Dylan, the better. Martin is doing really great work here with republishing his poems as they appeared on The Chained Muse and preserving the comments they received on the original website. I am also very moved to see that Martin has given my original comment on this fine piece the honor of “Top Comment”. Thank you, my friend!
Shannon, thank you for your comment now, and for the original comment which I think is profound, wholehearted and a tribute in itself. As you know, this poem and that comment have travelled a long way together, now they have found another home.
Thank you so much, Martin! You’re most welcome for the comments. This poem and my original comment have indeed traveled a long way together. My comment was first on YouTube, and then I posted it on your website after YouTube deleted my account for reasons best known to themselves. Then I posted it on The Chained Muse when David Gosselin published your fine masterpiece, and now it is here, on your own Substack. It’s pretty amazing if you stop and think about it.
With that being said, I think posting your tribute to Dylan is very timely, given that the “Masters of War” are growing more and more brazen in their attempts to start another major war.
Well, at least, they have no control over where I've posted it this time, and they can't erase it or take it down. The shadow of authoritarianism now looms over everything.
I agree. Let’s hope Substack will continue to be a platform that supports free speech and will not fall into the wrong hands.
If John Lennon were still alive, he'd have written a song with the line "The Algorithm is going to get you" by now.
Yes, I’m sure he would have. It’s horrible that his life was cut short at such a young age.
It's good to see "The Perfect Voice" getting the recognition it deserves. And its author.
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike. It is much appreciated. I wrote this tribute for Bob Dylan's 82nd birthday a year ago because I wanted to have it out there where people could read it and appreciate him while he is still with us, still alive, because he is, without doubt, the best songwriter the world has ever known. He started when he was only 15 years old and he is still writing outstanding songs, such as 'Key West', even now. His power and relevance have not diminished in any way. To say that he is a man on a mission, a man with a true calling in life, is almost an understatement.
I like the idea of paying tribute to poets while they're alive!
I sincerely hope that somebody seeing this will actually take up that baton and pay tribute to you as a poet because you, too, have been working tirelessly at your own craft since your were only 15. I was just amazed recently to see the sheer volume of work on your own Substack - all good - and I commend you for it! You and Dylan have a lot in common in that both of you have one very specific purpose in this life. As Yeats said: 'Hearts with one purpose alone seem enchanted to a stone to trouble the living stream.'
I like to think someone will write something about me one day, but then hope does spring eternal. If not, I gave it my best shot. And I like to think some good poems resulted, that may have a chance to survive me. However, I may have fallen a bit short of Mr. Dylan in the earnings category!
You're not done yet. You may live another 30 years. Then you'll need at least another Substack for all the poems you'll have. Hopefully the rewards will follow - especially if one of your poems becomes a hit song. Wouldn't that be great?
I currently have 59 poems set to music by 32 composers, all of whom sought me ought, and that does seems like a recommendation for the musicality of my poetry, but so far no revenues to speak of, alas!
I love this as a great poem and tribute to a well-loved artist. But tell me, what is your favourite Bob Dylan song and why?
To be honest, that depends on whatever Dylan album I'm listening to. This man is a genius and has so many great songs that it's not possible to pick just one. I could easily pick a hundred and would relish the task of doing so. At the moment Iyw, I'm listening to Blood on the Tracks, and every time I hear this album, I'm just going Wow! inside. A particular favourite from it would be "If You Her Her Say Hello". Any guy who has ever broken up with a girl will tell you how perfectly he has captures the pain and the heartache of all that - just a guy, his guitar, and sheer talent! And what great lyrics:
"Sundown, yellow moon,
I replay the past.
I know every scene by heart,
They all went by so fast.
If she's passing back this way,
I'm not that hard to find.
Tell her she can look me up,
If she's got the time."
For the poetry, my first pick is Jokerman and Shelter from the Storm. But I love his voice in Like a Rolling Stone and Tambourine Man. And i love the guitar in the Hurricane. Also, an incredible story and cause goes with the Hurricane.
It's amazing that a musician made himself so on the pulse of his day.
They are all great picks, lyw. I love all of those, and you will find terrific live versions of "Mr Tambourine Man" & "Hurricane" on "The Bootleg Series: Vol. 5." At that time in 1975, he formed the Rolling Thunder Revue, and they were playing live concerts to raise money to get the Hurricane out of jail. He was, as you say, really on the pulse of things. Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it.
I cannot wait to read this in print on real paper! Everyone should order an imprint from Martin.
Thank you so much for the recommendation BB. I have to say (rather immodestly) that it's a really fine book done on beautiful recycled paper with a few illustrations specifically in black and white to honour Dylan's words regarding his girlfriend Suzie Rotolo: "You come back to me in black and white when we were made of dreams." Heartfelt words from a genius!
Thank you so much for the recommendation BB. I have to say (rather immodestly) that it's a really fine book done on beautiful recycled paper with a few illustrations specifically in black and white to honour Dylan's words regarding his girlfriend Suzie Rotolo: "You come back to me in black and white when we were made of dreams." Heartfelt words from a genius!
Martin,
What an extraordinary work. Extraordinary experience for me.
The way you weaved the content of his songs into the flow and still kept the continuity of the piece from start to finish.
The even, steady, but driving tempo of the reading conveyed a real sense of the steadiness and unflinchingness of Bob's walk through life.
I have never seen him play live. I don't know if I will have the chance or not, but he has always been a leading light for me and I appreciate the honor you did him with this work.
I can't imagine if he would ever be able to read this himself, or if he would even want to.
But a part of me hopes that he will have the chance.
Thank you, Jed, for this wonderful comment, and for being part of this small tribute to Bob Dylan, while he is still with us ... still alive .. and still performing some extraordinary concerts by all accounts. In regard to him seeing 'The Perfect Voice' or having any desire to read it - who knows? He ability to surprise people remains undiminished - even at 83!
Nice weaving of what will be historical Dylan.
Your comment is much appreciated - especially while Dylan is still here, still with us, and still setting the bar for all musicians and writers. Thank you so much.
"... and felt the first stirrings of their true selves ..."
"... … The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure
To live it you had to explode ..." (Bob Dylan)
Thank you so much for honoring Bob Dylan in the way you have here. Grateful for his presence in my life since I first heard his compelling voice on television in the summer of 1963 from the Washington March for Jobs and Freedom. I was 12 years old, going on 13, feeling the first stirrings of my true self.
I wrote this poem for Bob Dylan's 82nd birthday because I wanted to pay tribute to him while he is still alive. It has been published four times since then, and it has greatly pleased me that others Dylan enthusiasts have joined in and paid their tributes also. So, thank you Amanda, your contribution is much appreciated. May you stay forever young!
Let’s get inspired https://open.spotify.com/episode/599gkX8Ma5gOqksZ8vjPUI?si=hKmXx0PkSlKd3PgndlZMJA
That's fine, but what's your comment on Bob Dylan? He has inspired over six generations and continues to do so.