Comments on: Confessions of a Class Traitor

By: Richard Ish

Richard Ish — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:29:01 +0000

I can’t see anywhere else to post comments to Eyolf Ostrem – sorry if this is an inappropriate place.

On the subject of all the lyrical rip-offs – Henry Timrod and so on – No-one seems to have commented on ‘Spirit on the water, Darkness on the face of the deep’ – that it is in the begining of Genesis, is it just too obvious?! – I heard Bob say it first! Then one day happened to take a long overdue glance at the Bible!

Oh and on musical rip-offs – ‘If You Ever go to Huston’ is clearly – ‘Midnight Special’ – Creedence Clearwater, Leadbelly et al… Beyond Here Lies Nothing – is … oh, what’s the name of it?! On the tip of my ‘ears’ as it were – I won’t be the only one to notice though so someone else will put a name to it, it’s clear… why does the Wille Dixon one get credited and not the others? legal advice? Oh dear.

I think the debate goes beyond the – ‘oh, it’s in the folk tradition’ line – a riff taken and built upon into something else – o.k.ish … a melody taken and new arrangement and lyric built around it – o.k.ish… other peoples words used to create another work – o.k. ish … but a whole song using not just the melody but little instrumental licks etc from the original – I’m not saying it shouldn’t happen but – Uncredited??! …future genarations might think Dylan wrote ‘Rolling and Tumbling’ for example.

I wish I had more sence to find the appropriate places to leave comments – particularly about some lyrics as they seem self-explanatory to me – I never had a problem with My Back Pages for example, I couldn’t imagine anyone else did until I saw comments.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:13:44 +0000

Live it up man! Leg room and mini bottles of wine for all! There’s plenty to go round.

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:27:06 +0000

You know the old joke about Danish vs. Dutch:
The Danish speak as if they have potatoes in their throats; the Dutch as if they were trying to cough up the potatoes.
Good thing that you’re not really either.

By: eyolf

eyolf — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:24:54 +0000

Hehe. The only reason I thought I could allow myself that little impertinence is exactly the one you point out: who am I to insult someone for their language.
About how we view Dylan: I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I think (after several minutes of introspection, even before my coffee) that if there is a connection between listening preferences and scholarly interest, it it rather that they have their roots in the same thing, rather than one of them being influenced by the other. Or, to be more precise (now that the coffee is ready and I can think straight again): I listen to Dylan and investigate the Middle Ages because I want to figure out things about the world

By: Castor Dekker

Castor Dekker — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:56:12 +0000

“…in this strange throat disorder called “Dutch”…”

That’s rich, coming from a Viking!

I’m a medieval scholar, too. Dutch Medieval Literature, to be precise. Do we view Dylan’s folksy nature in a different light than most other people?

By: heiner

heiner — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:12:19 +0000

Great. :)