… me
This blog is written by Eyolf Østrem. In descending order of relevance for this site,
- I have run the dylanchords website with accurate chords and lyrics to just about every song that Dylan has recorded or played live. It is a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one. The site started in the mid-nineties, and is thus one of the Neanderthal sites on the net.
In 2005, I shut down most of the site, not because I personally was forced to, as many seem to think, but because the RIAA started going after tab sites like mine, and I thought “better safe than sorry”. Somehow, the site rose from the dead again at a new location. - I have a Ph.D. in Musicology from Uppsala University (2001) and have been employed at the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Rituals since then. My main orientation as a scholar has been the changes in aesthetics — both theoretically and in practice — between the Middle Ages and today, with a special emphasis on liturgical and other forms of ritual music.
Although such an orientation may seem like something purely for the initiated and those with special (read: weird) interests, it is my claim that it is of relevance also in today’s culture, and many of the posts in these pages are heavily influenced by this conviction. - I spend my days in front of a computer running Arch Linux, writing stuff in LaTeX. I work part-time with layout and copy-editing for Brepols, a publishing house in Belgium, specializing in texts and scholarly works on the Middle Ages.
This does not make me an expert in computers, but it does make me entitled to an informed opinion. In fact, the most visited page, bar none, on this site, is a comparison between the output produced by MS Word, OpenOffice.org Writer, and LaTeX. - I am pan-Scandinavian: born in Norway, lived in Uppsala, Sweden for fifteen years and in Copenhagen for sixteen. Currently back in Norway again.
… the site
To call this a “blog” is really abuse of the term. The only thing it has in common with a blog is the comment section and the underlying software.
There are no lolcats here, no sharp, hot, new political commentary, no family pictures, no short reports of what happened to me today, and no public diary notes about feelings and crap.
I write long texts with a certain analytic and theoretic bent, about anything Dylan, about “communicative culture” in general, and about computer issues. That’s about it.
I have no particular side or issue I’m advocating, other than that insight is a good thing.
… the layout
The layout is a reflection of the contents. The intention is to use good book layout as a starting point, but without letting go the possibilities that web publishing offer. Now, every usability guide and SEO guru will tell you: much text: bad. Pictures and everything else that breaks up the page and gives variation: good. The challenge is to unite the two. We have a five centuries long tradition of book typography in our trunk, which shouldn’t necessarily go out the window just because there is a new medium in town.
Luckily, I don’t sell anything, so the hit points are only for my own ego. I try to make a layout that I myself find appealing, as a web page.
… the technical stuff
The site is powered by WordPress, one of the best and most successful blog engines around. It is hosted on bluehost.com, which is hereby recommended.
Though being of both an age (68) and inclination where Dylan has been a part of many significant (to me) moments and periods in my life, Dylan is not how I came to your site. Instead, it was as a byproduct of my search for a tab for Skylark. I have had your Skylark tab on my active music stand since December 2005. It’s only taken me eight years to figure out that you might have more great arrangements in some online repository. To say thank you for the Skylark tab. And to, with openly visible greed, think to ask where I might look for more.
Thank You,
Lee Katz,
Evanston, Il
USA
https://soundcloud.com/user-314794241 <– some songs I worked on thanks to your dylanchordinfo site.
Jag älskar din sida!
Undrar om du vet någon som basstabbar låtarna också?
You may be interested in http://thebobdylanproject.com/ which is…
The Bob Dylan Project is a Jukebox of links to every version of every song performed or written by Bob Dylan plus notable interpretations.
I have been linking from this website to your website at a song level from the Hyper link “Additional Information” or more recently “Lyrics”.
I tried to email you but your email address bounced. Please email me.
Hi Eyolf,
I have enjoyed your Dylan site for many years—Thanks for all the work!!!
Sometimes when I am playing I like to have the ability to have the window autoscroll. I will not ask if I have your permission to crosspost your arrangements, because that seems like it makes you party to it, but I will ask (and respect) your feelings generally about others reposting your arrangements with credit to you.
For instance would you be upset if someone posted some of your arrangements (with credit given to the dylanchords mirror site) on the website ultimateguitar.com which has this scrolling feature?
BTW I have seen some of your arrangements posted there already. The desolation row tab I am fairly certain is yours though you are not credited. Thanks.
Best,
Charlie Hicks
“The layout is a reflection of the contents. The intention is to use good book layout as a starting point, but without letting go the possibilities that web publishing offer. Now, every usability guide and SEO guru will tell you: much text: bad. Pictures and everything else that breaks up the page and gives variation: good. The challenge is to unite the two. We have a five centuries long tradition of book typography in our trunk, which shouldn’t necessarily go out the window just because there is a new medium in town.”
Beautiful! I’m glad I stumbled upon your … site.
You don’t know how much this excellent collection of usable genius means to me. Since some years I follow your work and I am full of thanks to have the opportunity to get an impression how Bob felt playing all this great music. After getting in contact with this music when I was a Kid, this website is the second time falling addicted…
Thank you so much!
Uwe
Totally love your dylanchords like love it.
You must have amazing patience and dedication.A huge thank you.
Will you be doing triplicate?
Eventually, yes. I just find it so boring, the stuff he is doing these days…
I just want to thank you for your work on Dylan’s work. I also would like to ask you if is there any way to get an e-mail whenever you publish a new post. Thank you very much in advance.
Your Dylan Tab/Lyrics archive is a complete godsend. I can spend all day playing these tunes. The man is a living legend. The greatest living songwriter. Thanks for all your work and your contribution. Terrific.
Thank you for this site. The first song I learned on guitar was The Times They Are a Changing. The last song I worked on is Tangled Up in Blue. Fred Sokolow in his Slide Guitar DVD mentioned that Blood On The Tracks was first recorded in Open D. I have a bootleg called Blood on the Tracks [alternate] I’m hoping that it contains some Open D versions. In the 60s I used to consider myself a Dylanologist and have 2 college credits for an Independent Study on the meaning of his lyrics. I feel now that I know very little about the topic. I look forward to exploring your site. Thank You
Nice to hear from you. You will find some more info on the album page of Blood on the Tracks (http://dylanchords.info/16_bott/index.htm), and on the song page for TUIB.
And, yes, all alternate takes from BOTT are in open D/E.
you’re the best… thanks for all you’ve done. greetings from brazil!
I love your site. Nice job. I love long, clever, thoughtful writing. I wish I could subscribe! I’ll be back.
Dear Eyolf.
I have been referring to your Dylanchords site for many years but until just now I have never searched out anything about the person whose name is attached to all the songs.
As you may have guessed, I play guitar, mostly just at home here in Tokyo by myself these days. I have been a fan of Dylan since I was in junior high some fifty years ago, although back then it was just listening to his albums.I don’t remember the first time I saw him live, but I do remember the first time I met him. It was a random encounter on the streets of Portland, Oregon, when he was doing one of his Christian music tours which I wasn’t really interested in seeing. A friend and I were waiting for the light to change and I looked at a guy standing next to me and said “Hey, aren’t you Bob Dylan,” to which Dylan replied “Yes I am.” I said far out, and welcome to Portland, the light changed, we crossed the street and went our separate ways. I was surprised that he wasn’t taller. I think I knew it was Dylan as he was wearing a leather hat that looked like the one on the cover of Desire.
Many shows later our paths crossed again. My former girlfriend was on a flight from LA to Portland and after a while she started chatting with the passenger next to her. It was the usual small talk, where are you from, where are you going, etc. When my girlfriend asked the guy, who was quite a bit older, why he was going to Portland he said it was for work. When she asked what he did he said he worked for a musician. A while later my GF asked if it was anyone famous and he replied Bob Dylan. The guy was Viktor, who described himself sa “Dylan’s personal manager.” He was heading to Portland to outfit the first bus for what beame the Never Ending Tour. He didn’t know anyone in Portland, but wanted to check out some live music. My GF told him I was into music and he gave her the phone number for the motel he would be staying at, a cheap place along the old Highway 99 East near Oregon City, a Portland suburb.
I called the motel the next evening and we made plans for me to pick him up and go out the next night, which we did. Viktor was cool, with some unbelievable tales. And he liked to smoke weed. For the next few years if I was near a Dylan show I was sure to get backstage passes. Viktor even introduced me to Bob a couple of times, and I was able to talk with him. One of my favorite shows of that era was at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, when Neil Young played guitar. I think that was around 1988 or so. Sitting on stage at the Greek was always a thrill; I had been there for many Grateful Dead shows, and there is just something about the energy that transfers from the crowd to the stage that leads to a type of feedback of energy.
My backstage access mostly ended after Viktor was fired, the last such person after “the suits” had taken over Dylan’s management. I caught a few rehearsals at a small theater in Portland one time, and then a bunch of shows when Bob did a tour with Phil Lesh. The original plan was for the two to alternate the opening slot, but after Dylan opened the first show he said he wanted to continue to open. I remember sitting on the stage chatting with Lesh about five meters from Dylan at a show in Medford, Oregon, one very hot August evening, Lesh telling us stories from his youth about listening to Bob.
If not for the coronavirus I would have seen Dylan at least three times last April here in Tokyo. Maybe next year.
Thanks for all, and sorry to bore you.
Dave Conklin
Thank you for dylanchords: I have been playing his songs, alone and in various groups of folkies, since 1962. Yours is the only chord/lyric site of any value on the web.
I first saw Dylan perform at the Gaslight back in, I think, ’63. Saw him one month ago and, no surprise, he’s still making brilliant music.
Tabbing 500 songs is beyond belief–hats off. And that you also admire “Blue” (my all time favorite record) is heartening.
BTW: I have a Ph.D. in medieval studies and have pursued, in my plodding fashion, the idea of “cultural continuities” between the MA and modernism. Thanks again.
Hey. Just wanted to say thanks. You’ve taugh me so much guitar over the years that it’s the least I can do. Hello from Spain.
There are thousands of blogs that requires comments on them. What is the intention of blog comments?.
Well thank you so much and hello from Pennsylvania USA. Have been listening to Bob since I was 12 , now 71. Just stumbled on this site while searching for some chords. You are going on my Home Screen. Again thank you for your compilation of all things Dylan.
We are producing a new documentary on Bruce Langhorne, and appreciated your comments on one of his FB pages.
We’d like to keep you updated when we get around to releasing it. Please reach out to me.
Best
Cynthia Riddle
cynthia(at) brobrubru.com
Der Mr. Østrem,
I can’t express in words how grateful I am for your work on dylanchords. It is truly a masterpiece of it’s own.
I was at the concert of Bob Dylan in Frankfurt, Germany last week and it warmed my heart and soul. Today, I visited your page for the chords of `I’ve made up my mind to give myself to you an’ and realised, how long this homepage plays an important role in my life. So thank you, please keep on going, it’s an fantastic gift to a whole community of fans.
Best regards
Simon Stratmann