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Bob Dylan Is 70, and Forever Young

Columbia

When Ben Lee was 18, he heard Bob Dylan's song 'Isis' playing on a turntable. It was Christmas Day, and the onetime boy rocker was in California, far from his home in Australia.

Lurching headlong into the "mysterious, terrifying world of adulthood," the young singer was floored by the mid-period Dylan track -- number 34, if you're counting, on Rolling Stone's recent list of the 70 greatest Dylan songs in honor of the great Bard's 70th birthday.

Watch Bob Dylan Perform 'Isis'
The song, like so many of Dylan's have been for so many admirers, was precisely right for the moment, Lee tells Spinner: "It summed up everything magical about taking a quest into the unknown."

Those words are well-chosen. Through 50 years, at least that many official album releases and countless words of analysis about what it all means, Dylan's career has been a musical quest to rival a medieval knight's, full of mystery, chivalry, adventure and transformation.

As Lee points out, any songwriter who has stood onstage holding a guitar can't help but feel Dylan's influence. Yet the elder statesman's most important contribution might be something far more elusive.

"He just had chutzpah," says the singer. "That's what all artists need -- the chutzpah not to conform, to be ourselves."

Tom Morello, the socially conscious Rage Against the Machine guitarist who performs solo as the Nightwatchman, is partial to Dylan's first several albums, when our newest septuagenarian set the standard for topical songwriting. An admitted latecomer to the cult of Dylan -- he says he discovered the singer's work moving backwards from Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska' album -- Morello was deeply moved by the way Dylan "humanized the political issues of the day -- issues of race, class and war -- but in a way that was profoundly poetic, and felt like it was world-changing."

Later moments in Dylan's sprawling career made believers of other aspiring musicians. Nicole Atkins fell hard for 'One More Cup of Coffee' off Dylan's 'Desire' album, from the fertile mid-'70s run that also produced the potent 'Blood on the Tracks' and 'The Basement Tapes,' the long-buried woodshedding he recorded with the band that would soon become The Band.

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For Atkins, the mournful tone of 'One More Cup of Coffee' "is filled with so much passion and a sense of doom. And I always wanted to be just like the girl he was singing about."

Suzanne Vega, who first emerged from the New York folk scene two decades after Dylan, singles out 'It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding).' "I love the flow of words and images," she says, "the fact that it goes on for eight minutes, the breadth of ideas contained and the intensity of his performance."

And psych-folkie Alela Diane picks 'Lay Lady Lay,' from Dylan's surprisingly plum-voiced 'Nashville Skyline' album (1969), as her own personal favorite.

"It's the reason I have a brass bed frame," she says.

For a lot of artists, Dylan built the whole house they live in. Philadelphia's G. Love freely admits that "a lot of my songs are straight Dylan. Even in my hip-hop and blues writing, the stamp that Bob has made on me runs deep."

"It seems as if he has always been purely creative on his own terms," says the singer. "Almost all of the great artists from the '60s have made some questionable records, but Dylan never made a record that was overproduced or trying to be something he was not... To see Dylan on the road year after year lets me know that I might get old, but I'm never gonna retire."

And Matt Costa, who, like G. Love, is often associated with Jack Johnson, might have the simplest explanation of all for the power of Dylan's songwriting.

"It makes me want to put down the guitar," he says, "and pick up the pen."

Listen to Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young'

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susinnodesigns

Dear Robert.....Happy 71 candles on your cake. You've earned so much more!

May 24 2011 at 9:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
susinnodesigns

what mo' can you say? It's Dylan.

May 24 2011 at 9:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
davidjazzbee

I 'caught up' with Dylan in 1964, worked my way back with my pocket money to his first album. Then I saw him on the 1965 BBC TV show, which was over 2 shows. I was absolutely hypnotised at that time. It was certainly a time of change and I was just 14 myself. His songs have influenced every turn of conscience and character throughout my life to this day. I'm now 60 and the respect of this genius never diminishes. Dylan has minor slack periods in output or inspiration these days, but hell.. he's done it all already.. he's nothing to prove. He is the law!

May 24 2011 at 7:08 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
sheffa

"Just like a woman" my favorite. Watch Dylan and George Harrison perform it at the concert for Bangledesh for a real treat.

May 24 2011 at 6:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
urisk

Bob came out of the gate post & kept running with the times !! He has always captivated our generation! I love him in the beginning & will keep loving him till the end of times! Which of course we know will never occur in our lives, our children lives either!
Just listen to the great ballads & chill!!! It's great just to listen & not forget who we are & how our generation brought about massive changes! Love You Bob you're great you truly are a Legend in your own time!

May 24 2011 at 4:42 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
hrrygrc

A great song and words to live by

May 24 2011 at 3:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
hrrygrc

A great song and words to live by

May 24 2011 at 3:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
michaelmeekings

Here was a real man, with words that i grew
up with ...that will live on forever
Happy birthday...

May 24 2011 at 2:38 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
handy1949

The best lyracist there has ever been happy birthday xxx

May 24 2011 at 1:40 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply