It is extraordinary to believe that Bob Dylan turned eighty today. When we think of the music and culture of the Sixties we associate it with the Baby Boomers. It is worth remembering, however, that many whom we associate with that era actually pre-date the Baby Boom. The Beatles, just as one example, were all born during, not after the war. Run down the list and you will find it’s pretty much the same. Dylan et al were the Baby Boomers’ elders, not their peers. Of course Dylan was and is so much more than what he did during the 1960s. We have been fortunate that he found his way again in the mid-1990s and has been going strong ever since. The release of “Rough and Rowdy Ways” last June was just what I needed as it became obvious that the world was shutting down for the long haul. Along with jazz, Dylan has been my pandemic soundtrack.
I love the image above of him and Allen Ginsberg taken during the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975. I know someone who worked in the English Department at Brooklyn College with Allen Ginsberg. She told me he was always on time for faculty meetings and had read the files of prospective hires when serving on appointment committees and the like. Don’t let the hedonistic stories, true though many of them are, fool you. People like this are serious about what they do. Scribble out some nonsense five minutes before class and try to pass it off as your stream-of-consciousness prose inspiration? Don’t even think about it. He would have seen right through you, and called you on it.
I was talking to someone about Dylan yesterday and wondering aloud if the Never Ending Tour will pick up again. Who knows if he’s been writing these past fifteen months, which might mean a few more works before retirement. One of the best things Dylan did was re-image himself as an ageless balladeer, as opposed to an aging rock star. Time will tell what he may still have in store.
(image/Wikimedia Commons)
The Strawfoot 
Plus Two Broadway runs for Dylan’s music: Twyla Tharp’s The Times They are a Changin in 2006 and the more successful Conor Mc Pherson play Girl from the North Country, which originated in the West End but played on B’way in 2020
Thanks for the comment, Bob. As I understand it Dylan saw “Girl from the North Country” just before the shutdown early last year and enjoyed it very much.
Changing the subject, maybe we can get together soon at some historic site or some such. I haven’t been to the Rufus King Manor in a while, for one.
Yes, they nearly all seem to be from the “Silent” generation, just prior to the arrival of my cohort. According to the book Generations, by Strauss and Howe, they are an “Artist” generation and we are akin to that of Woodrow Wilson, a “Missionary” generation. Whatever we are, it is crazy to have lived to see the Beatles and Bob turn 80! Thanks!
Randy, I hope you’ve been well. I remember last October when fell what would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday. He’s been gone now longer than he lived. I find it difficult to process sometimes.
I thought exactly the same thing, Keith. I hope all is well with you, also !