Who is Bob Dylan Today?

May 24 – Bob Dylan Turns 68

DYLAN: THE HISTORY
I’ve been a Dylan fan since 1965, I can still remember hearing “Positively Fourth Street” on the radio---the first time I heard his voice. It was different. No chorus. It just went on and on. I loved it. From the first time I heard Dylan I was hooked. (When I was down, you just stood there grinnin’)

DYLAN: THE SYMBOL
As much as anybody, Bob Dylan symbolized the 60’s. I am a child of the 60’s pure and simple. Everything I think, everything I do, everything I AM, derives ultimately from that decade. Anything about me that you can think of can be traced to the 60’s. My life is a series of footnotes to the glorious 60’s. (The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind)

DYLAN: THE LYRICS
In the 60’s we debated the lyrics. We youngsters felt that Dylan knew things that we did not know, and that we could search for hidden meanings in his song lyrics to discover what he knew. Eventually we realized that Dylan didn’t know anything that we didn’t know or could discover on our own. We were not disillusioned about this. It’s just a sign of our hard-won maturity. (We were so much older then; we’re younger than that now)

BUT WHO IS BOB DYLAN TODAY?
At 68 he is my role model. The man continues to work, continues to write new music, continues to rework his old music---HE KEEPS MOVING FORWARD. This is his legacy today. Beyond the music, beyond the words, beyond the symbol, beyond the memories, he (as Randy Jackson might say) is working it out. Keep moving forward, keep working it out: this is who Bob Dylan is today. (It’s not dark yet, but it’s gettin’ there)

P.S. Dylan adorns the cover of the May 14th issue of Rolling Stone. I tried to grow the facial hair to imitate (mustache and tuff of hair below the lower lip), but I can’t seem to do facial hair in an attractive manner. My wife laughed at me as she saw it develop. My haircutter suggested a product called Just for Men to darken the facial hair, but my wife laughed even louder. I gave up. BUT IF I COULD, I’d be walking around today trying to look like Dylan.