The song Bob Dylan called a “good day if there ever was one”
After modelling his early material on the acoustic folk tradition, as popularised by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan pioneered a distinctive brand of folk rock. It may have alienated a few folk purists, but the decision was crucial to Dylan’s ongoing relevance. Over the past half-century, Dylan has mixed things up but maintained a relatively traditional stance. Even as an octogenarian, however, he likes to keep a finger on the pulse.
While you’re highly unlikely to see MC Dyl drop bars over a hip-hop groove, you may catch him spinning Wu-Tang Clan records. During an interview with the Wall Street Journal back in 2022, 81-year-old Dylan outlined his hip taste in modern music.
Among his diverse list were the unlikely rap artists Eminem and Wu-Tang Clan, both of whom Dylan said he is “a fan of”. He praised both for their “feeling for words and language” and added that he enjoys “anybody whose vision parallels mine”. Also included in that praise were Royal Blood, Celeste, Leonard Cohen, Rag’ n’ Bone Man and Nick Cave.
“Some I’ve seen live,” he added. “The Oasis [Gallagher] brothers, I like them both, Julian Casablanca [sic], the Klaxons, Grace Potter. I’ve seen Metallica twice. I’ve made special efforts to see Jack White and Alex Turner. Zac Deputy, I’ve discovered him lately. He’s a one-man show like Ed Sheeran, but he sits down when he plays.”
Indeed, the Nobel Prize winner has an admirably eclectic taste in music, but very little could tear him from the comfort of the oldies. After all, Dylan was inspired most by blues artists like John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed and old-school folkies like Woody Guthrie.
In 2022, Dylan published his book The Philosophy of Modern Song, in which he picked out 66 of his all-time favourite tracks. Many of his selections were from Dylan’s most impressionable period, just before his own rise to prominence. Among the selections was ‘Beyond the Sea’, a piece written by Jack Lawrence and Charles Trenet and released by Bobby Darin in 1958.
“In this song, your happiness lies beyond the wide sea, and to get there, you have to cross the great unknown,” Dylan said of the song, poetic as ever. Adding, “This is a good day if there ever was one. Round the clock, day and night, the breezes belong to you — all the waves are your friends. You’re going over to the far side, above and beyond, going off limits. You’ve been knocking about on this voyage since forever, riding on the crest of a high rippling wave, heading for a place you never heard of. You’re the skipper.”
Listen to this nautical beauty by Bobby Darin below.
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