The one songwriter Debbie Harry was in awe of
For most music fans, the greatest artists in the world almost don’t feel human. As much as they might be able to go to the market and have a drink like the rest of us, it’s hard to gauge how someone who wrote immortal anthems can still be flesh and blood. Although Debbie Harry has already cultivated that larger-than-life persona throughout her years in Blondie, she knew she was in the presence of greatness throughout numerous occasions of her career.
Looking at Harry, though, it’s hard to think of anything that would truly blow her away. Throughout her time in the group, her entire ethos seemed to be based around her casual attitude, either playing tunes with that new-wave snarl or casually breaking the audience’s heart on tracks like ‘Heart of Glass’.
Because that’s what the root of punk rock was all about. As much as people tried to talk about plotting the next revolution, Harry was more concerned with leaving an impression every time she sang, and even if it didn’t have all that substance, you wouldn’t forget her once she was finished singing.
Then again, that’s the kind of reaction that Bob Dylan was cultivating a decade before Harry had hit the CBGBs scene. Since punk rock was intended as music for the people, Dylan could have been considered the original punk for the amount of vitriol in his voice, either condemning politicians for being warmongering figures on ‘Masters of War’ or making modern parables about how people should live their lives like on ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’.
Even if not everything he did was supposed to make people think, there’s much of Harry’s delivery in what Dylan had already done. Despite her ability to be sarcastic with every other line, Dylan had that idea down to a science, to the point where no one could figure out what he was thinking whenever he sat down for interviews.
While it takes a lot for any rockstar to get starstruck, Harry admitted that what Dylan has done for music at large left her dumbfounded, saying, “I’m in awe, just in awe of him.” But the real allure behind Dylan is also about how much he’s been able to do ever since being caught up in the spotlight.
Even though he might not be topping the charts the same way that he did back in the 1960s, Mr Zimmerman has found ways of getting better and better on each record, whether that meant getting deep about his relationships during Blood on the Tracks or eventually settling into his growling register on Time Out Of Mind. And given how many great songs he’s made in the past, the fact that he can still make something as jaw-dropping as ‘Murder Most Foul’ is insane coming from someone who has been around as long as he has.
So, while Harry might seem completely unphased every time she stands next to other rock royalty, Dylan is about something more than folk-rock. Considering how much he’s given to the cultural conversation, meeting him feels like encountering a living, breathing piece of American history.
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