The “eccentric” influences that shaped Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan perfectly represents why we connect with music so easily. Our everyday lives are full of complicated choices that lead to us constantly second-guessing ourselves. It seems that with every passing second, we are told to be ourselves and uncompromising in that respect, only for who we are to then be criticised every step of the way. Music has always been a comforting way to garner self-acceptance in a world that keeps us questioning who we are.
The problem with the world is that it’s lonely. Yes, we are constantly surrounded by people; we have friends and family that we love and who love us, but most of our lives are spent inside our own heads. As such, if that space is one filled with self-resentment and doubt, the entire world becomes a projection of those feelings. On top of that, it’s often difficult to talk about these feelings, so we do that internally, too, asking a doubt-filled mind unsure of itself why that’s the case and expecting a straight answer.
Music creates a world that sits slightly above the physical one we inhabit. A spiritual layer, one that is like heaven in the comfort provided but more tangible and real. It’s one where those things that you find difficult to talk about or put into words are discussed wholeheartedly. Not only that, but when they are discussed, they are done so beautifully in a way that makes you excited to engage with them rather than hesitant to.
Musicians are brilliant at inhabiting this space, embracing their vulnerability and making it public so we can effectively connect with it. Bob Dylan was one of the artists who could express feelings. His influence is huge as a result, to the point that if you pick out any modern-day songwriter and trace their influences, you will end up with Dylan.
Bob Dylan could talk about himself and his country in an unparalleled way. People might discuss several aspects of Dylan that make them fans, whether it is his voice, the melodies he writes with, or his instrumentation. However, a combining factor that makes him so accessible is the humanity laced throughout his music. An eccentric number of influences contributed to this, which Dylan himself has previously eluded to.
“I guess most of my influences could be thought of as eccentric,” he said before reflecting on the performers who used to come through town and whose acceptance of self he was immediately respectful of. “I was drawn to the travelling performers passing through. The side show performers – bluegrass singers, the black cowboy with chaps and a lariat doing rope tricks…”
Dylan inhabited the spiritual world that we inhabit with music by viewing these performers. He talks incredibly fondly of their attitude towards one another and life, saying, “I got close to some of these people. I learned about dignity from them. Freedom too. Civil rights, human rights. How to stay within yourself.”
With art, humanity has to prevail above anything else. Our connection with it keeps wounds raw and conflict going, and no musician has ever established that human connection with music better than Bob Dylan. While he remains an influence on modern-day musicians because of that, he owes his ability to look internally and project externally to those slightly more eccentric.
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