The one musician Bob Dylan said was a better writer than him
Anyone even thinking about writing a rock and roll song is going to be studying what Bob Dylan did until the day they die.
While Dylan wasn’t the kind to soak up the attention or claim to be idolised, there are more than a few times when he has written a classic song in the time it takes most people to make a half-decent verse. But when looking at his approach to crafting songs, even he had to admit that he wasn’t looking to rewrite what the true legends of their craft could do in the pre-rock and roll days.
Then again, the beauty of rock and roll was about seeing how powerful a handful of chords could be in the right context. The song ‘Johnny B Goode’ is only made up of a few elements, and yet whenever you see footage of Chuck Berry performing or the iconic shot from Back to the Future, there’s not a soul in the audience who doesn’t think it sounds like one of the coolest things in the world.
But when Dylan first arrived, he wanted to flip that on its head. The chords were one thing, but the important part of all of Dylan’s work had to be with the lyrics. He was more of a poet than a singer half the time he got up to the microphone, and when listening to the kind of mastery that he had with a pen in his hand, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ became more than a catchy tune. It was an anthem for the entire generation.
Then again, Dylan could be incredibly self-effacing when it came to his own work. Despite all of the tags calling him ‘the voice of a generation’, he never saw himself along those lines. He wanted to chase after the next tune and maybe even write a couple that he liked to listen to every now and again, and if he managed to get a few through the door he was happy. Because he wasn’t going to make it into easy listening territory.
That was reserved for the true legends of their craft, and even some members of the public couldn’t get past Dylan’s sandpaper voice, it was much easier for them to go back to the classics that they heard from the likes of Gershwin. There was hardly any song that the pop craftsmen came out with, and compared to what Dylan was used to, he figured that there was no way anyone was going to stack up to what they could do.
‘Blowin’ In the Wind’ was an anthem if there ever was one, but for Dylan, there was no contest between his ditties and tunes like ‘Summertime’, saying, “I don’t write every day. I’d like to but I can’t. You’re talking to a total misfit. Gershwin–those people–they’ve got song-writing down. I don’t really care if I write. I can say that now, but as soon as the light changes, it’ll be the thing I care about most. When I’m through performing, I’ll still be writing, probably for other people.”
Granted, some of the people that Dylan has worked with have at least helped him be a bit more sophisticated with his writing. All that time working with George Harrison helped open his mind up into some new chords, and when listening to the progression of his records, you can hear him start to delve into more personal songs, whether that’s heartache on Blood on the Tracks or grappling with his own sense of mortality on Time Out of Mind.
So, really, what Gershwin was doing had more to do with Dylan speaking a much different language than they did back in the day. He wasn’t the kind to make music that turned into massive spectacles every time he wrote, but part of the magic was how cut and dry he could be and still leave an impact on people.
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