The philosophy of modern song
The Philosophy of Modern Song is Bob Dylan's first book of new writing since 2004's Chronicles: Volume One and since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers a master class on the art and craft of songwriting. He writes over sixty...
| Main Author: | Dylan, Bob, 1941- (Author) |
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Simon & Schuster,
2022.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
The Philosophy of Modern Song is Bob Dylan's first book of new writing since 2004's Chronicles: Volume One and since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers a master class on the art and craft of songwriting. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan's unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work's transcendence. In 2020, with the release of his outstanding album Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan became the first artist to have an album hit the Billboard Top 40 in each decade since the 1960s. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains much of what he has learned about his craft in all those years, and like everything that Dylan does, it is a momentous artistic achievement. |
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| Physical Description: |
339 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 24 cm |
| ISBN: |
9781451648706 1451648707 9781398519411 1398519413 |
| Author Notes: |
He has published poetry and prose including a collection entitled Tarantula in 1971, a memoir entitled Chronicles: Volume One in 2004, and The Lyrics: 1961-2012 in 2016. He has received numerous awards including eleven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. In 1988, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. In 2016, Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." (Bowker Author Biography) |