Yesterday, I was high as a kite. Walking on a cloud. Overly-happy. I realize it was all because I started the day hearing that Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 (see previous post). Funny. I really have nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do with me.
Except, if I think of my life, and of the people who have been an influence, or a model, or an inspiration, Bob Dylan would be right at the top of the list. Right behind my parents. For sure. He was the first singer/songwriter I fell for, even before the Beatles. He came into my life (via my Mom), in a super-critical, impressionable time. Formative! So everything, all other music, and all the other cultural, social and political hurly-burly was reflected thru Dylan.
Dylan's sound. His poetry. His voice. His mad word-stream. His surrealistic thought-trains. His humor. The essence of Folk, the essence of ramshackle, edgy, spiky, intelligent r&r. That high "mercury sound."
Yes, Dylan. Inevitable. Essential. Everything wrapped up in that strange, spiky, brittle, funny, amazing human being.