Forever Young
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May you heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
The Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv, has an exhibit "Forever Young - Bob Dylan at 75". . To give you a fuller experience of this exhibit, I wish I could have added video and sound but I haven't been able to download clips. Most of the text comes off the explanatory boards in the museum and are not my words. I'm not a great fan of Dylan's singing, but I am in awe of his talent. I think the Nobel Prize was well given.
It is hard to find a Musician with more influence on 20th century culture than bob Dylan. Time magazine considered him one of the most important hundred people of the 20th century, a "master poet, artist, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counter-culture generation".
Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature Oct. 2016, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," the Nobel committee when the award was announced.
"If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon." "Not once have i ever had the time to ask myself, 'Are my songs literature?'"
Born Robert Zimmerman was born in Duluth, Minnesota. His family was Jewish with Eastern European roots. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at age 13. By the 1960s he had emerged as Bob Dylan and had "set aside" his Jewishness to reinvent himself as an "authentic" American folk singers. In the 70s Dylan turned to Christianity and released several albums with Christian themes. In the early 80s Dylan was rumored to have "returned" to Judaism.
Bob Dylan's first studio album, entitled "Bob Dylan"
Folk sstandards plus two original songs: Talkin' New York & Song to Woody
You're No Good
Talkin' New York
In My Time of Dyin'
Man of Constant Sorrow
Fixin' to Die
Pretty Peggy-O
Highway 5
Gospel Plow
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
House of the Risin' Sun
Freight Train Blues
Song to Woody
See That My Grave is Kept Clean
Sara, Oh Sara
Glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow
Sara, Oh Sara
Don't ever leave me, don't ever go
Dylan has written some of music's most beautiful love songs, addressing the relationship between a man and a woman with great complexity. This 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks" is considered to be a chronicle of the breakdown of his marriage to his first wife Sara, the mother of his children.
It's gettin' dark
Too dark to see
I feel
I'm knowkin' on Heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door
Dylan is the eternal seeker. When he knocks on heaven's door, it seems to open before him, but what he finds is not what he was looking for. Dylan's songs are filled with references to god and to both the Jewish and Christian bibles. His connection to scripture is characterized by an affinity for apocalyptic imagery and the search for salvation.
How does it feel
t' be on yer own
No direction for home
A complete unknown
Like a rolling Stone
Dylan, the always mercurial child of rock and roll, has aged but not grown old. He continues to stay true his own muse and embrace change. He tours and works constantly, avoiding [most} scandal and seeking innovation and creativity. In 2015 he released an album of Frank Sinatra songs, revisiting the music of his childhood and wanting to reinvigorate it.
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