Performed Literature: Words and Music by Bob DylanBob Dylan is not a poet. He is a singer-songwriter, a performing artist. The unit of his art, as collected and documented by his intended audience, is the live performance. Right now, no existing technological tool can give researchers ready access to his entire corpus of work. Revised from the author's Ph.D. dissertation (UC Berkeley, 1978) and again from its first edition (Indiana UP, 1982), Performed Literature develops a methodology for close analysis of verbal art that is heard, not seen, using as comparative examples 24 performances of 11 songs by Bob Dylan. The second edition adds a preface, two major appendices and one minor one, and a detailed index. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 20
Page 43
... oppositions of Western thinking are no more absolute than its linear time . Dylan had been articulating the shortcomings of dichotomization at least since " My Back Pages " ( 1964 ) : Lies that life is black and white Spoke from my ...
... oppositions of Western thinking are no more absolute than its linear time . Dylan had been articulating the shortcomings of dichotomization at least since " My Back Pages " ( 1964 ) : Lies that life is black and white Spoke from my ...
Page 108
... opposition throughout the text , between “ I ” and “ you , ” is not resolved . The song ends with her still looking for that ... oppositions , ones not impossible to the rational mind , and the third stanza simply lists her expectations ...
... opposition throughout the text , between “ I ” and “ you , ” is not resolved . The song ends with her still looking for that ... oppositions , ones not impossible to the rational mind , and the third stanza simply lists her expectations ...
Page 156
... oppositions in the text - allowing flexibility in performance - a striking feature . It could be said that " Subterranean Homesick Blues " does not in fact allow various meanings in performance : for years , Dylan never sang it in ...
... oppositions in the text - allowing flexibility in performance - a striking feature . It could be said that " Subterranean Homesick Blues " does not in fact allow various meanings in performance : for years , Dylan never sang it in ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ABCB aesthetic ain't Al Kooper album artistic audience aural Babe Baby Ballad bass Beatles becomes Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan chord change concert version couplet culture drums Dylan's songs Dylan's voice effect electric guitar emotional feel female Ferry's Folklore four fourth stanza Freewheelin Hard Rain harmonica Highway 61 Highway 61 Revisited Idiot Wind Idiot wind Blowing imagery imitate instrumental break Isis John Wesley Harding listener listener's melody meter Miss Lonely musical beat musicians narrative narrator narrator's Newport 65 oral organ chords outtake Oxford Town performance phrase piano pitch plays poetic recorded refrain released rhyme word riff rock Rolling Stone Sad-Eyed Lady scene second stanza Shelter shift singers sings someone song's sound stanza studio version Subterranean Homesick Blues suggests sung lines sweet lady syllables tambourine tape textual third stanza throughout the song Univ unresolved verse vowel woman Woody Guthrie words and music York