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
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Page 43
The entangled narrative reproduces the narrator ' s entangled emotions as he
looks back on love , and it also disrupts Western European assumptions of time
as a neatly controllable linear force . The opening and closing lines of the song ...
The entangled narrative reproduces the narrator ' s entangled emotions as he
looks back on love , and it also disrupts Western European assumptions of time
as a neatly controllable linear force . The opening and closing lines of the song ...
Page 113
Eye closing can be a literal , physical action ; heart closing cannot . Furthermore ,
each phrase itself has two unresolved metaphorical implications . “ Close his
eyes for you " suggests a movie - star kiss , ethereal , unsullied romance ; the ...
Eye closing can be a literal , physical action ; heart closing cannot . Furthermore ,
each phrase itself has two unresolved metaphorical implications . “ Close his
eyes for you " suggests a movie - star kiss , ethereal , unsullied romance ; the ...
Page 153
The narrator has learned how to feel but nonetheless has lost his sweet lady . In
the closing refrain , the change in personal pronoun shows the narrator ' s new
awareness of reciprocal feelings and shared blame . In the first two refrains " you
...
The narrator has learned how to feel but nonetheless has lost his sweet lady . In
the closing refrain , the change in personal pronoun shows the narrator ' s new
awareness of reciprocal feelings and shared blame . In the first two refrains " you
...
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Common terms and phrases
aesthetic ain't album alliteration appear artistic audience Babe Baby beat becomes begins Blues Bob Dylan breaks chords closing comes concert continues contrast couplet create culture drums Dylan Dylan's voice effect emotional example express eyes fall feel female final follow four fourth girl give guitar hard harmonica Idiot Wind imagery instrumental Isis it's John lady lead leave less listener looking male mark meaning measures Miss Lonely move narrator narrator's never notes once opening opposition organ outtake patterns performance phrase pitch plays poetic rain recorded refrain released repeated rhyme rock Rolling Stone sad-eyed scene seems sense shift Side sings song song's sound stands stanza structure studio suggests sung tell third throughout tradition verse vocal voice Warner Bros woman words York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Performed Literature: Words and Music by Bob Dylan |
| Authors | Betsy Bowden, Bob Dylan |
| Photographs by | Bob Dylan |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press, 1982 |
| ISBN | 025334347X, 9780253343475 |
| Length | 239 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |