Dylan and Cohen: Poets of Rock and Roll

by David Boucher

Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are widely acknowledged as the great pop poets of the 1960s, transforming the popular song into a medium for questionng the personal, social, and political norms of their times. They emerged at a time when the music industry was transforming the revolutionary sound of black music into something bland, homogenous, and fit for mass consumption. For many members of their generation, Dylan and Cohen were able to articulate what they were feeling and could not express: anti-establishement anger, angst, and despondency.

Dylan and Cohen is a fascinating political, psychological and artistic profile of these two iconic writers and performers. With reference to both biographical details and lyrics. David Boucher explores their similarities and differences, tracing the development of religious political, and social themes in their work and the ways in which those ideas engaged a new audience.

A must-read for all serious fans of either Dylan or Cohen, this book will also engage anyone interested in the North America of the 1960s, or more generally in the relationship between music, identity and politics.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Srđan Strajnić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knjiga je komparativni prikaz stvaralaštva (mnogo više poezije nego muzike) Boba Dylana i Leonarda Cohena, autora koji spadaju u uzak krug najznačajnijih autora roka. Baučer konstatuje sličnosti i razlike njihovih poetika, kao i njihovih političkih i religijskih shvatanja koja su presudno uticala na njihove pesme. Po mom mišljenju, uspešnija je analiza navedenih elemenata njihovog stvaralaštva od zaključaka koje autor izvodi. Srećom, priloženo je više nego dovoljno materijala da zaključke izvedemo sami. Tako bih ja rekao, što se tiče religijskog aspekta, koji je vrlo prisutan kod obojice da je Dylan pesnik (bezuspešne) potrage za smislom (za Bogom) dok je Cohen, koji je Boga našao, pesnik greha i iskupljenja. Kao homo politicusi su sličniji – nisu bili spremni da ponesu breme liderstva čak i u trenucima kada im se nudilo na tacni, naročito Dylanu. Možda zato što su obojica razumeli da realna moć ukida pesnika u njenom nosiocu. Moćnik i pesnik – ne ide to!

[Alejandro Ortega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un maravilloso ensayo teórico que desentraña la vena creativa de estos dos poetas, el contexto histórico en el que actuaron y ayuda a entender el porqué de su importancia. Imperdible para fans.

[Yasmin]

UoM library packin some heat

[Sir DvZt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mientras que el señor Dylan está alienado y enojado por ello, el señor Cohen está alienado y simplemente triste al respecto, en otras palabras; en los primeros años, Dylan era la manifestación de la resistencia popular, el ejemplo a seguir para una juventud alienada. En contraste, Cohen se diferenciaba a sí mismo: "Si se tuviera que hablar del aspecto político de mi música, diría que es la música de la resistencia personal."

[Marcel · Rating 3 out of 5]

My brain hurts. First half of this book is terrific as the author walks us through influences (referents), commonalities and differences between Bob and Leonard. The 3rd quarter is hard to read as it gets way too hoi-poloi for my liking. ("Instead of lining the meaning of text to the intention of the author, Hans-Georg Gadamer puts forward an ontological hermeneutics,which is suggested to him by Marin Heidegger's notion of "being there in the world".The question for Gadamer becomes not how should we interpret texts, which in an epistemological question relating to the acquisition of knowledge...." yada yada yada. Took me two days to read that passage. The last quarter does save the book as we come back to the subject matter...Dylan and Cohen.
I'd recommend this to anyone who has read 40 or 50 books on Dylan and absorbed all of Cohen's oeuvre.

One caveat...some of the details regarding Dylan are not correct. I don't know if this is bad editing (Dylan didn't see Holly perform on Jan 31, 1959 in Hibbing...it was in Duluth) or just not being up to date on the latest biography (he did not dump Joan for Sara at the end of the '65 UK tour, he was married to Sara before the tour) or just doing what some typers do...trying to make you think they know more than you do, or giving their opinion some kind of gravitas. This last bitch has to do with 3 or 4 references to Dylan's 1997 release Time Out of Mind. The author tells us the themes on this record, as they pertain to mortality (Not Dark Yet, Trying To Get To Heaven) are the RESULT of Bob's near death incident earlier in 1997. When it comes to cause-and-effect the author is DEAD wrong (see what I did there?) Here's the timeline: TOOM was released in September of 1997; Bob's histoplasmosis crisis was in May of 1997; TOOM was recorded in January of 1997; the demos were sent out to musicians in late 1996. Therefore the content of the record had nothing to do with Bob's brush with death.

What troubles me about that is it brings into question other things the author postulates about facts I am not so well versed in. But maybe that's just me being a snob...

[George Santínez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sobre la edición: Espantosa. Llena de errores gramaticales, de puntuación y en algunos casos de cohesión. Necesita corrección.

Sobre el libro: Interesante revisión sobre la importancia de la cultura artística surgida a principios del siglo XX en los Estados Unidos y cómo influiría en el nacimiento del mito de Dylan y Cohen.
David Boucher es competente al afirmar con bases y fuentes cada evento y significado narrado, pero tiende demasiado a la reiteración de puntos, llegando a la repetición, desde escribir lo mismo en la misma página, hasta contar y aclarar una y otra vez el mismo evento aún cuando se nos lleva hablando de él desde hace más de cien páginas. Ésto hace de la experiencia de leer bastante frustrante.
Sin embargo, un capítulo a destacar es el VI, en el que se habla del poder de la poesía, imaginación e imagen como no había visto antes. Espectacular.

Tristemente, aunque el libro contenga los nombres de dos músicos en su portada, al leerlo se vuelve evidente que el autor está más fascinado por sólo uno de ellos, el cual es Dylan. Al terminar he sabido mucho de Dylan, pero no tanto de Cohen.

Tiene valor por las fuentes rebuscadas e interesantes que consigue para que uno las investigue por sí mismo, pero como libro no es más que decente.
Recomendado si te interesa Dylan, no si te interesa Cohen.
6.5/10

[Jorge Arcos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy mala traducción y pésimo trabajo de edición.

[Alex Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un profundo e interesante análisis sobre la carrera, influencias y el impacto de estos dos artistas sobre la lírica en la música popular y el Rock, transformandolo de un simple vehículo de entretenimiento y alienación a una forma de arte con trasfondo político, social, espiritual y religioso. Desafortunadamente, esta edición en español posee bastantes errores tipográficos e incluso gramaticales que merman la experiencia de lectura. Lean la edición en inglés, algo que debí hacer.

[Aaron Mietzner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so the start of this book is great, but I have next to no experience with poetry, so the last half of this was dense.