Forget About Today: Bob Dylan's Genius for (Re)invention, Shunning the Naysayers, and Creating a Personal Revolution

by Jon Friedman

A revealing new perspective on Bob Dylan's enduring legacy - from one of the foremost experts on the Nobel Peace prize-winning artist.

Forget About Today shows a side of Bob Dylan that most people - from fans to skeptics - have never seen. Rather than another gossipy account of his romances, finances, or family, journalist Jon Friedman offers a new perspective on Dylan's revolutionary and enduring legacy through an intimate look at the mystery behind Dylan's success. Bob Dylan has been a pop culture mainstay for more than 50 years as a poet, songwriter, and performer. Yet from his decision to go electric while everyone clung to his folk roots to his shocking appearance on a Victoria's Secret commercial, critics have predicted Dylan's demise every step of the way. Each time, he's proven legions of doubters wrong, never letting anyone keep him from accomplishing goals - on his terms. Featuring exclusive insights from Dylan's most trusted confidants, Forget About Today provides a unique look at Dylan's life and career while it distills valuable advice from one of the music world's most revolutionary artists and entrepreneurs.

Genres: Music

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2012

About the author

Jon Friedman is a comedian, writer, and producer best known for The Rejection Show. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, as well as on NPR and ABC News. He lives in New York.

Reviews

[Aylin Houle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting and inspiring take on Bob Dylan. While learning about Dylan through Friedman, you also take some life lessons yourself.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a book about Bob Dylan that pretty much never discusses the songs or the performances, and which attempts to draw some life lessons not from Bob's songs but from his, well, life and career. It's a fun book, a quick read, and has a lot of insight into Bob and the life lessons aren't bad ones. I liked it quite a bit more than I thought I would.

It's a bit odd that the life lessons he draws are pretty much always positive ones, which may be a necessity for books like this. So some of Bob's moves are portrayed here in a positive light, when most people would read them a different way. Friedman has a different attitude than I do towards albums like Nashville Skyline and Self Portrait. He takes the lesson from those that you shouldn't be afraid to turn a different corner from where you were going. Me, I take the lesson that while you do that, you should only do it if you are totally committed to what you are doing. Going in a country direction after the rock masterpieces of the mid-60s was not a bad move in and of itself, but in making that move, Dylan didn't, in my listening, bring to it the same level of commitment to vision that he had in his greatest works.

And though he speaks with Bob's oldest son Jesse about Dylan as a father, the author (maybe rightly) ignores some life lessons from Dylan with respect to his treatment of others. Lots of people have been ill-used by Bob over the years, and to ignore that in a book like this didn't sit well with me.

Those things said, I did enjoy this book, and devoured it in one sitting, and do recommend it.

[Mat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty interesting book on Dylan's savvy business ability to reinvent himself and pull it off successfully in spite of the huge amount of pressure weighed against him.
I did enjoy this book as it is not just another gushing biography of adulation. Friedman performs a very well reasonsed analysis of our favourite modern-day icon and the man who was called the "greatest songwriter of our times" by Johnny Cash.
However, my interpretation of Dylan's Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie differs from this author's but his analysis is very plausible.

However, if you are looking for new bits of information on Dylan, (i.e. some new goodies) this is not the place to look. I have read quite a few biographies on Dylan over the years and they all have their flaws. Clinton Heylin's Behind the Shades appears to be the most exhaustive but is terribly flawed by his overly subjective assessments of Dylan's canon, much of which is at odds with Dylan's fans. Mike Marquesee's book The Wicked Messenger (I read its previous incarnation Chimes of Freedom) analyzes Dylan's work in great depth but focuses mostly on the early years.
Also, my main gripe about this book, and the reason I deducted another star, is that the author judges Dylan's words in his 'autobiography' Chronicles at face value but based on people who have known Dylan and have read the book, Chronicles is about as accurate as Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory - i.e. a slightly fictionalized (read 'glorified') account of what actually went down. That's what makes Dylan so hard to figure as well because it is sometimes hard to know where the fiction ends and where the real story begins.

I haven't read Shelton's book or Scaduto's book on Dylan, both of which are considered to be among the best as well as several books put out by Greil Marcus.

The good thing about this book is that Friedman tries to analyze Dylan's success from our perspective as everyday people. He believes that we can all learn from his success and apply it to fix the problems in our lives when we feel stuck or lose motivation and perspective etc. The most important lesson in this book which Friedman has learned from Dylan and which he wishes to pass on to us is do things on your own terms. When the pressure gets too great, take a step back, like when Dylan retreated from the world after his motorcycle accident (which may or may not have been staged). Finally, don't look back. Keep moving forward because according to Dylan "nostalgia is death".

[John Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual take on Bob Dylan, his career and music. Not so much a biography or critique, more a self-help book using Bob Dylan as an exemplar for managing change, handling expectations and criticism while pressing on with his own agenda. Friedman plainly knows Dylan's oeuvre inside out, so slides smoothly through the change points in the artist's career, showing how Dylan re-invented himself at every turn. It's a fascinating way of looking at Bob Dylan's career and works well. Good luck to anyone that tries to emulate him, though -- that's a whole different kettle of fish.

[Christopher McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This a quick and easy read to help you understand why Bob Dylan is so revered by many in the music industry. I think almost many people have once questioned "What's the bid deal?" Jon Friedman, who's both a journalist and a diehard Dylan fan, breaks down Bob's ideals and vision for a steady a long-lasting career. Jon also goes as far as urging you (no matter the occupation) to apply Bob's way of life.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very strange little self-help book that provides advice for success in life and business based on the "lessons" of Bob Dylan's life and career. Very odd indeed. I don't know what to make of it at all. I did like finding out that Bob's son Jesse says of his father that he's "an even better father" than he is an artist. That's sweet. But I'm just not so sure I can really apply any "life lessons" from Bob's life to my own. An "A" for originality in concept. Execution, not so much.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice tribute to Bob Dylan. The author, Jon Friedman, is an author, journalist, and fan since he attended one of Bob Dylan's concerts in 1974. It is an inspiring read about taking risks and creating your own success.

[Dearwassily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Sort of facile and obvious, nothing new or enlightening. Everything in here you would have already known if you considered yourself a Bob Dylan fan and were the kind of person to call themselves a Dylan fan (ie, we know to go it on our own, even if that includes "following" Dylan).

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

are you unwaveringly self confident? If not you can learn a thing or two from one of the great masters.

[smboro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way this book is structured. It's a song by itself.