Bob Dylan

by Anthony Scaduto

"I liked your book. That's the weird thing about it." —Bob Dylan "Pioneers are often written out of history but never let it be forgotten that Scaduto was the man. It's scandalous that this book has been out of print for so many years. Its return (Kindle) should be greeted with dancing in the street." —Jimmy Rogan, composer He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota. He surfaced in Greenwich Village nearly twenty years later with a new name and a reinvented personality. He went on to become the most influential-and elusive-culture hero of our time. This is the first full story of Bob Dylan. It ‘s based on interviews with people like Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk. Lovers and haters. Apostles and apostates. Plus reminiscences from Dylan himself. It's all here. The good. The bad. And the gritty. Written at the dawn of the seventies by reporter Anthony Scaduto this book was the first serious study of Dylan's life and work. By applying the rigorous standards of research and analysis it elevated popular music journalism to a respected discipline. In addition to a Bob biographer's wish-list of interviews, Scaduto pulled the remarkable coup of getting Dylan's full co-operation without conceding an editorial veto. Dylan has read this book cover to cover and discusses its uncomfortable contents with the author at length! Includes an exclusive interview between Anthony Scaduto and Bob Dylan and a Postscript written by Scaduto in 2008. ..."In the beginning was Scaduto," wrote Clinton Heylin at the start of own Dylan bioography. We'll never know the whole story of Minnesota's most noted mouth organist but Anthony Scaduto's 1971 book was the pioneering protrait of this legendarily elusive artist. Now, in a welcome reprint it's a real treat to read the still-classic Bobography, methodical and lean, Scaduto's style reflected his background as a New York crime reporter, with a "just the facts, ma'am" technique that built the right tension... ---New Musical Express

Genres: Music

436 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 1973

Reviews

[Nathan Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dog-eared paperback came in the donations one day and piqued my curiosity, mostly because it was published in 1971 which by our standards now is near the dawn of Bob Dylan’s career — it predates the Band tour and the Rolling Thunder Revue, even — but portrayed him at the time as a grizzled veteran. Scaduto was an investigative reporter who attempted to trace Dylan’s early relationships and friendships to establish how he cultivated and crafted his own persona. It’s a persuasive, immersive narrative and I greatly enjoyed it; the only thing I really objected to is that some of Scaduto’s lyrical analysis verges on the absurd, and doesn’t seem to really get at any of what makes Dylan’s work so transcendent. That said, the chapters on the post-motorcycle accident / Basement Tapes / John Wesley Harding / Nashville Skyline period are particularly beautiful, given that some fans are as dismissive of his crooning country-rock period as certain folkies (as documented in the book) were of his rock material. But to be honest, I think one reason I got such a huge kick out of the book was its tactile presence in my hand — the sense that I could tell it had done a lot of traveling since its publication. I liked to imagine some Dylan fan parading across the country on a bus somewhere reading it. It sounds silly but it was a wonderfully tangible piece of a connection I share with the completely unseen and unknown past. Apart from Dylan’s own memoir, this is the best book about the man I’ve read so far. (Next year or later in this one I’ll be tackling many more.) If you haven’t gathered from tidbits I’ve let slip here and there, he has gone from someone I was apprehensive about to (about a decade ago) a favorite artist to (just in the last two years) a subject of outright fascination for me.

[Greg Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best biographies of Bob Dylan; obviously somewhat dated now but a sound insight into the young Dylan; finishes 1971