发行于2001年9月11日的《爱与偷》是鲍勃·迪伦的第三十一张专辑,恰逢“9·11”恐袭。部分歌词在收入本书时有改动,《走过青山绿岭》《等着你》二首为本书追加。专辑名出自美国文化史家埃里克·洛特(Eric Lott)1993 年的著作《爱与偷 :黑面歌舞团和美国工人阶级》(Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class),指美国主流文化一面歧视黑人,一面又通过戏仿和挪用来“偷窃”黑人的歌舞和文化,实际上是迷恋黑人的健康肉体,表明了一种深爱。这个专辑大量引用、“偷窃”了美国传统民谣(尤其是密西西比三角洲蓝调)的元素,向前辈们致敬 : 歌名都出自传统民谣的经典主题,曲子则用另一首老歌的旋律重新编配,歌词里充满美国民谣史上的金句妙语。
迪伦把结尾曲《前进吧,约翰》(Roll on, John)献给约翰·列侬,向这位已故摇滚巨人致敬。这首歌依然与死亡有关, 但又带有奋进的情绪。迪伦在刚出道时,翻唱过一首同名的传统民谣。那时,二十出头的迪伦如饥似渴地从传统中汲取营养, 逐渐形成自己的风格。五十年过去了,迪伦就像一块滚动的石头,从未停止向前滚动,也从未停止向传统致敬。这首《前进吧,约翰》也许是隔空唱给另一位摇滚标杆,又也许是唱给他自己。他还在向前滚动。前进吧,鲍勃。
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician, poet, and, of late, disc jockey who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of Dylan's most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal chronicler and a reluctant figurehead of American unrest. A number of his songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. His most recent studio album, Modern Times, released on August 29, 2006, entered the U.S. album charts at #1, making him, at age sixty five, the oldest living person to top those charts.
Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature (2016).