As Bob Dylan turns 70, his memorable lyrics undergo intense scrutiny. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, he has become arguably the most influential and discussed singer-lyricist in the history of English-language popular music.
Biographies, essays and even Dylan's own bestselling ersatz memoir ("Chronicles, Volume One," published in 2004) have been appearing year after year, ranging from the scholarly to the gossipy. This year, Dylan books seem to be everywhere -- new books, as well as old books updated and reissued: Greil Marcus' "The Old, Weird America," updated with a new discography. David Hajdu's "Positively Fourth Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña," a 10th-anniversary edition. "Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan," by Howard Sounes, updated.
There are even picture books: "When Bob Met Woody," by Gary Golio and Marc Burckhardt, published by Little, Brown, tells the story of Dylan meeting Woody Guthrie in a New York hospital.
Amid all those words, the Big Question lurks: Is it possible to understand Dylan the lyricist, Dylan the singer, Dylan the romantic figure, and Dylan-the-everything-else by printing words on paper bound between book covers?
The answer: Sort of.
I am the first to tell you that I am no Dylanologist. I have not listened to every one of his songs. I have not read every word written about him. I find some of his lyrics cryptic, and I would use a word stronger than "cryptic" if such a word came to mind. My favorite Dylan song is "License to Kill," which would be considered obscure by legitimate Dylanologists, and to compound my sin I prefer the song when it is performed by Tom Petty.
But I am intrigued by Dylan as cultural phenomenon, and sifting through the new titles has helped me understand him better, though incompletely.
Let's start with a new book, "Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown," by David Yaffe, published by Yale University Press. Yafee is ostensibly an English professor at Syracuse University. But based on the depth and breadth of his knowledge exhibited in this book, he must actually be a full-time Dylanologist.