Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations

Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations

Author: Greil Marcus

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2015-10-07

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0674187083

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Greil Marcus delves into three distinct episodes in the history of American commonplace song and shows how each one manages to convey the uncanny sense that it was written by no one. In these seemingly anonymous productions, we discover three different ways of talking about the United States, and three separate nations within its borders.


Book Synopsis Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations by : Greil Marcus

Download or read book Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations written by Greil Marcus and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-07 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greil Marcus delves into three distinct episodes in the history of American commonplace song and shows how each one manages to convey the uncanny sense that it was written by no one. In these seemingly anonymous productions, we discover three different ways of talking about the United States, and three separate nations within its borders.


Three Songs, three Singers, three Nations

Three Songs, three Singers, three Nations

Author: Greil Marcus

Publisher: Verlag Wilhelm Fink

Published: 2017-01-23

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 3846760838

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In seinem neuesten Buch entlarvt Marcus drei "gewöhnliche" amerikanische Songs als grundlegende Dokumente amerikanischer Identität: Bascom Lamar Lunsfords "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground" (1928), Geeshie Wileys "Last Kind Words Blues" (1930) und Bob Dylans "Ballad of Hollis Brown" (1964). Die Art und Weise, auf die jeder dieser Songs den unheimlichen Eindruck erweckt, er sei von niemandem geschrieben worden, erhellt unterschiedliche Aspekte der Tradition des "gewöhnlichen" Songs. Manche sind im Laufe der Zeit ohne einen identifizierbaren Urheber entstanden. Andere beziehen ihre Melodien und Motive aus obskuren Quellen, nehmen aber in den Händen eines bestimmten Künstlers eine endgültige, unvergessliche Gestalt an. Und, wie im Fall von Bob Dylans "Hollis Brown", gibt es Songs, die von einem identifizierbaren Autor stammen, aber wirken wie Folksongs, die schon seit Generationen weitergereicht worden sind. So trägt jeder dieser Songs Amerikas Geschichte, seine Menschen in sich, auch in ihrer Rolle als Zuhörer.


Book Synopsis Three Songs, three Singers, three Nations by : Greil Marcus

Download or read book Three Songs, three Singers, three Nations written by Greil Marcus and published by Verlag Wilhelm Fink. This book was released on 2017-01-23 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In seinem neuesten Buch entlarvt Marcus drei "gewöhnliche" amerikanische Songs als grundlegende Dokumente amerikanischer Identität: Bascom Lamar Lunsfords "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground" (1928), Geeshie Wileys "Last Kind Words Blues" (1930) und Bob Dylans "Ballad of Hollis Brown" (1964). Die Art und Weise, auf die jeder dieser Songs den unheimlichen Eindruck erweckt, er sei von niemandem geschrieben worden, erhellt unterschiedliche Aspekte der Tradition des "gewöhnlichen" Songs. Manche sind im Laufe der Zeit ohne einen identifizierbaren Urheber entstanden. Andere beziehen ihre Melodien und Motive aus obskuren Quellen, nehmen aber in den Händen eines bestimmten Künstlers eine endgültige, unvergessliche Gestalt an. Und, wie im Fall von Bob Dylans "Hollis Brown", gibt es Songs, die von einem identifizierbaren Autor stammen, aber wirken wie Folksongs, die schon seit Generationen weitergereicht worden sind. So trägt jeder dieser Songs Amerikas Geschichte, seine Menschen in sich, auch in ihrer Rolle als Zuhörer.


The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor

The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor

Author: Thomas M. Kitts

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 1351266624

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An essential part of human expression, humor plays a role in all forms of art, and humorous and comedic aspects have always been part of popular music. For the first time, The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor draws together scholarship exploring how the element of humor interacts with the artistic and social aspects of the musical experience. Discussing humor in popular music across eras from Tin Pan Alley to the present, and examining the role of humor in different musical genres, case studies of artists, and media forms, this volume is a groundbreaking collection that provides a go-to reference for scholars in music, popular culture, and media studies. While most scholars, when considering humor’s place in popular music, tend to focus on more "literate" forms, the contributors in this collection seek to fill in the gaps by surveying all kinds of humor, critical theories, and popular musics. Across eight parts, the essays in this collection explore topics both highbrow and low, including: Parody and satire Humor in rock and global music Gender, sexuality, and politics The music mockumentary Novelty songs Humor has long been a fixture of the popular music soundscape, whether on stage, in performance, on record, or on film. The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor covers it all, presenting itself as the most comprehensive treatment of the topic to date.


Book Synopsis The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor by : Thomas M. Kitts

Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor written by Thomas M. Kitts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential part of human expression, humor plays a role in all forms of art, and humorous and comedic aspects have always been part of popular music. For the first time, The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor draws together scholarship exploring how the element of humor interacts with the artistic and social aspects of the musical experience. Discussing humor in popular music across eras from Tin Pan Alley to the present, and examining the role of humor in different musical genres, case studies of artists, and media forms, this volume is a groundbreaking collection that provides a go-to reference for scholars in music, popular culture, and media studies. While most scholars, when considering humor’s place in popular music, tend to focus on more "literate" forms, the contributors in this collection seek to fill in the gaps by surveying all kinds of humor, critical theories, and popular musics. Across eight parts, the essays in this collection explore topics both highbrow and low, including: Parody and satire Humor in rock and global music Gender, sexuality, and politics The music mockumentary Novelty songs Humor has long been a fixture of the popular music soundscape, whether on stage, in performance, on record, or on film. The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor covers it all, presenting itself as the most comprehensive treatment of the topic to date.


Liner Notes for the Revolution

Liner Notes for the Revolution

Author: Daphne A. Brooks

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2021-02-23

Total Pages: 609

ISBN-13: 0674052811

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An award-winning Black feminist music critic takes us on an epic journey through radical sound from Bessie Smith to Beyoncé. Daphne A. Brooks explores more than a century of music archives to examine the critics, collectors, and listeners who have determined perceptions of Black women on stage and in the recording studio. How is it possible, she asks, that iconic artists such as Aretha Franklin and Beyoncé exist simultaneously at the center and on the fringe of the culture industry? Liner Notes for the Revolution offers a startling new perspective on these acclaimed figures—a perspective informed by the overlooked contributions of other Black women concerned with the work of their musical peers. Zora Neale Hurston appears as a sound archivist and a performer, Lorraine Hansberry as a queer Black feminist critic of modern culture, and Pauline Hopkins as America’s first Black female cultural commentator. Brooks tackles the complicated racial politics of blues music recording, song collecting, and rock and roll criticism. She makes lyrical forays into the blues pioneers Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith, as well as fans who became critics, like the record-label entrepreneur and writer Rosetta Reitz. In the twenty-first century, pop superstar Janelle Monae’s liner notes are recognized for their innovations, while celebrated singers Cécile McLorin Salvant, Rhiannon Giddens, and Valerie June take their place as cultural historians. With an innovative perspective on the story of Black women in popular music—and who should rightly tell it—Liner Notes for the Revolution pioneers a long overdue recognition and celebration of Black women musicians as radical intellectuals.


Book Synopsis Liner Notes for the Revolution by : Daphne A. Brooks

Download or read book Liner Notes for the Revolution written by Daphne A. Brooks and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-23 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An award-winning Black feminist music critic takes us on an epic journey through radical sound from Bessie Smith to Beyoncé. Daphne A. Brooks explores more than a century of music archives to examine the critics, collectors, and listeners who have determined perceptions of Black women on stage and in the recording studio. How is it possible, she asks, that iconic artists such as Aretha Franklin and Beyoncé exist simultaneously at the center and on the fringe of the culture industry? Liner Notes for the Revolution offers a startling new perspective on these acclaimed figures—a perspective informed by the overlooked contributions of other Black women concerned with the work of their musical peers. Zora Neale Hurston appears as a sound archivist and a performer, Lorraine Hansberry as a queer Black feminist critic of modern culture, and Pauline Hopkins as America’s first Black female cultural commentator. Brooks tackles the complicated racial politics of blues music recording, song collecting, and rock and roll criticism. She makes lyrical forays into the blues pioneers Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith, as well as fans who became critics, like the record-label entrepreneur and writer Rosetta Reitz. In the twenty-first century, pop superstar Janelle Monae’s liner notes are recognized for their innovations, while celebrated singers Cécile McLorin Salvant, Rhiannon Giddens, and Valerie June take their place as cultural historians. With an innovative perspective on the story of Black women in popular music—and who should rightly tell it—Liner Notes for the Revolution pioneers a long overdue recognition and celebration of Black women musicians as radical intellectuals.


The Song Remains the Same

The Song Remains the Same

Author: Andrew Ford

Publisher: La Trobe University Press

Published: 2019-12-02

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1743821069

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An illuminating history of the song for every kind of music lover Often today, the word ‘song’ is used to describe all music. A free-jazz improvisation, a Hindustani raga, a movement from a Beethoven symphony: apparently, they’re all songs. But they’re not. From Sia to Springsteen, Archie Roach to Amy Winehouse, a song is a specific musical form. It’s not so much that they all have verses and choruses – though most of them do – but that they are all relatively short and self-contained; they have beginnings, middles and ends; they often have a single point of view, message or story; and, crucially, they unite words and music. Thus, a Schubert song has more in common with a track by Joni Mitchell or Rihanna than with one of Schubert’s own symphonies. The Song Remains the Same traces these connections through seventy-five songs from different cultures and times: love songs, anthems, protest songs, lullabies, folk songs, jazz standards, lieder and pop hits; ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ to ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Jerusalem’ to ‘Jolene’. Unpicking their inner workings makes familiar songs strange again, explaining and restoring the wonder, joy (or possibly loathing) the reader experienced on first hearing. ‘As much about singing, musicianship and recording as it is about songwriting, this eclectic ride through a unique choice of songs (everyone will argue for alternatives) is cleverly curated and littered with intriguing details about the creators and their times, filled with loving cross-references to other songs and deft musical analysis. I defy anyone not to leap online to listen to the unfamiliar, or re-listen to old favourites in light of new detail. One of the best games in this book is figuring out why one song follows the other: there’s always an intelligent, often very funny, link.’ —Robyn Archer


Book Synopsis The Song Remains the Same by : Andrew Ford

Download or read book The Song Remains the Same written by Andrew Ford and published by La Trobe University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-02 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating history of the song for every kind of music lover Often today, the word ‘song’ is used to describe all music. A free-jazz improvisation, a Hindustani raga, a movement from a Beethoven symphony: apparently, they’re all songs. But they’re not. From Sia to Springsteen, Archie Roach to Amy Winehouse, a song is a specific musical form. It’s not so much that they all have verses and choruses – though most of them do – but that they are all relatively short and self-contained; they have beginnings, middles and ends; they often have a single point of view, message or story; and, crucially, they unite words and music. Thus, a Schubert song has more in common with a track by Joni Mitchell or Rihanna than with one of Schubert’s own symphonies. The Song Remains the Same traces these connections through seventy-five songs from different cultures and times: love songs, anthems, protest songs, lullabies, folk songs, jazz standards, lieder and pop hits; ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ to ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Jerusalem’ to ‘Jolene’. Unpicking their inner workings makes familiar songs strange again, explaining and restoring the wonder, joy (or possibly loathing) the reader experienced on first hearing. ‘As much about singing, musicianship and recording as it is about songwriting, this eclectic ride through a unique choice of songs (everyone will argue for alternatives) is cleverly curated and littered with intriguing details about the creators and their times, filled with loving cross-references to other songs and deft musical analysis. I defy anyone not to leap online to listen to the unfamiliar, or re-listen to old favourites in light of new detail. One of the best games in this book is figuring out why one song follows the other: there’s always an intelligent, often very funny, link.’ —Robyn Archer


Bob Dylan in the Attic

Bob Dylan in the Attic

Author: Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez

Publisher: UMass + ORM

Published: 2022-12-16

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1613769628

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Bob Dylan is an iconic American artist, whose music and performances have long reflected different musical genres and time periods. His songs tell tales of the Civil War, harken back to 1930s labor struggles, and address racial violence at the height of the civil rights movement, helping listeners to think about history, and history making, in new ways. While Dylan was warned by his early mentor, Dave Van Ronk, that, “You’re just going to be a history book writer if you do those things. An anachronism,” the musician has continued to traffic in history and engage with a range of source material—ancient and modern—over the course of his career. In this beautifully crafted book, Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez makes a provocative case for Dylan as a historian, offering a deep consideration of the musician’s historical influences and practices. Utilizing interviews, speeches, and the close analysis of lyrics and live performances, Bob Dylan in the Attic is the first book to consider Dylan’s work from the point of view of historiography.


Book Synopsis Bob Dylan in the Attic by : Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez

Download or read book Bob Dylan in the Attic written by Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez and published by UMass + ORM. This book was released on 2022-12-16 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bob Dylan is an iconic American artist, whose music and performances have long reflected different musical genres and time periods. His songs tell tales of the Civil War, harken back to 1930s labor struggles, and address racial violence at the height of the civil rights movement, helping listeners to think about history, and history making, in new ways. While Dylan was warned by his early mentor, Dave Van Ronk, that, “You’re just going to be a history book writer if you do those things. An anachronism,” the musician has continued to traffic in history and engage with a range of source material—ancient and modern—over the course of his career. In this beautifully crafted book, Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez makes a provocative case for Dylan as a historian, offering a deep consideration of the musician’s historical influences and practices. Utilizing interviews, speeches, and the close analysis of lyrics and live performances, Bob Dylan in the Attic is the first book to consider Dylan’s work from the point of view of historiography.


Songbooks

Songbooks

Author: Eric Weisbard

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2021-04-23

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 147802139X

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In Songbooks, critic and scholar Eric Weisbard offers a critical guide to books on American popular music from William Billings's 1770 New-England Psalm-Singer to Jay-Z's 2010 memoir Decoded. Drawing on his background editing the Village Voice music section, coediting the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and organizing the Pop Conference, Weisbard connects American music writing from memoirs, biographies, and song compilations to blues novels, magazine essays, and academic studies. The authors of these works are as diverse as the music itself: women, people of color, queer writers, self-educated scholars, poets, musicians, and elites discarding their social norms. Whether analyzing books on Louis Armstrong, the Beatles, and Madonna; the novels of Theodore Dreiser, Gayl Jones, and Jennifer Egan; or varying takes on blackface minstrelsy, Weisbard charts an alternative history of American music as told through its writing. As Weisbard demonstrates, the most enduring work pursues questions that linger across time period and genre—cultural studies in the form of notes on the fly, on sounds that never cease to change meaning.


Book Synopsis Songbooks by : Eric Weisbard

Download or read book Songbooks written by Eric Weisbard and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-23 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Songbooks, critic and scholar Eric Weisbard offers a critical guide to books on American popular music from William Billings's 1770 New-England Psalm-Singer to Jay-Z's 2010 memoir Decoded. Drawing on his background editing the Village Voice music section, coediting the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and organizing the Pop Conference, Weisbard connects American music writing from memoirs, biographies, and song compilations to blues novels, magazine essays, and academic studies. The authors of these works are as diverse as the music itself: women, people of color, queer writers, self-educated scholars, poets, musicians, and elites discarding their social norms. Whether analyzing books on Louis Armstrong, the Beatles, and Madonna; the novels of Theodore Dreiser, Gayl Jones, and Jennifer Egan; or varying takes on blackface minstrelsy, Weisbard charts an alternative history of American music as told through its writing. As Weisbard demonstrates, the most enduring work pursues questions that linger across time period and genre—cultural studies in the form of notes on the fly, on sounds that never cease to change meaning.


Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music

Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music

Author: Ross Hair

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-12-08

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1317123581

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Released in 1952, The Anthology of American Folk Music was the singular vision of the enigmatic artist, musicologist, and collector Harry Smith (1923–1991). A collection of eighty-four commercial recordings of American vernacular and folk music originally issued between 1927 and 1932, the Anthology featured an eclectic and idiosyncratic mixture of blues and hillbilly songs, ballads old and new, dance music, gospel, and numerous other performances less easy to classify. Where previous collections of folk music, both printed and recorded, had privileged field recordings and oral transmission, Smith purposefully shaped his collection from previously released commercial records, pointedly blurring established racial boundaries in his selection and organisation of performances. Indeed, more than just a ground-breaking collection of old recordings, the Anthology was itself a kind of performance on the part of its creator. Over the six decades of its existence, however, it has continued to exert considerable influence on generations of musicians, artists, and writers. It has been credited with inspiring the North American folk revival—"The Anthology was our bible", asserted Dave Van Ronk in 1991, "We all knew every word of every song on it"—and with profoundly influencing Bob Dylan. After its 1997 release on CD by Smithsonian Folkways, it came to be closely associated with the so-called Americana and Alt-Country movements of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following its sixtieth birthday, and now available as a digital download and rereleased on vinyl, it is once again a prominent icon in numerous musical currents and popular culture more generally. This is the first book devoted to such a vital piece of the large and complex story of American music and its enduring value in American life. Reflecting the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of Smith’s original project, this collection contains a variety of new perspectives on all aspects of the Anthology.


Book Synopsis Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music by : Ross Hair

Download or read book Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music written by Ross Hair and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Released in 1952, The Anthology of American Folk Music was the singular vision of the enigmatic artist, musicologist, and collector Harry Smith (1923–1991). A collection of eighty-four commercial recordings of American vernacular and folk music originally issued between 1927 and 1932, the Anthology featured an eclectic and idiosyncratic mixture of blues and hillbilly songs, ballads old and new, dance music, gospel, and numerous other performances less easy to classify. Where previous collections of folk music, both printed and recorded, had privileged field recordings and oral transmission, Smith purposefully shaped his collection from previously released commercial records, pointedly blurring established racial boundaries in his selection and organisation of performances. Indeed, more than just a ground-breaking collection of old recordings, the Anthology was itself a kind of performance on the part of its creator. Over the six decades of its existence, however, it has continued to exert considerable influence on generations of musicians, artists, and writers. It has been credited with inspiring the North American folk revival—"The Anthology was our bible", asserted Dave Van Ronk in 1991, "We all knew every word of every song on it"—and with profoundly influencing Bob Dylan. After its 1997 release on CD by Smithsonian Folkways, it came to be closely associated with the so-called Americana and Alt-Country movements of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following its sixtieth birthday, and now available as a digital download and rereleased on vinyl, it is once again a prominent icon in numerous musical currents and popular culture more generally. This is the first book devoted to such a vital piece of the large and complex story of American music and its enduring value in American life. Reflecting the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of Smith’s original project, this collection contains a variety of new perspectives on all aspects of the Anthology.


My Curious and Jocular Heroes

My Curious and Jocular Heroes

Author: Loyal Jones

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2017-08-25

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 0252099699

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We were going down the road, and we came to this house. There was a little boy standing by the road just crying and crying. We stopped, and we heard the biggest racket you ever heard up in the house. œWhat TMs the matter, son? œWhy, Maw and Paw are up there fightin TM. œWho is your Paw, son? œWell, that TMs what they are fightin TM over. Brimming with ballads, stories, riddles, tall tales, and great good humor, My Curious and Jocular Heroes pays homage to four people who guided and inspired Loyal Jones TMs own study of Appalachian culture. His sharp-eyed portraits introduce a new generation to Bascom Lunsford, the pioneer behind the œmemory collections of song and story at Columbia University and the Library of Congress; the Sorbonne-educated collector and performer Josiah H. Combs; Cratis D. Williams, the legendary father of Appalachian studies; and the folklorist and master storyteller Leonard W. Roberts. Throughout, Jones highlights the tales, songs, jokes, and other collected nuggets that define the breadth of each man TMs research and repertoire.


Book Synopsis My Curious and Jocular Heroes by : Loyal Jones

Download or read book My Curious and Jocular Heroes written by Loyal Jones and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2017-08-25 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We were going down the road, and we came to this house. There was a little boy standing by the road just crying and crying. We stopped, and we heard the biggest racket you ever heard up in the house. œWhat TMs the matter, son? œWhy, Maw and Paw are up there fightin TM. œWho is your Paw, son? œWell, that TMs what they are fightin TM over. Brimming with ballads, stories, riddles, tall tales, and great good humor, My Curious and Jocular Heroes pays homage to four people who guided and inspired Loyal Jones TMs own study of Appalachian culture. His sharp-eyed portraits introduce a new generation to Bascom Lunsford, the pioneer behind the œmemory collections of song and story at Columbia University and the Library of Congress; the Sorbonne-educated collector and performer Josiah H. Combs; Cratis D. Williams, the legendary father of Appalachian studies; and the folklorist and master storyteller Leonard W. Roberts. Throughout, Jones highlights the tales, songs, jokes, and other collected nuggets that define the breadth of each man TMs research and repertoire.


Folk Music

Folk Music

Author: Greil Marcus

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2022-10-11

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0300255314

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Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs "Marcus delivers yet another essential work of music journalism."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic."--Hilton Als "Greil Marcus is already the most important chronicler of Dylan. But here he outdoes himself."--Rachel Kushner Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national songbook in a way that comes from his own vision and yet can feel as if it belongs to anyone who might listen. In Folk Music, Greil Marcus tells Dylan's story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcus's point of departure is Dylan's ability to "see myself in others." Like Dylan's songs, this book is a work of implicit patriotism and creative skepticism. It illuminates Dylan's continuing presence and relevance through his empathy--his imaginative identification with other people. This is not only a deeply felt telling of the life and times of Bob Dylan, but a rich history of American folk songs and the new life they were given as Dylan sat down to write his own.


Book Synopsis Folk Music by : Greil Marcus

Download or read book Folk Music written by Greil Marcus and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs "Marcus delivers yet another essential work of music journalism."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic."--Hilton Als "Greil Marcus is already the most important chronicler of Dylan. But here he outdoes himself."--Rachel Kushner Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national songbook in a way that comes from his own vision and yet can feel as if it belongs to anyone who might listen. In Folk Music, Greil Marcus tells Dylan's story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcus's point of departure is Dylan's ability to "see myself in others." Like Dylan's songs, this book is a work of implicit patriotism and creative skepticism. It illuminates Dylan's continuing presence and relevance through his empathy--his imaginative identification with other people. This is not only a deeply felt telling of the life and times of Bob Dylan, but a rich history of American folk songs and the new life they were given as Dylan sat down to write his own.