Definitely Dylan

Laura Tenschert

A podcast about Bob Dylan, his music & anything else. Featuring conversations and original analysis of Bob Dylan’s work.

  1. -20 h

    Dylan, Dolly, and Gender Expectations (Bob Dylan Hotline #13)

    In this episode of the Bob Dylan Hotline, we give our opinion on Bob Dylan ~as women~. Is that different from other episodes, you might ask? Not really, but this time we're talking about talking about Bob Dylan as women. The conversation took us in many different directions because we had a lot to say. You can find our earlier conversation on Women and Dylan here. A few notes: 00:18 - A note on the almost impossible popularity of Dolly Parton. The phenomenon of a woman becoming very popular very quickly until the public turns on her and starts tearing her down has now been dubbed as “getting womaned”, since it rarely happens to men to this extent. 00:22 - There are luckily a few examples for “kookie” women, from Björk to Kate Bush to Erykah Badu to name just a few, but I think Rebecca’s point was more regarding how willing the public is to accept that kookiness as part of Bob Dylan's character, while female artists are more likely to be reduced to their kookiness. 00:35 - I’m really interested in how some of Dylan’s early songs challenge the conventional gender dynamic. “It Ain’t Me Babe” is a rejection of romantic stereotypes, but songs like “Hero Blues” and “John Brown” are about women encouraging a harmful masculinity rooted in violence and aggression. For more on this, check out my talk on Bob Dylan’s Heroic Masculinity here. 00:51 - In this context, also consider the re-written lyrics to “To Be Alone With You”, where he sings about wishing to be back in his “true love’s arms / She likes older men, they can’t resist her charms”. Here he directly writes from the place of an “older man”. The same is true for “Spirit on the Water” where he resist the accusation that he’s “over the hill” or past his prime and insists that, given a chance, he’s show her a “whoppin’ good time”.  You can support Definitely Dylan on Patreon or with a one-off donation at buymeacoffee.com/definitelydylan. Book your Bob Dylan Walking Tour of NYC with Rebecca on ramblintours.com. Get your Definitely Dylan baseball cap here. Rebecca’s bootleg version is here.

  2. 13 juil.

    Bob Dylan's Pronouns (Bob Dylan Hotline #9)

    This week on the Bob Dylan Hotline Laura and Rebecca are talking about Bob Dylan's pronouns! In 1978, Bob Dylan told Craig McGregor, "Tangled Up In Blue [was] the first [song] I ever wrote that I felt free enough to change all the... what is it, the tenses around, is that what it is? [...] The he and the she and the I and the you, and the we and the us–I figured it was all the same anyway – I could throw them all in where they floated right – and it works on that level." How does this changing around of pronouns affect how we hear the song? And why does Dylan favour writing in the second person rather than the first? Joni Mitchell has something to say about that. You can listen to Rebecca talk about "Like a Rolling Stone" on the Pod Dylan podcast here. Find the Substack version of Graley Herren's essay on "Sweetheart Like You" here. In case anyone's interested in what I did end up talking about at the conference about Bob Dylan and Masculinity conference, you can watch my talk here. The line from "I Contain Multitudes" about "four pistols and two large knives" is from Shelby Foote's history of the Civil War, as James Adams (bob_notes on Twitter/X) noted here. If you have a question for us, send us a voice memo to bobdylanhotline[at]gmail.com. For anything else get in touch at itsdefinitelydylan[at]gmail.com You can support Definitely Dylan on Patreon or with a one-off donation at buymeacoffee.com/definitelydylan. Book your Bob Dylan Walking Tour of NYC with Rebecca on ramblintours.com. Get your Definitely Dylan baseball cap here. Rebecca’s bootleg version is here.

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A podcast about Bob Dylan, his music & anything else. Featuring conversations and original analysis of Bob Dylan’s work.

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