Taking Sides: Dylan vs. Donovan

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Clearly Donovan, of course.

Tell me why?

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan's not responsible for the Wallflowers, I'll give him that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

i have never heard donovan. but of course it's not dylan.

― lexpretend (lexpretend), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

SACRED COW

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

Hurdy Gurdy Man is the best song of the flower power era. Fact.

Yeah, he's drippy and twee, but he's drippy and twee on very strong LSD. Plus, drippy and twee with Led Zeppelin as his backing band.

Plus, he has better shirts. And the best West Coast Dylanamericana by way of Glasgow accent until the Jesus and Mary Chain made a career of it.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

x-post, I'm not having a go at Dylan's sacred cow. I like Dylan.

I just like Donovan better.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan kinda pwned Donovan in "Don't Look Back".

Then again, it was his film.

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan was a putz.

If Donovan had made a film, he wouldn't have bothered pwning anyone, he'd have just wandered off in his own little world and talked to lillies or aspidistras or something.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

dylan is a bit mean to him in that film.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan was mean to everyone during that period. that was his schtick. Amphetamine paranoia makes people not vary nice. (Please do not sue me for saying this, I am not pretending to be Edie Sedgewick or anything.)

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

He was quite nice to that Sheriff woman.

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and he was going out of his wayyy to old CharismaRecordsToBePerson as well...

Anyway, back to Donovan...

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan had better shirts. Fact.

http://www.natfinkelstein.com/photos/flashpoint/images/donovan.jpg

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

Over here it's new, it's now, it's you, it's clean
The beard and lipstick scene
So look beyond Big brother, gossip culture,
So bored of stupidity
The myth of common sense
I believe in Donovan over Dylan

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

x-post What on earth is that?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/features/wallpaper/images/640/donovan.jpg

Dylan's shirts don't even come close:

http://dpcc.com/lpetix/lists/richard%20and%20bob%20dylan.jpg

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

(Also, Donovan's nose is pointier but only I would notice that.)

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

saint etienne

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

True class.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

It's a close call on the pointyness

http://www.arikah.com/encyclopedia/images/thumb/f/f8/200px-Bob_Dylan_by_Daniel_Kramer.jpg

― Onimo has his finger in the stink (nu_onimo), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

That isn't pointy! It's hooked. And he's got this weird lump on the end of his nose.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

Bob's got one of those USB turntables there!

So ahead of his time! and not his tie, which I nearly typed.

Oh, Donovan has my current glasses and hairstyle in that pic!

This does not mean I look like Donovan, btw.

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

This thread couldn't be any worse if it was just LJ and Derek Belly-Button Piercing swapping details of their sexual fantasies w/ each other.

― Dom Passantino (DomPassantino), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

has Dylan ever written as bizarre a chanting psychedelic anthem to a lost civilisation as "Atlantis" ?!?!? I think not.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

donovan may have better shirts but dylan has better suits and songs and even if he was asshole to donovan in don't look back there wasn't much he could do... play a crappy song? i don't know.

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan only has one tune. I mean, everyone bangs on about what a great lyricist he was and all that, but at the end of the day, he had only one tune. It was the one that went "jangle-jangle-dinga-dinga-jangle-ding".

Donovan had *buckets* of tunes, he understood the essence of a catchy melody in a way that Dylan never really got. Donovan knew how to craft a pop song.

This, to me, is far worthier, than all the lyrics in the world.

Plus, he had waaaaay better shirts.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan only has one tune.

This, m'dear, is simply asking for it...

(Dom zing in 34 seconds)

― I am the best lyrocost since Donovan (Scourage), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

I thought this was a PEW thread.

― jim (jim), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

But Dylan only has one tune!

This is not necessarily a dis. It's like saying that the JAMC only had two songs. They did! They were just very good songs.

Donovan is Pop, therefore he is better than Dylan.

― masonic boom (kate), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

"Barabajagal" is better than any Dylan album I've heard (even though I've only heard a few).

Also, Donovan wants to be known by his real first name. Dylan by his fake surname. Therefore Donovan is friendlier.

Coming from Maryhill helps in my case. National pride etc.

― everything (everything1967), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

"one tune" isn't even a dis so much as it is just wrong

― 1/2 paleontologist 1/2 basketball player (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

it's the laziest criticism ever, perhaps excepting "donovan has better shirts"

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Their powers combined foooorm...DYLANOVAN!!!!!!

― has been plagued with problems since its erection in 1978 (nklshs), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

Can't I just ~~hate~~ respect-but-not-be-very-fond-of them both?

― has been plagued with problems since its erection in 1978 (nklshs), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

It was the one that went "jangle-jangle-dinga-dinga-jangle-ding".

I LOVE THAT SONG

― Mr. Que (Party with me Punker), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

it's no "janga janga janga janga janga da-JANG" but yeah it's all right

― 1/2 paleontologist 1/2 basketball player (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

yeah that is for sure, bro. i can see how one influenced the other, tho.

― Mr. Que (Party with me Punker), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

TEH LEAST THREATNIN ONE TO CHICKS, MANG

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

But Dylan only has one tune!
This is not necessarily a dis. It's like saying that the JAMC only had two songs. They did! They were just very good songs.

Donovan is Pop, therefore he is better than Dylan.

all of this makes ZERO sense.

dylan only has one tune! you know, that tune that sounds just like "blowin' in the wind", "lay lady lay", "tangled up in blue", and "thunder on the mountain"!

― M@tt He1ges0n (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

and those shirts are uggo, but i like donovan pretty much, he's cool.

― M@tt He1ges0n (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Please take pity on Donovan for having Shaun Ryder as his son in law for a while.

― everything (everything1967), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan's not responsible for the Wallflowers, I'll give him that.

TS: Teh Wallflowers vs Camp Freddy

― Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

It's like saying that the JAMC only had two songs. They did! They were just very good songs.

And one of them was "Be My Baby"!

Or was it The Leader Of The Pack"...?

― Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

The JAMC had lots of songs. They only had two good ones.

― everything (everything1967), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 20:54 (nineteen years ago)

they only had two drums. and bobby gillespie played them brilliantly...

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

Setlist:

1. dum...dum dum tcht, dum...dum dum tcht

2. dumdum tcht dumdumdum tcht dumdumdum tcht dumdumdum tcht dum

3. repeat till bottled offstage

― everything (everything1967), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

3. repeat till bottled offstage

Good a place as any to post this gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hclcrEpui64

― Onimo has his finger in the stink (nu_onimo), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

"William tunes his guitar every fucking night" rofl

― Onimo has his finger in the stink (nu_onimo), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

"My favorite colour is gold"

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

The first close-up of Bobby, sorry, Bobby's hair, is the best moment in the whole clip.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Wednesday, 20 December 2006 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan sounds like a vanilla sine wave. Dylan copies EVERYTHING from Woody Guthrie.

Nick Drake is better than both.
*flips table and ducks behind it*

― Cap'n Guthrie (retardo1), Thursday, 21 December 2006 00:22 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan copies EVERYTHING from Woody Guthrie.

Did you fall asleep in 1964 or something.

― Michael (Oakland Mike), Thursday, 21 December 2006 00:50 (nineteen years ago)

Nick Drake > Donovan >>>>>> Dylan

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Thursday, 21 December 2006 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

Nick Drake, Donovan, and Dylan are all great!

― Michael (Oakland Mike), Thursday, 21 December 2006 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

JAMC are masters of the I-IV-V. "Blues From A Gun" is awesome because it sounds like it's not I-IV-V, but then you realize they're actually just using the V as the tonic and it's still those three chords. But it modulates for the "I guess that's why I've always got the blues" section.

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Thursday, 21 December 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

Did you fall asleep in 1964 or something.

ok, so maybe Dylan started sounding like his nose was in his mouth after a while (re: dylan-cash sessions).

― Cap'n Guthrie (retardo1), Thursday, 21 December 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

I think I like Sunshine Superman more than any Dylan albums...but I can't think of many Dylan albums that I really, really love right now.

Turquoise is as good as any early Dylan love song...

I'm probably trying to overcompensate for Dylan's myth by underestimating him though.

― Bizarro Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 21 December 2006 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

If Donovan had made a film, he wouldn't have bothered pwning anyone, he'd have just wandered off in his own little world and talked to lillies or aspidistras or something.

he DID make a film, in which he wanders around the meditteranean in a yacht with his posh hippy friends stopping off every now and then to jam with the locals. while wearing big silly shirts obv.

― zappi (zappi), Thursday, 21 December 2006 05:35 (nineteen years ago)

i will be the sacrificial boring dylan dude and note only that this is basically picasso vs. norman rockwell.

(and i like norman rockwell.)

― tipsy mothra (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 21 December 2006 05:53 (nineteen years ago)

OTM, except that the population polled seems limited to Connecticut residents with stacks of Boys Life back issues in their sock drawers.

― Name Not Found (rogermexico), Thursday, 21 December 2006 07:05 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I played both records for my mum last night, as this is why I bought them.

Put on Bringing It All Back Home.

Kate's Mum: This is not Dylan. This is not nearly WHINEY enough to be Dylan.
Kate: It is Dylan, it's his most famous album.
Mum: Not whingey enough. Not nasal enough. It sounds like someone else "doing" Dylan.
Kate: ::shows her the album cover::
Mum: We used to listen to this in college, you know. He was kind of a cult thing. We thought we were so sophisticated.
Kate: Yeah, I kinda feel like that about Lloyd Cole lyrics now.
Mum: Are you *sure* this is Dylan? Is Mr. Tambourine Man on it?

Pause while we eat dinner.

Kate: He sure goes on, doesn't he?
Mum: All his songs sound exactly alike. OK, I've had enough now.
Kate: Shall I put on Donovan?
Mum: Yes, this is much better

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 10:41 (nineteen years ago)

As straight folk singer/Woody Guthrie copyists, they were both kinda alright. But it's what they did afterwards that makes the differentiation.

Dylan just turned into this boring rockist rootsy rock'n'roll bluesy boringness. Donovan turned into this... just completely off the wall mental psychedelic flower power pop extravaganza with bongo drums and Mickie Most production. He just became more interesting, musically.

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 10:44 (nineteen years ago)

THANKS FOR THE J&MC YOUTUBE!

That's now in my "My Videos" collection.

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Thursday, 21 December 2006 10:46 (nineteen years ago)

man, I wish YouTube worked on my Puter. I'd love to see that JAMC clip.

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 11:04 (nineteen years ago)

I did a video collection called "Psychotherapy" back in the day, clips, videos and stuff, up to "Sidewalking". It's in the loft somewhere and when I find it I'll be knocking out some DVD versions.

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Thursday, 21 December 2006 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know any Donovan albums. Are there are Donovan albums better than Another Side, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks etc?

― Johnney B has zeros off the line (stigoftdumpilx), Thursday, 21 December 2006 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

I can see what's cool about both performers, but I don't much like either one tbh.

― Norman Phay (Pashmina), Thursday, 21 December 2006 11:19 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan is not about albums, he is about singles. (ooh, poppery.) Get yourself any Donovan compilation/best of that has Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Superlungs, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, The Trip.

Then again, maybe I should treat Dylan the same way. Thing is, often he has some very good album tracks that are not as well know as the "hitz" - but the albums have a lot of filler, too.

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 11:23 (nineteen years ago)

You guys do realize that Donovan is at least as much of a twat as Dylan and much less smart, right?

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 21 December 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

I don't actually care. Being a twat or being not very smart never stopped anyone from making great pop records.

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

I've got a Donovan best of (the one with the electric re-recording of Catch the Wind etc) but I really can't stomach all that Atlantis nonsense.

Catch the wind >>> Love minus Zero, obviously.

― Johnney B has zeros off the line (stigoftdumpilx), Thursday, 21 December 2006 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan wrote a handful of songs that I'd usually rather listen to than most Dylan, but Dylan wrote a lot more good songs overall. So I'm torn. I think I'd still take Bringin It All Back Home over any Donovan in the end.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 21 December 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

I like "The Freewheeling" as that's basically a picture of me and Dawn in NY, back in 1996 (how snowy it was)

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Thursday, 21 December 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

I generally agree that Donovan's handier with a tune, but how many Dylans have there been compared to how many Donovans?

I barely listen to either, but when, in my impressionable youth, I did, I couldn't help but feel that there was something slightly ridiculous about Donovan, like he was drinking the Kool-Aid.

Allow me to laud a Donovan song, ably covered by Luna btw, that I like and which has not been mentioned: 'Season of the Witch'.

― Michael White (Miguelito), Thursday, 21 December 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

ANTI-SEMITES

― a_p (a_p), Thursday, 21 December 2006 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

What do you mean by "how many Dylans?"

How many deliberately obfuscatingly obtuse lyricists who are portrayed as somehow ineffably deep? I think my mum got it spot on with the Lloyd Cole comparison - the kind of thing that seems deep when you are in college. But not so deep when you stop taking drugs and/or drinking coffee and staying up all night talking about said lyrics.

(Then again, what do I know? I do not listen to lyrics.)

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

Then, many kids got the christian name "Dylan".

Not so many "Donovans"

Now, th biggest increase is the name "Preston".

I mean, not even Preston's christian name is "Preston"...

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Thursday, 21 December 2006 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

Thing is, Dylan is on my "list of baby names" while Donovan isn't.

It's a lovely name. Like Zimmerman isn't. (now that may be anti-Semitism, yes. Sigh.)

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan just turned into this boring rockist rootsy rock'n'roll bluesy boringness.

oh dear god....

― M@tt He1ges0n (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 21 December 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

xpost it's a great name.

But, like "Tyson", it's going to get related back to Bob. Or Mike, even.

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Thursday, 21 December 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

It's a lovely name. Like Zimmerman isn't. (now that may be anti-Semitism, yes. Sigh.)

Well, that and the hook-nose talk.

I ain't much for twee so Dylan by a ridiculous margin, though I love Andy Merriweather's glam-funk-spaz version of "Sunshine Superman" and this one obscuro weird-ass freak-out acid rock version of "Season of the Witch" done by some late '60s group called the Aliens. (Actually the original "Season" is the best kind of spooky shit, too.)

― f. scott baio (natepatrin), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

What do you mean by "how many Dylans?"

I am, of course, referring to his notorious habit of re-inventing himself. His lyric stye is mostly of a time and I think his adopted moniker is a conscious reference to D. Thomas. One doesn't have to like that style but as it goes, I think Dylan can be quite good.

How many deliberately obfuscatingly obtuse lyricists who are portrayed as somehow ineffably deep?

Again, if your looking for straightforward lytics, you ain't gonna be too happy with Bobby Z, and 'deliberately' and 'obfuscatingly' are adverbs that I doubt you can back up. He's not trying to make 'sense', he's trying to associate different words evocatively. Metaphors don't make 'sense' either but poetry wouldn't be nearly as rich without them.

As to this calumny on my good friend, Mr. Cole, I'm not sure how 'deep' I ever thought his lyrics, though I still find them quite clever.

Anyway, as I always say, quoting Emerson, 'Arguments convince no-one.' People like or dislike as they will.

― Michael White (Miguelito), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

"Has great tunes" /= "makes great pop records"

How many times have I swooned at the opening bars of "Season of the Witch", the bass going down like something warm to drink, the whole machinery starting up... and somehow the execution of it ends up thin, the attempt to realize that promise of apocalypse and foreboding weedily unconvincing. It's naff to say it, but you want Jim Morrison for that song.

Likewise, Ricky Lee Jones' version of "Sunshine Superman" folds Donovan's into a neat square, puts it into a trunk wrapped with locks and chains, and drops it off a ship straight down to the bottom of a very deep part of the ocean.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

nate I'd love to hear that Aliens version!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

OK, I'm kinda joking with the exchange with my mum. And we're treading dangerously into exactly the argument I was having with PBW last week.

As I've said hundreds of times, generally I don't actually listen to lyrics at all. There are a few writers whose lines have engaged me to the point where I actually notice them, but generally I'm not "about" lyrics.

90% of the critical/canonical adulation of Dylan is about his genius wordsmithery. I can't really comment on that. It's one thing to examine lyrics as poetry, and on that there's only taste and experience to debate. (I know that sacred cow taking-down is dull and tedious, but hey, I don't care for Picasso either.) But music is about more than lyrics, and all I can say is that for the most part, his *music* does not engage me.

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

nate I'd love to hear that Aliens version!

It's on this comp:

http://www.turnmeondeadman.net/ADM/GPCCovers/AFistfulOfFuzz.jpg

― f. scott baio (natepatrin), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

Wait, I think I have that Aliens version on another comp. Probably a mixtape, in fact.

― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 21 December 2006 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

can't we drop rickie lee jones off a ship straight down to the bottom of a very deep part of the ocean? donovan can be annoying, but rlj is on a whole new level of grating

― bill sackter (bill sackter), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

aka "a singles artist"

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

waht?

― bill sackter (bill sackter), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

Saying somebody is a great "singles artist" is a great way to wriggle out of the fact that they recorded whole heaping helpings of crap is all I'm saying (and yes I do include RLJ in that category) - however, I have no interest in defending her in toto against/over anyone else; just that almost anybody's version of a Donovan song - even nonexistent cover versions of Donovan songs - sound better than his, to my ears.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

ok, got it - "the role of Ned will be played by Tracer on this thread."

― bill sackter (bill sackter), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

thank you! xpost

― friday on the porch (lfam), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

90% of the critical/canonical adulation of Dylan is about his genius wordsmithery.

i think this is a misconception, if a common one. actual dylan lovers might love the words, but not at the exclusion of the tunes, the arrangements and playing, and -- crucially -- the singing. i think the singing is really where you're on or off the bus. either you think he's one of the great popular vocalists of the last century or you don't. saying "he wrote some good songs" or whatever is basically missing the point. but this is, of course, about the hoariest canon debate in the hoary history of hoary canons. next: BEATLES OR STONES?

― tipsy mothra (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

(modern times, e.g., is a pretty good songs record, but a great vocal record.)

― tipsy mothra (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

I agree but I still laughed my ass off when Tom Scharpling disparagingly compared it to the "Mr. Belvedere" theme.

― f. scott baio (natepatrin), Thursday, 21 December 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

i think this is a misconception, if a common one. actual dylan lovers might love the words, but not at the exclusion of the tunes, the arrangements and playing, and -- crucially -- the singing.

In my opinion, as a Dylan fan, the words are the LEAST important part of it. His lyrics have always seemed rather dadaist and incidental at their most playful. I guess some kind somewhere wants to know WHO EXACTLY are these lumberjacks who get their facts etc., but I was more about the arrangements, the vocal performances, the songs, etc.

― Michael (Oakland Mike), Thursday, 21 December 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

some kid, rather.

― Michael (Oakland Mike), Thursday, 21 December 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

For me (Dylan fan), it's Dylan as a living, breathing, in-the-moment entity. It's his delivery of the lines, his stance, his humor, his intellect, his style, his point-of-view that matter. The recordings are just glimpses into an evolving, multi-faceted poetic life.
To me, that is rock 'n' roll.

(It doesn't even make sense to compare him to other artists.
Other geniuses, maybe)

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 21 December 2006 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

mike bloomfield and al cooper were fucking awesome...i digz their steez

― M@tt He1ges0n (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 21 December 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

Dylan's a song and dance man, Donovan's just a regular joe.

― Mr. Que (Party with me Punker), Thursday, 21 December 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

You guys realize that Donovan is also a deliberately obfuscatingly obtuse lyricist, and it's just that he's so bad at it that his songs work really well as comedy. Which I'm not knockin' - they're great!

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 21 December 2006 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

Just compare their autobiographies (if you can make it through Donovan's) and it'll illustrate who is the most interesting and has the most talent.

― Bob Six (Bob Six), Thursday, 21 December 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

sigh. if only Dave Van Ronk sounded sort of like "Dylan".

― sterl clover (s_clover), Thursday, 21 December 2006 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno.. Dylan can be devastating or provocative or make me lol. Like, hard. I'm not sure I get that range from Donovan. I certainly LIKE Donovan, but for me this one goes to Bobby. And I do like his singing.

― will (will), Thursday, 21 December 2006 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

Donovan is a slave to a page in Dylan's rhyme book.

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Friday, 22 December 2006 01:02 (nineteen years ago)

LOL. Dylan obv.

Gene are better than The Smiths though, and Rush are better than Led Zeppelin. :)

― Geir Hongro (geirhong), Friday, 22 December 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

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