Every year in California, there is a meeting of minds called the TED Conference. At this conference people from all over the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) industry gather to discuss new ideas. At this years TED conference, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love" was invited to speak and when she spoke, she spoke of creativity and the creative process.
I believe that there is something to this theory of hers. Back in 2004, Bob Dylan was on "60 Minutes" being interviewed by Ed Bradley. During that interview, something was said that made a profound impression on me as a musician. . It starts as a discussion about the song “Blowin’ in the Wind". Ed Bradley asks Bob if it was true that he wrote the song in 10 minutes. Bob responds with “Probably”.
EB: Where did it come from?
BD: It just came, it came from…um…like a… right out of that wellspring of creativity I would think, you know.
EB: Do you ever look at music you‘ve written and looked back at it and said “Whoa… That surprised me.”
BD: I used to… I don’t do that anymore. Uh… I don’t know how I got to write those songs.
EB: What do you mean, you don’t know how?
BD: Those early songs were almost magically written. I try to sit down and write something like that…ah, there’s a magic to that and it’s not Siegfried and Roy kind of magic, you know, it’s a different kind of penetrating magic and you know, I did it at one time.
EB: You don’t think you could do it today?
BD: (Shakes head no)
EB: Does that disappoint you?
BD: Well, you can’t do something forever and I did it once. I can do other things now but I can’t do that.
If you have ever listened to Bob Dylan's early works, you would have to agree with this assessment. There is a voice behind his words that isn't just the voice of a man but the voice of a generation.
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I was obsessed with Bob Dylan's work during my late teens and early twenties.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, he wasn't on my mom's Dodge Omni radio often...she hated him, particularly his voice (I for one, understand listeners' hesitation to his voice, but love it...maybe BECAUSE of their hesitation). Our car rides usually consisted of the Partridge Family, Moody Blues, Air Supply, Survivor, REO Speedwagon, early bubble gum Beatles (not the great Beatles of the later years) and some random mixed tapes of 80's music. Don't get me wrong, I still love a lot of that stuff today...I'm glad that I was introduced to the mushy goodness of some of those bands. But, it wasn't until I was older that I really found myself in music. Once I learned to think for myself musically and explore it, I discovered one of my favorite artists to date...Bob Dylan.
I truly believe that he was a major factor, contributor, and reason for the journey that I have taken through music since then (and he has the Wonder Years to thank for that...the Times They Are A Changin' was what hooked me to begin with).
I haven't listened to him in quite some time...but thanks to your blog, I will be importing him to my itunes and reconnecting with the man who started it all, for me.