What do I need to read first to get the most out of this

>>9677332
"Read" lots of old folk songs. Dylan makes a lot of allusions to those.

>>9677332
Start with Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

>>9677332
Moby Dick, the Odyssey, and whatever the other one was.

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>>9677332
Read Dylan's Chronicles. (It's quite good, actually.)

Also read Hadju's Positively Fourth Street (also quite good), which gets into some of the personalities and relationships that went into, eg, Visions of Johanna.

>Inside the museums
>infinity goes up on trial.
>Voices echo this is what
>salvation must be like after a while.
>But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
>You can tell by the way she smiles.

What BOB song is (probably) alluded to in the cover art to pic related album?

What did he mean when he went from BOB to JWH?

>>9677350
>"Read" lots of old folk songs. Dylan makes a lot of allusions to those.

Indeed. Eg, "Memphis Blues Again" alludes to an old WC Handy song, Memphis Blues.

Relatedly, "Fourth Time Around" is, in part, a parody of Norwegian Wood, and in further part, a song about a woman that manages to be far deeper and more complex on the subject while half joking around than Lennon managed to be while being perfectly serious.

Picture yourself being John Lennon listening to "Fourth Time Around" while tripping on acid.

I was reading tarantula and had no idea what the fuck is going on.

>>9677410
I don't think he necessarily meant anything by going from an electric album to an acoustic album. It was like when he first started going electric; it's just what he wanted to do.

Blood On The Tracks (his best) was also supposed to be electric before he rerecorded it , just because he liked how it sounded better.

We had a similar thread awhile back and one anon said he preferred Steely Dan to Dylan, saying that Steely Dan and Dyland were trying to hit the same point in their lyrics, but that Steely Dan was ultimately more successful. I kind of understood what he meant, but not entirely.

Bob Dylan is a great lyricist. No doubt his image in pop culture has affected the way I read him, but his electric albums all conjure up such fun surreal beatnik carnivals.