The name “Bob Dylan” has been associated with everything from the counterculture movement to Victoria’s Secret to Lucky Jeans.
Most recently, author Mike Marqusee takes a look at the Dylan enigma in the new edition of his book Wicked Messenger, an entertaining and refreshing look at Dylan in the ’60s.
“The point of this book was to explore the paradoxes and difficulties of the period,” Marqusee says in a phone interview from London.
Today’s Dylan, who has toured nonstop since 1988, is a different one. Rarely mumbling more than a few unintelligible words to the crowd, Dylan plays the part of a grumpy old man. But averaging more than 100 shows annually for the past 15 years shows Dylan’s other side – the man can’t be that upset if he chooses to be in the constant presence of fans.
After attending a Dylan show late last year, Marqusee says what struck him most was Dylan’s attitude.
“He was quite serious about his own music,” Marqusee says. “He let it speak for itself.”
But the grouchy demeanor?
“It’s as if Dylan is saying, ‘I did it, I don’t know how, and I don’t want to do it again,'” he says.
The focus of Marqusee’s book — which is an expanded version of 2003’s Chimes of Freedom — is Dylan’s mid-’60s shift from political protest and activism to more abstract and mysterious, culturally-indicting music.
“It was a general response to his times,” Marqusee says.
Dylan became anti-political, challenging both sides of the movement, not only the president but the civil rights leaders. Not just racism but America’s entire system.
“His songs haven’t dated because he penetrated the surface of these issues,” Marqusee says. “He said what was wrong at a deeper level … He is trying to make sense of a world that is utterly chaotic.”
Marqusee has his own hypothesis about Dylan’s contradictions. In the book Marqusee writes, “He can no longer tell the story straight, because any story told straight is a false one.”
Dylan will continue to try to make sense on another U.S. leg of his Neverending Tour, which will stop nowhere near Boston. Sorry.