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I can't explain why I love Bob Dylan's music, I've suffered for years listening to jokes about "A voice like sand and glue" but it doesn't bother me. I remember how I first got into Dylan: One day outside the City Hall in Newcastle in about 1977 I saw a man standing in the queue who looked really cool and tucked under his arm was a copy of "Highway 61 revisited". At about the same time I was really into Jimi Hendrix, raucous guitar solo's etc and one of my favourite tracks was "All along the watchtower" - I loved the imagery in the words. One day I realised that this track was written by Bob Dylan too.

My first Dylan album was "More greatest hits" because it contained the aforementioned track and the first new album I bought was "Street Legal" I was hooked. The following year Dylan toured and played six nights at Earls Court. The second of these coincided with my last O-level exam. I moaned on for ages to my parents about how he hadn't toured since 1969 and how it could be another 10 years before he came back. I threatened to take all of my holiday money out of the bank and hitchhike to London and stand outside Earls Court until someone sold me a ticket. Another date was added to the tour at Blackbushe Aerodrome but it clashed with a family holiday. My father eventually let us go to the show and so not only did I get to see Dylan but I went to my first festival as well.

Since then I have seen Dylan on 10 more times - (a fact that my mother kept reminding me of) and they were as follows:

Blackbushe Aerodrome - 17th July 1978
Earls Court - 28th June 1981
St. James Park, Newcastle - 5th July 1984
Wembley Stadium - 7th July 1984
Wembley Arena - 14th October 1987 (with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
Wembley Arena - 8th June 1989
Hammersmith Odeon - 6th February 1990
Hammersmith Odeon - 9th February 1993
Glastonbury Festival - 28th June 1998
Brighon Centre - 4th May 2002
Brixton Academy - November 2003

I think the best example as to why Dylan is a genius can be heard by listening to his lyrics, one of the best examples can be found on "The Travelling Wilburys" first album. "Tweeter and the Monkeyman" is like a film screenplay set to music!

"Tweeter and the Monkeyman were hard up for cash
They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
To an undercover cop with a sister named Jan
For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkeyman."

Dylan

The story unfolds and though it never really makes any sense it creates a mental picture of these people in your mind. This cinematic imagery is a constant theme throughout Dylan music and can rarely be matched by any other writer of popular music.

Another excellent example of Dylan's imagery comes on Street Legal

"Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled,
Was that train load of fools bogged down in a magnetic field,
A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring
Said, "Son, this ain't a dream no more it's the real thing""

Anyway those are a few reasons why I like Bob Dylan.

Lyric's used without permission - Sorry Bob!

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