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RIGHT OUT OF THE STARTING GATE OF THIS ENTRY, let me lay out the ground work...I have been listening to Bob Dylan's new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, which has: a.) grabbed and held my attention more than any of his others albums (and I have most of them), and, b.) given me cause to spend some time attempting to unravel some of his engmatic ways (me and a zillion other people).
Now, I might be willing to suggest that, on his new album, Dylan himself has encouraged and and dropped more than a few clues to push the inquisitive in that same direction. Consider these lines from his song, False Prophet...
You don't know me, darlin'
You never would guess
I'm nothing like my ghostly appearance would suggest
However, be that as it may, I'm not writing this to be a review of the new album*. Rather, I just want to pass along, as I did a few entries back, a few of Dylan's words / thoughts that I discovered in my digging about the interweb and which I think apply really well to the medium of photography and its apparatus.
So, without further ado, here's an excerpt from Dylan's Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture**. I have highlighted sentences in bold that I believe to be relevent to my point ....
Myself and a lot of other songwriters have been influenced by these very same themes. And they can mean a lot of different things. If a song moves you, that’s all that’s important. I don’t have to know what a song means. I’ve written all kinds of things into my songs. And I’m not going to worry about it – what it all means....
....John Donne as well, the poet-priest who lived in the time of Shakespeare, wrote these words, “The Sestos and Abydos of her breasts. Not of two lovers, but two loves, the nests.” I don’t know what it means, either. But it sounds good. And you want your songs to sound good....
....Our songs are alive in the land of the living. But songs are unlike literature. They’re meant to be sung, not read. The words in Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be acted on the stage. Just as lyrics in songs are meant to be sung, not read on a page. Our songs are alive in the land of the living. And I hope some of you get the chance to listen to these lyrics the way they were intended to be heard: in concert or on record or however people are listening to songs these days. I return once again to Homer, who says, “Sing in me, oh Muse, and through me tell the story.”
To wit, picture makig wise....
If asongpicture moves you, that’s all that’s important. [You] don’t have to know what asongspicture means....songpictures are unlike literature. They’re meant to besungseen, not read....
I hope some of you get the chance tolistensee these pictures the way they were intended to beheardseen: inconcertprint or on arecordwall or however people arelisteningviewingsongspictures these days.
And, to be certain, with my picture making, I am totally on board with Dylan when he states (with my annotations)....
....I don’t know what it means, either. But itsoundslooks good. And you want yoursongspictures tosoundlook good.
*While not a review, I would neverthelss strongly recommend the purchase of this album. Then, give yourself a pour of the True Holy Water"-as Pope Francis exclaimed when handed a gift of OBAN Single Malt Scotch Whisky-sit back and listen, begining to end. Although, it is worth noting that my listening, while enhanced by the OBAN, was also enriched by the fact that the bard and I are both in our 7th decade.
** A highly recommended read, ALTHOUGH, it is even better if you listen to it.