Like a Complete Unknown: The Poetry of Bob Dylan's Songs, 1961-1969

Book Description
This study explores the poetry of Dylan’s songs from his first album, Bob Dylan (1962), through Nashville Skyline (1969). It covers all the officially released albums of new material from that period. Some attention is given to almost every original song on those albums, and to some songs--singles, outtakes, demos, and other stray songs--not included on the albums. The first chapter treats only a single song, "Like a Rolling Stone," and the second covers Dylan’s first two albums, both of which are miscellanies. After that, each chapter treats a single album (though the discussion of Blonde on Blonde takes up two chapters), and in these chapters, some attention is given both to the individual songs and to their place in the context of the album. Decisions about what to emphasize and what to gloss over are based partly on Hinchey’s judgments about the relative worth of each song or album and partly on his instinct for what is interesting or undiscovered about them. Given Dylan’s history of perpetual self-transformation as an artist, the critical approach is necessarily flexible, varying from album to album and even song to song. But there is a recurrent theme. The most distinctive feature of Dylan’s poetry, Hinchey argues, is the way it is implicitly shaped by the changes (as Dylan imagines them) that are induced in his listener in response to the song as it unfolds. As the lyric unfolds, "you," the listener, are changed by what "you" hear, and anticipating these changes in the "you" he is addressing, Dylan’s perception of and attitude toward "you" changes correspondingly. Moreover, these changes in his perception of "you" provoke in turn adjustments in his perception of and attitude toward himself. Dylan’s characteristic song is seen as a duet for solo voice.

From the Publisher
In one of the most penetrating appreciations yet of Bob Dylan’s lyrics, John Hinchey provides fresh, striking insights into what gives the songs their power and durable appeal. He pays particular attention to the often combative conversation these songs conduct with themselves and with their listeners. Interpreting almost 100 songs Dylan wrote in the 1960s, Hinchey makes a strong case that Dylan deserves a place among the very best American poets. Familiar Dylan favorites are viewed from new perspectives, and several overlooked songs--from "North Country Blues" to "(One of Us Must Know) Sooner or Later"--are shown to be among Dylan’s finest works. Hinchey also provides eye-opening transcriptions for the quoted lyrics that highlight the poetic vitality of Dylan’s songs, something the official printed versions often obscure.

About the Author
John Hinchey, who taught American literature at Swarthmore College, has worked at the Ann Arbor Observer magazine as a staff writer and editor since 1980.


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