My first memory of Dylan isn’t associated with a song. Many moons ago, participating in an inter-school quiz in Delhi my team was asked for a tie-breaker question- ‘What is Robert Allen Zimmerman more popularly known as?’ We bungled the answer or the other team hit the buzzer first- All I remember is missing out on a goody bag full of noodles.
Later that week, my uncle asked in Bangla, “Tui Bob Dylan-er gaan sunish ni? (Haven’t you heard Bob Dylan’s songs?) and he proceeded to play a few bars of ‘Blowin in the wind’ on his harmonica. In a few hours, I heard Bob Dylan’s best song collection being played out on tape. To someone who was a teenager in the 1960s, not knowing about Bob Dylan wasn’t acceptable.
Those 12 tracks would be all I heard of a man, who was today touted as the greatest living poet, had I not several years later attended college in Kolkata – where ‘Dylan da’ was basic reading (or at least it seemed so at the time). His songs may have been about the American civil rights movement but oddly enough they made sense in 1990s Kolkata.
So it was, as I heard the announcement this afternoon, the question ‘why’ or rather ‘how’ seemed incredulous. And so difficult to sum up in words.
This probably is the best bet – what Barack Obama said of Dylan’s visit to White House.
“Here’s what I love about Bob Dylan: He was exactly as you’d expect he would be. He wouldn’t come to the rehearsal; usually, all these guys are practicing before the set in the evening. He didn’t want to take a picture with me; usually, all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn’t show up to that. He came in and played “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” A beautiful rendition. The guy is so steeped in this stuff that he can just come up with some new arrangement, and the song sounds completely different. Finishes the song, steps off the stage — I’m sitting right in the front row — comes up, shakes my hand, sort of tips his head, gives me just a little grin, and then leaves. And that was it — then he left. That was our only interaction with him. And I thought: That’s how you want Bob Dylan, right? You don’t want him to be all cheesin’ and grinnin’ with you. You want him to be a little skeptical about the whole enterprise. So that was a real treat.”This piece was first published on October 13, 2016 in timesofindia.com
