The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling, 1941-1966
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- Create Date：2021-05-29 12:31:26
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Clinton Heylin
- ISBN：1549150219
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Summary
From the world's leading authority on Bob Dylan comes the definitive biography that promises to transform our understanding of the man and musician--created with early access to Dylan's never-before-studied archives。When it was announced， nearly two years ago， that the pre-Nobel Bob Dylan had sold his personal archive to the George Kaiser Foundation in Tulsa， Oklahoma for the astonishing sum of $22 million， the shock was palpable。 Initially， one almost wondered if this was the pop culture equivalent of the Hitler diaries。 How could there be this much material accumulated and archived from one of the world's least fastidious documenters of his own work？ It simply couldn't be true。But what Clinton Heylin， considered to be the leading expert on Dylan's life and work， found when he traveled to the archives was enough to make him entirely rethink his understanding of music's greatest living legend。 Boxes of small notebooks into which Dylan wrote in his microscopic hand his draft ideas， beginning in 1967 and stretching to the present day， previously undocumented working notebooks for Blood on the Tracks; multiple drafts of his novel， Tarantula; letters and contracts that show Dylan's hard-won business acumen and artistic integrity time and time again; and， most exciting of all， so many song drafts for the majority of his key songs that a complete rethink of his working methods--and industry--is now required。With the discovery of such vast and previously unseen materials， Heylin had no choice but to return to Dylan。 This time， by cutting his career in half， The Double Life of Bob Dylan dives deeper， explores further， and more thoroughly captures the enigmatic artist than has ever been done before。
Reviews
Steve
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This is the most well-researched （thanks to Tulsa and lots of new work by the author） biography of Bob Dylan there is， and I've read them all。 It's a pity it ends after the '66 tour， and I hope Heylin is able to convince his publishers to do two more volumes instead of just one。 This only really covers the years of 1961， when Dylan went to New York， to mid-66， with good flashbacks to his real youth。 The level of detail is perfect。 Heylin is not shy about pointing out errors in others works （and This is the most well-researched （thanks to Tulsa and lots of new work by the author） biography of Bob Dylan there is， and I've read them all。 It's a pity it ends after the '66 tour， and I hope Heylin is able to convince his publishers to do two more volumes instead of just one。 This only really covers the years of 1961， when Dylan went to New York， to mid-66， with good flashbacks to his real youth。 The level of detail is perfect。 Heylin is not shy about pointing out errors in others works （and boy， is he not shy）， but he is also good at owning up to his own mistakes in other books， especially about the contracts that Columbia and Dylan and Grossman signed。 Previously， it had been presented as a Grossman power grab， and it was， but it was also Columbia taking advantage of a young Bob Dylan。 It'll take the next volume to get to the bottom of this。（I found two errors in the book， a misspelling of Samuel R。 Delany's name as "Delaney" and calling a different composer the composer of The Good The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack， instead of Ennio Morricone。）Those who aren't familiar with Dylan's career， or don't have the correct level of obsession， might want to skip it in favor of a more complete biography， though I don't have one to recommend。 As for me， who is obsessed enough， I found it to be very enjoyable and informative read。 It'll be a long time before we get a better biography。 I'd give it 5 stars， but I like to reserve those。 。。。more
Steve
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The guy knows his Bob。 Still， while this is a very enjoyable page-turner， I'm not sure that the Tulsa material adds that much to a story that Heylin has told many times （and not always as snarkily as he does here）， most impressively in Behind the Shades （Revisited）， the best Bob bio to date。 Not sure if this will replace that one-- the next volumes will tell that tale。 The guy knows his Bob。 Still， while this is a very enjoyable page-turner， I'm not sure that the Tulsa material adds that much to a story that Heylin has told many times （and not always as snarkily as he does here）， most impressively in Behind the Shades （Revisited）， the best Bob bio to date。 Not sure if this will replace that one-- the next volumes will tell that tale。 。。。more
Nigel Thomas
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Heylin returns for second bite of the cherry with a second major biography of Dylan following the seminal “Behind the Shades” What draws him back to shake hands with the bard is the Dylan archive at Tulsa and this volume takes the story up until 1966 and the end of the legendary electric tour with another volume （ or more？） to come。I’ve taken a star off for Heylin’s unnecessary disrespect of other biographers in the introductory sections which left a sour taste in the mouth。 Not sure what he mea Heylin returns for second bite of the cherry with a second major biography of Dylan following the seminal “Behind the Shades” What draws him back to shake hands with the bard is the Dylan archive at Tulsa and this volume takes the story up until 1966 and the end of the legendary electric tour with another volume （ or more？） to come。I’ve taken a star off for Heylin’s unnecessary disrespect of other biographers in the introductory sections which left a sour taste in the mouth。 Not sure what he means either by calling Scorcese’s Rolling Thunder film a mockumentary。 What is THAT shit？However as usual Heylin proves himself to be a meticulous researcher into all things Bob and the book has extensive bibliographies， notes and indexes。 I think he’s the first writer to get access to the archive but I wasn’t struck by anything particularly revelatory from the research。 Nevertheless indispensable to anyone interested in Dylan and a fresh look at his life and artRecommended。 。。。more
Michael Reilly
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Heylin complains in his introduction that Dylan researchers are usually referred to as "obsessives" but Shakespeare researchers are called "scholars"。 Heylin is a Dylan obsessive， in the best possible way。 This is his eleventh book on Dylan。 Depending on how you count his revisions， this is his second or third version of a full biography。 This five hundred page book， volume one of two， covers the period from Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 to just before his motorcycle accident in th Heylin complains in his introduction that Dylan researchers are usually referred to as "obsessives" but Shakespeare researchers are called "scholars"。 Heylin is a Dylan obsessive， in the best possible way。 This is his eleventh book on Dylan。 Depending on how you count his revisions， this is his second or third version of a full biography。 This five hundred page book， volume one of two， covers the period from Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 to just before his motorcycle accident in the middle of 1966， with two chapters mixed in covering his first nineteen years from 1941 to 1960。Heylin is a pugnacious biographer。 He battles Dylan， other biographers， memoir writers， Dylan friends， careless reporters， lying businessman and faulty memories to get to the truth of what happens。 He slashes away at those he considers sloppy or wrong。 This is not a voice-of-God biography。 Heylin explains why he is correct and they are wrong。 Dylan is the perfect subject for this kind of biographer。 Dylan did not want to be understood by anyone。 He lied， made up stories， deflected questions and spread a cloud of bullshit around himself。 More importantly， Dylan was a willfully complex person。 He was never one type of person and he changed constantly。 The best quote in the book is from Bernard Paturel。 He owned a café in Woodstock that Dylan frequented。 He said that Dylan "got so many sides he is round。"Heylin spends huge energy trying to straighten out what happens。 He spends two pages on who was in the car with Dylan when he first drove from Minneapolis to New York。 He unravels when Dylan wrote which songs， who was in each recording session and the sources and inspiration for the lyrics and melodies。 Heylin interviews everyone。 He has read every newspaper story， magazine article and book about Dylan。 He mines great stuff from auction catalogs of Dylan letters， notebooks， and memorabilia 。 He is the first one to have deeply mined the massive collection of papers Dylan sold to the University of Tulsa。 He has scoured the business records of the record companies and publishers who handled Dylan。 Heylin also tries to understand what kind of man Dylan was。 There is much that is unpleasant about him。 He was a compulsive liar。 He was wildly insecure。 He was a compulsive philanderer who expected absolute loyalty and love from the woman in his life。 He bullied and abused those who worked for him and tended to surround himself with flunkies。 Heylin is brutally honest about Dylan the man。 Dylan the musician was an earthquake。 He created the idea that pop music was not just entertainment。 The Beatles， The Rolling Stones， Jimi Hendrix， The Byrd's， and every singer songwriter acknowledged that Dylan changed their idea of what they were doing。 （He is also to blame for a huge amount of pretentious crap by performers who tried to do what he did， but who were not geniuses。）Heylin tells the story of the pop world coming to grips with Dylan。 Dylan had a difficult and tense relationship with the Beatles。 He famously humiliated Donovan， who was called the English Dylan。 Phil Ochs was a well known folksinger and songwriter。 In their earlier days， he and Dylan were rivals。 Ochs was a master of the protest song。 Heylin tells the story of Ochs criticizing Dylan for his electric sound and Dylan delivering a crushing response; "Phil， you're not a songwriter， you're a journalist。"The book is packed with fascinating details。 Dylan's first paid gig in New York was two weeks at Gerde's Folk City as the opening act for John Lee Hooker。 Hooker is my favorite bluesman。 Those are the shows I would most liked to have seen in history。 It is interesting that they both were playing acoustic guitars in those shows， although they both， in the end， believed that they should be playing their music with electric guitars。Dylan tells a newspaper interviewer that he doesn't write songs like Woody Guthrie anymore because "Woody's words are group words。" That neatly summarizes Woody's weakness as a songwriter。 Almost all of his songs have a verse or two that are preachy "group words"。 They are usually the verses people skip。 Heylin makes the claim that "Visions of Johanna" is possibly Dylan's greatest song。 It is a perfectly respectable opinion。 I have had at least forty songs over the last 54 years which I have considered to be Dylan's greatest song。 "Vision of Johanna" was not on that list。 Today at 7:52 pm I would say that "Tomorrow is a Long Time" is Dylan's greatest song。 In 1961 Peter Stampfel， later a founder of "Holy Modal Rounder"， said that Dylan was singing traditional songs but "his singing style and phrasing were stone rhythm and blues。" That is a brilliant way to explain the difference between what he was doing and what Pete Seeger or the Kingston Trio was doing。 It struck me that the jazz players in the fifties hated rhythm and blues because it was a driving sound with a simple 4-4 or 6-8 beat。 There was no room to open and groove。 Heylin quotes Robbie Robertson trying to explain to a new drummer what Dylan was looking for from his drummer。 Robertson tells him "Rule number 1， don't swing， never swing"。 When Dylan went electric， he was doing his version of rhythm and blues。 Heylin takes shots at everyone。 I don't agree with him that Joan Baez "sucked the life out of" Dylan's songs。 Most of Dylan's friends， wives and business associates come in for criticism， some fair and some notMany of his shots at other writers seem gratuitous。 Dave Marsh is a good writer who has written a lot of interesting stuff about Dylan。 Heylin is discussing a collection of Dylan photographs。 He slides in ， "as Dave Marsh notes in his insipid introduction。。" While taking a shot at John Lennon's ignorance of publishing rights， he says， 'what he knew about song-publishing law could written on a penny black stamp with room left over for the collected insights of Philip Norman。" Norman is a biographer who is best known for his Beatles book。 Heylin seems to feel that he can't be a great rock writer unless he shows that all the other ones are no good。 A few quibbles。Heylin has a casual wise-guy writing style。 He has fun and enjoys turning a phrase。 I enjoy his habit of explaining how he knows what he tell us。 Sometimes， however， he loses control of his sentences。 They go on for so long with so many twists and turns that I found I had to re-read them to follow the point。 An example; "The first rockzine of its kind， "Crawdaddy" would tap into enough of a latent demand to convince Williams to quit formal education， and for a more businesslike "rock fan" on the West coast to form "Rolling Stone"， ultimately stealing his thunder。" It doesn't all have to be in one sentence。One editing problem is not Heylin's fault。 His footnote are excellent。 He uses them for fun stuff that don't fit into the narrative and for some zingers。 At several point the footnotes are misaligned to the page。 There is a footnote on a page with no indicator in the text。 It turns out it is a footnote to the text on the next page。 I suspect last minute editing and no checking of the footnote editing。 I enjoyed this book much more than the above would indicate。 This is a very smart guy with a huge amount of knowledge and feel for the subject and the scene。 He is writing about the greatest songwriter of my lifetime who is also a wildly complicated and difficult man。 Any one interested in Dylan should read this。 。。。more
Ciaran W
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