Decoding Dylan

Jim Curtis taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia for 31 years. He lives in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

• Table of Contents Acknowledgments“Songs for Passersby” by James M. CurtisPrefaceIntroductionSection I: Theories and Practices1. Bob Dylan: His Biography and His Career2. The Early Years in New York3. Affinities with Franz Kafka, T.S. Eliot and Pablo PicassoSection II: Songs and Songwriting4. Songs of Transcendence—Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on BlondeTable 1. Chronology of SongsTable 2. Night Songs5. Songs of Assimilation—John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline6. “Putting a Certain Orderliness to the Chaos”Table 3. Rhyme Forms in Dylan’s Songs of the Early 1960sTable 4. Rhyme Forms in Dylan’s Songs of the Late 1960sTable 5. Examples of Triple Rhymes in Tin Pan Alley SongsTable 6. Triple Rhymes or More in Some American Songs (1968–1984)7.  Dylan and Springsteen8. The Real Revolution of the 1960sTable 7. Chronologies of Early Successes of Dylan, Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen by Approximate AgeConclusion: Dylan’s ParadoxesChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“An expert look at the life and work of folk singer-songwriter and cultural icon Bob Dylan...an exceedingly comprehensive portrait of one of American’s most important and enigmatic musicians...excellent job of depicting Dylan as a man...certainly a must-read for Dylan fanatics”—Pop Cultural Studies