Customer Reviews

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited (33 1/3)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read a handful of the 33 1/3 line of books, each devoted to a landmark album, and Polizzotti's may be the best.

For starters, it's well-researched, adds original research by Polizzotti himself-- including interviews with the Highway 61 session musicians-- and seeks to settle any mysteries or contradictions extant in previous sources (like who played second guitar on Desolation Row). This is unsurprising, as Polizzotti has proven himself a rigorous scholar in such works as Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton, which was clearly assembled from a mountain of primary sources and original research (and done in French, no less!).

But in addition to solid research, Polizzotti has written an intensely personal book on his history with and interpretation of Highway 61. He walks a fine line, never letting his obviously large vocabulary lead him too far into questionable interpretive territory. His interpretations are convincing, or at least always well-reasoned and explained. When it's impossible or difficult to say what Dylan means by a certain lyric or song (which, as Dylan fans know, is often), Polizzotti has no problem admitting it. He does not force or stretch his interpretations over Dylan's many enigmas.

And this, I believe, is what makes this the perfect 33 1/3 book. If Polizzotti were writing a traditional biographical or journalistic account of Highway 61's creation, his personal descriptions and interpretations would intrude on the narrative. But here, they are not only welcome but epitomize the spirit of the 33 1/3 line. An excellent piece of Dylan scholarship and a fine read for anyone seeking to decode Highway 61 (as far as such a task is possible).

This is the best of the 331/3 series - I'm a dylan freak who's read all the books, yet this has new information (from interviews with Bob Johnston, Al Kooper and others) and insights galore into what was going on in dylan's private and public life and how that found it's way into the lyrics and music of Highway 61. I was sorry to reach the end and wish Mark would write a similar volume on Blonde on Blonde.

This is the best book ever written about Bob Dylan, and one of the best books I've ever read. Polizzotti writes beautifully; he also knows more and understands more than any other Dylanologist I know.

Charles Kaiser

This is the fifth book in this series that I've read, and it is very good. The book is about the album, Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan, and the making of the album, and very little else. It is focused and informative, written in a style that is engaging and reflective, and has brought a deeper understanding to me about Dylan's style and method, as well the album itself. Many of Bob Dylan's songs have eluded me. Even though I may have liked them very much, I often had no idea what many of the songs were about, and many of the translations I would read about or hear from friends didn't make all that much sense. Mark Pollizzatti very comfortably sets the scene for each song, giving it paragraphs and pages of input, giving the reader background information about Dylan, the songs' subjects, and interesting tidbits about Americana that gives the songs greater depth and lends them an easier understanding. And while many of his interpretations are his interpretations, they seem to work well for me, much more so than my own interpretations or that of, say, what a typical Rolling Stone music critic might offer. (Not that there is anything wrong with them).

One example of this might be the number one song of all-time, "Like A Rolling Stone." We've heard all of our lives that songs can be interpreted anyway that the listener wants. It's also true that while a song may have several interpretations, the writer had set out with his own idea. I've spent the last 45 years seeing "Like A Rolling Stone" as a song that was crying out to 'todays' (60s teens) youth, giving them hope, while letting them know that they must get moving, get out there and make your world kind of thing. Pollizzatti gave a nod in that direction and then went about describing an entire social subset as represented by a Dylan acquaintance, a woman, who was literally at the end of her rope and needed to get her act together, or something along those lines. I found this fascinating. The information about "Desolation Row" was riveting. Such a classic eleven minute song with so much to ponder. Pollizzatti gives great assistance in understanding not only the over-all theme of "Desolation Row," but what virtually every stanza meant. Another example of insight is Pollizzatti's detail about the actual Highway 61 that runs from New Orleans to the Canadian border, running right by Dylan's home town, and its importance to the music vitality of the United States, particularly the music that had a profound impact on Bob Dylan.

If you want to see Highway 61 Revisited in great detail from the perspective of a different mind than your own, then I would recommend this book to you. I'm not saying that Pollizzatti has all of the answers, but I will say that he'll give you something to think about. It's actually a very enjoyable read.

The tone of the book is chatty. Specific information in abundance. I enjoyed the read.

I just finished up another 33 1/3 book on Bob Dylan's seminal Highway 61 Revisited by Mark Polizzotti. It is another exhaustively research look at how this great record came together. I think it has three of his greatest songs: " Like A Rolling Stone" (recently voted as the greatest rock song of all time), the underrated "Tom Thumb Blues," and dark "Desolation Row." I need to go back and watch the film Don't Look Back since it was made during this period and has many of the players mentioned in this book. I saw it at the urging of a roommate back in college but I wasn't as invest in Dylan or this record as I am now so it should be a revelation this time around. Another observation I have made is that I am drawn to the surly nature of Dylan's song writing where it seems as though he is trying to get back at al those hypocrites, back stabbers, and people who have tried to drag him down, from "Like A Rolling Stone": Once upon a time you dressed so fine' /You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?' / People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall" / 'You thought they were all kiddin' you' / You used to laugh about / 'Everybody that was hangin' out' / Now you don't talk so loud / 'Now you don't seem so proud / 'About having to be scrounging for your next meal. Another stray observation, Dylan like Patti Smith was heavily influenced by Arthur Rimbaud-"the rock poet."

Good read. This was the type of book I expected when I bought "A Season in Hell: THe making of 'Exile on Main Street'". "Highway 61 ..." is really about the making of the album. Though the album does not compare, in my opinion with "Free Wheelin" and "The Times..", some of the songs are among my Favorite Dylan compositions". The book seems to answer the question as to which Fourth Street (Minneapolis or NYC) is referred to in "Positively ...". And I enjoyed the Al Kooper opinion that Desolation Row was the pre Guiliani 8th Avenue. Also didn't know that a Hanging of African Americans took place in Duluth, MN. Can't get too much further North than Duluth.
If you are a Dylan Fan,Read this Book.