Books - Reviews by TopPopper

Books - Reviews by TopPopper

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
TopPopper 18th Oct 2015		Book Clinton Heylin - Revolution In The Air (2010)	Review I bought this partly because of its title - I hoped for a Dylan version of "Revolution In The Head". It's not quite that, but it is a song-by-song study of the genesis and development of each of Dylan's known songs, including many obscure to me, and not on his albums ("Gates of Hate"; "Troubled And I Don't Know Why"; "Phantom Engineer" and so on). It's fascinating to read, and the author has an entertaining style. However, he does seem to have some odd views here and there - for example describing "When the Ship Comes In" as a sister song to "The Times They Are A-Changin'" - there's no clear link to this listener's ears, let alone such a close one. Also, he is quite pedantic about factual matters in Dylan's true-life songs, such as "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol", for example taking pains to castigate Dylan for the fact that the real Hattie Carrol was not "killed by a blow, lain slain by a cane", but died of a coronary, and that Dylan missed a T out of William Zantzinger's name. This pattern repeats too often and is a little irritating - in volume 2 for example, he explains (with song lyric quotes to prove the point) how Dylan's version of events in the song "Hurricane" is inaccurate, since when the boxer was stopped by the police, they initially let him go on his way. He makes no allowance for the deliberate creativity or drama in Dylan's narrative, which is a pity. Make allowances for these quirks, and this book plus volume 2 are fascinating documents, detailing Dylan's songbook not just in the 60s but bang up to date. Four out of five for me. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?