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Rock Back Pages Greil Marcus on Bob Dylan and ''Like a Rolling Stone'' CNN) -- The song broke in the summer of 1965, a fired gun of a drum shot followed by words out of a fairy tale: "Once upon a time, you dressed so fine ..." Even Bob Dylan must have known he was on to something when he wrote and recorded "Like a Rolling Stone." Forty years later, the song remains Dylan''s most representative and identifiable, from the stabs of organ (courtesy of Al Kooper, who snuck into the recording session and had never played organ), to the crashing rhythm section, to the twirling exclamation points of Mike Bloomfield''s lead guitar, to the bursts of harmonica, to -- finally -- the sing-along chorus, belted in a triumphant voice somewhere between a sneer and a whine: "How does it feel? How does it feel?" "It draws a line in the sand. Once you cross it, you can''t go back," says rock critic Greil Marcus, author of the new book "Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads" (PublicAffairs). Indeed, "Like a Rolling Stone" is like a gauntlet thrown down, Marcus observes in a phone interview. It''s a dividing line between Dylan the tentative folk singer, famous for writing others'' hits (Peter, Paul & Mary''s "Blowin'' in the Wind," the Byrds'' "Mr. Tambourine Man") and Dylan the rock star, celebrated for his own ("Superstar Bob," as Nik Cohn and Guy Peellaert present him in their book "Rock Dreams"); a gateway from Top 40 pop to album rock (the song, six minutes and six seconds, was the longest non-dance record routinely played on AM radio up to that time); a roar of youthful defiance as the ''60s started getting meaner. And yet, it also seems less written by Dylan than channeled. Indeed, though the words are important and the melody (based on a "La Bamba" chord progression) infectious, the song -- the recorded performance -- transcends them. It''s not for nothing that Rolling Stone magazine named it the greatest song in rock history, ahead of "Satisfaction," "What''s Going On" and even "Johnny B. Goode." "It works on its own terms," says Marcus. "It puts you on the spot. It asks of you the fear and courage that it asks of its subject Greil Marcus bio Greil Marcus has been writing about popular music for 30 years and is one of pop music''s most prominent critics. In 1969, while working as a music columnist for the San Francisco Express Times,he became Rolling Stone''sfirst records editor. He was a music critic for Creemmagazine from 1970 to 1975 and a book columnist for Rolling Stonefrom 1975 to 1980. He also has written extensively for Artforum, the Village Voice, Interviewand the New York Timeson subjects such as art, literature, film and television. His 1975 book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ''n'' Roll Music,now in its third edition, examines the myths and images behind the music of some of the century''s most important popular musicians and is regarded by Rolling Stone as "probably the best book ever written about rock." His second book, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century,examines the various artistic movements and attitudes that have shaped much of this century''s culture. Most recently, Marcus authored Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan''s Basement Tapes,a look at the various folk and blues traditions that in many ways found their culmination in Bob Dylan''s late 60s recordings with The Band. Marcus also edited a collection of the late rock critic Lester Bangs'' writings and with Michael Goodwin, was co-author of Double Feature: Movies & Politics. Marcus served as the director of the National Book Critics Circle from 1983 to 1989 and as a member of the Executive Board of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California at Berkeley from 1992 to 1998. He also serves on the editorial board of Common Knowledge.In 1989, Marcus was the co-curator of an exhibition titled "On the Passage of a Few People Through a Rather Brief Moment in Time: The Situationist International, 1957-1972," which appeared in Paris'' National Museum of Modern Art, London''s Institute of Contemporary Art and Boston''s Institute of Contemporary Art. In addition, he is the director of Pagnol et Cie, the proprietary company for Berkeley''s Chez Panisse restaurant, often listed as one of the best restaurants in the United States. Marcus earned his bachelor''s degree in American Studies in 1967 and his master''s in political science in 1968, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught an American Studies honors seminar at Berkeley during 1971-72 and has since lectured often at Berkeley and other universities and also at museums and art institutes in the United States and Europe. Gabriel marcus books Greil Marcus is the one I can say, unequivocally, is smarter than I am. No contest. All of them are better writers, and most are better educated, but Marcus towers above us all like a hepcat colossus. Usually, even hyper-astute Robert Christgau is merely articulating things I''ve already intuited - and articulating them very well. But, comparing my work to Greil Marcus'' would be like comparing Donovan to Bob Dylan - get real!Greil Marcus was born in 1945, grew up in San Francisco, and studied political science at Berkeley. Like many of his peers in the early rock press, he made a name for himself first at Creem, then at Rolling Stone (where he remains a contributing editor to this day). In a profession not renowned for its intellectual rigor, Marcus had begun to attract attention as a deep thinker with an innate sense of rock''s animal essence. His reputation was sealed with the publication of Mystery Train - a remarkable book that connected the dots between rock and roll and culture-at-large, revealing what Marcus called "unities in the American imagination." San Fransisco Beat Tour Michael McClure Beat Generation- San Francisco Blue Neon Alley Wiki about Michael McClure Michael McClure''s Homepage Beat Museum kerouac.com Michael McClure and Ray mmanzarek web site Michael McClure bio and links |
