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Chronicles, Vol. 1

by Bob Dylan

3.98 · Rating Details · 33,216 Ratings · 1,154 Reviews

"I'd come from a long ways off and had started a long ways down. But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else." So writes Bob Dylan in Chronicles: Volume One, his remarkable book exploring critical junctures in his life and career.

Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first ...more

Paperback, 320 pages

Published September 13th 2005 by Simon & Schuster (first published 2004)

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Audio Book part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE-AF7GG6e0 part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7th7s8IGxs

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Aug 04, 2014 Geoff rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biophilia

I’m going to do something I try not to do here, since I consider this to be a site about other people’s words- I’m going to ramble on autobiographically for a bit.

I bought this first volume of Dylan’s Chronicles the day it came out in 2004, was anticipating the hell out of it. Back then I was managing a used record store in College Park, Maryland. I studied poetry and creative writing at UMD, big waste of my time, could’ve learned all that on my own, learn more now on my own than I did then anyw ...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Ian Grayejoy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: muse-ik, thin-white-mercury-sounds

Positively Fraud Street?

I see you on the street
I always act surprised
I say, “How does it feel?”
But I don’t mean it.

"I can't taste your words,"
You said, "Your songs are just lies."
So I cried that you were deaf,
You'd lost the sight in your eyes.

And I said that you were wrong
When you accused me of theft
But all I really wanted to know was
What else have you got left?

No, I never wasted any time,
And I never took much.
I never asked for your crutch,
Now don't ask me for mine.

Well you got up to leave
And y ...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Paul Bryant rated it really liked it

Shelves: bob-dylan, popular-and-unpopular-music

Conscience impels me to remove one star from my original 5. I'm bewitched, bothered and bewildered.

When this gorgeously written, completely eccentric and endearing memoir came out in 2004 I loved it, and my original review is included below. In the years since then, Dylan fans and commentators have been finding out stuff, and it opens a big can of worms, the worms of

PLAGIARISM

Because, it seems, if the rabid batgooglers and archive monkeys are to be believed, large parts - maybe all - of Chronicl ...more

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Feb 19, 2016 Jonfaith rated it really liked it

Shelves: dickens-derrida-dylan2016

Each phrase comes at you from a ten-foot drop, scuttles across the road and then another one comes like a punch on the chin.

So goes Dylan on the marvel of Pirate Jenny, the haunting number by Brecht/Weill in their Three Penny Opera. Apparently seeing this performed life indelibly changed Dylan's approach to songwriting. I bought myself G.W. Pabst's film version of TPO for this recent Christmas and I was absolutely riveted by Lotte Lenya's performance of the song, she's so cold , so decisive, muc ...more

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Mar 19, 2008 Tosh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mark my words, this book is going to be considered as an American classic piece of literature. Students in the year 2035 will study it, and young men wearing plastic rain coats will be holding this book as a fashionable prop in the most elegant nightclubs.

As for me, this was such a surprise remarkable read. I didn't expect it to be so great. What makes it so great is Dylan personal observations on the world around him. The way he goes through his frirends' library was one of my favorite parts o ...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Lee rated it really liked it

What a wonderful weird book about the influence of cities and sounds, knowing what you want and going for it and getting it thanks to talent, luck, attitude, and meeting the right people. Funny how it emphasizes what no one really wants to know -- "New Morning" and "Oh Mercy" era stuff instead of everything from "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" to "Visions of Johanna" to "Shelter From the Storm" to "Isis." Those songs are hardly mentioned at all -- maybe one or two mentions of "Hard Rain." Otherwise, th ...more

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Jun 28, 2011 Jenn(ifer) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2011, non-fiction, music, memoir

I'm really not a big Dylan fan per se, but that he is an amazing poet cannot be denied. Once upon a time I played a mediocre rendition of "like a rolling stone," mostly because I fell in love with this lyric:

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

No idea where he comes up with this shit, but it's brilliant. Actually, in "chron ...more

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Aug 20, 2013 Salma rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Everyone! Even if they don't like Bob.

Shelves: music, favorites

I really want to talk with Dylan

And it happened. That's what it feels like when you get under the bed covers with this book, no sound but a cricket buzz outside the window. His words come out at you like his music. Unpretentious, romantic. Funny like a Woody Allen movie. It feels like any minute that gravel voice will start whispering out of the pages to you.

A genius talking about his inspiration. What more could you want?

So, what inspired him? Better yet, what didn't? Everything's flowed in ...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Velvetink marked it as to-read

Shelves: wishlist

*********WANT BADLY**********
Mother's Day is coming up! or for Birthday then, Xmas in July, Aussie Friend Day, Happy Person who does your laundry day, Day for people who will beg for books. Well any excuse will do - have loved Bob a long time....will even be embarrassing & pimp my photo here - of a time when I played his records over and over..

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Oct 02, 2008 Dustin rated it liked it

Recommends it for: already disillusioned Bob Dylan fans

Bob Dylan has given us a meandering, often boring and only occasionally interesting account of some of the formative moments of his career. Two thirds of the book is taken up by the story of how he came to record "New Morning" and "Oh Mercy." Yowzah! He gives only glancing, arrogant mention to the days of his most prolific and brilliant songwriting--which is fine, it doesn't shatter my perception of Dylan to find him arrogant and evasive, but I do take umbrage with the boring minutia of the reco ...more

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Apr 09, 2008 Brian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: True Bob Dylan fans & fans of any artists in general

Know this, readers. Bob Dylan has ALWAYS and will forever continue (probably even at his death) to do things HIS OWN WAY!

I read some of the reviews for this book. First off, ignore all those who are not even fans of Bob Dylan or are the ones that wish he would sing "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Tangled up in Blue." Get over it.

What I saw in this book was his inspiration. You will NEVER get this in any biography about any artist. Or at least rarely. Biographies and even autobiographies are a way fo Know this, readers. Bob Dylan has ALWAYS and will forever continue (probably even at his death) to do things HIS OWN WAY!

I read some of the reviews for this book. First off, ignore all those who are not even fans of Bob Dylan or are the ones that wish he would sing "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Tangled up in Blue." Get over it.

What I saw in this book was his inspiration. You will NEVER get this in any biography about any artist. Or at least rarely. Biographies and even autobiographies are a way for the "experts" to place the person in history. Dylan is more than willing to allow the music critics and even historians to do that (yes he acknowledges that he is a historical figure--and he is pretty humbled by it I assume). Just don't expect him to really care. They can pour through volumes of interviews (those that he gave that revealed something of the "inner-Bob") and articles and talk to hundreds of friends and relatives. They will still never KNOW the subject completely. Bob Dylan proved that with this book.

The book is "rambling" for some, but I found this stream-of-consciousness style to be refreshing and definitely influenced by Jack Kerouac or Woody Guthrie--who he has been most compared. His story telling reminded my of a grandfather or the fascinating older man down the neighborhood who would entertain you with stories. Yes they "rambled" and digressed into other subjects. But they were REAL and true and revealed something about the speaker.

I am sure when the book came out almost 4 years ago, people thought "FINALLY he will give us a true picture of his life and influences!" And then they were bitterly disappointed. Bob Dylan has always done things his owne way and refuses to be pigeon-holed into wherevever even his fans want him to be. That is what makes him THE artist for the last half of 20th Century and still into today! He wants true freedom--freedom from being who even millions of people demand him to be. A freedom we all should strive for.

I look forward to reading Volume II and III or IV if ever writes them.

And, finally, CONGRATS on the PULITZER PRIZE, BOB! You were overdue, but I hope your best stuff is still to come and you can collectively tell the music critics and fans that haven't let go of the '60's to shove it! ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 James rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, non-fiction, i-own-paperback

Wow! A dense, extraordinary approach to an auto-biography. Dylan was never going to write a conventional biography, and readers who want one should keep on walking. This isn't for them.

Instead Dylan has constructed a mythology as autobiography. While I think it's fair to assume that everything in this book is true, I think we should probably accept that it's not necessarily literal. He's obviously missed large chunks out for a start - the book really only covers a couple of periods in his life. ...more

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Apr 21, 2014 Tracy Reilly rated it really liked it

Shelves: rock-music

When I was maybe six or seven, and already beginning my lifelong devotion to music, and rock in particular, I remember standing in the Record Department at Arlan's looking at the 45s, since my mother said I could get 5, if my brother and I could agree. We already knew some we liked: Herman's Hermits, the Monkees, The Dave Clark Five, Tommy James and the Shondells, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs:

"What about this one?" My brother said, pointing to a sleeve with a guy with crazy curly hair; "Bobby
When I was maybe six or seven, and already beginning my lifelong devotion to music, and rock in particular, I remember standing in the Record Department at Arlan's looking at the 45s, since my mother said I could get 5, if my brother and I could agree. We already knew some we liked: Herman's Hermits, the Monkees, The Dave Clark Five, Tommy James and the Shondells, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs:

"What about this one?" My brother said, pointing to a sleeve with a guy with crazy curly hair; "Bobby Die-lon, I think that's the guy who sings 'Blue Velvet'; you like him."

I rolled my eyes at the impossible retardedness of younger brothers who focused all their intellectual energy on baseball cards. " That's Bobby Darin..this is Bobby Die-lon--not the same guy!! Retard!!"

Not the same guy, indeed, (actually, I was probably thinking of Dion), and we did not buy that 45 that day, nor was I to give Dylan my rapt attention until about ten years later. And then for the next 30 or so. I even went to see him during that Awful Gospel Period where he sped-played all his greatest hits. Would it be an exaggeration to say I became a poetry lover because of Bobby?

This book sent me off to look at and listen to things I hadn't in the past. Now that I had the source's insight. It made me understand the spot he put himself in as The Protest King and why he traded it in to be King's Jester instead. You would have done it too, if you were him, with the same desire to make art, not war.

Dylan, in unsurprising fashion, does not give away the great secrets people have been longing to hear, but he is more candid than one might expect. I'm not arguing that everything he says here is true, or how much is imagined just enough to keep his chameleon lights going. I was amused, for example, that the great minstrel was still a bit of a fanboy, tracking down the residences and places of significance for various rock legends he admired--I won't give away spoilers for this.

No surprising, his narrative voice is penetrating and clear. He is as good at autobiography as he is a song writing. He is witty, pithy, cryptic, folksy, sage, romantic, and sarcastic. But not as frequently as you might think.

He is also hilarious, which you probably did (think). And if you like his words, but not his voice so much, especially in these latter years, well, this is the place for you, my friend.

Oh, yeah, and there were people who called him Bobby.... ...more

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Jul 03, 2014 Louise rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography, entertainers, writers, music-musicians

Dylan starts with the wide range of influences and images of his early life and career. While you expect to hear about Dave Van Ronk, you are surprised to know that Dylan backed up Bobby Vee and ate burgers with Tiny Tim as a colleague. His lodestar, Woody Guthrie, is here at the beginning and follows throughout. The book which progresses in a non-linear (poetic license) fashion ends with more specifics on his early career. I did not know of the influence of one of my favorites, Spider John Koer Dylan starts with the wide range of influences and images of his early life and career. While you expect to hear about Dave Van Ronk, you are surprised to know that Dylan backed up Bobby Vee and ate burgers with Tiny Tim as a colleague. His lodestar, Woody Guthrie, is here at the beginning and follows throughout. The book which progresses in a non-linear (poetic license) fashion ends with more specifics on his early career. I did not know of the influence of one of my favorites, Spider John Koerner, who receives a good bit of print at the end.

It's a big life and long career, so to squeeze it into book, Dylan had to pick and choose. Some people and times are given cites, some paragraphs, others get a lot of space. Surely there is a lot left out. As you can expect from his lyrics, the text can be both blunt and poetic.

People and experiences that catch his attention and memory can have several pages of narrative. For instance, meeting Archibald MacLeish about a potential project; a surreal conversation with Sun Pie, a Louisiana collectibles dealer; a numerical system of music; the problems of fame and the public's perception of him, and an homage to Robert Johnson. A long section on producing the "O Mercy" album (not mentioned by name) almost seems like an apology.

He hardly seems like the man dubbed "The voice of his generation". The unpretentious tone is like a suburban dad looking back on his youthful times and career. He is more concerned about his family/privacy and various styles of music than political and social currents. The first glimpse of the man who wrote the "Masters of War" is on p. 198 when he notes that Andrew Jackson's sins would not be napalming children (although I believe he Jackson did the 19th century version).

Although one has to wait until the end of the book, it's good to see Dylan address the change in his artistic content. He writes that the world for what he had something to say no longer exists. He says that writing for today's issues requires someone from today's place and time. From here he segues into his roots literally and figuratively; today's issues require a different experience than one could have growing up in a northern Minnesota mining town. He notes the poetry of the rappers is relevant for today because it comes from a today's experience.

The book is written as though he is still married (although he never calls his wife by name) but he had been divorced for at least 10 years at the time of its writing. He speaks well of his X-wife (or wives, the time frame is difficult to tell if he is referring to one, the other or both), almost reverently, just as he speaks of Joan Baez, Suze Rotollo and many other colleagues and influences.

There is nothing here about Dylan's spirituality, his conversion to Christianity or commitment to Judaism. His family is mentioned in vague terms. Every now and then something creeps in, like the mention of a sailboat lost in a storm that had taken the family to almost every Caribbean Island.

If you are a real fan, you have probably already read this. It could be difficult those who don't know his oeuvre and/or this particular musical period. For those with a casual interest in Dylan, one of the (unauthorized) biographies would probably be more satisfying. ...more

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Nov 30, 2013 Ben Winch rated it really liked it

Shelves: music

In some ways a beautiful book. Glowing, inspirational. Unique too, in that it makes us privy to the deep love of a legend for his influences. On the most glowing pages, we see Brecht, Robert Johnson, Mike Seeger, Woodie Guthrie (of course) through Dylan’s eyes, and it’s revelatory. Here he is on the eight extant seconds of Johnson on film:

He’s playing with huge, spiderlike hands and they magically move over the strings of his guitar. There’s a harp rack with a harmonica around his neck. He looks

He’s playing with huge, spiderlike hands and they magically move over the strings of his guitar. There’s a harp rack with a harmonica around his neck. He looks nothing like a man of stone, no high-strung temperament. He looks almost childlike, an angelic looking figure, innocent as can be... He looks nothing like a man with the hellhound on his trail. He looks immune to human dread and you stare at the image in disbelief.

Maybe only such a universally-acclaimed artist could place himself so accurately in the line issuing from these great precursors. Yet, wonderfully, he’s humble throughout. No trace of the hophead smart aleck of Don’t Look Back. No false modesty. And no snobbishness: from purist folk to Judy Garland to Kurtis Blow, if he likes it he likes it. He’s Bob Dylan – why pretend? That said, at times it seemed there wasn’t much else but this string of homages, and of descriptions – of things outer: people, places, anything but him. The insights into his first family-man phase and retreat from the limelight, to me, were negligable, possibly spurious – or let’s say, much aided by retrospective justifications. On recording the maligned New Morning:

Maybe there were good songs in the grooves and maybe there weren’t – who knows? But they weren’t the kind where you hear an awful roaring in your head. I knew what those kind of songs were like and these weren’t them. It’s not like I hadn’t any talent, I just wasn’t feeling the full force of the wind... Truth was the last thing on my mind, and even if there was such a thing, I didn’t want it in my house.

Now maybe he did consciously think this at the time. Or maybe he was just lost. Or was it then that he consciously decided to be lost? Later, of the early eighties, he says:

The mirror had swung around and I could see the future – an old actor fumbling in garbage cans outside the theatre of past triumphs.

Well, Daniel Lanois (thanks to Bono) saves him, but these chapters (‘Lost’ and ‘Found’, let’s call them, though he calls them ‘New Morning’ and ‘Oh Mercy’) don’t amount to much, in light of the vivid burning of the others. In these chapters, Dylan is any rockstar telling his story. In the chapters on his rise to stardom, he’s the prematurely old man in Poe’s ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’, telling of how he lashed himself to a barrel, threw himself in and survived. Now me, I could read about that maelstrom forever, whether it’s Dylan about to dive in in the sixties or Kurt Cobain in the nineties, and it’s rare to get it from the horse’s mouth. For that, this book is priceless. Well-written too. For the rest, it’s a testament to the price of survival.
...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Evan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-faves, 2009-reads, celebrity-famous-bio, music-non-reference, 1960s, ebook-special-coll

"There was a missing person inside of myself and I needed to find him."

God, this is incredible. Completely wonderful. A fucking masterpiece autobiography. Wondrous observation. Surprising self effacement. The wisdom of years. A delicious and well-honed sense of irony. Every sentence a joy. More references in one graph than in whole books. A complete world brought to life. Ruminations and the joy of learning and discovery: Dylan's own and his conveyance of it to us. Dylan's highlights aren't the "There was a missing person inside of myself and I needed to find him."

God, this is incredible. Completely wonderful. A fucking masterpiece autobiography. Wondrous observation. Surprising self effacement. The wisdom of years. A delicious and well-honed sense of irony. Every sentence a joy. More references in one graph than in whole books. A complete world brought to life. Ruminations and the joy of learning and discovery: Dylan's own and his conveyance of it to us. Dylan's highlights aren't the highlights of traditional biographers; they're his own and they make you understand his inner thought processes, his mind, his self better than a bland externalized treatment. Another thing that's great about this is how funny it is. Dylan has a wicked sense of humor.

HALFWAY:
A frequent thematic element of the book is Dylan's war with the media and his public image, his battle against the idea that he was/is "the voice of a generation." His evasiveness, elusiveness and parrying, he says, were intentional. The strategy seems to have worked, and yet the elusiveness seems only to have made him an even more mystical and mythical figure, opening him up to even more iconographic treatment by the media, the critics, the sycophants. I'm not sure Dylan fully realizes the backlash resulting from his attitude. It's a complex and uneasy dance, but it has worked for him nonetheless, for, despite charges of "selling out" by various sectors of his critical and fan base through the years, it's hard to imagine an artist who has managed a more solid balance, in general, of critical street cred and commercial success.
In discussing his "middle period", which seems to have begun with "Nashville Skyline" (an album he talks about at length but never mentions by name; indeed, he rarely seems to mention any of his albums by name), he admits to his creative drought, self-doubt and failings.
This is an observational autobiography; a ramble perhaps, but it hangs together due to Dylan's sweet turns of phrase and often profound musings, mostly flavored by an impish bemusement.

Further in:
Dylan ruminates on how he found a self charging General Electric portable radio in the sand on the beach -- built like a tank -- and yet it is broken; this leads to a lovely passage about how all things become broken. And it led to the writing of a song. This book is like that.

FINAL:
This is about what Dylan sees and thinks. And about people he's met and what they said. It's not chronological; it has its own internal logic, and it's an incredible book. Highest recommendation. ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 Lemar rated it really liked it

Shelves: autobiography

With the breathing room that time brings I can see why Dylan came off as the arrogant smarty pants he did as caught in Eat The Document and other interviews of the time. When watching these interviews the ignorance of the questions and questioners is staggering, almost magnificent. They seem to be saying "fuck with us!" and he almost reluctantly complies. To his credit he chose this path rather than wearing the ego trip mantle "Spokesman For A Generation" that they were trying to fit him for.

It With the breathing room that time brings I can see why Dylan came off as the arrogant smarty pants he did as caught in Eat The Document and other interviews of the time. When watching these interviews the ignorance of the questions and questioners is staggering, almost magnificent. They seem to be saying "fuck with us!" and he almost reluctantly complies. To his credit he chose this path rather than wearing the ego trip mantle "Spokesman For A Generation" that they were trying to fit him for.

Its for that reason that this book came out at the perfect time, interest is still high and everyone, well ok not everyone, had stopped hyperventilating to the point where he felt free enough to write about a fascinating time in which he played a big role. I wondered how his prose would be as to my mind his poetry is sublime and I found him engaging and able to sustain this narrative in a compelling and sympathetic voice.

Having just finished Dissident Gardens I was reminded of Chronicles. Dylan was heir to a broken promise in leftist ideology. So many hitched their belief and hard work for social justice to the star of Stalin only to see it revealed for nothing more than betrayal, another dictatorship. This led to a bitterness and a feeling of "no direction home" that found some expression and home in the Civil Rights movement and the hippie counterculture in the later '60's. More than any other artist he navigated that road successfully despite many telling him he was going the wrong way. His success was measured in his continuing relevance, not easily achieved.

Chronicles is a chance to hear the object of so much prose tell his own story. I saw Dylan live in 2005 and at this time his shows were notable for the fact that his words were almost completely unintelligible! Merle Haggard played first and you could understand him so it was not the sound system. At first this was frustrating. People were asking each other, "what song is this?" " It think it's "All Along The Watchtower". "Really, I love that song!" But this is Dylan, an artist for whom vagueness has become part of his pallet in service of staying true in the glare of hype and overexposure. There is some of that in this autobiography as well, I was left satisfied but wanting more. For me that's the way it should be. ...more

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Sep 09, 2013 Greg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century-history, art-of-writing, american-authors, poetry, autobiography, music, social-analysis, sub-culture, memoir-chronicle

This was a birthday present from my eldest son. I listened to Chronicles, Volume One, which is read by Sean Penn, who does a great job narrating. Such a class actor, he doesn't try to imitate Dylan's voice, but gets the vibe across of what Bob Dylan is, well, chronicling. Dylan, the old chameleon, doesn't give much away about himself, but all the same, being one of the greatest writers of the Twentieth Century, albeit a songwriter and poet, he describes the people and times of Greenwich Village. ...more

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Greg Years ago I read about the game Dylan and the Beatles used to play, writing a song in response to one just released by the other. Example: The Beatles ...more
Sep 11, 2013 05:45AM

Susan Beatle fans (including myself!) are currently very excited indeed about the new Mark Lewisohn biography, which has been promised and delayed and rumou ...more
Sep 11, 2013 08:38AM

Apr 22, 2016 Matt rated it liked it

This is exactly the type of "rock memoir" I'd expect Dylan to write.

The usual formula for these books is: 1 Here's what I was up to as a little kid. 2 Let me tell you how it all started, back before I was famous. 3 This is how I got my "big break" 4 Things got all crazy, and I did too much [fill in the substance] but now I've settled down (but I'm wild and crazy so...you never know!).

Dylan starts off long after childhood with "before I was famous," but right away it's different than what you wo ...more

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Mar 05, 2012 David Hallman rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Hardcore Dylan Fans

Chronicles Vol. 1 has a few moments of insight concerning Dylan's musical influences and non-linear remembrances from his past, small vignettes that are often unrevealing in regards to the overall scope of the enigmatic artist's life. This is not an autobiography, and those wishing for a tell-all of the life of one of the most celebrated singer/songwriters in history won't find much to work with here.

Dylan does ramble at length about the difficulties of fame, his stalkers, and his unwillingness Chronicles Vol. 1 has a few moments of insight concerning Dylan's musical influences and non-linear remembrances from his past, small vignettes that are often unrevealing in regards to the overall scope of the enigmatic artist's life. This is not an autobiography, and those wishing for a tell-all of the life of one of the most celebrated singer/songwriters in history won't find much to work with here.

Dylan does ramble at length about the difficulties of fame, his stalkers, and his unwillingness to be a "spokesperson" for anything. That much feels very real and reveals a softer, family oriented Dylan we don't often see. There are other moments in his writing that fall apart quite spectacularly, especially as Dylan drones on endlessly about some new mathematical algorithm that freed him musically in the mid-80's, but which he mindlessly doesn't incorporate into his recollections of performances or in his recordings. He merely explains this new musical epiphany(rather abstractly and without clarity), stops himself short and then skips to some other unrelated period of his life. It's just one of many hiccups that occur throughout the text, revisiting why Dylan's previous works, Tarantula most notably, was critically denounced decades ago.

Chronicles Vol. 1 is book-ended by recollections of his early days in New York and his start with Columbia Records. In between is a focus on New Morning (a relatively unessential album) and a painfully long exposition on the frustrating process of recording Oh Mercy. Both these sections show just how difficult it is to write at length about the vagaries of the creative process, something even Dylan can't do with any real clarity.

Scattered throughout are some interesting moments from Dylan's past, advice given to him along the way, and friends who lent couches to crash on. It is these small fragments which are the most entertaining, but you have to sift through a lot of nonsense to get to it. Fortunately, the language is not overwhelming and true Dylan aficionados will blaze through the 300 odd pages rather quickly, despite its rather erratic assembly. If you are someone obsessed by Dylan, then surely have a look at Chronicles Vol. 1, otherwise steer yourself to some of the better "unauthorized" biographies out there. ...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Brent rated it liked it · review of another edition

Dylan is a better songwriter than he is an author. That said, I found his book to be fascinating in parts, amusing in others, and a bit unfocused at times. The story isn't linear, but Dylan manages to cover his life from the summer after finishing high school in Minnesota, to recording the album Oh Mercy! in the 1980s. The Greenwich Village parts of the book were particularly interesting and bring to life an era I'll never experience. As someone who is passionate about music, I was intrigued to ...more

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Oct 22, 2011 nzoz rated it really liked it

The better half of this book is about Dylan and folk records. It takes place before Dylan’s first album. To him folk music is a lost art. It has old heroes. Hardly anyone cares about it, but he knows it has power. Dylan is Luke Skywalker and folk music is the force. He’s going to change things with it. His guitar is his lightsaber, he carries it everywhere. he seeks out records and singers to learn their secrets, and we go on this journey with him. the best way to read this would be with youtube The better half of this book is about Dylan and folk records. It takes place before Dylan’s first album. To him folk music is a lost art. It has old heroes. Hardly anyone cares about it, but he knows it has power. Dylan is Luke Skywalker and folk music is the force. He’s going to change things with it. His guitar is his lightsaber, he carries it everywhere. he seeks out records and singers to learn their secrets, and we go on this journey with him. the best way to read this would be with youtube or something open so you could play each old folk song he mentions as he hears it in the book and expounds about it and froths at the mouth and his brain explodes with possibilities.

Then we get to the middle section. We skip to a much older, sadder Dylan. He doesn't want to be famous. He doesn’t want to stir the pot. He doesn't want to put out records that are too good! And eventually he forgets how. He beats himself up because he can't. He’s impotent. He’s a sad old man. He can't play his old songs like he used to. He can't write like he used to. He doesn't even remember how he did it. His batteries ran out. He's a Christian now. While young Dylan would chew out a time magazine reporter, old Dylan has dinner with Bono. And praises him too. He praises everybody but himself.

Bono recommends him a producer for a new album who Dylan immediately has friction with. The new producer does horrible mariachi band things with Dylan’s recordings in the studio, he HATES it. You think, yes, finally he's going to stand up for himself... but no, he doesn’t. This thread of narrative that he chooses to give us is about him overcoming his dislike of the new producer, and his methods, and learning to like it. in the end he praises the producer too. Highly. While recording he gets discouraged and goes for a motor cycle ride with his wife, has a long conversation with a weirdo at a shop that I guess was supposed to be insightful but I skipped it because it was boring. This whole part of the book feels like it was written by a completely different person. It’s not exactly bad...I enjoyed reading it, it was very revealing, but this section is where it started to drag for me. Anyway... that album comes out...hmm..yup.

Then we jump right back where we left off. Plucky, young Dylan. Attentive, sharp, inquisitive Dylan, on the road to that record deal. This section is full of detail, full of life, and colors. Young Dylan is a student first and songwriter second. He covers songs. He's really apprehensive about writing on his own, when he does it’s to old, time-tested melodies. Old Dylan is an island. He writes some words on a piece of paper and tries to play something to it. Like a NORMAL person. He doesn’t have muscle memory of a dozen legendary folk songs he just covered, and a rack of records he just marathoned the night before still going through his head. Young Dylan brought all of that to the forefront in his writing to remarkable effect. I didn't see the end coming at all...It just ends. Partly because I was reading on kindle. But that’s okay, It ends on a nice note. 4/5
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Jul 04, 2015 Jenna rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir-and-biography, midwest-writers, minnesota-writers

In this autobiography, the poet from Minnesota arrives in New York City as a young man, ready to launch his career. A saxifrage bursting into bloom. What qualities did Dylan have, aside from his knack for words and music, that account for his success? His self-assurance. His faith in his own methods. His strange sense of kinship with all great visionaries and revolutionaries in history (generals, philosophers, men of faith, men of science, you name it; he says, "It was like they were living in m In this autobiography, the poet from Minnesota arrives in New York City as a young man, ready to launch his career. A saxifrage bursting into bloom. What qualities did Dylan have, aside from his knack for words and music, that account for his success? His self-assurance. His faith in his own methods. His strange sense of kinship with all great visionaries and revolutionaries in history (generals, philosophers, men of faith, men of science, you name it; he says, "It was like they were living in my backyard"). His prescient conviction that he would someday be a great mover and shaker himself. His strong sense of history. His equally strong sense of destiny (unusual for a man living in our scientific-minded times, in which it seems no serious intellectual believes in Fate or Destiny anymore). And -- most importantly, I think -- his emphasis on the importance of having *vision* (a word we rarely hear in discussions of poets or musicians anymore). On his first encounter with a singer who was later to help him jump-start his career, he writes, "I saw him walking towards me in the frosty silence... It was like the wind was blowing him my way." It is Dylan's rather reactionary belief that destiny *does* play a role in our lives, his belief that the wind *does* blow mystical revelations our way and his receptiveness to these revelations, I think, that was the keystone of his unique success.

For such a highly politicized figure, Dylan devotes surprisingly few words in this book to discussing the sociopolitical issues of his time. He doesn't think of his songs as "protest songs," he says; instead, he prefers to think of them as "rebel ballads." This nomenclature emphasizes the heroically rebellious personalities of the *characters* in his songs, rather than the political *messages* that the songs incidentally convey. (This could be a useful lesson for all aspiring writers of political poetry: if you want to avoid accidentally crossing the hazy line from political poetry into political propaganda, keep your focus on your characters rather than on your message.) Indeed, one of the most striking things about this book is how character-centered it is, and how vivid all the characters are. Throughout his life, Dylan surrounded himself with people with strong iconic personalities, the kind of people whom you could write a good strong folk-ballad about. I'm guessing that this was another of the secrets to his greatness.

Though his diction here isn't anywhere near as poetic as you might expect after hearing his song lyrics (I guess it's unrealistic to expect a writer to be able to maintain his voice at such an elevated register for the duration of an entire book), this is nonetheless a worthwhile, easy read that's stuffed with insights into the artistic process. ...more

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Oct 11, 2007 Christian rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: those who don't believe in Zimmerman

Let me start off by saying is that I'm not a Dylan music fan; it's not that I dislike Dylan, but I've just never really listened to him. I think I own just two of his songs (Rainy Day Women and All Along the Watchtower, thanks BSG finale). So I'm not what you'd call a fan.

As a result I was kinda surprised by what this book is. It's not a biography per se, it's more of a summation of the inspirations and their effects on his life. There's enough other names thrown around in this book that one cou ...more

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Feb 17, 2008 jeremy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: music, memoir-bio

the song & dance man is clearly the finest songwriter in the history of american music, thus, not surprisingly, the first volume of his autobiography is written quite well. though many of his fans, upon learning that dylan was penning his memoirs, were hoping for a linear account of his days from alienated minnesota youth to worldwide phenomenon, this book is anything but (as if bobby d would ever do what others were expecting of him). all told, however, this is an intimate and forthright gl ...more

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Feb 28, 2016 Ryan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016-reading-list

Man, what a whirlwind of a book! Four days from start to finish — I never wanted to put it down. If you're a fan of Dylan, of his music, of his words, of whatever you think or thought he was or is about, "Chronicles, Vol. 1" is pure electricity. Breezy and rhythmic, you can (or I could, anyway) hear Dylan's voice telling you the story as plain as day. (I've never listened to an audio book, but it had to be like that, only better, as nothing can sound as good as the voice you imagine in your head ...more

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Jun 06, 2015 Julius rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow. I picked it up, half-interested, and was immediately hooked, never looked back until it was over, and want to read Chronicles Volume Two. Now. Glad I didn't read Volume One when it came out or I would have had to wait at least 11 years. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll publish Volume Two soon.

The book is filled with so much life, burns with the power of destiny, whatever the hell that is. Here's one bit of wisdom that jumped out at me:

"Jon [Pankake] was one of the classic traditional folk sn ...more

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Jul 16, 2015 Valerie rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir

Though I'm a big fan of Dylan's music, I always appreciated that he wasn't interested in being a celebrity or being a public character. I never really had any interest in learning the details of his personal life from biographies or movies, but I read a preview of this book some time back, and the fanciful descriptions of New York's folk scene in the 1960s really struck me. I could see the snow falling past the icy gray skyscrapers, and the ill-lit basement taverns retrofitted with a small stage Though I'm a big fan of Dylan's music, I always appreciated that he wasn't interested in being a celebrity or being a public character. I never really had any interest in learning the details of his personal life from biographies or movies, but I read a preview of this book some time back, and the fanciful descriptions of New York's folk scene in the 1960s really struck me. I could see the snow falling past the icy gray skyscrapers, and the ill-lit basement taverns retrofitted with a small stage before an audience of day-drinkers.

I have an interest in what I'll call, for lack of a better term, myth-making around popular music. I don't really believe in "art for art's sake;" I think that the stories we tell around musicians and musical scenes play a big role in how we appreciate the songs themselves. Someone could sing all the same notes as Leadbelly, but if they didn't shoot a man over a woman in 1918, it wouldn't sound as good.

So, what I wanted to learn was Bob Dylan had to say about the early folk revival scene, and I wanted it to be as romanticized and far from reality as possible. But it turned out the book jumped around in time, and while chapters on Dylan's early career bookend the memoir, the middle talks about his personal artistic struggles in the '70s and '80s.

Even though I'm not as old or successful as Dylan, I could relate to his disillusionment with the artistic process. It is hard to portray yourself as an artist who is one consistent person when in reality who we are and what we think changes every moment. Luckily for me, no one would ever ask me to perform a shitty poem I wrote when I was 21. In the old days, the press and the fans would turn the artist into a cartoon character, a mythical hero. These days, the artist is expected to cartoonize themselves over social media, even if their art is just mediocre short stories in obscure literary journals.

This is the downside to myth-making around art: while it deepens the connections that people have to the work, it creates unrealistic expectations for the artist to live up to, because at the end of the day, they're not Odysseus, a fantasy figure that remains the same for thousands of years, but a growing and moving human being. ...more

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Jan 24, 2015 Scarlett Sims rated it liked it

Shelves: leisure, non-fic, music, nook, memoir, celebrity

I'm not like the world's biggest Dylan fan or anything, but I thought it would be interesting to read this book and it was. There are five sections, and each one details a specific point in time. It doesn't really read chronologically; it starts when he has just moved to New York and is trying to break through as a musician, then a later section goes back to before he left the midwest. The section about the making of an album was a little bit "inside baseball," but it also took place in New Orle ...more

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May 22, 2016 Finbarr rated it really liked it

I was reading a few interviews with Bob Dylan while I was also reading his book. There seems to be a lot of stuff he made up for journalists, either to throw them off his trail, or out of sheer boredom. Anyway, the general advice is that: the worst source of information about Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan.

Even that point considered, this is a really enjoyable read, fictional or not. Dylan comes across as a fairly normal and unassuming youth, a trait he carries into fatherhood and his post-wilderness r ...more

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About Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician, poet, and, of late, disc jockey who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of Dylan's most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal chronicler and a reluctant figurehead of American unrest. A number of his songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times T ...more

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“Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it's like they didn't fade away at all.” — 279 likes

“The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds - the cemeteries - and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchres- palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay - ghosts of women and men who have sinned and who've died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn't pass away so quickly here. You could be dead for a long time.

The ghosts race towards the light, you can almost hear the heavy breathing spirits, all determined to get somewhere. New Orleans, unlike a lot of those places you go back to and that don't have the magic anymore, still has got it. Night can swallow you up, yet none of it touches you. Around any corner, there's a promise of something daring and ideal and things are just getting going. There's something obscenely joyful behind every door, either that or somebody crying with their head in their hands. A lazy rhythm looms in the dreamy air and the atmosphere pulsates with bygone duels, past-life romance, comrades requesting comrades to aid them in some way. You can't see it, but you know it's here. Somebody is always sinking. Everyone seems to be from some very old Southern families. Either that or a foreigner. I like the way it is.

There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better. There's a thousand different angles at any moment. At any time you could run into a ritual honoring some vaguely known queen. Bluebloods, titled persons like crazy drunks, lean weakly against the walls and drag themselves through the gutter. Even they seem to have insights you might want to listen to. No action seems inappropriate here. The city is one very long poem. Gardens full of pansies, pink petunias, opiates. Flower-bedecked shrines, white myrtles, bougainvillea and purple oleander stimulate your senses, make you feel cool and clear inside.

Everything in New Orleans is a good idea. Bijou temple-type cottages and lyric cathedrals side by side. Houses and mansions, structures of wild grace. Italianate, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek Revival standing in a long line in the rain. Roman Catholic art. Sweeping front porches, turrets, cast-iron balconies, colonnades- 30-foot columns, gloriously beautiful- double pitched roofs, all the architecture of the whole wide world and it doesn't move. All that and a town square where public executions took place. In New Orleans you could almost see other dimensions. There's only one day at a time here, then it's tonight and then tomorrow will be today again. Chronic melancholia hanging from the trees. You never get tired of it. After a while you start to feel like a ghost from one of the tombs, like you're in a wax museum below crimson clouds. Spirit empire. Wealthy empire. One of Napoleon's generals, Lallemaud, was said to have come here to check it out, looking for a place for his commander to seek refuge after Waterloo. He scouted around and left, said that here the devil is damned, just like everybody else, only worse. The devil comes here and sighs. New Orleans. Exquisite, old-fashioned. A great place to live vicariously. Nothing makes any difference and you never feel hurt, a great place to really hit on things. Somebody puts something in front of you here and you might as well drink it. Great place to be intimate or do nothing. A place to come and hope you'll get smart - to feed pigeons looking for handouts” — 203 likes

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