Happy 79th Birthday to Bob Dylan!

Bob Dylan is one of the greatest songwriters in the history of music. He has amassed a great amount of songs that even his unreleased ones would make any other songwriter green with envy. The way in which his songs seem to transcend genre and time are amazing and he has written over 25 albums each containing their own individual sound. From the classic folk sound of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (1963) to the almost R’n’R folk sound of “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965) all the way to the dark philosophical songs with backing singers on “Street-Legal” (1978) and of course, the new wave era of “Empire Burlesque” (1985). Beyond this, Bob Dylan has explored newer folk sounds on the albums “Time Out of Mind” (1997) and “Love And Theft” (2001) - going through the jazz songbook and covering many Frank Sinatra songs as we know him today. Bob Dylan has not only amassed a great amount of songs but has his own academic research sector called the “Dylanologists” who dedicate their lives to studying the works of Bob Dylan. His music is like no other, his books are incredible, his songwriting is unmatched. So now, I would like to go through the 20 best sources on Bob Dylan in order to study his life and work. This will include a multitude of mediums so, grab your notebooks.

There are many Bob Dylan mediums of entertainment out there that don’t include Dylan as the primary maker of the information and these can range from the very interesting to the down right dishonest. I have collated twenty of the best forms in this article in order to show you the wide range available to the bobcat and the dylanologist. Just to clear it up, the difference between a bobcat and a dylanologist is that the bobcat is simply a super-fan and the dylanologist is an academic.

When it comes to studying Dylan I firmly believe that anyone can do it no matter how new or how old your fandom is. I believe that the more different and more inclusive views we have on Dylan’s music, life and work, the better it will be for the world of Dylan because you never know, someone may be interested in your viewpoint. At the moment, I myself am writing a book about Dylan’s religious content that doesn’t include the Gospel Era and thus trying to prove that the Gospel Era known as the religious period is misunderstood as being most of the religious imagery in Dylan’s career. I hope you’ll support your friend or coworker who is seeking to write a Bob Dylan based book or podcast or make a Dylan film/documentary because seriously - we need more sources and less pretentiousness in the world.

In the following list, I have gathered twenty different items from a range of different mediums on Bob Dylan…

I have based my decision on three things:

- How interesting is the source?

- Does it offer any new information?

- Is it original as an idea?

If the answer to all of those are ‘yes’ then chances are, you’ll find it on the list. Let’s have a look at our sources then, shall we?

20 Great Sources for Bob Dylan Content

20. Bob Dylan: A Year and A Day by Daniel Kramer

19. Tarantula by Bob Dylan

18. Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited by Clinton Heylin

17. Seeing the Real You At Last by Britta Lee Shain

16. Bob Dylan and William Shakespeare: The True Performing of It by Andrew Muir

15. Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews by Jonathan Cott

14. Dylan and Me by Louie Kemp

13. Theme Time Radio Hour by Bob Dylan - Radio Show - https://www.themetimeradio.com/

12. A Bob Dylan Primer - Podcast - https://abobdylanprimer.com/

11.The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan

10.Is It Rolling, Bob? - Podcast - https://isitrollingbobtalkingdylan.podbean.com/

9. Why Bob Dylan Matters by Richard F Thomas

8. The Song and Dance Man by Michael Gray

7. Chronicles: Volume 1 by Bob Dylan

6. The Day I Was There by Neil Cossar

5. Dylan Radio - Radio Show - http://www.dylanradio.com/

4. I’m Not There (2007) - Film

3. Don’t Look Back (2005) - Documentary

2. DefinitelyDylan - Podcast - https://www.definitelydylan.com/

1. The Nobel Lecture by Bob Dylan