How I enjoyed the Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home the last couple of nights. I really reminded me what a prolific a writer he was in those early days - the songs just seemed to pour out of him and he was moving forward at such an amazing speed. It kind of reinforced my feelings that he wasn't a very political person; he just wrote the anthems of our age and, while he no doubt cared about stuff, he perhaps wasn’t as committed to the political struggle as were his early mentors Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger or even Joan Baez. What didn’t come across too was his sense of humour, he just does not appear to have a great sense of humour - the interviews with him were, for the most part, pretty dry stuff.
It also showed what an immense burden was placed on him, in those days – he writes these wonderful songs like Blowing in the Wind, The Times they are a’Changin’, etc, etc and everyone expected him to be the spokesman for our age. That’s a lot to expect of someone in his early 20’s who just happens to have a knack for writing great songs.
I loved all his stuff back then, I still love it now and yes, I agree "Like a Rolling Stone" is the best song of all time....
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