Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A song important enough for its own book?

Can you devote an entire book to a single song?
I am still trying to answer that question for myself, despite being more than half finished with "LIKE A ROLLING STONE: BOB DYLAN AT THE CROSSROADS" by GREIL MARCUS.
Obviously, Dylan's 1965 hit "Like a Rolling Stone" is an iconic song and a symbol both of the 1960s and the performer's transformation from a curly haired folkie to a sunglasses-wearing rocker.
Does it deserve an entire book?
Marcus does make a compelling case for the complexity of "Like a Rolling Stone," including the musical backing:
"The sound is so rich, the song never plays the same way twice. There are drums, piano, organ, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, tambourine and a voice. Though one instrument may catch you up, and you may decide to follow it, to attend only to the story it tells... every instrument shoots out a line that leads to another instrument, the organ to the guitar, the guitar to the voice, the voice to the drums, until nothing is discrete and each instrument is a passageway. You cannot make anything hold still."
Perhaps Marcus is correct -- perhaps this one song does deserve a book of its own.

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