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The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling, 1941-1966
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About This Book
From the world's leading authority on Bob Dylan comes the definitive biography that promises to transform our understanding of the man and musician—thanks to early access to Dylan's never-before-studied archives. In 2016 Bob Dylan sold his personal archive to the George Kaiser Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reportedly for $22 million. As the boxes started to arrive, the Foundation asked Clinton Heylin—author of the acclaimed Bob Behind the Shades and 'perhaps the world's authority on all things Dylan' ( Rolling Stone )—to assess the material they had been given. What he found in Tulsa—as well as what he gleaned from other papers he had recently been given access to by Sony and the Dylan office—so changed his understanding of the artist, especially of his creative process, that he became convinced that a whole new biography was needed. It turns out that much of what previous biographers—Dylan himself included—have said is wrong. With fresh and revealing information on every page A Restless, Hungry Feeling tells the story of Dylan's meteoric rise to his arrival in early 1961 in New York, where he is embraced by the folk scene; his elevation to spokesman of a generation whose protest songs provide the soundtrack for the burgeoning Civil Rights movement; his alleged betrayal when he 'goes electric' at Newport in 1965; his subsequent controversial world tour with a rock 'n' roll band; and the recording of his three undisputed electric Bringing it All Back Home , Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde . At the peak of his fame in July 1966 he reportedly crashes his motorbike in Woodstock, upstate New York, and disappears from public view. When he re-emerges, he looks different, his voice sounds different, his songs are different. Clinton Heylin's meticulously researched, all-encompassing and consistently revelatory account of these fascinating early years is the closest we will ever get to a definitive life of an artist who has been the lodestar of popular culture for six decades.
Reviews
"the real excitement and joy of this book emerges from Heylin's discussion and analysis of copious party tapes, bootlegs, between-takes conversations and outbursts, combative and occasionally revealing interviews, contracts and related documents, and hand-scrawled manuscript revisions that he weaves into a fresh and engaging narrative ..."
"He takes delicious pleasure in throwing darts at Dylan's other chroniclers, calling one a 'minor writer,' another a 'largely unloved scribe' ..."
"Even the titular 'double life' conceit of these new biographies seems insufficient for an artist who recently boasted of containing multitudes ..."
"for depth of research alone, is hugely impressive."
"To his credit, Heylin leans into the confusion, documenting who said what and how they would know even though it makes some parts, especially the chapters on Dylan's early years, hard to follow."
"What sets the book apart from other biographies is Heylin's access to Dylan's archive, held temporarily at Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum, with its collection of manuscripts, recordings, and outtakes from documentaries ..."
"We may never really get to know him, but Heylin may well have taken us as close as we can get."
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