The Lyrics: 1961-2012

by Bob Dylan

Overview

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

A beautiful, comprehensive volume of Dylan’s lyrics, from the beginning of his career through the present day—with the songwriter’s edits to dozens of songs, appearing here for the first time.

Bob Dylan is one of the most important songwriters of our time, responsible for modern classics such as “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” The Lyrics is a comprehensive and definitive collection of Dylan’s most recent writing as well as the early works that are such an essential part of the canon. Well known for changing the lyrics to even his best-loved songs, Dylan has edited dozens of songs for this volume, making The Lyrics a must-read for everyone from fanatics to casual fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451648768
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Pages:	688
Sales rank:	171,911
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Bob Dylan has released thirty-nine studio albums, which collectively have sold over 125 million copies around the world. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature and has been awarded the French Legion of Honor, a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. His memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, spent a year on the New York Times bestseller list.

Date of Birth:

May 24, 1941

Place of Birth:

Duluth, MN

Website:

http://www.bobdylan.com/

Read an Excerpt

Lyrics: 1961–2012
Ramblin’ outa the wild West

Leavin’ the towns I love the best

Thought I’d seen some ups and downs

’Til I come into New York town

People goin’ down to the ground

Buildings goin’ up to the sky

Wintertime in New York town

The wind blowin’ snow around

Walk around with nowhere to go

Somebody could freeze right to the bone

I froze right to the bone

New York Times said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years

I didn’t feel so cold then

I swung onto my old guitar

Grabbed hold of a subway car

And after a rocking, reeling, rolling ride

I landed up on the downtown side

Greenwich Village

I walked down there and ended up

In one of them coffee-houses on the block

Got on the stage to sing and play

Man there said, “Come back some other day

You sound like a hillbilly

We want folk singers here”

Well, I got a harmonica job, begun to play

Blowin’ my lungs out for a dollar a day

I blowed inside out and upside down

The man there said he loved m’ sound

He was ravin’ about how he loved m’ sound

Dollar a day’s worth

And after weeks and weeks of hangin’ around

I finally got a job in New York town

In a bigger place, bigger money too

Even joined the union and paid m’ dues

Now, a very great man once said

That some people rob you with a fountain pen

It didn’t take too long to find out

Just what he was talkin’ about

A lot of people don’t have much food on their table

But they got a lot of forks ’n’ knives

And they gotta cut somethin’

So one mornin’ when the sun was warm

I rambled out of New York town

Pulled my cap down over my eyes

And headed out for the western skies

So long, New York

Howdy, East Orange

Editorial Reviews

…Bob Dylan: The Lyrics 1961-2012 is admirably streamlined, free of any introduction or explanatory back story for the songs. The words speak for themselves. It's an improvement over the tome of my youth, and not just because it brings us up to date. This handsome collection eliminates Dylan's liner notes and other minor efforts that are more poems than songs. Putting aside the thorny question of the extent to which his music informs the lyrics, Dylan remains the rare singer whose work is worth reading on the page. His words are consistently funny, alive to the sound of language and of course appealingly cryptic.

The New York Times Book Review - Jason Zinoman

This Nobel acknowledges what we’ve long sensed to be true: that Mr. Dylan is among the most authentic voices America has produced, a maker of images as audacious and resonant as anything in Walt Whitman or Emily Dickinson.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times

“The Nobel Prize in Literature confirms his status as something more than a songwriter of a kind with those who preceded him. For those who follow him closely, savoring his witticisms, poignant observations and the unexpected word at precisely the right time, the acknowledgment is long overdue, with all respect to Messrs. Murakami, Roth, Sondheim and others. Sentence by sentence and verse by verse, Mr. Dylan’s body of work is worthy of maximum celebration.” —Jim Fusilli, The Wall Street Journal

“The Nobel committee got this right—Dylan’s ongoing achievement in American song is a literary feat to celebrate in this gaudiest of ways.” —Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone

“He was the rebel, the healer, the bard in blue jeans and oversized shades who sang a generation through war and peace, past the perils of unrest and self-complacency. . . . And now Dylan has entered that pantheon, shoving against the boundaries of the definition of ‘literature’ just as he pushed past so many borders in music.” —Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher