Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Ever-Popular Authenticity (T)Rap

The Awl brought my attention to this Joni Mitchell quote:

"Bob [Dylan] is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."

from this recent interview.

It's not clear to me whether she means this as a criticism, a compliment (doesn't seem like it), or just a neutral statement of fact, but to me, Dylan's "un-authenticity" is a key feature of his art and the main thing that makes him an inspiring figure - the kid from Nowhere, Minnesota who transformed himself into this (and this).

Two other things that caught my eye in the interview:

Joni Mitchell has 40 different tunings?!?

How did I never realize that the dude on the cover of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter is Joni?!?  So obvious in retrospect. 

And speaking of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter:
If I was Robert Christgau (who didn't like it very much), I would say that the "Choice Cuts" are "Dreamland" and "The Silky Veils of Ardor".  Just so you know.
 

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