The Kolog

Forever Young

A few of you have contacted me, asking if I saw Dylan’s performance at the Grammy Awards last night.  I didn’t, but I found it online.  As usual, Dylan’s voice is grainier than the low-quality video on youtube, but when was it ever about the sound of his voice?

In addition to providing us with another lasting glimpse of the greatest songwriter of our time hard at work, I found the performance noteworthy for a couple of reasons.

The decision to play “Maggie’s Farm” is remarkable as it was nearly fifty years ago that he performed the same tune to a stunned crowd at the Newport Folk Festival.  In many ways, it was his attempt to raise a metaphorical middle-finger at the establishment.  With that in mind, then, how do we register the significance of his choice of song last night?  Perhaps it’s a way for the artist to remind us that his decision to “go electric” way back in 1965 has paid off.  Dylan has played and released several official versions of the rebellious song on Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Hard Rain (1976), At Budokan (1979), and Real Live (1984). Perhaps it was merely a matter of time until he performed it again publicly in this the twenty-first century.  At least, those are the recordings that I have…I would’ve have posted them here for you to download but I couldn’t crack the copyright restrictions.  Anyway, if you know me, you know how to access them.

The other striking aspect of Dylan’s performance last night has less to do with him and more to do with whom he collected onstage to play with him.  He followed and was joined by the Avett Brothers who were preceded and joined by another young band (though I loved their song, I did not recognize them and could not catch their introduction on the youtube clip, but I’m sure some of you know who they are).  Anyway, throughout his career, Dylan has written extensively about change. He was the one who told previous  generations that “your old road is rapidly agin’” and demanded you “get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand.” So, I find it significant that the same artist would share the stage with relatively young, up-and-coming musicians of today.

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