Bob Dylan is the most influential songwriter of our time. His lyrics have inspired more than one generation to challenge received social and spiritual concepts about the world they inhabit. It is in this context that John Burns examines Dylan's 'big' lyrics, the 'vision songs' that have changed the way we see our world. Considering all Dylan's major albums from the 'sixties to the present, Burns looks at the ideas, philosophical, spiritual and musical, that influenced his vision and how he transmutes these into great literary and performance art. The book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the work of one of the greatest visionary artists of our era.John Burns is a poet and short story writer as well as a teacher of English and of Tai Chi.He was a founding editor of the literary and cultural magazine Cencrastus, and has published poems, stories and reviews in many magazines and anthologies. He is the author of Celebration of the Light: a study of Zen Buddhism in the novels of Neil Gunn and he has written about Bob Dylan for two of the UK's leading Dylan fanzines, The Telegraph and The Bridge.
Bob Dylan is the most influential songwriter of our time. His lyrics have inspired more than one generation to challenge received social and spiritual concepts about the world they inhabit. It is in this context that John Burns examines Dylan's 'big' lyrics, the 'vision songs' that have changed the way we see our world. Considering all Dylan's major albums from the 'sixties to the present, Burns looks at the ideas, philosophical, spiritual and musical, that influenced his vision and how he transmutes these into great literary and performance art. The book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the work of one of the greatest visionary artists of our era.John Burns is a poet and short story writer as well as a teacher of English and of Tai Chi.He was a founding editor of the literary and cultural magazine Cencrastus, and has published poems, stories and reviews in many magazines and anthologies. He is the author of Celebration of the Light: a study of Zen Buddhism in the novels of Neil Gunn and he has written about Bob Dylan for two of the UK's leading Dylan fanzines, The Telegraph and The Bridge.