steve wrote:Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:To paraphrase Kenneth Rexroth (on D.H. Lawrence): Neil Young is a major poet; Bob Dylan is a minor prophet. Dylan's is the greater tradition.
Minor (cough) "prophet?"
Dylan has written some fine songs. Some of my friends have written better. Dylan has fucked a lot of hippie chicks. Some of my friends have fucked more. Dylan has written a few truly precious lines ("God said to Abraham, 'Kill me a son...'" comes to mind), but some of my friends have written better ("I'll hold his arms, you fuck him. Fuck him with something, the fuck, he deserves it" comes to mind). Dylan has had a huge influence on the singers and songwriters of his era. I guess we could have saved us a lot of bullshit if he had stayed in Minnesota.
Dylan has his merits, but he is the single most over-rated and over-lauded musician of my lifetime. He is a fine and worthy artist. There are probably ten finer, more worthy ones reading this message board right now.
Neil Young, I like almost everything about the guy except his occasional lapses into jingoism, and his expressionistic guitar playing is better than any musical element in Bob Dylan's oeuvre.
No contest. Neil.
Give me a fucking break.
Tell me you were drunk when you wrote that.
Brett, thanks for stating it so well.