Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

Tom Sutcliffe, journalist and broadcaster, gave his fourteen year-old son a birthday iPod with a quote from Forever Young engraved on it. He swears: “I don’t randomly quote Bob Dylan” and describes Bob’s Bringing It All Back Home as “a cold shower/warm shower of an album”. Concentrating on BIABH, Tom calls Maggie’s Farm “an ordeal” and certain famous lyrics “trite” and “twee”; and admits to an irrational hatred of the tambourine, but praises Gates of Eden as “a great tune”. Tom Sutcliffe studied at Cambridge and joined the BBC soon afterwards. He has presented Radio 4’s weekly Saturday Review arts programme since 1999. He was the first arts editor of The Independent newspaper and has been chairman of Round Britain Quiz since 2007. Saturday Review web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/saturdayreview.shtml Twitter @tds153 Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/22auwcIYwlXoeOzQQ1smoY?si=-H92wbDXSDG3hmmZqRN3hA

Jon Canter, comedy writer, reminds us of Bob’s physical resemblance to The Marx Brothers and of his “predictably perverse” humour (“I don’t think I’d heard sarcasm in popular song before Dylan”). He goes on to equate Bob’s Jewishness with his constant restlessness, whilst quoting a Randy Newman song about Bruce Springsteen. Jon somehow manages to relate the work of Dylan to Brexit, via a discussion of Bob’s attitude to “experts”. He praises the genius of Dylan’s early bootlegs and marvels at the man’s extraordinary emotional range (“He’s a Shakespearean songwriter”). Jon Canter is the author of three comic novels - Seeds of Greatness, A Short Gentleman and Worth. He has written stand-up comedy for Lenny Henry, the BBC2 series Posh Nosh for Arabella Weir, comment pieces for The Guardian, along with many radio and stage plays. The fourth series of his comedy ‘Believe It’ (with Richard Wilson) was broadcast recently on BBC Radio 4. Twitter: @joncanter3 Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/5L8lMP5CCOz20BrXG4StOe?si=JnrrqYjQRaW_VtAPxrs6ZQ

Sid Griffin, musician and writer, compares Dylan to Miles Davis but concludes “he’s a surprisingly normal person in an incredibly abnormal situation.” Other subjects: Bob’s open attendance at Minnesota sporting events, Dylan’s penchant for taking buses into rural Ireland and the secret of his 1960s skinny black jeans. We also discuss originality. Sid’s view: “If you take two lines from a Henry Timrod poem in the American Civil war and then have a line of your own and then you have two lines from some Japanese poet of the 19th Century and a line of your own and then a line of dialogue that Humphrey Bogart said to Claude Rains…that is an original song.” Kentucky native Sid Griffin is a successful solo artist as well as co-founder of the legendary bands The Long Ryders and The Coal Porters. His first book was a biography of Gram Parsons. Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band and The Basement Tapes is a must-read for any Dylan fan. Sid has contributed many articles to Mojo, Q and NME. He is often seen on BBC TV. Website www.sidgriffin.com Podcast The Sid Griffin Podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/call-all-coal-porters/id558495037) Twitter: @SidCPsGriffin Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/67A6to6umch0MObx5NGJGA?si=JCse_XcPSHmsQtMrQoROwA

Sylvie Simmons, author of the definitive Leonard Cohen biography “I’m Your Man”, confesses to discovering both Bob and Leonard on the same tacky compilation album. Further revelations include her reaction to witnessing Born-Again Bob (“it was just a really boring show”) and Leonard’s unhappy reaction to the news of Bob’s conversion (“he was yelling and screaming”). Other topics include Dylan and Cohen’s Jewishness, their use of smoke and mirrors and, from the mouth of their mutual producer Bob Johnston (“Is it rolling, Bob?”), the true story of how the two musical giants first met. Originally from London, but a Californian resident for decades, Sylvie has written articles and reviews for nearly every major music magazine. Her first book was a biography of Mötley Crüe. She has published a collection of short stories, Too Weird for Ziggy, as well as biographies of Neil Young and Serge Gainsbourg. Her first album as a singer-songwriter, Sylvie, was released in 2014. Twitter: @sylviesimmons Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/1qaIL6GQcy9l285SgBeGA5?si=6yjpw8FnTFCStljcsIgRLA

Olivier Award-winning actor Kenneth Cranham wraps his RADA-trained vocal cords around Visions of Johanna and never stops. "You’ve got to go and see this guy Bob Dylan at the Royal Festival Hall,” he remembers being told in 1964. “He smokes joints all the time." So he bought four tickets - for a pound. Get ready for countless stories including Sam Shepard’s unique directing technique, a fond remembrance of Roger Lloyd Pack and blowing the minds of the Salvation Army with Dylan on his side. West End and Broadway veteran Kenneth Cranham was in Joe Orton’s Loot and Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. He played the title role in ITV’s Shine On, Harvey Moon and has appeared in countless films, stretching from Oliver! through Hellbound: Hellraiser II to Layer Cake, Valkyrie and Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/6esdXAvBHcKrXn8u1w6aDI?si=v0deXyxiQpy0-ug-2hYbXA

In Episode 4, acclaimed writer Paul Morley - not widely known as a Bob Dylan man - proves his love. “Punk demolished a lot of people but...you weren’t going to demolish Bob. I always think of Before The Flood as like a proto-punk album.” Paul Morley is an English music journalist, well known for his work with the New Musical Express. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Records and was a member of the synthpop group Art of Noise. He has been a band manager, promoter, television presenter and staff member at The Royal Academy of Music. Paul’s many books include the Sunday Times bestseller The Age Of Bowie, Joy Division, The North (And Almost Everything In It), Words And Music and Nothing. Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/1HKGvK8v0yCVKR8Fllj4ZO?si=fr87iuvlSIm43rZnYaa5mA

In Episode 3, singer and writer Barb Jungr compares Dylan and Leonard Cohen (having extensively recorded both), and talks about the constant relevance of Dylan’s lyrics: his “understanding of humanity…that really relentless gaze”. An award-winning song-stylist incorporating jazz, blues and European cabaret, Barb’s approach often includes radical re-readings of known writers (Bowie, Springsteen, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell) as well as original material. She has also written for children’s and musical theatre. Barb’s Dylan-related albums include Every Grain Of Sand (2002), Just Like A Woman (2008), The Man In The Long Black Coat (2011) and Hard Rain (2014). Twitter: @barbjungr Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/5TS9kFcY6QLHvT0I3t5MV2?si=N-yEbuAwSfCko3RPwY2m7w

In Episode 2, actor David Morrissey and his son Gene discuss Dylan’s take on heartbreak and darkness, as well as the art of listening to albums all the way through; especially Blood On The Tracks. David Morrissey started acting at the Everyman Youth Theatre in Liverpool, where he was born and raised. Following a degree at RADA, he worked with Cheek By Jowl, the Manchester Royal Exchange and the Royal National Theatre. The British Film Institute described David as "one of the most versatile English actors of his generation". His many television and film credits include the Brian Jones biopic Stoned as well as Britannia, The Driver, State of Play, Gordon Brown in The Deal (RTS Award, Best Actor) and The Governor in The Walking Dead (two time Saturn Award nominee). Twitter: @davemorrissey64 Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/473mBCP2PohNXBuUyDJvH0?si=u8Ou3a59Q9mG-hbwjNRj5g

In our first episode: noted journalist, broadcaster and author David Hepworth talks about Dylan's jokes, the Nobel Prize and the time he interviewed him. David joined Smash Hits in 1979 and became the editor. He helped start magazines like Just Seventeen, Q, Empire, Mojo, More, Heat and The Word. He presented Whistle Test for the BBC; and Live Aid, in front of the largest TV audience in history. He interviewed Bob Dylan a year later, in July 1986. His books "1971: Never A Dull Moment" and "Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars" are both Sunday Times best-sellers. His new book is called "Nothing Is Real". He podcasts at http://wordpodcast.co.uk/ Twitter: @davidhepworth Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/5sEzTyAjnsg0X88S72biK5?si=hJRDshKmTc6NM70ad9i-UA