How about a new book, a book that collects every single lyric that Bob Dylan has ever recorded? ‘The Lyrics: Since 1962’ will just do this, records and bootlegs included and it will be ‘the biggest, most expansive book’ that Simon & Schuster has ever published, as it will have 960 pages and will weigh 13 and a half pounds! The price? $200! Which is reasonable considering the size of the thing. 3,500 copies only will be printed, including 500 destined to the UK. Now,if you are a Dylan super fan, you can always buy one of the 50 copies signed by Dylan and coming with a slipcase and gilded pages… For that you will have to withdraw a hefty $5,000 from your pocket… Ouch!
According to the New York Times, Boston University scholar Christopher Ricks edited the lyrics and wrote the introduction, with Lisa and Julie Nemrow as co-editors. In the book, the songs are presented in alphabetic order, and the way it is printed respects Dylan’s own writing — based on Dylan’s personal notebooks and manuscripts; for example, a long line sprawls across the wide page if it is supposed to be unbroken… The way the lyrics are laid out is supposed ‘to help the eye see what the war hears’, said Ricks to the Times, ‘if you print the songs flush left, it doesn’t represent, visually,the audible experience.’
He is obviously a very dedicated fan who greatly respect Dylan. Another thing, Dylan never sings the same song exactly the same way, well, the book manages to respect this too! If the lyrics differ from what Dylan sang on the original recording, the differences are noted: ‘Some of the changes were minute things — a telling change in preposition, perhaps — which make a gigantic difference’ explained Ricks. This seems to be a gigantic work if you want my opinion, because how many times did Dylan perform? How many times did he alter some lyrics? I don’t even know how many songs he has! ‘It is, in a way, a work of scholarship’ added Ricks, but it is also a book for people who love these songs, and who would be grateful to be reminded that these songs are always in a state of extraordinary flux. They’re amazing, shape-changing things’.
I understand that Dylan is huge in the American music history, but I don’t really see the point of such a book… May be obsessed Dylan collectors will see the point, but for people like me, there is always a search on Google that will give me the lyrics of any song in a few seconds! Not all the nuances, I concede, but who cares? Also, I wonder whether the book will indicate the lines that Dylan ‘borrowed’? You know, he was accused of plagiarism several times! Oh now I am being very bad..
