Here is a piece of rock legend for you: folk icon walks into a bar, stieals Ronnie Hawkins back-up band for himself, and walks out. The year was 1965, the band were the Hawks, later the Band, Bob Dylan was the star, Levon Helms the drummer. 46 years later, Levon is dead from lung cancer and here is what Bob Dylan wrote on his website:
""He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I'm going to miss him, as I'm sure a whole lot of others will too."
Sad stuff but one other thing that is interesting is how unlyrical the sentiments are. Dylan is using non of his gifts to say goodbye to his friend. Indeed, bosom buddy? Isn't that a little yucky. Isn't buddy a little blah? Who is he? Boo Boo Bear?
Sorrow, grief, loss, can take the words away from even our best. It takes time to transmogrify the feelings, to change sadness into words. To assimilate them into something else.
Dylan is working on a new album as we speak. I hope he starts thinking about old age. Only Time Out Of Mind has really got into the nuts and bolts. "Think I'm too old? Let's see what you got…" will only get us so far.