In Chronicles, Volume 1, Bob Dylan shares his thoughts on hundreds of songs, artists, poets, and philosphers. He was excited to hear that Amazon.com's music editors have gone through the book, page by page, to pull out some of the most interesting references to songs, albums, and musicians. We've put together these lists by chapter--you'll find links to the other chapters, plus listening recommendations from other musicians, at http://www.amazon.com/mysh.
Bob Dylan's List of Music You Should Hear (Chronicles Edition--Chapter 1)
"[John Hammond was] a great talent scout...Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Charlie Christian, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton...artists who had created music that resonated through American life." (pg. 4)
"(John) Hammond was defiant when he spoke about Seeger, that Pete's ancestors had come over on the Mayflower, that his relatives had fought the Battle of Bunker Hill... 'Can you imagine those sons of b*tches blacklisting him? They should be tarred and feathered.'" (pg. 6)
"At last I was here, in New York City, a city like a web too intricate to understand... I was there to find singers, the ones I'd heard on record--Dave Van Ronk, Peggy Seeger, Ed McCurdy, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Josh White, the New Lost City Ramblers, Reverend Gary Davis and a bunch of others--most of all to find Woody Guthrie. New York City, the city that would come to shape my destiny." (pg. 9)
"The saddest character of all was a guy named Billy the Butcher. He looked like he came out of nightmare alley. He only played one song--"High-Heel Sneakers"--and he was addicted to it like a drug...Moondog was a blind poet who lived mostly on the streets. He wore a Viking helmet and a blanket with high fur boots. Moondog did monologues, played bamboo pipes and whistles...My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. She was a tall white blues singer and guitar player, funky, lanky and sultry. I'd actually met her before, run across her the previous summer outside of Denver in a mountain pass town in a folk club." (pg. 11)
"One afternoon I was in there [Cafe Wha?] pouring Coke into a glass from a milk pitcher when I heard a voice coming cool through the screen of the rdio speaker. Ricky Nelson was singing his new song, 'Travelin' Man.'...he didn't sing desperately, do a lot of damage...he sang his songs calm and steady like he was in the middle of a storm, men hurling past him." (pg. 13)
"I heard Van Ronk back in the Midwest on records and thought he was pretty great... sang like a soldier of fortune and sounded like he paid the price... Could howl and whisper, turn blues into ballads and ballads into blues. I loved his style. He was what the city was all about." (pg. 15)
"Richie Havens, always had a nice-looking girl with him who passed the hat and I noticed that he always did well. Sometimes she passed two hats." (pg. 17)
"[Izzy Young had] given me a Country Gentlemen record and said I should listen to 'Girl Behind the Bar'...played me 'White House Blues' by Charlie Poole and said that this would be perfect for me... played me the Big Bill Broonzy song 'Somebody's Got to Go,' and that was right up my alley, too. I liked hanging around at Izzy's. The fire was always crackling. (pg. 21)
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