Dylan: A Biography

by Bob Spitz

"No other book captures it so well, understands so well.... "―Greil Marcus Bob Spitz takes his place... among the most able chroniclers of the many myths, poses and postures of the middle-class Jewish boy from Minnesota and his dogged and at times ruthless pursuit of superstardom.― Boston Herald "The great strength of this biography, apart from the massiveness of Spitz's research, is its respect for Dylan's talent, and an understanding of his social and musical talent."― London Sunday Telegraph Bob Spitz is best known for Barefoot in Babylon , his eye-opening account of the Woodstock music festival. Before that, he represented Bruce Springsteen and Elton John, for which he was awarded four gold records. The author of hundreds of articles, Spitz has been published in Life , the New York Times Magazine , Esquire , Rolling Stone , Mirabella , and the Washington Post . He lives in New York City with his wife and is currently at work on a novel and two books of nonfiction.

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

706 pages, Paperback

Published September 17, 1991

About the author

Bob Spitz is the award-winning author of The Beatles, a New York Times best seller, as well as seven other nonfiction books and a screenplay. He has represented Bruce Springsteen and Elton John in several capacities. His articles appear regularly in magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times Magazine; The Washington Post; Rolling Stone; and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This got a whole lot of stick from Bob fans and Uncle Tom Cobley and all, but if you approach it in the right way - which is that it's a comic retelling of the story of an imaginary folk singer from the 1960s - then it's just a complete hoot.

Spitz gaily jumps into "Bob"'s mind and recounts exactly what he was thinking when he met Suze Rotolo - sorry, "Suze Rotolo" or when he heard Woody Guthrie for the first time and so on. And Bob Spitz is so mean! But hilarious! Bob was drooling, Bob's eyes narrowed, Bob's smile faded, Bob this and Bob that. Almost like Bob Spitz was actually there - but of course he wasn't.

Recommended as a gift to buy for any serious Dylan fan who irritates you to death.

[Ally McCulloch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the Bob Dylan bio that changed my life. It covered his early days, painted him as the ultimate jerk, yet still managed to leave me in awe of him. I remember I read this while I should have been studying. Yay!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this biography almost completely because not only am I a Dylan fan but I read Bob Spitz's biography of The Beatles earlier this year and loved his no-nonsense style. He's a biographer who doesn't care to mythologize his subjects and the truth that comes from that perspective is refreshing to see.

With Dylan, Spitz presents a man who had a few personality qualities (primarily ambition and insecurity) that has absolutely directed his career. Out of that, you are presented with a guy who, even though he is most known as a folk singer, doesn't view himself in that light and has been perfectly fine drifting through styles. You almost get the sense that he has moved his career in ways that had less to do with a particular style but what would best serve Bob Dylan's career, such as the brief flirtation in the late 70's of doing a Neil Diamond-like concert tour. He does come off as being a real jerk even to those supposedly close to him as his insecurities appear to have created sharp defensive mechanisms. But enough of my psychoanalysis...

As with The Beatles, Spitz does a wonderful job of presenting the artist's formative years and initial success but then progressively sped up as I swear the 1980's fly by in like 50 pages, so it's very top heavy but I'm guessing most fans (at least casual ones) are mostly concerned with the 60's Dylan than the 70's and 80's incarnation. So pacing is an issue, but it could have been worse.

This biography came out in 1990, so the story stops with the end of the 80's but I would be interested to have gotten his take on the past almost 20 years but that's perhaps a story for another day.

[Caponato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una buena biografía. No obstante ser muy extensa, a la vez es bastante incompleta (y no solo porque se quede en el año 1987), sino por los numerosos saltos temporales que da sobre cosas que tienen importancia. También se adivina que al autor no le gusta demasiado Dylan (el personaje por supuesto, pero también gran parte de su obra), pero entrevista e investiga a numerosos conocidos y amigos del cantante, y se nota que el libro es muy jugoso en anécdotas poco conocidas, en las que afortunadamente el autor se extiende.

Calificada como "gossip" [chismosa] en el mundo histórico-dylaniano, y siempre puesta en el último lugar, cosa a mi entender de forma totalmente inmerecida. Ahora bien, Spitz es bastante troll, le gusta escarbar en lo negativo y meter los dedos en la llaga, muchas veces de forma totalmente absurda, por ejemplo, el calificativo de Mike Porco como filisteo aprovechado, por la sencilla razón de que era más un camarero que un entendido en música (si hubiera sido como dice un aprovechado, los músicos que tocaron en el Gerde's Folk en los 60 no le hubieran hecho el homenaje en 1975), Suze Rotolo llamada la "faithful cheerleader", cuando algo que no era, era precisamente eso (no me estraña que la propia Suze le deseara a los 50 años de Dylan, "larga vida y más biografías). O el propio Ed Sullivan, calificado como "the ungraceful host".

Una agradable sorpresa.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spitz, before he was anything else, was Springsteen's tour manager. His Dylan biography focuses on Dylan's tours -- lucky, for the biography of a man who from about 1971 on, realized his life would be spent 100-150 days a year on the road. Dylan could have made a different call. But from about 1971 on, and first with the Band, next the Rolling Thunder Review -- this biography gives way in about 1985 -- Dylan lived the dynamism of home-life/tour life. Spitz will interview someone and that interview will be the source for that passage of Dylan's experience. This is not a good way to write a biography, but it's slightly more coherent than Clinton Heylin, say. Spitz has no bother adopting the artist's p.o.v. even when it sounds a lot more like Bob Spitz. That period when Dylan was avoiding negotiating his record contract, working without a managerial contract, taking art lessons, socializing with Meir Kahane, meeting Ruth Tyrangiel, Ellen Bernstein, Madeleine Beckman, et. al., don't come here looking for a chronology of that. A chronology has not been worked out.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly a good Bio. There were somethings that I questioned based on other things that I've read. Also, I don't know how much the writer was really a fan. Some of the material seems to be borderline malicious.

[Eric Coppolino]

I loved this book. Camp Bob hated this book. As the reviewer below said, it's funny...and a work of historical fiction.

[Joe Kosarek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to review. Overall a good portrait of Bob Dylan (shame he was such a manipulative asshole), but the author tries too hard to be hip and cool and engages is his own misogyny

[Milo Peregrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic look at Bob Dylan, holds nothing back!

[Kaitron · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read this book, I really don't like Bob Dylan much. No doubt he was a creative genius (minus the nonsense LSD ramblings) and he has a knack for pushing his music to and over the edge of the next big thing, but his actions suggest an insecure jerk and I've had my share of those.

[Ian W. Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay bio of Dylan. Has some good info, and makes some clumsy assumptions, with the occasional surprising insight. Judgment of the work sometimes questionable, but not uninformed.

[Dave Moyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pseudo-journalism at its finest. We all know Bob is fallible. Spitz seems to delight in pointing that out. Still, obviously interesting to Dylan fans.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in English 68: The Lyrics of Bob Dylan taught by Professor Louis Renza.