As I mentioned before, my favorite musicians are Rick Nelson, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen. In October, I even hinted at a neat little story behind the connection between the three. Flash back to the Summer of 2013! I had just ordered Cue the Rocky Music by Mike Kunda which quickly became, and still is, one of my all-time favorite books. He mention Bruce Springsteen quite a bit and even named the chapter about meeting/dating his wife "Drive All Night" after the Springsteen song of the same title. That is by far my favorite chapter in the book, so I decided to listen to the song - all 8 minutes and 33 seconds of it! - and I absolutely fell in love. I began listening to all the Springsteen music I could find and picked out some favorites including: "Born to Run,", "Thunder Road,", "Point Blank,", "Reason to Believe,", and "Badlands." I continued to listen to Bruce while expanding my musical horizons to Shinedown, Nickelback, then Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, and Florida Georgia Line. In early summer 2014, I saw a PBS special covering the oldies-remake band, Under the Street Lamp. I absolutely loved them. I didn't know hardly any of the songs they were singing, but I loved them anyway. I wanted to know more oldies music, so I started two new stations on Pandora: Elvis Presley Radio and The Beach Boys Radio. I soaked in all the "new" music faster than I could listen. I discovered Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The Beatles (I already knew one or two of their songs), tons of Elvis songs, more songs from The Beach Boys, Bobby Vee, Dion and the Belmonts, Neal Sedaka, Dean Martin, Bobby Vinton, Connie Francis, Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury, and tons of other great artists from the 50s and 60s. After wearing out Elvis and Dion, Ricky Nelson was recommended to me by a friend (read the full story in my "Easy to be Free" post here!) After reading more about Rick, I learned about how Bob Dylan had influenced him in the late 60s/early 70s. One thing Rick said about him was,
"My idol as far as a writer is Bob Dylan, who I think was really the spokesman for that period where the country was going through a lot of changes, politically, and I really think he was the poet of that era."
Out of curiosity, I searched some of Bob's songs, starting with the ones that Rick covered. At first, I thought, yeah he's a brilliant writer, but I don't know that I could just sit down and listen to a full album of his. Something kept pulling me back. I began listening to other songs besides those that Rick covered, the first being "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding." At this point, I decided that I could listen to him forever. Some of my favorites that I discovered are: "Maggie's Farm," , "Highway 61," , "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright,", "Tell Me That it Isn't True,", "Gates of Eden," and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." Also, I have just sat down and listen to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan several times on Spotify and on record. I would have to say that album, Nashville Skyline, and Highway 61 Revisited are my favorite of his albums. One day, while looking for some direct quotes from Rick talking about Bob, I found the opposite. There was an excerpt from Bob's book, Chronicles, where he was talking about how Rick influenced his music! A few quotes include,
"He sang songs calm and steady like he was in the middle of a storm, men hurling past him. His voice was sort of mysterious and made you fall into a certain mood. I'd always felt kin to him.... It's like he'd been raised on Walden Pond where everything was hunky-dory, and I came out of the dark demonic woods, same forest, just a different way of looking at things.... The thing was that Ricky was still making records and that's what I wanted to do, too."
I was so excited to hear how they had both inspired each other as musicians and as people. The same day, out of curiosity, I google searched "Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen." One of the first articles was on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website where Bruce was talking about Bob, some of the things he said were,
"The first time I heard Bob Dylan I was in the car with my mother, and we were listening to, I think, maybe WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody kicked open the door to your mind, from "Like a Rolling Stone.... I didn't say nothin', but I knew that I was listening to the toughest voice that I had ever heard.... The way that Elvis freed your body, Bob freed your mind.... And speaking as a fan, I guess when I was 15, and heard "Like a Rolling Stone," I heard a guy that, like I've never heard before or since. A guy that had the guts to take on the whole world, and made me feel like I had 'em too.... So I'm just here tonight to say thanks, to say that I wouldn't be here without you, to say that there isn't a soul in this room who does not owe you their thanks. And to steal a line from one of your songs, whether you like it or not, ' " You was the brother I never had." ' "
As I was reading this, I had a realization. Rick influenced Bob, then Bob influenced Bruce. So my three favorite musicians were all connected and I didn't know it until after they were already my favorites! Although I did know about Bob's influence on Rick, I didn't know about the musical inspiration that made a direct flow from Point A to Point C. (Does that even make sense?) I don't know, but all of this gets me to thinking about how they must have something in common. I still haven't figured out the common thread, if you will, between the three. They all seem so different, yet so similar. I can hear Bob's influence on Rick and Bruce, and Bruce reminds me of Bob in some ways, but Rick and Bruce don't really remind me of each other. I just keep thinking that they both have something about them that is similar... I just need to figure it out! At any rate, I think that little connection is pretty awesome, and will continue to ponder what they all three have in common. I just love cool stories like that involving music, and am actually pretty excited that something like that even happened to me!
"My idol as far as a writer is Bob Dylan, who I think was really the spokesman for that period where the country was going through a lot of changes, politically, and I really think he was the poet of that era."
Out of curiosity, I searched some of Bob's songs, starting with the ones that Rick covered. At first, I thought, yeah he's a brilliant writer, but I don't know that I could just sit down and listen to a full album of his. Something kept pulling me back. I began listening to other songs besides those that Rick covered, the first being "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding." At this point, I decided that I could listen to him forever. Some of my favorites that I discovered are: "Maggie's Farm," , "Highway 61," , "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright,", "Tell Me That it Isn't True,", "Gates of Eden," and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." Also, I have just sat down and listen to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan several times on Spotify and on record. I would have to say that album, Nashville Skyline, and Highway 61 Revisited are my favorite of his albums. One day, while looking for some direct quotes from Rick talking about Bob, I found the opposite. There was an excerpt from Bob's book, Chronicles, where he was talking about how Rick influenced his music! A few quotes include,
"He sang songs calm and steady like he was in the middle of a storm, men hurling past him. His voice was sort of mysterious and made you fall into a certain mood. I'd always felt kin to him.... It's like he'd been raised on Walden Pond where everything was hunky-dory, and I came out of the dark demonic woods, same forest, just a different way of looking at things.... The thing was that Ricky was still making records and that's what I wanted to do, too."
I was so excited to hear how they had both inspired each other as musicians and as people. The same day, out of curiosity, I google searched "Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen." One of the first articles was on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website where Bruce was talking about Bob, some of the things he said were,
"The first time I heard Bob Dylan I was in the car with my mother, and we were listening to, I think, maybe WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody kicked open the door to your mind, from "Like a Rolling Stone.... I didn't say nothin', but I knew that I was listening to the toughest voice that I had ever heard.... The way that Elvis freed your body, Bob freed your mind.... And speaking as a fan, I guess when I was 15, and heard "Like a Rolling Stone," I heard a guy that, like I've never heard before or since. A guy that had the guts to take on the whole world, and made me feel like I had 'em too.... So I'm just here tonight to say thanks, to say that I wouldn't be here without you, to say that there isn't a soul in this room who does not owe you their thanks. And to steal a line from one of your songs, whether you like it or not, ' " You was the brother I never had." ' "
As I was reading this, I had a realization. Rick influenced Bob, then Bob influenced Bruce. So my three favorite musicians were all connected and I didn't know it until after they were already my favorites! Although I did know about Bob's influence on Rick, I didn't know about the musical inspiration that made a direct flow from Point A to Point C. (Does that even make sense?) I don't know, but all of this gets me to thinking about how they must have something in common. I still haven't figured out the common thread, if you will, between the three. They all seem so different, yet so similar. I can hear Bob's influence on Rick and Bruce, and Bruce reminds me of Bob in some ways, but Rick and Bruce don't really remind me of each other. I just keep thinking that they both have something about them that is similar... I just need to figure it out! At any rate, I think that little connection is pretty awesome, and will continue to ponder what they all three have in common. I just love cool stories like that involving music, and am actually pretty excited that something like that even happened to me!
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