Our theme for this Quackisitions update is Bob Dylan. Of course, Dylan himself is a fine purveyor of nonsense, as we’ve seen in the Anthology with tunes like “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” and “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Such adventures are a kind of signature, and they have not gone unnoticed, in encomiums and drubbings over the years. But true nonsense cannot be mocked, and so those who use it only create further nonsense. The Anthology now includes a couple of these “tributes.”
The most notable is from Robert Wyatt, founding member of Soft Machine, and since then an old-before-his-time bearded weirdy, cranking out gentle, crackly craziness. His 1997 album Shleep tilted nonsensical (not only in its title), and Dylanical, with “Blues in Bob Minor.” On the same album, by the way, is his “The Duchess,” which nods to Lewis Carroll. The other Dylanesque tune is Weird Al Yankovic’s “Bob.” I have mixed feelings about this one, as it is just a series of palindromes on the cards. Still, as you’ll see, the whole video performance, with it reflection of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” seems to take it further, the video giving both more coherence and more implied, yet absent meaning. I’m leaving it in the Anthology for now–but you if you object, let me know! I’ll leave it here for now, dear Nonsensophiles.
Come back soon as your Mom, and check out more on: THE GROMBOOLIA ANTHOLOGY OF NONSENSE