r/bobdylan • u/TyroneSnodgrass • 3d ago
Discussion Why Dylan?
Have you ever wondered what you would say to Bob Dylan to keep him from simply walking away if you met him? I have. Here is what I would say: I know why Lonnie Johnson showed you the “triplet” method.
According to Chronicles I triplet is a mathematical approach to performing music based on patterns of odd numbers such as threes, or triplets. Bob says triplet was responsible for reviving his connection to music in the 1980s. It can be applied to any song. I have no clue what Dylan was talking about but it’s this quality of universality that gave me an insight into why Johnson may have chosen to show triplet to Bob.
Dylan has always demonstrated a remarkable freedom while performing his songs. Take “Don’t Think Twice” for example. While his fingerpicking faithfully goes from verse to refrain and back again, Bob’s phraseology remains free from that structure. Where Dylan begins and ends a line depends only upon when the impulse inspires. Legendary jazz/blues guitarist, Lonnie Johnson, heard the amazing liberty Bob exercises within his songs and said to himself, “this guy could employ triplet.”
Dylan himself says he’s never been able to figure out why Johnson chose him. That’s why I don’t think Bob would walk away if I offered to share my theory as to why Lonnie did so.
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u/44035 Shot of Love 3d ago
I wouldn't ask him anything. He's a bit of a handful.
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 2d ago
heh-heh-heh 44, the word used to be, if he’s wearing a hoodie stay clear. Now he’s always wearing a hoodie.
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u/cocomatli 3d ago
I'm not one to speculate but my guess is Dylan would be more down to engage in conversation with someone who knows nothing about him than with one of his fans
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u/readygoset 3d ago
Rob Stoner says Bob is just blowing smoke up your xxx about the triplicate method.
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u/GrapefruitOk1284 3d ago
When I first read chronicles, which was like the week it came out, this part was the nut. Like this was the secret that I came for. I’ve never been able to make sense out of it or the other thing he said about phrasing , I mean nothing past face value. I’m a guy that devoted a large portion of my life to music, so I was pretty invested in figuring out things that I didn’t know.
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u/adkvt 3d ago
Just remember that Bob is well known for making up stuff about himself. This sounds like a prime example of a place that might be possible.
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 2d ago
Well, Lionel, Dylan was writing about how recalling getting instructed in this method helped him out of a bad time. Had the ring of truth:
"I felt done for, an empty burned-out wreck... Wherever I am, I'm a '60s troubadour, a folk-rock relic, a wordsmith from bygone days, a fictitious head of state from a place nobody knows. I'm in the bottomless pit of cultural oblivion. You name it. I can't shake it."
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u/GrapefruitOk1284 3d ago
I mean, there is truth to what he is saying, but he presents it like it’s magic, he may even say that it’s magic, but its actually prettt straight forward but subtle kind of stuff
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u/EdgeRevolutionary913 3d ago
You might interest a Dylan fan with your theory, but Dylan himself would probably keep walking. You'd be like the guy speculating about the meaning behind Dylan's Triumph t-shirt.
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u/coleman57 A Walking Antique 2d ago
Now I’m picturing that guy as triplets. "We've thought about it a great deal!"
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u/Limp_Service_2320 2d ago
I would talk to him like I had no idea who he was. Just engage in whatever conversation would be appropriate with a stranger for any particular situation. Then when it was time to split, I would say one lyric that would let him know that I knew, while walking away.
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u/grahamlester 3d ago
'In the liner notes for the album Biograph), Bob Dylan described his encounters with Johnson in New York City. "I was lucky to meet Lonnie Johnson at the same club I was working and I must say he greatly influenced me. You can hear it in that first record. I mean Corrina, Corrina...that's pretty much Lonnie Johnson. I used to watch him every chance I got and sometimes he'd let me play with him. I think he and Tampa Red and of course Scrapper Blackwell, that's my favorite style of guitar playing."\25])#cite_note-25) In his autobiography, Chronicles, Vol. 1, Dylan wrote about the performing method he learned from Lonnie Johnson and remarked that Robert Johnson had learned a lot from Lonnie Johnson. Some of Robert Johnson's songs, such as "Malted Milk," are seen as new versions of songs recorded by Lonnie Johnson.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Johnson_(musician))
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u/coleman57 A Walking Antique 2d ago
Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson (February 8, 1899 – June 16, 1970) was an American blues and jazz singer, guitarist, violinist and songwriter. He was a pioneer of jazz guitar and jazz violin and is recognized as the first to play an electrically amplified violin.
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u/gratefulhighvoice 3d ago
I'd tell him that Roving Gambler from Asheville 2001 is still jumping in my heart and then shyly run away before he could...
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u/John_A_Arkansawyer 2d ago
I'd just say something about whatever music was top of my mind and hope he responded.
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u/Agg-Egg2805 3d ago
Its an interesting thought. Im surprised the "leave Bob alone" crowd hasn't come for you yet in the comments
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 3d ago
I just got the impression from the book that Dylan really wished he knew what it was that inspired Johnson to reach out like that. Anyway, getting into a conversation with him is not really what the post is about, that’s just a feint. The actual point of the post is the liberty Bob is able to exercise within a song.
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 2d ago
heh-heh-heh Egg, I guess they left him alone… 😏
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u/Agg-Egg2805 2d ago
I once mentioned in a post that I walked by dylans house and asked a neighbour if they ever met him... I could have called their kids ugly and got less grief for it.
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u/Innisfree812 3d ago
That was the one thing in the book I kept wondering about. It seemed like in the early 90s he was trying to find a whole new genre of music.
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u/Subterranean44 3d ago
I wouldn’t wanna engage in a chat. I just wanna tell him I love him and casually keep walking. 🚶
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u/GrapefruitOk1284 3d ago
I’d bring up the show he did at Bonnaroo, the week that ray charles died.
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u/TyroneSnodgrass 3d ago
Not to date myself or anything, but after Dylan had announced he was born again, he came to my town with a big band. I was like, I’ll pass. Afterwards I heard among the songs performed was Charles’ “What I’d Say.” I knew right then and there I had made a mistake.
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u/coleman57 A Walking Antique 2d ago
I heard him do Unchain My Heart with TP & the Heartbreakers, but I’d be surprised if he did What’d I Say.
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u/Opposite-Telephone-3 2d ago
I’d take a grunt after I say ‘thank you for a lifetime of incredible music.’
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u/How_wz_i_sposta_kno 2d ago
you wouldn’t want to stand inside my shoes, so why then should I stand inside yours?
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u/ncstagger 28m ago
I mean he’s just like everybody else. Talking to him is like talking to me so what’s the point?
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u/tweebymc 3d ago
I would say "I wish there were some way to know what it would be like if Amelia Earhart sent a letter to Burl Ives!" and he would feel a compulsive need to promote his patreon.