Still on the Road

Book excerpt: The second of two volumes, this companion to every song that Bob Dylan ever wrote is not just opinionated commentary or literary interpretation: it consists of facts first and foremost. Together these two volumes form the most comprehensive books available on Dylan's words. Clinton Heylin is the world's leading Dylan biographer and expert, and he has arranged the songs in a continually surprising chronology of when they were actually written rather than when they appeared on albums. Using newly discovered manuscripts, anecdotal evidence, and a seemingly limitless knowledge of every Bob Dylan live performance, Heylin reveals hundreds of facts about the songs. Here we learn about Dylan's contributions to the Traveling Wilburys, the women who inspired Blood on the Tracks and Desire, the sources Dylan &“plagiarized&” for Love and Theft and Modern Times, why he left &“Blind Willie McTell&” off of Infidels and &“Series of Dreams&” off of Oh Mercy, what broke the long dry spell he had in the 1990s, and much more. This is an essential purchase for every true Bob Dylan fan.