Reflection on the Research Report: Bob Dylan

 

been on my iPod since I was little

Doing a research report on one of my childhood favorites, is another thing I never thought I'd get to do in college as a physics major.

Through the process of trying to come up with a short bio of Bob Dylan, I learned what a workhorse he is & has been as a musician (over 40 albums??? WOW), and I respect that, big time. I did know a bit about how he got the Nobel Prize in 2016, but I had no idea that he had been nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature every year since 19-freaking-96!!!

On the issue of his self-identification -- "songwriter or poet?" -- I read through some interviews and articles, and I was somehow not really surprised by how chill he's been on the subject, saying things like "Yippee! I'm a poet, and I know it. Hope I don't blow it". I guess I kinda got to know his personality through listening to his songs.

Trying to connect the research report to the McLuhan readings enabled me to dig deeper into my previous 11-ish years of listening to Bob Dylan -- it's something that I've never done before; I really felt the music, but I never thought about how I feel, why I feel certain way -- I was mostly just in the moment. Writing it out and talking about it in front of the class was quite an adventure.

Reading the lyrics of one of his songs was kind of a wild thing for me to do, but I'm glad I did it -- no regrets. It's like you bought a box of chocolate years ago because you really feel like it should be pretty good -- and years later you finally opened the box and cracked one open, and it tastes just as good as you imagined it to be. (the best metaphor I could come up with lol) Was glad to know that my interpretation wasn't far off from what he's trying to say in the lyrics -- glad to know the message did get across. Well, I'm still going to be listening to his song without knowing what he's trying to say hahah. I hear no words, only syllables and music : D