Global InformationSong for Bob Dylan information
| "Song for Bob Dylan" | |
|---|---|
| Song by David Bowie | |
| from the album Hunky Dory | |
| Released | 17 December 1971 |
| Recorded | 6 August 1971[1] |
| Studio | Trident, London |
| Genre | Folk rock |
| Length | 4:13 |
| Label | RCA |
| Songwriter(s) | David Bowie |
| Producer(s) | Ken Scott, David Bowie |
"Song for Bob Dylan" is a song written by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie for his 1971 album Hunky Dory. The song references Bob Dylan's 1962 homage to Woody Guthrie, "Song to Woody".[1][2] Yet while Dylan opens with "Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song," Bowie addresses Dylan by his birth name saying, "Now, hear this, Robert Zimmerman, I wrote a song for you."[3]
In the song, Bowie also describes Bob Dylan's voice "like sand and glue" which is similar to how Joyce Carol Oates described it upon first hearing Dylan: "When we first heard this raw, very young, and seemingly untrained voice, frankly nasal, as if sandpaper could sing, the effect was dramatic and electrifying."[4]
- ^ a b Pegg, Nicholas (2011). The Complete David Bowie (6th ed.). London, UK: Titan Books. ISBN 9780857682901.
- ^ Spitz, Marc (2010). Bowie: A Biography. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 161. ISBN 978-0307716996.
- ^ Riley, Tim (1999). Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary. Da Capo Press. p. 266. ISBN 0306809079.
- ^ Hedin (ed.), 2004, Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader, p. 259. Reproduced online: Joyce Carol Oates (2001-05-24). "Dylan at 60". University of San Francisco. Retrieved 2013-09-28.