Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Philosophy of Modern Song

By: Bob Dylan
Narrated by: Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard, Jeffrey Wright, Renée Zellweger
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The Philosophy of Modern Song is Bob Dylan’s first book of new writing since 2004’s Chronicles: Volume One—and since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. The audio is narrated by an all-star lineup including Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard, Jeffrey Wright, and Renée Zellweger!

Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence.

In 2020, with the release of his outstanding album Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan became the first artist to have an album hit the Billboard Top 40 in each decade since the 1960s. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains much of what he has learned about his craft in all those years, and like everything that Dylan does, it is a momentous artistic achievement.
©2022 Bob Dylan. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

Folk Music cover art
Nina Simone's Gum cover art
The Tao of Willie cover art
The Silmarillion cover art
Born to Run cover art
Good Pop, Bad Pop cover art
Don't Stop Believin' cover art
Unbury Our Dead with Song cover art
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us cover art
Stories to Tell cover art
The Worst Lyrics of all Time cover art
Waylon cover art
Rapthology cover art
The Birth of Loud cover art
Les Misérables cover art
The Poetic Edda cover art

What listeners say about The Philosophy of Modern Song

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    33
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Contains Multitudes

‘The Philosophy of Modern Song’ is a pretty grandiose title for what is essentially an old man talking about some songs he likes. But that old man happens to be Bob Dylan, so it gets a pass.

There’s some variety here when it comes to songs but don’t go in expecting too much - it’s a lot of bluegrass, folk and country. When scrolling the chapters I was a little disappointed at first not to see anything by any of the Beatles (Brits generally are few and far between) Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen - the usual suspects really, but this isn’t really a gripe. You get the sense Dylan picked a number of those cos they reminded him of something else, or gave him a route to talk about a different topic which interested him.
Much of it feels deliberately flippant. There’s no real through ‘narrative’ of 20th century music, no obvious coherent philosophy of song - and that’s completely fine by me.

Smartly, Dylan only narrates the weirder, more rambling and meandering musings on any given song, where he paints a picture of how he’s interpreted the narrative of the song - basically the most ‘Dylanish’ parts. These are always really interesting and often quite funny. They’re also generally in small doses, which is good: his course growling voice, whilst full of character and soul, would be grating to listen to at any length. He’ll then give way to one of the excellent cast - and they are ALL excellent - though Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Rita Moreno stand out - and suitably varied enough to keep the book feeling brisk.

Overall it’s a really entertaining book, well performed and a real treat to have Dylan himself appear throughout (but not too much) It feels simultaneously like Dylan taking himself far too seriously and also taking the listeners for a ride, and both are extremely fun. Highly recommend for any fans of Bob Dylan, or anyone with an interest in the kind of music and musicians that influenced him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Misleading Title

I am a big Dylan fan but some obscure stuff here. I enjoyed Bob's ramblings though

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful bridges across a timeless river of souls

Memories of transient moments spent in a collective intimacy of philosophical understanding and lifelong learning.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding contribution to the history of music

I listened to bob and his collaborators with wrapt attention, aided by a Spotify playlist of the same title. It has been one of my top ten greatest musical experiences - so heartfelt thanks to Dylan - never failing to amaze since I first bumped into him in 1964 !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The finest rock’n’roll footnotes around

One of those books that’s far too dense on detail and poetry for just one listen. Or two.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

peeking into the mind of genius

I'm a real Dylan fan , his use of language in his songs is otherworldly, here he lets his mind wonder over other people's songs , what they may or not mean and facts of some obscure songs that I will be hunting down to listen to. I loved it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

a remarkable analysis of modern song

many of the songs were fairly obscure to me being 'before my time ' so to speak but Dylan's and the other artists narration was excellent even without knowing the tracks referred to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Eccentric and idiosyncratic

You're bound to get something unexpected from Bob Dylan and this delivers that in spades. It's an idiosyncratic wander through a maze of contrasting musical styles of songs many of which I'd never heard of. Dylan profers his insights/ opinions/ observations about the music and more besides. There doesn't seem to be any underlying framework to his meanderings. Calling it a 'philosophy' seems somewhat overstated.

A moderately interesting audiobook. One for diehard fans. Made me realise that I must be a lightweight. Went back to listening to his original music. Much more fun.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Fine if you’re a Dylan fan

Mostly self absorbed clap trap with the occasional nugget of interesting information. For fans only.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thank you, Bob!

Clever as ever, and blazing the trail -- this time to the past recordings, each of which worth (re)discovering. Spiced with the Nobel Laureate's insight, definitely a gem. Enjoy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!