The freewheelin' Bob Dylan

His book about pop songs is a strange, slightly self-indulgent romp through songs that have been selected with no particular theme in mind

The Philosophy of Modern Song

Author: Bob Dylan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 352   
Price: Rs 2,499

More people have been influenced by Bob Dylan’s music than have actually heard him sing his songs or bought his records. Dylan has never sold as many albums as the really big stars of popular music. I would be surprised if the total number of all Dylan records ever sold was more than the units that Michael Jackson shifted of just one album: Thriller.

Some of this has to do with Dylan’s voice: nasal, droning, often melody-free with words italicised and tunes mangled. Some of