Category: Books

(November 29, 2023)

Video Transcript:

This is probably gonna be my least cohesive discussion yet, but I’ve gotta go in on this.

Is it just me, or is ~Philosophy of Modern Song kind of horny??

It just seems like maybe they’re giving Bob a ton of testosterone to keep him in tiptop shape…

But there were things in PhMoSo that did not sound like they could have come from a man of Bob’s age.

I know men basically never quit, but it just seems excessive.

And that was another reason I was skeptical that Bob even wrote it.

I’m not a hella expert on Bob Dylan, but I’ve never known him to be particularly dirty.

I’ve never known him to be sexually scandalous.

I just kinda wonder, what’s up with that?

And I’ve also wondered if maybe he wrote PhMoSo over the course of years and years.

Maybe he wrote some of that stuff when he was a lot younger or something.

I’m mildly perplexed by this and just really intrigued.

He’s left me wanting more.

I feel like Bob has been holding out on us.

If he was capable of this all along, then why hasn’t he released more stuff like this?

Why doesn’t he just give us more dirty talk?

Bob, please I’m begging you, before you die can you please just give us more?

I want Bob to write straight fucking filth and release that shit at like 85.

Go hard, Bob.

Just don’t stop.

I need this from you.

Some of the things in PhMoSo were straight up scandalous.

Some of it was just straight up dirty.

And if this is really Bob, dare I say…

I kind of like his regular writing more than I like his lyrics.

It honestly drives me wild.

I know it’s a lot to ask and I know he’s already given us so much but…

Just, please. More.

More dirty stuff, Bob, you know exactly what we want. Just deliver.

(November 28, 2023)

Video Transcript:

So this is a followup to my original review of the Philosophy of Modern Song, which at this point was like damn near a year ago.

And since then I’ve been down the rabbit hole on various aspects of Bob Dylan in general.

Specifically though, Bob Dylan’s relationship with Eddie Gorodetsky who he gives credit to for helping him with PhMoSo. But there’s no indication of what exactly Eddie contributed.

When I made that original review I had not read all that much of the book. I had skipped around and read whatever stuck out to me. The things I came across were gems. I guess the book is probably just full of gems.

There were some semi-perverted things in it that really just rocked my socks and I was like “Oh, fuck yeah, I’m all about this.” I’ll talk about that in another recording.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this whole Eddie G thing because Eddie G was responsible for Theme Time Radio Hour as well, right? And TTRH was what, like 2004, 2005?

How long have Bob and Eddie known each other?

We know that they’ve known each other for at least 20 years, but how long did they know each other before that?

The reason I’m curious is because I recently came across the liner notes to “World Gone Wrong” which was 1992.

The liner notes bear a very strong resemblance to what is written in PhMoSo.

The only difference is that the liner notes are a little rough around the edges when it comes to things like capitalization, punctuation, etc.

So my question is this…

Because they are so similar, there are a couple of possibilities.

(1) Either Bob Dylan actually is responsible for PhMoSo, and that possibility opens up a whole can of delicious worms for me, which I’ll explain in another recording.

Possibility (2) is that back in 1992, Bob and Eddie G knew each other, and Eddie was writing things for Bob.

That’s like 31 years ago at the time of recording this. What are the odds that they knew each other back then? Did they know each other back then?

So the ghostwriting thing…

Say Eddie G is responsible for the bulk of PhMoSo, well then it’s the same style as the 1992 WGW liner notes, meaning he must have written those too.

Because what is Eddie contributing exactly to PhMoSo? What did Eddie contribute to TTRH?

I was under the impression that Eddie wrote TTRH and Bob Dylan just read it. And he did a great job reading it, cuz it was awesome.

But did Eddie write PhMoSo, TTRH style, and Bob Dylan just read it?

Or did Bob really write it?

How long have they known each other, and is Eddie G just basically Bob Dylan’s ghostwriter?

If he was around in 1992 and wrote the WGW liner notes…

Then did he also write ~Chronicles Vol. 1? Because I felt like it was the same voice as PhMoSo, and I still kind of agree with that.

This is a whole other recording, but Chronicles is a lot more book-like, autobiographical, it’s not the same as PhMoSo.

To me, if Eddie G has really been around in Bob’s life since 1992…

Then I feel like Chronicles was way more written by Bob than by Eddie. I feel like Bob probably really did write that book more than he wrote PhMoSo.

And what really drives me up the wall is that we’ll never know the answer to these things.

If Eddie G really is ghostwriting these books, I appreciate that Bob has been using the same ghostwriter for all these years.

It lends familiarity and consistency to the writings at least.

If Eddie has ghostwritten these works for Bob…

Any appreciator of Bob Dylan who knows their sh*t has heard the theories that Bob’s always used ghostwriters, like since the beginning.

If it’s not true and if Bob really has written these books, then it’s so weird that people think he’s been using a ghostwriter forever.

Imagine having written all that stuff, and people are like “Bob Dylan didn’t write that, somebody else wrote that! Ghostwriter!” That would suck.

I have more thoughts about PhMoSo that I’d like to share in later recordings.

(Audio: January 30, 2023)

(Video: November 21, 2023)

Video Transcript:

So there are rumors going around that ~The Philosophy of Modern Song was ghostwritten for Bob Dylan, or specifically it was ghostwritten by the people who are responsible for ~Theme Time Radio Hour. TTRH was obviously on the radio so it had to be dialed back for a general audience like a PG-13 type deal.

There were some kind of dirty-ish jokes throughout some of those episodes but nothing too bad.

I can definitely kinda see the parallels between PhMoSo and and TTRH.

It’s almost like PhMoSo is X-rated TTRH.

Just because you can read PhMoSo and hear it in Bob Dylan’s voice doesn’t mean Bob Dylan wrote it.

If PhMoSo was ghostwritten for Bob Dylan, then that means that we’ve got a serious problem because one of two things happened…

(1) This book was slid across Bob’s desk and he opens it up and flips through it a little bit and he’s like “Okay fine whatever just publish it I don’t even care.”

And he didn’t even read it.

Possibility (2) is that Bob Dylan is like totally senile now and they just haven’t told us.

And for some ungodly reason they decided to release this book under Bob Dylan’s name.

It would be totally disrespectful.

Listen, I wanna believe Bob Dylan wrote this book but at the same time it’s like, are you okay Bob?

For real.

Let’s address some of the claims of misogyny.

I don’t know what to call this, but it’s NOT misogyny.

Misogyny is like down here and this book is like WAY up here.

This is intense.

As a woman, am I offended by this?

The only thing that offends me is that there’s not MORE.

I just want more.

Here’s the thing…

At the end of the day, I don’t even care if Bob Dylan didn’t write this book. I just want more.

Whoever wrote this, please just don’t stop.

Whatever you write in the future, just make sure you do it under the guise of Bob Dylan, because that Bob Dylan name is the cherry on top of this.

The mental imagery of 80 year old Bob Dylan writing this…

It’s just hilarious to me.

This book is wild.

The writing style, the voice, it seems the same as ~Chronicles Vol. 1 which was supposedly written by Bob without a ghostwriter.

I want to believe Bob wrote this book and I kinda think he did, but at the same time, is he just taking the piss?

This book makes “Tarantula” look like it makes sense. That’s how fucked up this book is.

I can’t hear Bob Dylan saying some of these things.

Most of it I can hear in the voice of Bob Dylan, TTRH style.

Just certain words in this book, I can’t…

I just can’t seem to actually hear Bob saying that, so I’m gonna need an audio book version that is read by Bob 100% because Listen, we need to know you’re okay Bob.

Just come out and tell us in no uncertain terms, “Yeah I’m totally fine, I’m not out of my mind, I wrote that book and that’s just what I think.”

If we had an audiobook version of this read by Bob, then he would obviously have to know that this is supposed to be his book right?

Yes, PhMoSo 10/10, would recommend, absolute must have for any Bob Dylan fan…

And if you are the one who ghostwrote this book and Bob Dylan is out there somewhere senile, fuck you, you are sick.