I found out about it in Dec. 2022 when I got back into Bob Dylan again. I’ll talk about my history with Bob Dylan in another recording.
It was just after Christmas 2022 and for a couple weeks I had been super back into Bob Dylan, just going hard.
I came down with the flu after Christmas.
For the first time in my life, I had fever dreams.
These fever dreams were about Bob Dylan.
It was an entire afternoon/early evening where I was so sick and feverish that I dreamed these hyper-realistic dreams about Bob Dylan for what felt like hours.
There was this one dream that I can see crystal clear in my mind.
It was a museum exhibit.
There were books. Black and white. A series of books with black and white covers.
They were inside of a glass display case.
It was futuristic. It was shuffling the books. It was like a motorized book shuffling machine.
It would keep shuffling these books into different formations.
I don’t know what any of the books were called or what specifically was on the cover of any of these books.
I just knew in my mind that these books were by Bob Dylan, and they were not lyrics or autobiographies. They were something else.
I don’t know if they were fiction or what they were. There were probably 10 books. And they were all by Bob Dylan.
And they weren’t anything that we know about right now.
As time has gone on and I’ve remembered this dream specifically for almost a year now…
I’ve just been wondering, has Bob written a ton of stuff that we don’t know about yet?
I know that he said he doesn’t like to write books because he doesn’t want to proofread back over them.
That’s what editors are for.
I just have this feeling that there are literary works by Bob Dylan that we don’t know about yet but may know about in the future.
Maybe even posthumous releases or something.
I just feel like there’s something up Bob’s sleeve.
There are things we don’t know, but we’re gonna know someday.
It also occurred to me that maybe Eddie G, who was involved in Theme Time Radio Hour and Philosophy of Modern song…
Maybe rather than ghostwriting for Bob, he edits what Bob writes.
If it’s true that Bob has a bunch of literary works that we don’t know about yet, could you imagine?
It’s just an interest that you have, kinda like any other interest.
I love “Gunsmoke” too, it’s like the greatest show of all time. I realize the gravity of what I’m saying there.
I love The Twilight Zone, Barney Miller, I Love Lucy. There are several shows I love, but Gunsmoke is the greatest fuckin’ show of all time, it is what it is.
I feel the same way about Bob Dylan. He’s a subject, he’s like a genre.
But he’s also a person. Which is exciting. And that’s hot.
Cuz even though he’s 82 right now…
Dude, I’m just stoked on Bob Dylan.
I’ll tell you what I wish… I wish Bob Dylan was 40 again.
I wish there was so much more time to play.
To just have Bob here.
It’s greedy, it’s selfish, but that’s just the way I feel about it.
I just wish that he could be here for longer.
But in a way that is awesome for him, you know?
Because being mega old does not look fun.
My grandma is 92…
When you’re THAT OLD, and let me tell you there’s a world of difference between 82 and 92…
It’s a lot.
I just hope that someday, in the future, they create some way to extend life.
But not in a weird, soul compromising ultimatum for eternal youth…
But scientific, real ways of extending life to where…
Yeah you may be 90, but your physical quality of life is good.
It just looks like it sucks to be old.
And I don’t want that.
To think about Bob Dylan and what an amazing life he’s had…
You couldn’t ask for a more interesting experience as a human here on this planet.
That pretty much takes the cake.
I’m sure that he doesn’t give a crap, but…
For those of us who are so intrigued by him and what he represents…
History, culture, embodied and pioneered…
I just wish that he could just stay forever.
But nobody stays forever, nothing lasts forever.
And in past eras of the Earth’s history…
Atlantis, Lemuria, all the lost continents throughout the Earth Ages…
They’ve all had their own Bob Dylan. Every civilization in Earth’s history has had their own Bob Dylan.
It’s like that song by Donovan, “On board were the 12.” They’ve always been here.
But history gets wiped out and they’re forgotten.
They always come back.
But that one song that Bob Dylan’s archetype had in Atlantis…
Nobody will ever hear that again.
That one poem that Atlantis’s Edgar Allan Poe wrote. No one will ever read that again.
And I know it’s all recorded in the Akashic records, the universal conscious. It’s all saved.
It just fascinates me to think that things that are such a big deal right now…
Things that are held in high esteem and obsessed over, someday it’ll all be washed asunder.
And no one will ever lays eyes on it again or hear it again.
Not that version of it, not that vibration. It’ll be gone.
I find it fascinating to live in this era where we’re here, in the now.
And it’s never gonna be again. Not in exactly the same way.
It’ll be different next time.
And I really like this version of it. I don’t want things to change.
Even though we’re totally not in a Golden Age right now.
We’re kind of like… before the Golden Age.
So I’m sure whatever happens next time will be even better…
I’m just nostalgic. I just have a special place in my heart for this time we’re in.
I went to a Bob Dylan concert in Richmond, KY on December 2, 2023 and it was magical.
I did not go expecting it to be magical. I didn’t want to have high expectations and get disappointed for whatever reason.
I read a lot of reviews about the concerts and about how people act in the crowds sometimes.
Also, sometimes Bob’s obstructed by a hat on top of his piano or a water bottle or whatever.
I just didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment, but…
It was unbelievable.
And it was a journey for me too.
First of all, when I bought the ticket in October, I couldn’t believe it.
Bob Dylan came to Richmond, KY. He didn’t come to Lexington, he didn’t come to Louisville, he didn’t come to Nashville.
Those are places I don’t approve of as far as going there to see a show. It’s just not gonna happen.
I’ve been to Nashville to see shows, but I’m not going to Louisville and I’m not going to Lexington because the Man O War is crazy to drive, I’m staying away.
I had restrictions on where I would be willing to go to see Bob Dylan, and I said to myself like a year ago…
If Bob Dylan comes to Kentucky somewhere that isn’t scary as fuck to get to, I gotta go. It’s just like a sign from God. And it happened.
I got my ticket in October and I was like, “This is a couple months away, that’s a long time.” And of course it went by really fast.
I couldn’t even believe that I’d actually gotten a ticket for that entire time. I planned for it, but I was just like, “Come on, this isn’t real.”
So when the day came, I made the trek over the mountains and through the woods. The way there wasn’t bad because it was daylight…
But on the way back it took every ounce of concentration I had. It was pouring rain, it was foggy.
I listened to the same song on repeat for almost the entire way, which was “Hysteria” by Def Leppard.
I was just feeling the vibes and that’s what I do when I drive if I need to be in the zone because of challenging conditions, or if I’m obsessed with a song I’ll just put it on repeat forever.
I’m still processing my thoughts and feelings. The fact that I actually saw Bob Dylan in concert…
And I saw him good too.
Bob Dylan was pretty damn close.
I could see him clearly the entire time, I can’t even believe it.
It was so…
Honestly, it was weird.
Because my seat was on the aisle behind the handicapped section and there wasn’t another row of seats directly in front of me, nobody was obstructing my view.
I was so lucky to get that seat, I didn’t realize it was so great. When I bought the ticket, it was just the closest seat that was on the aisle, which I have to have.
I’d hoped it was a good view, and it was just insanely good.
You can tell Bob does this a lot.
He does this A LOT dude.
That kind of perspective, traveling around just doing show after show, for decades?
What must that be like?
To have that experience, I can’t even imagine.
Bob has seen every single kind of person. At least 100 times, and probably way more than that.
What is that like? What would you even see anymore when you look at people, when you see a crowd? What would you even see? How would you feel about it?
And who can relate to that? Nobody can relate to that.
So Bob stands alone, and I really don’t envy that at all.
I don’t envy Bob Dylan for being as famous and beloved as he is, and people also hate on him. It’s crazy.
I think you gotta be a special type of person to take that, it’s gotta be your destiny. Cuz otherwise, how would you function?
After seeing him, it was incredible, and he was amazing but…
What is it like for him?
You’ve done it so much… can it ever be special anymore?
I can’t imagine.
Somehow Bob makes you feel like it IS special. Which is…
True showmanship, pure mastery.
He can make you feel like you’re the only person in the room.
The way he delivers the lyrics is just powerful.
He IS music, he IS lyrics, that’s just what he is.
Also, 60 years of constant practice probably doesn’t hurt either.
But not just anybody would be able to do that.
I didn’t know that he was pretty much psychic. Because when he’s up there on that stage, he’s just pounding it out but…
He’s also just so huge and expanded in his awareness that he takes up a huge area with his presence and his essence.
So when he’s singing the words, it’s not just words coming out of his mouth, it’s like…
Tentacles of magnetism that reach you and move you around.
I was literally swayed around by the words Bob Dylan was saying.
I didn’t need to understand every single word he was saying, because it’s beyond words.
It’s just imbued with this essence.
It’s like…
No wonder he’s Bob Dylan.
It’s beyond magical.
I didn’t expect that. I didn’t go expecting that.
But from the second I got there, it was in the air. There was magic in the air.
It was gentle magic. Soft magic. I didn’t expect it to feel like that.
It was like a lover, not a fighter kind of magic.
It was like a gentle, soft, purple magic.
I swear I’m not trolling, I’m so serious right now.
It was like a misty, foggy, hazy magic. It was mystical.
And where I parked…
I ended up pretty much right by where they park the tour buses.
I didn’t even see them for a while, but when I did I was like whoa.
I just didn’t expect to see that. I expected to see the front of the building or something.
I didn’t expect for it to be so personal. It felt as personal as a concert with thousands of other people can feel.
But it was special…
I think I saw Bob Dylan walking around outside of the tour bus.
It could have been anyone, but…
It was this mysterious hooded figure.
I kinda think it was Bob Dylan.
And Bob Dylan on stage?
Say maybe that WAS Bob Dylan in front of the tour bus like an hour before the show…
Imagine if that was him. That was just like a regular person walking around out there.
And then he gets on stage and he’s wearing these sparkly pants and he’s dressed to the nines.
He carries this absolute legend with him onto the stage.
Like I said, I don’t understand the perspective of somebody who’s had that kind of life experience.
To play that many shows and be that renown is something that even other famous people…
Have they really had that experience? Cuz I’m pretty sure Bob’s had that experience harder than anybody.
Elvis died pretty young though to be fair, I don’t think he’s a good example.
But I’m just trying to think of other people who are ridiculously famous.
I love Bob and I appreciate the fact that he’s been doing this for so long…
He’s truly incredible.
There’s so much muscle memory involved with what he does too. It’s almost like you could autopilot through it.
But I imagine it probably requires an intense amount of concentration to play the music and be amazing.
It seems kind of like a hard job.
Being in front of all the crowds? I’ve never gotten the impression that Bob is ever nervous. Like in his entire career.
Maybe I’m just oblivious to the way Bob feels, but I just never got the vibe that he ever had stagefright.
Maybe he did at one time, but it sure doesn’t seem like it anymore.
Seems like any type of nervousness he had getting in front of a ton of people is like, way long gone.
And now it’s just as common to him as getting up in the morning…
Eating a piece of toast, brushing your teeth, checking the mail. It’s like it’s as routine to him as something like that.
I just wonder…
I wonder so much.
I still have so many questions.
Ironically, the answer doesn’t come in words. It comes in feelings and emotions.
That magnetic, psychic force that sways you. That’s where the answers are.
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 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.
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.
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