Talkin' New York
Patricia Jungwirth
in the article referred to seemed very off-base when I read it, so it's
good to see the author of the Van Ronk book clear the matter up.
Talkin' New York
To the Editor:
I was naturally pleased to see your positive review of ''The Mayor of
MacDougal Street'' (Music Chronicle, July 3), Dave Van Ronk's memoir of the
folk revival (which I assembled after his death in 2002), but was startled
to read that Dave's treatment of Bob Dylan shows palpable ''resentment''
and ''even dredges up the old story that Dylan stole his arrangement of
'House of the Rising Sun.' ''
The book mentions some disagreements with Dylan, but in general Dave
portrays him as a brilliant performer, a revolutionary songwriter and ''far
and away the best on our scene.'' As for the ''stolen'' arrangement, Dylan
writes in ''Chronicles'': ''I was greatly influenced by Dave. Later, when I
would record my first album, half the cuts on it were renditions of songs
that Van Ronk did.'' And Dave's view on that: ''Theft is the first law of
art, and like any group of intelligent musicians, we all lived with our
hands in each other's pockets. Bobby picked up material from a lot of
people, myself included, but we all picked up things from him as well.'' To
me, that sounds gracious, not resentful.
ELIJAH WALD
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/books/review/24letters.html?
the book review referred to is here :
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/books/review/03MUSICIT.html?ex=1122523200&
en=a6cf84a49e80467f&ei=5070
Zuke
and condense it into a soundbite. The entire Dylan Greenwich Village
era is covered very well in the Van Ronk book. It's not 100% pro
Dylan but ends up very much on Dylan's positive side, showing Dylan
to be an artist and a human being with all the complexity inherent
therein.
I loved the Van Ronk book. One of the best books on that period of
music, say late fifties to late sixties. Don't jump to the Dylan
section, you'll be cheating yourself.
Later,
Zuke
Will Dockery
> Very pleased to see this letter in the New York Times today. The comments
> in the article referred to seemed very off-base when I read it, so it's
> good to see the author of the Van Ronk book clear the matter up.
>
> Talkin' New York
> To the Editor:
> I was naturally pleased to see your positive review of ''The Mayor of
> MacDougal Street'' (Music Chronicle, July 3), Dave Van Ronk's memoir of the
> folk revival (which I assembled after his death in 2002), but was startled
> to read that Dave's treatment of Bob Dylan shows palpable ''resentment''
> and ''even dredges up the old story that Dylan stole his arrangement of
> 'House of the Rising Sun.' ''
Much ado...