From garden variety classic rockers to hardcore academics, Bob Dylan fans come in all shapes and sizes. While the bulk are content spinning their favorite Dylan discs when the mood strikes, members of a special sect have made Dylan their life's passion, devouring literature about the singer-songwriter, analyzing lyrics, poring over studio logs and set lists, comparing his work with the great poets of the ages, organizing and publishing recording session data.
Although the term “Dylanology” once carried a stigma of obsessive fanaticism, these days the word has gained considerable respect, with Dylanologists ranging anywhere between hardcore bloggers and professional biographers, to fanzine editors and Big-Ten university professors.
The Origins of Dylanology
The term “Dylanology” was coined by the world's most notorious Dylan freak, A.J. Weberman, the man who also apparently came up with the word “Garbology,” the science of learning people's habits by digging through their trash. Back in the 1960s, Weberman used to notoriously sneak around in the alleys behind Dylan's apartments, rummaging through his garbage in the night, searching for shards of song sheets and clues to the mysteries if his music.
Dylan allegedly bumped into Weberman once on the street and, after years of being pestered by him, punched him in the face for his constant intrusions. “Dylanology,” as originally envisioned by Weberman, is a systematic method of decoding the hidden meanings buried in Dylan's songs. For more on this classic New York character, check out the 2006 film, The Ballad of A.J. Weberman, by James Bluemel and Oliver Ralfe.
The World's Leading Dylanologists
Despite the oft-misconstrued geekiness associated with the word, Dylanology is now a blanket term generally referring to any serious Dylan scholar or diligent Dylan researcher. Today there are several dozen renowned Dylanologists ranging the globe. The following are the most well-known:
- Derek Barker, publisher and editor of Isis, the world's biggest Bob Dylan fanzine.
- Clinton Heylin, author of Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades and a half dozen other books about Dylan.
- Michael Gray, author of The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia
- Howard Sounes, author of Down the Highway, The Life of Bob Dylan
- Michael Krogsgaard, Bob Dylan sessionographer
- Olof Bjorner, another well-known Dylan sessionographer
- David Yaffe, author of the forthcoming, Like a Complete Unknown (May 2011)
- Sean Wilentz, historian-in-residence at bobdylan,.com and author of Bob Dylan in America
- Christopher Ricks, author of Dylan's Visions of Sin
Are you a Dylanologist?
Wondering whether you or a friend is categorically a Dylanologist? If any of the following characteristics fit the bill, it's a pretty good indicator that there's a Dylanologist in the house.
- When checking the news, after perusing the headlines, you plug “Bob Dylan” into the search engine to catch up on the latest.
- You have read The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia chronologically cover-to-cover
At Dylan concerts, when Bob launches into a song, you know within the first five chords what he's playing while the rest of the audience looks bewildered. - You take a pad and pencil along to Dylan concerts to jot down the set list.
- People call you for the facts when they get into arguments about Dylan.
- You know the dates and who was in the studio during the recording of “Like a Rolling Stone.”
- You know the actual person who inspired the song, “Mr. Tambourine Man.”