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Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and American Song
Larry David Smith
ISBN: 0-313-36129-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-36129-6
288 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 10/30/2008
List Price: $25.00 (UK Sterling Price: £17.95)
Availability: Print on demand
Media Type: Paperback
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Reviews:
  • Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, And American Song is a combination dual biography and musical critique of two great and much beloved modern-day American songwriters and performers. Their distinct flavors, creative drives, and musical works are discussed in detail and contrasted in depth throughout the pages of this respectful, informative, and thoughtfully presented commentary. Simply put, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, And American Song is must reading for the legions of Dylan and Springsteen fans, and a very highly recommended addition to academic and community library American Music History collections.
    —Wisconsin Bookwatch/Midwest Book Review     1/1/2003
  • Recommended. Academic collections supporting study of music and pop culture at the upper-division undergraduate level and above; general collections.
    —Choice     5/1/2003
Description: Exposing the depth of two major artists' philosophies, creative visions, stylistic tendencies, and contributions to their craft, this unprecedented comparative analysis synthesizes biographical material, critical interpretation, and selected exemplars of the writers' work. Smith reinterprets their work in a new and fascinating light, presenting Dylan as a songwriter of enigmatic wordplay and Springsteen as the melodramatic narrator of a specific community's life struggles.

Both songwriters have had unique responses to the celebrity singer/songwriter tradition begun by Woody Guthrie. Smith reveals the power of authorship and the creative drive necessary to negotiate an artistic vision through the complicated mechanisms of the world of commercial art. Both have discovered their own means of traveling this difficult terrain, and Smith probes their lives and work to reveal the myriad ways in which two distinct, equally significant artists have learned from and contributed to an ongoing and important American musical tradition.
About the Author: Larry David Smith is an independent writer and lecturer who specializes in narrative critiques of popular media. His previous works include Pete Townshend: The Minstrel's Dilemma (Praeger, 1999).
LCC Class: 782
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