Song & Dance Man:
The Art of Bob Dylan
Quotes from Reviews
“Monumental, endlessly illuminating.” – ROLLING STONE
“The definitive critical work.” – EVENING STANDARD, London
“Extraordinarily useful… I have always admired Gray’s reach, tone, and acuity but the research here is just amazing.” – GREIL MARCUS
“Serious Dylan criticism… intricate analyses monumental.” – SUNDAY TIMES, London
“Michael Gray… probably Dylan’s single most assiduous critic.” – NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
“Song & Dance Man lIl is probably the greatest book about the work of a single popular musician ever to have been published.” – LONDON REVIEW BOOKSHOP
“Immense and immensely illuminating… It is wonderfully comic and serious and sharp. I am enjoying it hugely and learning from every page.” – CHRISTOPHER RICKS, author of “Visions of Sin”
“It is the most penetrating and clear-headed work on his work ever done – a monumental achievement.” – DAVID HAJDU, author of “Positively 4th Street”
“This book is an event… delivering prodigious analyses of Dylan’s artistry and his polymath sources in pre-war blues, nursery rhymes, fairy tales and Hollywood movie dialogue. Gray maintains a ruthless integrity regarding Dylan himself.” – Q, London
“In examining the influences that shaped Dylan into one of the most influential postwar artists, Gray draws on everyone from Elvis to Eliot, Robert Johnson to Rimbaud… This huge work is overwhelming. IT’s all been written in the book, sang Bob Dylan. Now it really his.” – THE TIMES, London
‘This book is an event… delivering prodigious analyses of Dylan’s artistry and his polymath sources in pre- war blues, nursery rhymes, fairy tales and Hollywood movie dialogue… Gray maintains a ruthless integrity regarding Dylan himself. * * * * * ‘ – Q
“Wonderful… The best book there is on Dylan, now better than ever.” – THE OBSERVER
‘Michael Gray’s Song & Dance Man… has grown across three decades and as many editions into a comprehensive critical companion.’ – BOSTON GLOBE
Reviews, Articles, Podcasts
By Jeff Burger
‘Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan’
Gray’s knowledge of his subject is encyclopedic, and he digs up all sorts of interesting connections…Dylan fans love to wade into and debate the details, and there’s plenty of opportunity for that here, along with all sorts of fascinating trivia. Let the fun begin.
Elliptical Movements
‘Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan – Vol.2’
“Despite my reservations about much of the music under discussion, Gray is such a perceptive and incise writer that this book is a real pleasure, an illuminating survey of what I at least consider a dark passage in the career of one of the most important artists of the last 60-odd years. I can’t wait to read Volume III.”
‘Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan – Vol.1’
“it is followed by the longest and most substantial chapter, the one on Dylan and the blues. As already stated, Gray teases this out with numerous examples comparing the blues canon, mainly pre-WWII country blues, with Dylan lyrics. It’s a meticulously constructed thesis, but its value lies equally in the comprehensive footnotes, which serve as a framework for what would be the most excellent blues playlist imaginable. Even if you disagreed entirely with Gray, which I don’t, these footnotes are worth the price of admission.”
The Music Books Podcast
Michal Gray on Song & Dance Man
Pod Dylan
Michael Gray on ‘Too Late’
Booked On Rock
The Lyrical Art of Bob Dylan (Michael Gray)