Bob Dylan's Self Portrait Is Actually Genius
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- Thank you for watching! If you want me to take a look at another piece of art, whether it be film, music, video games, or anything else, leave a comment! Also go listen to Self Portrait!
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Music:
Maggie's Farm (Instrumental) - Bob Dylan, Drew Shortell
Background Music Throughout The Video - Drew Shortell
Gotta Travel On - Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, Dave Lazer, Bob Dylan, Drew Shortell
Written, voiced and edited by Drew Shortell
Self Portrait - Bob Dylan, Columbia Records
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Hello everyone! I wanted to correct an error that has been brought to my attention. During the "Like A Rolling Stone (Live)" section of the essay, I stated that it was taken from Bob Dylan's performance at the Isle of Wight concert in 1970, but the performance took place at the Isle of Wight concert in 1969. I apologize for the inconsistency. Thank you for watching the video!
I’ve always thought of Self portrait simply as Dylan coming into the studio every day and recording whatever song he’d happen to have found himself idly singing to himself in the shower that morning. It’s always made perfect sense to me that way, and I’ve always enjoyed it for its chill, easy-going vibe.
There's audio of Bob with George Harrison, Charlie Daniels & I'm not sure who else singing whatever songs come to mind..
I read Bob rented studio time to just have fun but I think he was trying out tunes to record .
Self-Portrait was released on
June 8, 1970.
*Bob Dylan & George Harrison in Studio is from May of 1970.
Coincidence or
Cohencidence? lol.
ps: Search Utube for *"Bob Dylan & George Harrison in Studio"*.
Too bad it's only audio 😿
Never understood the critics. I LOVED this album from day one when it came out.
This is my FAVORITE Dylan album. It has been in my car six CD changer for six years. I know it front to back. Listen to it every week. Thanks for this video!
I heard Self Portrait on repeat starting in 1982, until my Dad decided to play another Dylan album years later.😅
This is the one that got me into Bob, so many great songs and opened me up to more albums from Bob, I'd say life changing
I always loved this album. It doesn't have to be an all time masterpiece to be worth listening to.
Also..New Moring...a masterpiece...came out around the same time!
I agree! It's super underrated. Lots of excellent songs: If Not For You, New Morning, Went To See The Gypsy, Sign On The Window, etc.
New Morning is great!
Critics weren't fans but his fans were ... Most of them anyway :)
New Morning is a good album with some great songs but it's no masterpiece.
I love Self Portrait; his version of the boxer is the crown jewel in my opinion. Early 70s Dylan is heavily underrated.
Great video, I have loved this album for years and it has been one of my favorites, a hidden gem. Introduced me to a lot of new songs and artists, it's like a roadmap.. Days of 49 is one of my favorites
I’ve always loved this album, from the first time I listened to it in 1970 up to this day. It’s such a wonderfull hodgepodge of songs that meant something to Dylan. I never got the impression Dylan was doing it tongue in cheek-it was a direct message to the world that he was a chameleon. Just as he changed from folk music to electric to country back to folk, this album presaged the ever-changing albums to come in the following decades. Thanks for giving this album its due.
Very well said! Thank you for watching!
"Self Portrait" fills my soul, thank you Bob Dylan
I took the Self Portrait cd on a road trip from Portland to Duluth in 2004 and played it non stop. My mother-in-law’s father bootlegged with Bob’s father in Duluth in the 1920’s. Couldn’t have had a better soundtrack for the trip. I’ve always claimed it as a favorite contrary to popular opinion for many years. The Bootleg Series compilation of this era pretty much set the record straight. Copper Kettle is a masterpiece. 🤘🏽🥃🤘🏽🔥💕✨💿
Thank you ! 🎉 Much appreciated 🎉 Miss everything; desperately tracking marvellous memory. You get me there ❤
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ALBUM HIS VOICE HIS SELECTED SONGS HE IS SOOO GREAT A LIVING SHAKESPERE GEY IT STRAIT
Ny favourite, most listened to Dylan album.
I bought this album when it was first released and loved it then as well as ever since. I cause Iways got it.
Dear God ~ thank you for Bob Dylan
ya took the words right outta my mouth❣
A good album. "Another Self Portrait" is even better.
Beautiful essay on Self Portrait. Dylan is a chameleon, shape shifter,mercurial, Renaissance. Genius is not sufficient to describe him. We are lucky to live as witness to his talent. Long Live Bob Dylan.💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕
What an awesome album! Self Portrait elevated Dylan to the pantheon with Mr Acker Bilk & Pete Fountain!
Great review! I think you've caught the essence of Self-Portrait, and I love that album. It's a beautiful, warm journey through Americana, and yes, it was Bob's way of rejecting the labels and expectations that had been put on him by his fans. By the way, here's a neat little thing I picked up about Quinn the Eskimo....and I've never heard it referred to by anyone else but me... Why did Bob Dylan refer to the Eskimo as "Quinn"? Seems like a strange name for an Eskimo (Inuit), doesn't it? Well, here's why, I think. In 1960 there was an adventure film that came out and it was called "The Savage Innocents". I saw it in the theater that year. It was quite a striking movie. Here's a brief description of what it was about: "An Inuk (Eskimo/Inuit) hunter accidentally kills a Christian missionary who rejects his traditional offer of food and his wife's company. Pursued by white policemen, the Inuk saves the life of one of them, resulting in a final confrontation in which the surviving cop must decide between his commitment to law enforcement and his gratitude to the Inuk."
Okay. So, you know who played the Inuit hunter, the Eskimo? Anthony Quinn! And as usual, he played the part of the "savage innocent" to perfection. I bet Bob Dylan saw that movie when it came out in 1960, and I bet that's why he later wrote the song called "Quinn the Eskimo". I may be literally the only amature Dylanologist or deep Bob Dylan fan who's spotted this...because I haven't heard anyone else mention it. It is, though, the kind of thing that Clinton Heylin would probably spot, because that man leaves no stone unturned. Anyway, there's my theory about who "Quinn" the Eskimo really was... 🙂 And yes, you'll not see nothin' like the Mighty Quinn! A very memorable role in a movie that most people have long forgotten.
Thank you! That theory makes a lot of sense, and I would have never figured that out. Thank you for your insight and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Eye-openng analysis -- and food for thought; thanks!
I really enjoyed this! Excellent presentation.
Thank you!
Same!
My favorite song in this album is Days of '49
The first Dylan LP I bought, other than Greatest Hits. I knew very little about Dylan then, I just knew I liked his songs. With very few preconceptions I was able to thoroughly enjoy repeated listens. Self Portrait introduced me to a catalogue & a genre I would not have otherwise enjoyed. (My teenage brain was hurtling straight to the Stooges at the time) I still enjoy this record, & often find myself singing "Alberta, let your hair hang down" at odd moments.
great essay, very well done
Thank you!
I don't listen to much of Dylan's stuff - but "Self Portrait" is an album I can enjoy!
Thank you for this
Always one of my favorite albums...I've had it on record, tape, and cd over the years. Didn't think dylan really did a bad album until we got them few in the mid 80s. But other than that it's gold to me...Days of 49 is a personal favorite!
I agree! For me, it's either Copper Kettle or Days Of '49 as my favorite on the album.
@@drewshortellYep. Copper Kettle is mighty fine. There’s a lot of soul in his singing.
I also appreciate Take A Message to Mary. It could have something to do with that my first wife was Mary. But there’s a cool story in it-The guy is in jail.
I knew Take A Message to Mary from The Everly Brothers. Bob goes full 50s pop country with his arrangement, especially the intro
This was absolutely wonderful. Thank you.
Thank you!
I've long thought Self Portrait was arguably his best album.
A great collage of music
Of course its brilliant, but im glad you also like it. Not to say they're all brilliant, but there are more great ones than misses. Blonde on blonde, blood on the tracks, highway, he's got heaps. One of the few artists to actually recreate himself over and over.
I've always liked the album and still enjoy listening to it.
The black-n-white footage with Bob at piano is from the recording of *"The Man in Me"* from the movie with Jeff Bridges "The Big Lebowski"...
Alot of people know the movie but aren't aware that it's Dylan singing 😎
This was very interesting. Thank you for the excellent video!
Thank you for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Great video! Thank you!
This is my favorite Bob album at the moment!
Listen to "Theme Time Radio Hour" They are sisters to Self Portrait
Thank you for the suggestion! I had no idea this existed, thank you for introducing me to it!
@@drewshortell Bob recorded 100 of them between 2006 - 2009. All are available on You tube. Bob is a great DJ
You made a kinda uninteresting lp seem a lot more interesting. Ill have to take a listen for the first time in decades.
To be honest i had zero memory that half his short isle of wight set was on this lp.
Nice job
4 songs out of 18, actually.
my favorite picture from self portrait is him in the upstate new york catskills .. standing outside without a jacket looking at the sky .. must be spring maybe late march early april before leaves appear .. as if he is welcoming the warm weather .. and a 'new morning' ..
I think that's a great observation! I always like when an artist alludes to a later work in a prior album, whether it be in the visual design or the music. It's somewhat like how Queen's first album ends with an instrumental snippet of Seven Seas of Rhye, which would be the last song on Queen II. Thank you for watching!
the album painting resembles "John Henry Hammond", especially the haircut
Great insight here. Dylan always likes to offend, I think. He offended folk. He then offended rock. He offended Jews. On and on. He's a contrarian but the brilliance of it, as you really do a wonderful job of explaining here, is that the artistry behind that is always there in abundance. He can't help himself.
Thank you! I agree, I believe he had iconoclastic tendencies that have been shown throughout his career. And as you point out, the earnest artistic intent is always there, whether it be folk, rock, country, Americana, or other types of music.
Apparently a critic from Rolling Stone magazine wrote "What is this shyte"..
I've always loved Self-Portrait & Another Self-Portrait! 🤍
God bless 🕊️
Thank you for your wonderful comments!
Very good video, will you do any more videos on Dylan?
Thank you! I think I will sometime. I was tossing around the idea of a video on Desire, the Christian trilogy, Modern Times or Rough and Rowdy Ways. What albums would you like me to cover?
@@drewshortell I would love to see a video on tempest, or desire. But I will eat up any content about Bob Dylan I can get lol
@@Ben-dd2ze Those are great choices! I'm currently writing the script for my next video, which will be about a film called "The Old Dark House" from 1932 for my Halloween special. But after that video is done, I'll start writing a script for a video on either Tempest or Desire. I'm not sure which one yet, but I'll start the script next Monday. Thank you again for watching!
@@drewshortell thanks man, I'll definitely tune in.
I love wigwam.
Was it Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone? He set the tone and all the critics ran with it.
I agree. After that infamous opening line in the review from Greil Marcus, it seemed that many critics went into the album with the idea that it was a failed concept with little merit. I believe that with any album, it is important to meet it on its own terms, and I believe many people refuse to do that with this album. Thank you for watching!
Just a quick correction, Bob played the Isle Of Wight, England, on 31 August 1969, not 1970.
It has a few great moments on it. Also has quite a few head scratchers in it too.It’s not as bad as it’s made out to be but it’s no classic.
If I may, ''Belle Isle' is not a traditional song. It's an original song telling the same story as the traditional song "John Riley". Thank you.
Thank you for letting me know! I guess I didn't catch that during the scriptwriting process.
I just wish Pretty Saro made the official album listing. I love wigwam tho
RUclips has now taken to putting negative comments at the end. No big deal with less than 100 comments, but try scrolling through 1.6K in order to find a bad review (or several hundred bad reviews) to say - a free movie that you may be considering watching. Anywhere from ‘meh’ to infuriating.
In regards to this post: The Self-Portrait re-issue was so good it actually made me like this album (a lot). It’s an interesting topic. Genius? well - I’ll give it a shot.
Not huge on this album itself, don't care for a lot of the overdubbing and production choices. But another self portrait is great!
Hi Drew While I think you have done an excellent job here however it think you a missing some of the genius of self portrait. The album is a true self portrait. In self portrait he covers many great song writers. He has learned much from many before him. The real point though is the live songs. In 1970 i was 15 yrs old. I was already a die hard fan however I had never heard live dylan. Yes he has been to Australia but i did not see him. This live music on the album you call a studio album was a lightning strike for me. I recall not long after with my friend Ian we caught a train to get to Martins Records and Books. We came away with bootleg albums. I left the store with an LP in lime green vinyl with the title Live at Royal Albert Hall. Yes I have many recordings of the same concert now but i still have the green vinyl. More importantly self portrait taught me the best Dylan was live Dylan. I also learnt that he was a student of song writing and accepted the work of others and learnt from it. So really, Self Portrait was the blueprint for the rest of Bob's career. Think about it, rolling thunder and the never ending tour, the Bob Dylan radio hour, the Bob Dylan painting and metal work and the ability to pay homage to other great song writers think about when Warren Zevon announced he had mesothelioma and it was life ending, Bob takes to playing Warren tunes and so many more great moments. Dig out the bootleg of Bob playing Little Suzi because Bobby Vee was in the audience. Bob had played piano for Bobby Vee before any knew about BD. Self portrait is the most true to the artist album of all time!!!!
That is a great perspective! I also highly enjoy the Royal Albert Hall live album. I just wish I could have seen him live then. I agree that Self Portrait delivers a uniquely honest insight into Dylan as well as mapping out many of the musical trends we would see later. Thank you for watching!
Beautifully said❤
Oh,really?Dylan's cover of early morning rain is better than Gordon Lightfoot?oh,ok.
Self-Portrait is great but don't forget *Another Self-Portrait!*
😎
God bless🕊️🕯️🤍
Course it is
I have all of Dylan's albums, and I've been following him since he first started.
But the self-portrait on that album looks like it was painted by a toddler. I don't see it as a work of genius.
i know
Oh boy you got a click with that thumbnail. Let’s see what you got.
I think the "voice of his generation" thing soured on him after Kennedy was killed in November of 63. The Times They Are A' Changin' was recorded from August 6 - October 31, 1963, and released in February of 64. It still featured a number of topical political protest songs. The very next album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, moves away from topical protest songs entirely and focuses on humorous or personal material, and for the next one, Bringing It All Back Home, he not only further pursues his more personal and humorous material, he even adds a band to the A side.
Self Portrait remains a shoddy, sloppily assembled, poorly thought through effort.
I am a big Bob fan, but there's a limit to the historical revisionism.
Another Self Portrait just emphasised how poor an offering the original was ... so no.
Great video of an awful album. The only reason to own it back then was the live recordings from the Isle of Wight concert. Every attempt I've made to give it another chance over the decades I ended up skipping everything but the live tracks, which I still love today.
Days of 49 kick ass
Listen to Days of 49 and Alberta #2
It’s an amazing country album. You’re wrong
these three songs at Isle of white didn't fit in on SP. Instead he should have used the 3 tribute to woody songs which were amzing performances. I aint got to nome; dear Mrs. Roosefelt, and grand coulee dam. as well as many others such as Pretty Saro, etc. sp is a great record. go to heel greel marcus's bullshit reaction to somone who knows about music more than Louis Loius. ha ha.
Bob was NOT at the IOW in 1970. It was 1969. How many errors can you do?
Dylan is a great singer-----------------------his voice not so great-----------------and it's a perfect combination
Distracting background ambient music doesn't belong.
Yep. Made me stop listening.
There are some crazies on here suggesting this album is great. I love Dylan but this record is indeed - crap. Terrible and slapped out by Bob for financial reasons. Some of the comments on here prove the Monty Python adage that some people are so strange that they would enjoy having their head nailed to a coffee table. This album is the musical equivalent of that.
Good analysis of a great great album but i had to turn it off because of the pointless and irrelevant and overly loud background music. Ugh. 😮
Ah…. No
Yeah I see he wanted to break expectations, but it's not genius not this album.
This is nonsense and so is the album. It's tripe! Dylan just couldn't match his much better earlier work and still can't. Finally, If that's the author doing "Travel On" at the end of this, he needs to stop playing (around?) too!
Worst album he ever produced!
Stop. Just stop this BS
No it isn't bro
Dear God ~ thank you for Bob Dylan
I always loved this album. It doesn't have to be an all time masterpiece to be worth listening to.