The good poet wields his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn.

- T. S. Eliot

Wait, I’m deciding to be my own individual self, and it looks nothing like what anyone else is doing.

- Alicia Keys

Modern Times, Dylan’s thirty-first studio record and his third straight masterwork₁ // is musically intricate, thick, and expertly played₂. // Everything about this album is better than the two that came before₃ // As usual, it's verbose₄. // Dylan pours out verse after verse—aphorisms and parables, jokes and laments, valentines and metaphysical musings—over loose-limbed vamps from his excellent touring band₅. // He snickers to himself, cooing about love, God, and doing it₆. // He's 65 years old now and he ain't slowin' down₇. // It’s clear that Bob Dylan’s life has been defined by his desire to break away from a contemporary context₈. // Bob doesn't use the blues any more—he is the blues₉.

I rolled and I tumbled, I cried the whole night long₁₀, // wife and child back in Nantucket₁₁, // blues this mornin’ fallin’ down like hail₁₂, // beady black eyes following the nervous movements of₁₃ // an army, some tough sons of bitches₁₄ // carryin’ a dead man’s shield₁₅. // There is a wisdom that grows up in strife₁₆; // I’ll just slaughter ‘em where they lie₁₇. // Ahab’s lust for vengeance₁₈ // can’t explain the sources of this hidden pain₁₉. // No one can ever claim / that I took up arms against you₂₀. // I’m a thousand times happier than I could ever say₂₁.

I wrote these songs in not a meditative state at all, but more like in a trancelike, hypnotic state₂₂. // I knew this time it wouldn’t be futile writing something I really love and thought dearly of, and then gettin’ in the studio and having it be beaten up and whacked around₂₃. // This is the best band I’ve ever been in, I’ve ever had, man for man₂₄. // This is how I feel? Why do I feel like that? And who’s the me that feels this way?₂₅ // When you play with guys a hundred times a year, you know what you can and can’t do₂₆. // On this record, I ain’t nowhere, you can’t find me anywhere₂₇. // I felt freed up to do just about anything I pleased₂₈.

Will you call the doctor please?₂₉ // Explain / the sources of that hidden pain₃₀. // I’m touched with desire₃₁: // mass media, commercial art, celebrities, consumer product packaging, comic strips, and advertising₃₂. // I can’t eat all that stuff in a single bite₃₃. // (But you have heard of them.)₃₄ // For the love of God₃₅, // there’s barely enough skin to cover my bones₃₆. // Living this way ain’t a natural thing to do₃₇. // Take pity on yourself₃₈. // Tell the truth₃₉. // We all wear the same thorny crown₄₀.

ALL SONGS WRITTEN BY BOB DYLAN₄₁ // bear some strong echoes to the poems of Timrod, a Charleston native who wrote poems about the Civil War and died in 1867 at the age of 38₄₂. // Bob is not authentic at all₄₃. // To discover that Bob has passed someone elses work off as his own is very disappointing₄₄. // He’s a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake₄₅. // Bob really is a thieving little swine₄₆. // This is, of course, not the first time that Dylan has faced charges of borrowing₄₇. // This is really beyond the pale₄₈. // Is it part of the “folk process” to lift a few specific metaphors or phrases whole from someone else’s work? I really don’t think it is₄₉. // I wish I could trust it₅₀. // Everything about Bob is a deception₅₁.

You ever seen a ghost? No₅₂. // The idea is that you hear the old songs₅₃, // play them in the right time, in the right order, and fate is revealed₅₄ // all across the peaceful sacred fields₅₅. // I cannot believe these things could fade from your mind₅₆. // I’ve been sitting down studying₅₇ // fantasy worlds, religious mysticism, and ambiguous subject matter₅₈. // (Maybe he’s just sitting a spell, catching his breath.)₅₉ // I see all that I am and all I hope to be₆₀. // Those are the only two things in the world, a duality that needs no explaining₆₁. // I can’t go to paradise no more₆₂.

Everyone else can do it but not me. There are different rules for me₆₃. // Sometimes what Dylan has done with material from other sources is witty, crafty, and sly₆₄. // ALL SONGS WRITTEN BY BOB DYLAN₆₅. // And if you think it’s so easy … do it yourself and see how far you can get₆₆. // Other times it’s just sloppy₆₇. // Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff₆₈. // But to narrow the Dylan/Timrod phenomenon … into a story of possible plagiarism is to confuse, well, art with a term paper₆₉. // All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell₇₀.

I’m wondering where in the world₇₁ // perfect proportion and logic instead of emotion₇₂ // could be₇₃. // Alicia Keys₇₄ // (one of the loveliest creatures in the world of women)₇₅ // encounters other whaling vessels₇₆, // which, ere they feel a lover’s breath, / lie in a temporary death₇₇. // We want to compete abroad₇₈ // where wisdom grows up in strife₇₉, // deprive them of their highly comforting sense of doom₈₀. // I killed a man back there—₈₁ // a non-Christian at that—₈₂ // beyond the horizon right down to the bone₈₃. // I felt transient joys₈₄, // an angel’s kiss₈₅, // 1,000 years of happiness₈₆. // I can’t help it if I’m lucky₈₇

When I first received this Nobel Prize for Literature…₈₈ // steal a little they throw you in jail, / steal a lot they make you king₈₉. // “It’s a hard thing to describe,” Dylan would later remember. “It’s just this sense that you’ve got something to say.”₉₀ // I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy₉₁. // His singular, identifiable American voice is actually an amalgam of the voices of so many others₉₂. // But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors₉₃. // Across the 78 sentences in the lecture that Dylan spends describing Moby-Dick, … more than a dozen of them appear to closely resemble lines from the SparkNotes site₉₄. // That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words₉₅. // This key to the preceding essay names the source of every line I stole, warped, and cobbled together as I “wrote.”₉₆ // Modern Times is probably Dylan’s least-surprising release in decades₉₇. // ALL SONGS WRITTEN BY BOB DYLAN₉₈.

If it keep on rainin’, the levee gonna break;₉₉ // I ain’t gonna touch another₁₀₀ // round of precious hours. / Oh! here, where in that summer noon I basked / and strove, with logic frailer than the flowers₁₀₁, // I’ve been in a brawl₁₀₂. // When you’re with me₁₀₃ // every nook and cranny has its tears₁₀₄. // Shame on your greed, shame on your₁₀₅ // thousand and one subtle ramifications₁₀₆. // I’ve been conjuring up₁₀₇, // more frailer than the flowers, these precious hours₁₀₈. // Someone hit me from behind₁₀₉. // The world has gone black before my eyes₁₁₀. // I can hear a lover’s breath. / I sleep … / sleep is like a temporary death₁₁₁. // But someday baby₁₁₂ // I’m gonna wring your neck₁₁₃. // You ain’t gonna worry po’ me any more₁₁₄. // You will sort of understand₁₁₅, // the gardener is gone₁₁₆. // We can have a whoppin’ good time₁₁₇.

₁ Joe Levy, “Bob Dylan: Modern Times,” Rolling Stone, August 14, 2006

₂ Amanda Petrusich, “Bob Dylan: Modern Times Album Review,” Pitchfork, August 29, 2006

₃ El_Goodo, “Bob Dylan – Modern Times (Album Review),” Sputnik Music, September 1, 2006

₄ Jody Rosen, “Bob Dylan’s Make-Out Album,” Slate, August 30, 2006

₅ ibid.

₆ Amanda Petrusich, “Bob Dylan: Modern Times Album Review,” Pitchfork, August 29, 2006

₇ Robert Forster, “Modern Times and Times Before That,” The Monthly, October, 2006

₈ Steven Hyden, “Bob Dylan’s Modern Times,” A.V. Club, February 14, 2012

₉ Sean O’Hagan, “Bob Dylan, Modern Times,” Guardian, September 16, 2006

₁₀ Bob Dylan, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” Modern Times; or, Muddy Waters, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” (1929)

₁₁ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2017); or, SparkNotes, “Moby-Dick”

₁₂ Bob Dylan, “Nettie Moore,” Modern Times

₁₃ Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Volume One (2003); or, Sax Rohmer, Dope (1919)

₁₄ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₁₅ Bob Dylan, “Ain’t Talkin’,” Modern Times

₁₆ Henry Timrod, “Retirement” (circa 1860); compare to Bob Dylan, “When the Deal Goes Down,” Modern Times (see footnote 79)

₁₇ Bob Dylan, “Ain’t Talkin’,” Modern Times

₁₈ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2017); or, SparkNotes, “Moby-Dick”

₁₉ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times; compare to Henry Timrod, “Two Portraits” (circa 1860) (see footnote 30)

₂₀ Ovid, Tristia (circa 8 A.D.); compare to “No one can ever claim / That I took up arms against you” by Bob Dylan, “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Modern Times

₂₁ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times

₂₂ Bob Dylan, qtd. in Jonathan Lethem’s “The Genius and Modern Times of Bob Dylan,” Rolling Stone, September 7, 2006

₂₃ ibid.

₂₄ ibid.

₂₅ ibid.

₂₆ ibid.

₂₇ ibid.

₂₈ ibid.

₂₉ Bob Dylan, “Little Buddy,” a handwritten poem he wrote at age 13 (1944); or, Hank Snow’s “Little Buddy” (1947)

₃₀ Henry Timrod, “Two Portraits” (circa 1860) (see footnote 19)

₃₁ Bob Dylan, “Beyond the Horizon,” Modern Times

₃₂ Bob Dylan, “Foreword,” The Beaten Path (2016); or, “Pop Art,” Glossary of Art Terms by the New Orleans Museum of Art

₃₃ Bob Dylan, “Nettie Moore,” Modern Times

₃₄ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times

₃₅ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₃₆ Ovid, Tristia (circa 8 A.D.); compare to “Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones,” by Bob Dylan, “The Levee’s Gonna Break,” Modern Times

₃₇ Bob Dylan, “Someday Baby,” Modern Times

₃₈ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₃₉ Adam Peterson, “#292: Bob Dylan & The Band, ‘The Basement Tapes,’” The RS500 (2016)

₄₀ Bob Dylan, “When the Deal Goes Down,” Modern Times

₄₁ Bob Dylan, Liner Notes, Modern Times

₄₂ Motoko Rich, “Who’s This Guy Dylan Who’s Borrowing Lines from Henry Timrod?,” New York Times, September 14, 2006

₄₃ Joni Mitchell, Interview with Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2010

₄₄ Mister.Jones, “Many Lines in Chronicles are from Time Magazine” Discussion Forum, expectingrain.com, April 28, 2009

₄₅ Joni Mitchell, Interview with Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2010

₄₆ Harvey, Discussion Forum, Dylan Pool

₄₇ News Desk, “Boots of Spanish Leather: Bob Dylan and Stealing,” New Yorker, September 30, 2011

₄₈ supermabel1, “Many Lines in Chronicles are from Time Magazine” Discussion Forum, expectingrain.com, May 13, 2009

₄₉ Suzanne Vega, “The Ballad of Henry Timrod,” New York Times, September 26, 2006

₅₀ Paul Haney, “Need a Lift: Modern Times,” Dylan Hypothesis, September 6, 2016

₅₁ Joni Mitchell, Interview with Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2010

₅₂ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times

₅₃ Adam Peterson, “#292: Bob Dylan & The Band, ‘The Basement Tapes’ (1975),” The RS500 (2016)

₅₄ Brad Shoup, “#303: Bob Dylan, ‘John Wesley Harding’ (1967),” The RS500 (2016)

₅₅ Bob Dylan, “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Modern Times

₅₆ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times; compare to “Can’t believe these things would ever fade from your mind” by Ovid, Black Sea Letters (circa 8 A.D.)

₅₇ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₅₈ Bob Dylan, “Foreword,” The Beaten Path (2016); or, “Symbolist,” Glossary of Art Terms by the New Orleans Museum of Art

₅₉ John Gregory Brown, “#410: Bob Dylan, ‘Time Out of Mind’ (1997),” TheRS500 (2015)

₆₀ Bob Dylan, “The Levee’s Gonna Break,” Modern Times

₆₁ Constance Squires, “#385: Bob Dylan, ‘Love and Theft’ (2001),” The RS500 (2015)

₆₂ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times

₆₃ Bob Dylan, Interview with Mikal Gilmore, “Bob Dylan Unleashed, Rolling Stone, September 27, 2012

₆₄ Scott Warmuth, “Bob Charlatan: Deconstructing Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One” (2008)

₆₅ Bob Dylan, Liner Notes, Modern Times

₆₆ Bob Dylan, Interview with Mikal Gilmore, “Bob Dylan Unleashed, Rolling Stone, September 27, 2012

₆₇ Scott Warmuth, “Bob Charlatan: Deconstructing Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One” (2008)

₆₈ Bob Dylan, Interview with Mikal Gilmore, “Bob Dylan Unleashed Rolling Stone, September 27, 2012

₆₉ Robert Polito, “Bob Dylan: Henry Timrod Revisited,” Poetry Foundation, October 6, 2006

₇₀ Bob Dylan, Interview with Mikal Gilmore, “Bob Dylan Unleashed Rolling Stone, September 27, 2012

₇₁ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₇₂ Bob Dylan, “Foreword,” The Beaten Path (2016); or, “Classical,” Glossary of Art Terms by the New Orleans Museum of Art

₇₃ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₇₄ ibid.

₇₅ Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One (2003); or, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Providence and the Guitar” (circa 1880)

₇₆ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature (2016); or, SparkNotes, “Moby-Dick”

₇₇ Henry Timrod, “Two Portraits” (circa 1860); compare to Bob Dylan, “Workingman’s Blues #2” (see footnote 111)

₇₈ Bob Dylan, “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Modern Times

₇₉ Bob Dylan, “When the Deal Goes Down,” Modern Times; compare to Henry Timrod, “Retirement” (circa 1860) (see footnote 16)

₈₀ Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One (2003); or, “The Anatomy of Angst,” Time Magazine, March 31, 1961

₈₁ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times

₈₂ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2017); or, SparkNotes, “Moby-Dick”

₈₃ Bob Dylan, “Beyond the Horizon,” Modern Times

₈₄ Bob Dylan, “When the Deal Goes Down,” Modern Times

₈₅ Bob Dylan, “Beyond the Horizon,” Modern Times

₈₆ Bob Dylan, “The Levee’s Gonna Break,” Modern Times

₈₇ Darius Rucker, et al. “Only Wanna Be with You,” Cracked Rear View (1995); or, Bob Dylan, “Idiot Wind,” Blood on the Tracks (1974)

₈₈ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2017)

₈₉ Bob Dylan, “Sweetheart Like You,” Infidels (1983)

₉₀ Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works (2012); this quote was later found to have been fabricated, leading to the book being recalled

₉₁ Bob Dylan, “Banquet Speech” for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2016)

₉₂ Scott Warmuth, “Bob Charlatan: Deconstructing Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One (2003)”

₉₃ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2017)

₉₄ Andrea Pitzer, “Did Bob Dylan Take from SparkNotes for His Nobel Lecture?,” Slate, June 13, 2017

₉₅ Bob Dylan, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2016 (2017)

₉₆ Jonathan Lethem, “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism,” Harper’s, February, 2007

₉₇ Amanda Petrusich, “Bob Dylan: Modern Times Album Review,” Pitchfork, August 29, 2006

₉₈ Bob Dylan, Liner Notes, Modern Times

₉₉ Bob Dylan, “The Levee’s Gonna Break,” Modern Times; compare to “If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break” by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, “When the Levee Breaks” (1929)

₁₀₀ Bob Dylan, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” Modern Times

₁₀₁ Henry Timrod, “A Rhapsody of a Southern Winter Night,”(circa 1860); compare to Bob Dylan, “When the Deal Goes Down” (see footnote 108)

₁₀₂ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water, Modern Times

₁₀₃ ibid.

₁₀₄ Ovid, Tristia (circa 8 A.D.); compare to “Every nook and corner had its tears” by Bob Dylan, “Ain’t Talkin’,” Modern Times

₁₀₅ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₁₀₆ Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One (2003); or, Jack London, Children of the Frost

₁₀₇ Bob Dylan, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” Modern Times

₁₀₈ Bob Dylan, “When the Deal Goes Down,” Modern Times; compare to Henry Timrod, “A Rhapsody of a Southern Winter Night” (circa 1860 (see footnote 101)

₁₀₉ Bob Dylan, “Ain’t Talkin’,” Modern Times

₁₁₀ Bob Dylan, “Nettie Moore,” Modern Times

₁₁₁ Bob Dylan, “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Modern Times; compare to Henry Timrod’s “Two Portraits” (circa 1860) (see footnote 77)

₁₁₂ Bob Dylan, “Someday Baby,” Modern Times; compare to “Someday baby, you ain’t gonna word my mind anymore” by Sleepy John Estes, “Someday Baby Blues” (1935)

₁₁₃ Bob Dylan, “Someday Baby,” Modern Times

₁₁₄ Bob Dylan, “Someday Baby,” Modern Times; compare to “Someday baby, you ain’t gonna word my mind anymore” by Sleepy John Estes, “Someday Baby Blues” (1935)

₁₁₅ Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain,” Modern Times

₁₁₆ Bob Dylan, “Ain’t Talkin’,” Modern Times

₁₁₇ Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water,” Modern Times

—Paul Haney