Bob Dylan: A legend turns 65

Bob Dylan celebrated his 65th birthday on May 24th, 2006. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, he first gained critical acclaim after he moved to New York City in January 1961 and became a mainstay on the Greenwich Village Folk scene. Dylan had barely written his first songs upon moving to New York, and patterned his act and early material on the work of his idol, folksinger Woody Guthrie.

Dylan's early '60s work, including the classics "Blowin' In The Wind," "The Time They Are A Changin'," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Only A Pawn In Their Game," and "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll," came to define the best of folk music's topical social commentary.

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary told us that in 1964, when Dyllan abandoned political subjects to write relationship-based material, he did so with the blessing of most of the folk scene: "We had our own feelings about it, certainly. But an artist must do what he must do or she must do, and Bobby Dylan of course is famous for his continuing to change his perspective."

In the mid-'60s the singer-guitarist cut three of rock and roll's most seminal albums: 1965's Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and 1966's Blonde On Blonde. These albums, which comprise his "electric period," built upon his romantic songs, added blues backing, and featured lyrics that were far beyond the norm in popular music, blending images and telling stories in abstract detail.

Roger McGuinn of the Byrds said that above all else, he rates Dylan as one of rock's greatest poets: "I've always admired Bob's work, and we've gotten along well over the years. I think Bob's most admirable quality is his sense of songwriting ability: his lyrics. I've compared him to Shakespeare."

Dylan's career has also included several films and books, but it will always be his chameleon-like approach to his music that will stand apart from most of his peers. He's gone through many different personas, from the hymn-like narrator of The Basement Tapes and John Wesley Harding, to the romanticist of New Morning, Planet Waves, and 1975's Blood On The Tracks, one of his most enduring albums.

Dylan spent the late '70s and early '80s recording a trilogy of Christian music, much of which is performed with a fervor not heard from him since his mid-'60s peak.

Over the past decade, Dylan has enjoyed a creative renaissance with his live shows and the Grammy award winning albums Time Out Of Mind and Love And Theft. He's recently completed his 33rd studio album, which some insiders have hinted might be released as early as the end of August.

Rolling Stone magazine's associate editor Austin Scaggs says that the constantly touring Dyllan is just as mysterious at age 65 as he was 40 years ago: "I don't think he travels with family. I think he has that bus all to himself. I think inside the bus, I think he has books, he has a typewriter, he has some sort of outlet to listen to music. I think he's constantly listening to new music, or old music. But who knows? What does he do all day? Does he work on the next volume of his book? Does he write new songs?"

Bob Dylan kicks off a European tour on June 24th, in Kilkenny, Ireland.