A Guide to Selected Bob Dylan Biographies

Five major biographies of Dylan have so far been published, but the definitive Dylan biography has yet to be written. (Are you listening Peter Guralnick?) Here is a quick look at the attempts that have been made so far.

Folk-Rock: The Bob Dylan Story by Sy and Barbara Ribakove.

Five major Bob Dylan biographies have been published. This is not one of them. But it is, I believe, the first book published purporting to be a biography of Dylan. "The Bob Dylan Story" is a mass paperback biography copyrighted in 1966. It is not a serious look at Dylan's life, but a long article about it based on magazine articles and interviews that were readily available at the time the book was written. The authors (it appears) did not interviews or independant research for the book. Dylan lied quite a bit in his early career about his origins (for instance claiming that he ran away from home seven times by the time he was 18) and without any contradictory evidence the book accepts whatever Dylan says in his interviews. The book has no value as an examination of Dylan or his work, but it is of some historical interest. It is out of print as far as I know but can probably be located at a few used book stores or "ebay".

Bob Dylan: An Intimate Biography by Anthony Scaduto

The first major biography of Dylan was published in 1971.  Mr. Scaduto is a journalist who was a feature writer for the New York Post.  His biography covers only the early portion of Dylan's career (obviously) but since that is the period people are usually most interested in, it may still be of interest to many.  Later biographers have added details, corrected some errors and so on, but the tale of these early years doesn't change much in the other biographies.  Mr. Scaduto got to interview Dylan for the book, along with many others and he includes a full chapter consisting of an interview with Joan Baez.

The level of privacy Dylan demands, however, means that any biographer is working at a disadvantage when they tackle the Dylan story.  Scaduto did not get the chance to interview Dylan's wife and, despite interviews with Dylan and many of his close companions, ends up spelling her name wrong.  (It is "Sara" rather than "Sarah" as Scaduto has it.)  He does have a lot of interesting quotes from Dylan, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, and Dave Van Ronk, to name a few.  A good biography, but very outdated.

No Direction Home by Robert Shelton.

This long awaited biography was written by the New York Times music critic that many credit with having "discovered" Dylan.  He didn't do that but he did write the first major critical rave of a live Dylan performance.  It was this review that many think persuaded John Hammond to take a chance and sign Dylan to a Columbia Records contract.  Mr. Shelton published his biography in 1985.  It covers much of the same material as Scaduto.  This is probably the most professionally written of the biographies.  In terms of content, Shelton was well aquainted with Dylan in the 60s but they didn't associate together as much in later years.  Unfortunately that means that Shelton covers the 60s in great and intimate detail but does not manage to maintain that level of detail for the 70s and 80s.

The period from 1970 to 1986 (when the book came out) gets about one sixth of the space of the book, though it represents more than half of Dylan's career.  Since Mr. Scaduto already covered the early period in his biography, Mr. Shelton's was a bit of a disappointment.  Mr. Shelton gets an A- or so for what he covers early on, but the lack of coverage of Dylan's later years makes the biography suffer.

Bob Dylan: a Biography by Bob Spitz

The less said about this book the better.  It covers the same ground as Mr. Scaduto's and Mr. Shelton's but is intent on digging up as much dirt as possible and sensationalizing the results.  In terms of factual accuracy, he makes suspect claims that are found in none of the other biographies.  Given its unprofessional writing style and its plain desire to sensationalize, I don't trust the book very much, and since the same time periods are covered by Scaduto and Shelton (Mr. Spitz also essentially ignores Dylan's post-60s life), I think this biography has the least value of the five major biographies.

Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades a Biography by Clinton Heylin.

Mr. Heylin is a huge Bob Dylan fan and in 1991 he wrote a fan biography.  It was probably the most factually accurate of the five in terms of detailing Dylan's career.  Heylin did quite a few interviews for the book and went over published interviews of musicians who worked with Dylan with a fine toothed comb.  Heylin did a much better job than the other three of covering Dylan's post 60s career.  The style of the book is a bit odd, mixing Heylins comments with lengthy offset quotes from interviews with collegues and friends of Dylan.  He is opinionated and may anger some people with his off-topic criticisms of other singer-songwriters, but for fans who want to read about Dylan's career from the beginning to the early 90s this was the biography to own.  It has now been superseded by a newer edition "Behind the Shades Revisited."

"Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan" by Howard Sounes

Mr. Sounes' biography was published in March 2001 and got a lot of press for revealing that Dylan got secretly married in 1986 and secretly divorced in 1992 and that a child was born of the marriage.  This was certainly quite a coup.  Mr. Sounes conducted many interviews, some with important folk in Dylan's life that have never been heard from before, and does a good job with Dylan's business and family life.  He fares less well when it comes to Dylan's career.  For example he perpetuates the myth that Dylan concluded his last appearance at the Newport Folk Festival with "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" when it was actually "Mr. Tambourine Man" a fact readily available to anyone who spends 10 minutes researching the question.  A disgruntled Dylan finishing up with "Baby Blue" just makes a better story.  Important for the light he sheds on Dylan's family life story, but flawed by simple mistakes in the reporting of Dylan's career.

"Behind the Shades Revisited" by Clinton Heylin

In 2001 Mr. Heylin has published a major revision of his 1991 "Behind the Shades."  In 1991 "Behind the Shades" became reknowned among Dylan fans for its refusal to relegate the last decade of Dylan's career (at that time the 80s) to oblivion and cover his entire career relatively even-handedly.  It was the books claim to fame, in a sense.  Ironically this book breezes through the last decade of Dylan's career (this time the 90s) almost ignoring it and dismissing much of the music Dylan produced at the time.  The biggest problem with Mr. Heylin, however, is that his portrayals of people seem to be drawn very one-dimensionally.  For example Mr. Heylin hates (and I mean HATES) Joan Baez and he lets you know it every almost every time he mentions her.  The result is that his picture of most of the people in the book tells you whether or not Mr. Heylin likes their work or not, but gives you very little feel for them as human beings.  On the other hand the picture of Dylan's career and work is well drawn until you get to the 90s after which even that becomes sketchy.  It is certainly the best book covering Dylan's career that is currently available, but it is not yet the definitive biography of Bob Dylan.