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Joni Mitchell Sets Us Straight: Bob Dylan "A Plagiarist," Americans "Stupid and Shallow"
gather.com ^ | 042610 | Kevin Zimmerman

Posted on 04/26/2010 6:26:23 PM PDT by Artemis Webb

"What is the big deal about Bob Dylan?" Julia Schrenkler wondered on Gather.com three years ago. Well, according to fellow folkie Joni Mitchell, he's a plagiarizing fraud.

"Bob is not authentic at all," Mitchell tells the Los Angeles Times. "He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."

True, Dylan's name is a "fake" -- he was born Robert ... um, Zimmerman -- but he'd have to be some kind of crazy to invent a voice like his current subterranean croak. Let's assume she's talking about his Woody Guthrie-isms of the '60s, just to be on the safe side.

But Mitchell (birth name: Roberta Joan Anderson, btw) doesn't restrict her remarks to male performers of her generation, letting us know that "Grace [Slick] and Janis Joplin were [sleeping with] their whole bands and falling down drunk."

Well, yes, but what of the Canadian-born Mitchell's own work? Time for a little self-examination, perhaps?

"My work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet," she announces. "Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero; she marks the turning point."

Ladies and gentlemen, Joni Mitchell: Special Ranting 2010 Edition. Approach her at your own risk...

(Excerpt) Read more at knittingcrochet.gather.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: bobdylan; graceslick; janisjoplin; jonimitchell
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
Which gets back to my point of that everybody is basically imitating everyone else.

There really isn't anything new under the sun, is there?

Joni Mitchell accuses Bob Dylan of plagiarism. He chose the surname "Dylan" in honor of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Mitchell undoubtedly was aware of Dylan Thomas and was familiar with his poetry. There is this lyric in Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning": "I will bring you incense owls by night." If I wanted to be snarky I would accuse her of borrowing from Dylan Thomas's "Fern Hill": "As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away."

Not plagiarism, but likely cross fertilization of half-remembered thoughts and phrases from many sources.

101 posted on 04/26/2010 8:12:26 PM PDT by behzinlea
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To: jessduntno

“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.” John Lennon

If you are looking for someone who set the template for rock music, it is Chuck Berry far more than it was Elvis.


102 posted on 04/26/2010 8:16:54 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I would say Elvis, Bob and Miles Davis would be the prime suspects.


103 posted on 04/26/2010 8:19:14 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: aruanan

RE: “Is she one of those chicks with the long straight hair and a real big mouth?”

***************

Yep, sure is!!!


104 posted on 04/26/2010 8:21:00 PM PDT by CaliforniaCon
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To: ETL

Crank this up from 1965 (written in 64)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsa5m0QnUiE

and this up from 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8z2PGvGOyY

No one else is even close to making real american music


105 posted on 04/26/2010 8:21:11 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: jessduntno

Sorry, I thought it was legendary musicians.


106 posted on 04/26/2010 8:22:50 PM PDT by BenKenobi
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To: ETL

You can not like someone and still recognize their effect on music. I would be impressed if you can come up with a good reason as to how Dylan isn’t in the top 10 of the most influential and game changing artists of 20th century music.


107 posted on 04/26/2010 8:23:06 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: Artemis Webb

Joni said Leonard Cohen was a plagiarist too - seems he used terms out of the Bible...


108 posted on 04/26/2010 8:23:44 PM PDT by GOPJ ("Everybody Draw Mohammad" Day - - May 20, 2010 - Draw for freedom - draw for America...)
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To: ETL

Not to mention this masterpiece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhrpGl8yXms


109 posted on 04/26/2010 8:24:26 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Windflier
Did she do Court and Spark?

Yes, she did.


I really do like that album, especially Free Man in Paris (I'm not sure that's the title).

But then I also like that James Taylor album Flag and Joan Baez's Diamonds and Rust. I think these were all within the same decade way, way back in more pleasant climes.
110 posted on 04/26/2010 8:26:53 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: pissant

The one from ‘65 was just barely tolerable. The 2009 could peel the paint off the wall.


111 posted on 04/26/2010 8:27:33 PM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: ETL

You have no ear for genius my friend, none at all.


112 posted on 04/26/2010 8:30:17 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Mr. Blonde
If you are looking for someone who set the template for rock music, it is Chuck Berry far more than it was Elvis.

Thanks to Marty McFly

"Chuck. Chuck. It's Marvin - your cousin, Marvin BERRY. You know that new sound you're looking for? Well, listen to this."

113 posted on 04/26/2010 8:30:59 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: pissant
Not to mention this masterpiece.

Now I KNOW you're just joking. Seriously, which Dylan songs actually sound good to you?

114 posted on 04/26/2010 8:31:33 PM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: Artemis Webb
Chuck Berry has some extremely bizarre sexual proclivities. So much so that they are unmentionable even in adult company.

You mean he likes to play with his "ding-a-ling"?

115 posted on 04/26/2010 8:34:29 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: ETL

They are above the plane you occupy. If you know ANYTHING about dylan is that it has nothing to do with a pretty voice. You can listen to worthlessness like Celine Dion or Michel Buble or whatever the hell is name is if you want pretty.


116 posted on 04/26/2010 8:34:39 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant
No one else is even close to making real American music

Ever hear of Hank Williams?

117 posted on 04/26/2010 8:34:43 PM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: ETL

Sure. He’s great. But he had a very short career. He’s penned about 10 classics that will remnain in the great American songbook forever. Dylan about 250.


118 posted on 04/26/2010 8:37:06 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant
They are above the plane you occupy.

They do sound a bit "spaced out" to me, if that's what you mean?

119 posted on 04/26/2010 8:38:32 PM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: jessduntno

If all Bob Dylan ever put out was “Blood On The Tracks”, he’d have left a bigger mark in the musical canon than Joni Mitchell. Unfortunately for Joni, he had another dozen albums (at least) just as good.


120 posted on 04/26/2010 8:45:41 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (I am 117 days away from outliving Francis Gary Powers)
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