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24/07/2006

Is Dylan a closet Scot?

A reader kindly sent me a piece from yesterday’s Sunday Times highlighting “Dylan’s debt to Scottish music”. “…Scottish folk music and poetry have had a significant influence…”, said the paper, turning to Michael Gray’s new encyclopedia for support.

Funny, I thought, I don’t remember picking up on that when I read Gray’s book. The Scots influence on Bob is clear, and carefully documented, in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, but no more so than the influence of the other British Isles folk traditions, notably those of England and Ireland.

So I checked the Gray CD-ROM, searching under the terms “Scottish”, “English” and “Irish”. And, sure enough, “Scottish” appears less than “Irish”, and far less than “English”.

Then I realised I’d been sent an article from the Scots edition of The Sunday Times. I’d been inadvertently reading, in a local paper, one of those parochial “xxx-ish dog lifts xxx-ish leg at xxx-ish lamp-post…” stories you get everywhere in the world.

Yes, Dylan does show clear Scots influences. And, even more, English influences. And Irish. And they all enrich his work. But nowhere near as much as his different American influences.


Gerry Smith

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