The Influence of William Burroughs and the Cut-Up Technique on Bob Dylan
In my view, Dylan fits in the lineage of the Beats, surely not the 60's, which Dylan was happy to take no part in, even skipping Woodstock.
As Dylan said:
“I came out of the wilderness and just naturally fell in with the beat scene.”
My guess is Dylan was aware of Burroughs by the late 50s before he came to NYC though I have no proof.
***
Dylan admired Burroughs and used his cut-up technique in his songwriting.
I think he began working with the cut-up method by at least Bringing It All Back Home. At that time, Burroughs' writing was found in the underground magazines of the day. One was called Gnaoua. If you look on the cover of Bringing It All Back Home, you will discover Gnaoua on the mantel above the fireplace. The magazine had four pieces by Burroughs.
Dylan even says he has read Burroughs in these underground magazines.
"I’ve read some of his shorter things, in little magazines.”
***
Dylan denies reading Naked Lunch in 1965, but I don't believe him. Later on, Dylan confesses Naked Lunch was a significant influence
***
I would argue from Bringing it All Back Home through at least Blonde on Blonde. He was using the technique in his way.
Dylan makes a comment in the video below on the cut-up technique. He used it only once on a song, but I don't believe him.
I think the juxtaposition of images we begin to see from 1964 to 1966 comes in part through the Cut-up method though Dylan does not do pure cut-ups. Dylan instead mines the cut-ups for ideas which he then incorporates into his songs in a way that rhymes.
***
The novel Tarantula only makes sense to me as a cut-up novel done quickly to meet a publishing deadline for a book Dylan had lost interest in.
Burroughs was in the village from 1964 to 1965 at that time giving readings on Naked Lunch and Nova Express. Dylan certainly knew this fact.
A few days before departing for England, there was a review in the NYT of one of Burroughs's readings that Dylan likely read.
"Mr. Burroughs, a lean, formal man who sounds something like the late Will Rogers as he reels off dry jokes, read a story that conveyed the idea that various bizarre characters were in a port seeded with atomic mines. The people wanted to leave, but Mr. Burroughs’ audience did not. Warmed by such interest, he livened up his one-syllable-at-a-time reading with sudden bursts of dramatic activity, eventually ripping down a white-sheet backdrop and uncovering a painting of horrifying tarantulas."
Note the last word is Tarantulas which was one of Burroughs obsessions at the time. Three days after this review is the first time Dylan refers to the novel with its new and final title, Tarantula.
Around the time of writing Tarantula, in an interview, Dylan says:
“Hey, you dig something like cut-ups? I mean, like William Burroughs?”
***
It is also after this that Don't Look Back is filmed. There is the outtake where Dylan explains the cut-up technique like someone who knows and uses it in his writing.
Of course, Dylan will not admit this, which is understandable.
***
The meeting between Dylan and Burroughs in 1965 is quite interesting.
Dylan met Burroughs once in 1965.
Allan Ginsburg arranged the meeting for Dylan in NYC.
I think Burroughs was one of the few influences who Dylan sought to meet. Usually, people come to see Dylan.
Burroughs did not have a clue who Dylan was and probably did not care. He despised the music of the times, preferring the music of the 20s.
Burroughs describes the meeting:
"[The meeting was] In a small café in the village, around 1965. A place where they served wine and beer. Allen had brought me there. I had no idea who Dylan was. I knew he was a young singer just getting started. He was with his manager, Albert Grossman, who looked like a typical manager, heavy kind of man with a beard, and John Hammond, Jr., was there. We talked about music. I didn’t know a lot about music — a lot less than I know now, which is still very little — but he struck me as someone who was obviously competent in his subject. If his subject had been something that I knew absolutely nothing about, such as mathematics, I would have still received the same impression of competence. Dylan said he had a knack for writing lyrics and expected to make a lot of money. He had a likable direct approach in conversation, at the same time cool, reserved. He was very young, quite handsome in a sharp-featured way. He had on a black turtleneck sweater."
***
When I read what Dylan says to Burroughs, Dylan sounds like a kid trying to impress someone he is in awe of. I bet Dylan was surprised Burroughs had no clue who he was, which by 1965 was impressive. Burroughs had been in exile abroad the previous fifteen years, which may be part of the reason.
For Dylan to say to Burroughs, "he had a knack for writing lyrics" and expected to "make a lot of money" is interesting. Dylan seems out of character. Who does Dylan ever need to impress? Woody Guthrie, for sure, who he also sought out. I am sure there are others, probably Johnny Cash.
I think Dylan was at a loss for words with Burroughs, so he said he was a good writer and would make a lot of money. Who does Dylan speak to in this way? I think Dylan saw Burroughs as a significant influence though he tries to downplay the technique in his work in this video. I don't think Bob is being honest.
***
Here is another observation of the meeting between Burroughs and Dylan.
From the book
William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll:
"Burroughs and Dylan took their meeting at a small café in Manhattan's East Village, the precise location of which has been lost to time and memory. "He struck me as someone who was obviously competent," Burroughs later told Victor Bockris. "If his subject had been something that I knew absolutely nothing about, such as mathematics, I would have still received the same impression of competence. Dylan said he had a knack for writing lyrics and expected to make a lot of money." Personally, Burroughs had little use for money beyond its utility in purchasing narcotics and avoiding hard labor. But he could easily spot élan, which Dylan had in spades. "He had a likable direct approach in conversation, at the same time cool, reserved," Burroughs later recalled to Bockris. "He was very young, quite handsome in a sharp-featured way. He had on a black turtleneck sweater." Although they only met once in person, Burroughs left a mark on the younger artist. According to critic R. B. Morris, "There's no doubt that he was greatly influenced by Burroughs' wild juxtaposing of images and scenes, as well as subject matter." After encountering Burroughs, Dylan's work became even more abstract, caustic, and surreal."
After meeting Burroughs, Dylan says of the meeting, " “I don’t really know him — I just met him once. I think he’s a great man.”
***
We then have Dylan's alleged heroin addiction from this time period.
At that time, who embodied the persona of the artistic Heroin addict more than Burroughs?
Was Dylan trying to emulate Burroughs by associating himself with Heroin? Who can say?
Dylan talks about his alleged Heroin use, which I question.
"In a March 1966 interview (the full contents of the discussion were not revealed for another 45 years) Dylan admitted to struggling with heroin addiction during his early years in New York. “I had a heroin habit in New York City. I got very, very strung out for a while. I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it,” Dylan told interviewer Robert Shelton during an overnight private flight from Lincoln, Nebraska to a concert appearance in Denver, Colorado on March 12."
Burroughs was as famous for kicking the habit as using heroin. The junkie language above is pure Burroughs.
Dylan associates with going off Heroin. He is an ex-addict like Burroughs.
"I kicked the habit.”
***
Burroughs and Dylan in the '70s
***
Dylan wanted Burroughs on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, which included Ginsberg but Burroughs declined. He did not want to appear like a " groupie," and Dylan was "not going to pay him."
***
Dylan in Burroughs in the '80s
***
Dylan was close with Ginsberg. During the sessions for Empire Burlesque, Dylan admits Burroughs was still an influence.
"Before leaving for the night Dylan asked Ginsberg: “You still see Burroughs?”
Ginsberg replied that he planned to see Burroughs the very next week, and Dylan said:
“Tell him I’ve been reading him. And I believe every word he says.”
***
I was going to add some Dylan lyrics, most likely influenced by Burroughs, but this post is so long I will stop.
***
Many of you know far more about Burroughs and Dylan than I do. Please share.
If you think my analysis is off above, that will interest me also because part of this is merely my interpretation and there are other perspectives
***
David Penn Trinley Arndt 2022.
***
Comments
Post a Comment