"Rough and Rowdy Ways": this is the title of Bob Dylan's 39th studio album, the first album of the Nobel laureate for literature since "Storm" in 2012, even if the artist has released several albums of covers in the interval. On this album released to the public on Friday, June 19, there is a 17-minute ballad on the assassination of John Kennedy and a tribute to the American blues singer, Jimmy Reed. 

𝑹𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒐𝒘𝒅𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒚𝒔.
The New Album from Bob Dylan.
Out Now. https://t.co/SN0XeyNKiN pic.twitter.com/pllqAxs0ig

- Bob Dylan (@bobdylan) June 19, 2020

This new opus, which appears 58 years after the premiere of Bob Dylan, mixes blues, rock and folk sounds with lyrics oscillating between black humor and nostalgic evocations of ghosts from the past, all sung in a rocky voice. "Murder Most Foul", a river song, which traces the assassination of John Kennedy in Dallas while describing the evolution of the American counter-culture of the 1960s, rose to the top of the Billboard ranking when it was released in March. 

The song notably brings to mind the memories of many legendary artists of the time such as the Eagles, Charlie Parker, Stevie Nicks, Woodstock and the Beatles. 

Bob Dylan, 79, also recalls the 1921 racial massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where up to 300 black people lost their lives. The hired singer has often referred to police brutality and racism in his most famous titles of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the song "Hurricane" which tells the life of the black boxer Rubin Carter, wrongly condemned in 1966 for a triple murder. 

Interviewed last week by the daily The New York Times on the death of George Floyd, Bob Dylan had hoped that justice would act quickly for the benefit of the family of the victim and the American nation. 

A life of concerts

In "False Prophet", the second track from the six-minute album, the artist makes fun of his own legend. "I ain't no false prophet (I am not a false prophet) / I just said what I said / I'm just here to bring revenge on somebody's head (Je I'm just here to avenge someone), "he sings.  

This album is "arguably his finest poetic expression to date," according to the British music magazine NME. Rolling Stone magazine described the album as "absolute classic". 

Despite his age, Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, has spent the last three decades of his life on almost permanent tour. In April 2017, he assured the inaugural concert of the Seine Music, located on Ile Seguin, very close to Paris.

The coronavirus pandemic forced him to cancel a series of concert dates in Japan and North America in the spring and summer, but the singer has promised to return to the scene as soon as it is safe to do so. . 

With AFP

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