Happy 71st Birthday, Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed (Maybe A Little)

Happy 71st to Rock Turtleneck's guiding light and blinding genius Bob Dylan.

Dylan has been making records for over 50 years and is still getting it done. One of his best songs of his so-called "late" period (which began around TIme Out of Mind in 1997) is 2000’s “Things Have Changed,” recorded for the soundtrack of the excellent Michael Douglas film Wonder Boys.



“Things Have Changed” nods slyly to his famous anthem “The Times They Are A-Changin” and perfectly caputres the film's theme of writer's block, middle age and the loss of passion. “I used to care, but things have changed,” he sings.







The tune rides on a sweet acoustic groove courtesy of one of Bob's best-ever bands featuring Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton on guitars, Tony Garnier on bass and David Kemper on drums. 


Lyrically, Dylanesque epigrams abound. Here are three favorites:


Lots of water under the bridge, lots of other stuff too.
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through.


All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.


Feel like fallin’ in love with the first woman I meet, 
puttin’ her in a wheelbarrow and wheelin; her down the street.



"Things Have Changed" won Bob an Academy Award for Best Song. Dylan is a well-known cinephile, and he seems genuinely thrilled to win in this clip from the 2000 Oscars.





Things have not changed all that much for our hero Dylan. He used to care, and he still does. He is still plenty inspired and young at heart. He just wrapped up a tour of South America and supposedly has a new album in the can and coming out soon. When it comes out, I'm going to put it in a wheelbarrow and wheel it down the street.



Cheers, Bob. Happy Birthday.


Buy "Things Have Changed" on iTunes here.