There are many extraordinary aspects to Bob Dylan’s songwriting… but today let’s consider his Verbs.  Yes… verbs.

Recently I produced an artist who did a cover of Tangled Up In Blue, a great Dylan song.  But I didn’t know how great it was until I’d heard it a few hundred times (which is what happens when you make a record).  And after a while I started really noticing the verbs.

I could rhapsodize about many aspects of the song – dynamic melody, structure, story and storytelling freedom, rhyming, singability, etc., etc… but for now, check this out…  It’s a Verse, more or less at random, from the song’s many Verses (which ends, like all the Verses, with the Title).

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder
“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue”
Tangled Up In Blue

Look at the action in the Verbs –

was married
divorced
helped (her)
used (a little too much force)
drove
abandoned
split up
agreeing
turned around
walkin’ away
say
(we’ll) meet

Tangled Up

Wow!  So much of the story is in the rich, vivid, and active verbs..  It’s something you can find in almost any Dylan song.  He doesn’t waste an opportunity to use every verb as a way to convey activity, drama, conflict, motion in the story.

This really woke me up to the idea that verbs, those ‘words of action’, had a power that I was simply underutilizing (at best) or ignoring (at worst) in my songs.

ps  It’s a pet peeve of mine that often people will talk about Dylan’s lyrics, his ‘poetry’, as being what’s exceptional about him.  Yes, he did reinvent the wheel when it came to writing lyrics in modern popular song.  But what makes him a great songwriter is just that – he’s a complete songwriter who’s written hundreds of great songs, not just great ‘poetic’ lyrics.  ‘Nuff said!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4OHOGMeNOM