Must be Santa

This is as festive as I plan to get, so far anyway (though I'll admit I was tempted by the Twelve Gays of Christmas). It's Dylan, who can (almost) do no wrong, and I think it's played straight, because otherwise it would be plain silly.

Dylan: Mr Tambourine Man (1964)

Forty-five years ago. I was ten years old when this took place. Had I even heard of Bob Dylan? My first Dylan album was The Times They Are A'Changin', the title song of which I would sing at the top of my still unbroken voice until my parents lost their temper with me and told me to shut up or they'd leave me wherever the car happened to be. This was a Byrds song though, and I didn't hear Dylan do it until years later. It's wonderful. I'm awed. Again.

Little Monsters: Guardian review

Another review of Little Monsters, this time from The Guardian. It's the sort of review that's best described as mixed. Mixed, as in: The parts of the book dealing with Carol's adolescence are very good indeed, but the more contemporary passages appear spurious and incidental. 'Very good indeed' is encouraging, and the only bit that's worth extracting, but I could have lived without 'spurious'. Glancing at the other first novels reviewed in the same column, though, things could have been worse. Catherine Taylor, the reviewer, could have used the phrase 'repetitive self-indulgence', as she does when she talks about Voice Over, by Céline Curiol. It looks as though she was in slightly acerbic mood when she sat down with her pile of débutantes (gratuitous Dylan quote: Your débutante just knows what you need/But I know what you want.). To make up for it, Amazon UK now has five extremely positive readers' reviews. If you've read the book and would like to add a few kind - or even critical - words, I'd be delighted.

And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard...

It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. And not only on Bush...

(Hi Dobby!!)

Once again, with thanks, from Bits and Pieces.

Bob Dylan and Patti Smith

Bob and Patti sing Blue Eyes in Philadelphia, 1995.