I'd put Young's eloquence as a guitarist up against Dylan's eloquence as a lyricist. Dylan has the amazing 6+ minute "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and Young has the amazing 6+ "Don't Spook The Horse". Dylan's a good guitarist and Young's a good lyricist, but neither is their primary strength. I can't really take sides on this one. Might as well put Jessye Norman up against Charles Simic.

kofi_man wrote:Young's earlier efforts on the other hand takes his particular influences from such early blues artists as muddy waters, robert johnson. Zuma is a far cry from harvest that 3 years must have been tough on the guy cause zuma piss's over harvest. At times zuma seems to be youngs attempt to recreate the zepplin sound evident in 'parden my heart' This is just my opinion and i could be wrong but they are are different artist in different genres that lived around the same time.

Neil Actually took his early inspiration from Link Ray and other somewhat western based songwriters. As time progressed, he started listening to folk acts at the time, including Dylan, and started performing as such. If you listen to Neil's Buffalo Springfield contributions and his first, self titled solo release, his folk background is apparent.

kofi_man wrote:This post of dylan vs. young is like blues vs. folk.

Dylan has played rock and country as often as folk(Nashville Skyline being one of my favorite country tinged albums, not to mention one thousand times better than Neil's country album). Neil has done blues, rock, folk, Do Wop, Country, electronica, etc. (Most of them done brilliantly). To Try and stick either artist into genres is an exercise in futility.

That all being said, Bob dylan has said that Neil is a better Songwriter than he is and I would gladly agree.

Neil Actually took his early inspiration from Link Ray

Link Ray Charles?

sunlore wrote:"There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool."

These lines sum up the entire heartbreak and waste of the situation with perfect economy.

"She puts the kid away" is some tough shit as well.

They are great rock lyrics. This man Neil Young was operating at a very high level when he wrote these lyrics.

Salut, Neil Young. Salut, Bob Dylan. So great.

sunlore wrote:

Neil Actually took his early inspiration from Link Ray

Link Ray Charles?

Nah, Link Ray Parker Jr.

thebookofkevin wrote:i have not heard a full neil young album.
bob dylan takes the cake.

spoken like a true moron.

I can read that line about junkies and grasp the meaning of it immediatly.

by this logic the greatest art comes through obfuscation.

so let's say for the sake of argument that a guy is much smarter than you and immediately grasps the meaning of "i'm on the pavement thinking bout the government" does that then strip bob dylans lyrics of their "power?"

i cannot choose between these two men. neil young cannot write a melody as well as bob dylan i don't think. bob dylan cannot get away with leaving as much space in his music as neil young i don't think.

i think if we combined the epicness of young's early electric guitar work ie "cowgirl in the sand" and dylan's finest lyrics ie "like a rolling stone"...wheres that mashup guy

whiskerando wrote:
by this logic the greatest art comes through obfuscation.

No, great art is always right on. It is no obfuscation because art is grounded in the temperament, I guess, of the artist. Not in "reality". Reality, taken at face value, is a bummer. All we have are representations of things in our heads.

whiskerando wrote:so let's say for the sake of argument that a guy is much smarter than you and immediately grasps the meaning of "i'm on the pavement thinking bout the government" does that then strip bob dylans lyrics of their "power?"

It's not about being smart. It's about being imaginative. Remember Lewis Carrol?

"`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."

[/quote]

It's not about being smart. It's about being imaginative

that's not what i meant. i was being a snarky asshole by saying "smart."

you said neil youngs lyrics mean less to you because you grasp the meaning immediately. i'm suggesting that what if someone is rooted in the same literary and folk traditions as bob dylan and therefore grasps everything he says immediately?

a simple lyric is fine. "every junkie's like a setting sun" is a great image along with being accurate. "her leopard-skin pill box hat" is also a great image and mayhaps be accurate but i don't think my ability to understand either line limits or expands its inherent value.