At the chalkface: On enthusiasm (Bob Dylan)

The furore over Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature reminds me of the response of my teachers in the 1960s – crusty, patrician, philistine and woefully ignorant. We were told that his words were ill-disciplined, his voice was a migraine and that he was probably on very dangerous drugs. Moreover, he wasn’t a proper singer like Maria Callas. Thank goodness, we cool sixth formers thought. Bel Canto ain’t the Blues. Pale, wan and fashionably fed up, we embraced “chaos” as Bob had urged and quoted his lyrics religiously.

“Everybody is making love or else expecting rain,” we jaded virgins purred wearily, coughing through shades and a Gauloise fog. As for “the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face” – it was easily the greatest line ever written. My English teacher, “Min” Hills, did not share this opinion. What did he know?