Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan

"Bob Dylan was the first figure in the history of popular music to challenge the domination of the three-minute pop song and to bring serious ideas and poetry into the song lyric. He was also the first pop performer to adopt the attitudes and lead the life of a bohemian artist. In doing so he not only defined the direction which popular music would take in the second half of the last century, he also defined the lifestyle which would come to be associated with the pop artist. He was a true revolutionary and has become one of the iconic figures of contemporary popular culture. This major biography of Dylan is the first to give a complete picture of the man as well as of the artist and performer. While fully recognising his unique genius, it tells the full warts and all story of Bob Dylan s remarkable life from his childhood to the present day in compelling detail, putting equal emphasis on the private life and the music. Based on exhaustive research and an unprecedented number of new interviews with musicians and friends from all stages of his life, it combines revelatory stories with new anecdotes and insights into the enigmatic and extraordinary life of possibly the most infl