Suzanne Vega Considers Bob Dylan

One of my favorite songwriters writes about one of my favorite songwriters.

And, of course, I discovered that he includes no lyrics in the CD package. No words at all, not even liner notes. Bob isn't making this easy. It's modern to use history as a kind of closet in which we can rummage around, pull influences from different eras, and make them into collages or pastiches. People are doing this with music all the time. I hear it in, say, Christina Aguilera's new album, or in the music of Sufjan Stevens.

So I had an open mind when approaching this Dylan album - which is called "Modern Times," by the way. Does this method of working extend to a lyric? To a metaphor? To Bob Dylan's taking an exact phrase from some guy we never heard of from the middle of the 19th century without crediting him? That's what I needed to satisfy myself about.

That's where it starts, and it's just getting good...