Bringing it all back home to Dylan
Wexford-based author and journalist Jackie Hayden delivered a very insightful talk in Gorey Library last week on how he discovered the poetry of Dylan Thomas through Bob Dylan and the Beatles.
The talk, titled ‘Dylan, Dylan and Me’ covered a vast amount of information on how Jackie came to the poems of Dylan Thomas through his interest in Bob Dylan, who allegedly expressed his own admiration of Dylan Thomas by adopting the Welsh poet’s name and through the Beatles on whom both Dylan were a big influence, especially on John Lennon. He reflected on the connections he sees between Dylan Thomas’ poetry and Bob Dylan’s lyrics in the wake of Bob’s Nobel Prize in Literature.
Barbara Nolan, Gorey Librarian, said the event ended with a Q&A session and quite a few people asked Jackie questions.
‘The audience was very engaged throughout the talk,’ said Barbara. ‘It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and everyone seemed to enjoy the talk. Jackie was pleased with the turnout and how the evening went.’
Jackie, who has already given the talk in various venues across Ireland, Sweden and Wales, started off by speaking about how he feels the poet Dylan Thomas inspired John Lennon and Bob Dylan.
He said he once found a Dylan Thomas book and immediately felt a connection between Thomas and Bob Dylan. They both exulted in the sound of words and ‘carved words into the air’. Jackie said there are similarities between the two – both appear to have been heavily influenced by the bible. He quoted some lines from Dylan Thomas and compared them with Bob Dylan lyrics.
Afterwards, the author played some music to give the audience an idea of the influences in Bob’s music. The talk was very well received by all the audience members.