Troubadour
Troubadour is a study of Bob Dylan's lyrics. The areas of Dylan's writing covered
include the early 'protest' and relationship songs, his mid-
"The book begins with an extremely good, substantial introduction discussing the thorny questions of performance versus words in Dylan’s art, which he covers very thoroughly and with great alertness of judgement. And does so in a fresh tone of voice,which is quite an achievement.
That hugely valuable freshness steps up a whole other level when he looks anew at ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’. It’s a main strength of the book that Muir refocusses on exactly the songs we most take for granted and so largely fail to hear. Indeed he has tackled ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ better than anyone has ever done: bringing out, and with genuine vigour,not only the whys and hows of its original impact but equally well the enduring subtleties and intelligence of the song. At the other end of Troubadour is a very substantial scrutiny of the ‘‘Love and Theft’’ album, with some invaluable tracking of what has been loved and thieved from where, assiduously footnoted yet assembled with all the enthusiasm prompted by the newness and excellence of the album." Michael Gray, "The Bob Dylan Encyclopaedia"