'Volare' among 66 songs in new Bob Dylan book

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 29 - Domenico Modugno's 1958 classic song "Volare" is among 66 songs Bob Dylan comments on in his new book coming out in November, "The Philosophy of Modern Song".
    The evergreen standard, whose actual title is "Nel blu dipinto di blu" and which song of year at the 1959 Grammies, appears in the list of songs including classics by Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Little Richard, and Townes Van Zandt, as well as Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", the Eagles' "Witchy Woman", The Fugs' "CIA Man" and Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House", Variety reported at the weekend.
    It is not yet clear whether Dylan will analyze the original written by Modugno and Franco Migliacci, which won the 1958 Sanremo Song Festival in a duet with Johnny Dorelli, or one of the countless covers including one by Dean Martin or the rumba-flamenco version by the Gypsy Kings in 1989.
    It is the first book by the music legend, Pulitzer poetry prize winner and Nobel literature prize winner since his "Chronicles, Volume One", which came out in 2004.
    Dylan, 81, started writing it in 2010.
    "It's a class for perfecting the art and technique of song writing," Simon and Schuster announced in March.
    "Dyland examines what he himself calls the 'trap of easy rhymes', analyzes how the addition of a single syllable can lessen a song, and explains how bluegrass is a relative of heavy metal.
    "The reflections are a meditation on the human condition," said the publishing house.
    The oldest piece on the list is "Rudy Was a Lady" by Stephen Foster (1849), followed by "The Whiffenpoof Song" which came out in the early 20th century.
    Blues, R&B and hillbilly songs of the first half of the century have heir place, but the lion's share is reserved for songs between the 1950s and 70s, the golden era of rock, pop, soul and country.
    Excursions into punk/New Wave are not lacking, such as "Pump it Up" by Elvis Costello e "London Calling" by the Clash.
    The most recent pieces are "It Doesn't Hurt Anymore" recorded in 1989 by Regina Belle, and "Dirty Life and Times" by Warren Zevon from 2003.
    In his very long career starting in the early 60s Dylan has sold over 125 million records worldwide, the last being 2020's "Rough and Rowdy Ways". (ANSA).