This is the candid, mesmerizing, and often intimate account of how four young people—Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña—gave rise to a modern-day bohemia and created the enduring sound and style of the 1960s.
Even before they became lovers in 1963, Dylan and Joan Baez were seen as the reigning king and queen of folk music. But their songs and their public images grew out of their association with Joan’s younger sister, Mimi, a musician in her own right, and Richard Fariña, the roguish novelist Mimi married when she was seventeen. Their rise from scruffy coffeehouse folksingers to pop stars comes about through their complex interpersonal relationships, as the young Dylan courts the famous Joan to further his career, Fariña woos Mimi while looking longingly on her older sister, and Fariña’s friend Thomas Pynchon keeps an eye on their amours from afar.
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"Pretty much everyone involved comes off looking like an asshole in this, but that doesn't diminish my love for Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and Farina's only novel at all; chatty, readable history that should be accompanied by Bob Dylan's early work in chronological listening order." — A. (4 out of 5 stars)
"Pretty much everyone involved comes off looking like an asshole in this, but that doesn't diminish my love for Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and Farina's only novel at all; chatty, readable history that should be accompanied by Bob Dylan's early work in chronological listening order."
“A hauntingly evocative blend of biography, musicology, and pop cultural history.”
“One of the best books about music in America.”
“The account of Bob and Joan’s musical-erotic passion is first rate music history and uproarious soap opera. Hajdu’s research is prodigious—even Fariña’s close chum Thomas Pynchon granted interviews—and his anecdotes are often off-the-cuff funny.”
“Hajdu provides a skillfully wrought, honest portrait that neither sentimentalizes nor slams the countercultural heyday.”
“With the explosive early 1960s folk revival as backdrop, Hajdu…entertainingly recounts this downright Shakespearean tale of Folk Queen Joan Baez falling for the Ass, Bob Dylan.”
“Narrated by Dunne, this documentation of four talented lives is related in a clear voice that changes intonation for each character. An enlightening and mesmerizing social history of the 1960s.”
“The real star of the Positively 4th Street audiobook is narrator Bernadette Dunne. Her voice is reminiscent of actress Jean Arthur, which filmmaker Frank Capra said sounded like ‘a thousand tinkling bells.’ Crystal clear and flawlessly intoned, she gives just a flavor of the famous parties’ distinctive dictions without attempting full-out impressions.”
" Dotty, it took me 3 weeks to read this! no lighting in tent. But in the back of my mind I was thinking of Joan, Bob, Richard and Mimi during my whole vacation! Shocked by the ending, I didn't know....Thanks! "
" A thoroughly good read. Although I was not there, I feel I know what it was like to be in Greenwich Village at this historic moment in time. The book is never dull and always charming. It made me yearn for a time machine. "
" Seemed to drag on forever, I can't believe I finished it, life is too short to read tiresome books! "
" It's Dylan and the very few people in his life that truly know the man... there's music and logic, art and fame. "
" Bob Dylan looks like a real asshole in this book. Maybe he was? "
" I read this because of the Joan Baez connection to Bob Dylan. It was very interesting in and of itself. Tidbits of Bob were interspersed and added my knowledge of Bob. Richard Farina's life seems a bit sad. "
" great look into the begining of folk music and bob dylan but nice because its not all bob dylan - love the dynamics of the baez sisters - I think I especially liked it because I had jsut had anna and was thinking a lot about sisters "
" Man, Joan Baez is fucking irritating. "
" Very well written and most enjoyable. "
" Very interesting history of the relationship of these legendary musicians. "
" What a trip back in time to that astonishing period of Folk music and the beginning of the protest movement. These were my idols. I can still sing every song on Joan's early albums by heart. "
" Neat look into the lives of a dynamic and tragic bunch during the most transitional time in America. Another perspective of the Dylan saga. "
" Fab! If you're a folkie nouveau(which I am), this is a great book to start. "
" I loved this book, and didn't want it to end. You love and hate Bob Dylan. You absolutely adore Joan Baez, and wish to have the fire inside that Mimi Baez had. And you can't help but love the absolute character that was Richard Farina. "
" a look into the lives of these folk singers. basically everyone gets painted in a bad light except for mimi. "
" I'm in the midst of finishing this book, it's a great and entertaining look at four of the major players of the early Sixties time period when folk music went mainstream, and went on to influence pop and rock music. "
" I read 75% of this book which was not due to lack of interest. I look forward to returning to it. A very good story. "
" Before the Incredible String Band (yes, I said before) there was Mimi and Richard Farina, Mimi (Baez) Farina's sister Joan Baez and that Jewish guy Robert Zimmerman who achieved some fame when he changed his name. "
" This biography looks at four musicians in the years just before their careers take off. A very good read. "
" I'm really enjoying this blast of the past. At first I wasn't sure about Hadju's writing, but I'm now really pleased with his research and storytelling. "
" Another well written musical history account by Mr. Hadju. "
" more than a little gossipy and trashy, but nonetheless a fascinating glimpse into a time when I think things really *were* simpler. Such fun to read! Great stories about icons of a generation, which points out that even icons are human... "
David Hajdu is the author of Lush Life and Positively 4th Street. He lives in Manhattan and writes for the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, New Republic, and New York Review of Books.
Bernadette Dunne is the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.
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