Bob Dylan : Donovan :: Scotch : Bourbon, Stephen H. Webb asserts in today’s On the Square :
There are many imitators of Dylan (and many types of bourbon that aim at scotch’s greatness), but you cannot fake peaty stench or smoke-aged vocal cords. Think about how a beauty mark can make someone who is merely attractive appear perfect, and then think too of the curious phenomenon of Monroe piercing, which is the insertion of a metal ball above the left side of the upper lip, in homage of Marilyn. You can’t buy the kind of ugly from which beauty is made.
Read the rest here . (Walker Percy makes the case for bourbon here .) Stephen H. Webb is our newest columnist, so let’s all bid him welcome.
A friend of mine once told me that “peaty scotch is not actually intended for human consumption.” I did not think to ask him what he thought of Bob Dylan’s voice. However, I’m pretty fond of both of them , myself .
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…
