Said Jack Antonoff, quoted in "Jack Antonoff, pop music’s production king, on Taylor Swift, his new album and the genre that’s 'about to blow'" (LA Times).
How about you, in your age? Have you attained bitchy coolness, perhaps not at the Bob Dylan level, but somehow, in your own way, your rough and rowdy way? And think back, when you were young, were you such a little poet? Even Bob Dylan was a little poet, as Antonoff has it. But he was such a little poet — "such" suggesting a large dimension, even as "little" is small. We know what Antonoff means.
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Did LA Times try getting a jump on Sports Illustrated by letting us know what Taylor Swift was really up to in the luxury box?
A large poet the size of a small poet.
Taylor Swift is a Luxury Box.
felt so bitchy and cool
Does he mean bitchin'? Bitchin' means great, excellent, first rate, impressive, attractive.
Bitchy means malicious, unkind, bad tempered, unpleasant, spitefully critical, in a bad mood, etc.
Maybe bitchy has a new reversed meaning now, like bad, like bitchin' itself, and I'm just showing my age.
"Such" is not designating a large dimension compared to other "little poets," "such" signifies a large percentage of alignment with the category of "little poet."
The author is therefore distinguishing Dylan with a diminutive, not aggrandizing him.
Since you asked, in my age I've noticed that one not only attains but even oozes such bitchy coolness when one no longer gives a shit about being viewed as bitchy cool or anything else.
No observation/opinion with Dylan as the yardstick for any other artist should be taken seriously. He’s sui sui sui generis.
I was confused by this...a little more context from the previous sentence: Ditto the prospect of turning 40, which he’ll do at the end of March. Pop music is often thought of as a young person’s game, but Antonoff dismisses that notion.
He's correct on multiple levels. Bitchy not Bitchin, pop is not a game only for the young, Dylan was being such a little poet...
That last one perhaps a bit too far for some. Don't mess with my Dylan...
Bitchy means malicious, unkind, bad tempered, unpleasant, spitefully critical, in a bad mood, etc.
I take it you haven’t listened to Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Seems to me that Dylan achieved the height of bitchy coolness at age 24, with "Positiuvely 4th Street." Rough and Rowdy is not significantly more bitchy cool--in fact, maybe less so.
You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning
You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that’s winning
You say I let you down
You know it’s not like that
If you’re so hurt
Why then don’t you show it
You say you lost your faith
But that’s not where it’s at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it
I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You’re in with
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don’t know to begin with
You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, “How are you?” “Good luck”
But you don’t mean it
When you know as well as me
You’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once
And scream it
No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I’d rob them
And now I know you’re dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don’t you understand
It’s not my problem
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you
I take it you haven’t listened to Rough and Rowdy Ways.
I have not. Why? Is it bitchy?
@Bob Boyd
He meant bitchy.
Dylan has always been considered to be kind of nasty. Some of the time. Not all of the time.
Not a huge Dylan fan (a bit too folk for me) but the man could write lyrics like nobody's business.
The Nobel was deserved...
I wasn't happy when Dylan won the Nobel, but take a look at what he was up against.
Althouse:
How about you, in your age? Have you attained bitchy coolness, perhaps not at the Bob Dylan level, but somehow, in your own way, your rough and rowdy way?
It would not be hard to out rough or rowdy Dylan.
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