Bob Dylan negotiating to be GPS voice

[Leeder]

Isn't the fact of the forthcoming Dylan Christmas album weird enough? Anyone who's ever listened to Theme Time knows that Dylan makes jokes throughout and has never once used it as a venue for album or tour announcements, or anything even remotely related to his career.

Here's what www.dreamtimepodcast.com has to say:

As Dreamtime is purportedly a blog and occasional podcast about Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, we do occasionally like to mention that famous radio show, although it gets more difficult with each passing month the "Pause" button is held down on whatever prospects remain for a new season. But, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the other big Bob Dylan news story this week, even if it's too ridiculous for its own post. What it is is yet another example of how far modern journalism has fallen. I realize we're in the middle of the traditional Silly Season, but even Silly Season stories are usually written with tongue-in-cheek, not reported as fact.

I refer of course to the story first reported in the U.K. Guardian on Sunday that Our Host had "revealed" on "a recent" Theme Time Radio Hour that he was in discussions with several GPS manufacturers on licensing his voice for a satellite navigation system. The story was picked up by media outlets around the world, almost all of whom reported it as cold, hard fact.

According to Google, there are now currently over 100 separate articles on the story, including from - you would at least expect - such reputable outlets as the New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post. All again reporting the story as fact. I mean, if you read it in the Gray Lady, or hear it on public radio, it must be true, right?

Well, no. What the Guardian article didn't bother to mention was that the "recent episode" was actually a BBC rebroadcast - as all the BBC broadcasts of TTRH are - of a show originally aired on XM Radio in December 2008, specifically the "Street Map" show. That's outside of the fact that the remark heard in context was obviously a joke and a lead-in for Ray Charles' "Lonely Avenue." You can read the full quote here in a post we also made in December 2008.

Somewhere in Los Angeles, Eddie Gorodetsky and Bob Dylan are laughing. Of course, I suspect a certain business office in New York has probably taken a few calls since Sunday from Garmin and TomTom asking for the opportunity to get in on the bids.

Oh, the humanity.

With that, we return to our regularly scheduled vacation, already in progress. Really see you in September this time around.

[Zahveed]

I wouldn't mind Morgan Freeman or Gene Hackman navigating me.

[Sonic Youth]

Whether it's real or not, it is news. Today's New York Times, Washington Post, etc. picked it up.

For now, I'm choosing to believe it's real. It's more fun. And with him, you never know.

[Leeder]

It was quite a while ago Dylan said this on Theme Time. Plainly not new news. Here's a newsflash, though: it's obviously a joke.

[OscarGuy]

*mumble mumble mumble*Turn*mumble mumble mumble*

[Sonic Youth]

Insert Highway 61 reference here.


Dylan to be the voice of GPS?
by Chris Matyszczyk
Cnet.com

All right, let's get the jokes out of the way first.

How many roads must a man walk down before he totally loses his way and has no direction home?

If you've been 10,000 miles in the mouth of a graveyard, shouldn't you retrace your steps or you'll end up on Desolation Row?

Or are you a firm believer in the direction principle called "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"?

Oh, what I am talking about?

Well, it seems that Bob Dylan, he who has more gravel in his voice than many a snowy road has on its surface, is in negotiations with two car companies that would like to use his distinctive tones for an in-car navigation system to guide the drivers of the world.

According to New Musical Express, Dylan told listeners to his radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour: "I think it would be good if you are looking for directions and hear my voice saying something like, 'Left at the next street, no a right. You know what? Just go straight.'"

I don't know whether that would be so good at all.

Cars are things with very particular atmospheres. Somehow the voice that tells you which way to go should surely be one of reassurance, rather than doubt. It should have a soothing timbre, rather than that of a street person being tortured. It should be a guiding light, not a dread-filled drone.

Perhaps there are musicians whose voices might suit the innards of your Prius. Jewel, perhaps. James Taylor, no doubt. I rather like the thought of Kanye rhythmically keeping me on the straight and narrow.

But Dylan? I fear even he thinks he might be taking a wrong turn with this one.

You see, he's already started with the jokes too. For he told his listeners: "I probably shouldn't do it, because whichever way I go I always end up at one place: Lonely Avenue."

Could we really ever trust the chap who once told us: "There must be some way out of here"?

Perhaps you have some suggestions about whose voice you would prefer to Dylan's in your car?