The Talking Heads’ Chris Frantz Gave Bob Dylan a Vulgar Suggestion After Reading His New Book

TL;DR:

• Bob Dylan released The Philosophy of Modern Song in 2022. 
• The Talking Heads’ Chris Frantz had a problem with something Bob Dylan wrote.
• Chris Frantz referenced something Bob Dylan said to his friend.

Bob Dylan’s new book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, has garnered both praise and criticism, with both coming from The Talking Heads’ Chris Frantz. Frantz took issue with a statement Dylan made about Elvis Costello and his contemporaries. While Frantz said he liked the music book as a whole, he had some pointed words for Dylan about it.

The ‘Masters of War’ singer released a book on music in 2022

In 2022, Dylan released The Philosophy of Modern Song, a collection of essays about other musicians’ songs. In it, he writes about artists such as Willie Nelson, Rosemary Clooney, Little Richard, The Grateful Dead, and Cher. 

“He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal,” his publisher Simon & Schuster wrote. “These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence.”

The Talking Heads’ Chris Frantz took issue with Bob Dylan’s new book

While reading The Philosophy of Modern Song, Frantz was surprised when he read, “Elvis Costello and the Attractions were a better band than any of their contemporaries. Light years better.” 

As Frantz was in The Talking Heads, a band who were contemporaries of Costello, he took issue with the statement. 

“When I read that, I just thought, ‘Jesus, Bob,'” Frantz told Rolling Stone. “‘I understand you dig Elvis Costello, but did you have to put it that way?'”

Frantz said that overall, he loved the book, but he got “a bee in my bonnet” about Dylan’s complete dismissal of The Talking Heads. 

“I love Bob Dylan’s new book The Philosophy Of Modern Song but I have one little bone to pick with the author….” Frantz wrote in a Facebook post. “With all due respect to the Attractions and to drummer Pete Thomas in particular, I’d like to say to Bob something he once said to a buddy of mine. ‘Suck a d***.'”

Chris Frantz recalled the contentious interaction between Bob Dylan and his friend 

Frantz mentioned an irritable interaction between Dylan and his friend, which happened, as he remembers, when his friend saw Dylan in a parking garage after a concert. Wanting to compliment him on the performance, Frantz’s friend followed Dylan and called after him. Dylan, who values his privacy, did not appreciate this.

“Dylan turned around and looked at him and said, ‘Do I know you? No, I don’t know you. Suck a d***.’”