This word cloud is based on Bob Dylan’s self-titled album.
It’s the top 100 words used throughout the album and set to the same colors as the album cover. Large version is here.
The story: I regularly analyze Bob Dylan’s lyrics and thought it would be a cool exercise to see what words he uses most often. It helps to get in the mind of the writer.
You can find them all here: Bob Dylan Word Clouds
steve says
nice project. i’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the albums.
the popularity of “Well”, both here and on freewheelin surprises me. i’ll have to listen for it.
Graham English says
Thanks. Glad you like it. The whole “well” thing is interesting. It’s mainly filler but occurs in natural spotlight areas so I kept it in (Wordle removes other common words like “and”). Here’s some examples:
Well, I don’t mind dying
Well I’d do anything in this god almighty world
Well I never been to heaven, but I’ve been told, streets up there are lined with gold
Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Well, in my time of dyin’
They practically all occur in the beginning of his lines.
steve says
ahh, yes. thanks for the reminder. this reminds me of a program i played with once. i fed in dylan lyrics and it generated text with the same word and word-pair frequencies. it was nonsense, but sounded almost like it meant something, and definitely sounded like dylan.
Graham English says
I’ve got an app like that. I never use it but it’s fun to see what comes out the other end. In this case, the word clouds are actually useful. One, I can use it for inspiration. Two, I can make sure I don’t use these words, just to differentiate my writing. Three, it simply supplements my enjoyment of his music.
I’ve got about a dozen of them now rotating as my desktop wallpaper on a 15 minute interval. It’s a sight to see.
Merle says
Hey,
very nice. I love it.
I was looking at the picture, before I read your text and I was like: “House of the Rising sun?”
But when I looked closer, and read your text, I got it. But yeah, Thanks!