Freewheelin’ scientists: citing Bob Dylan in the biomedical literature

Congratulations to the medics squeezing in Bob Dylan songs into their papers, and those involved in subsequent analysis. Medical scientists are not the only Bob Dylan fans with a sense of humour – meteorologists and climate impact scientists are too (e.g. Robock, 2005; Epstein, 2011; Brown et al. 2015). To our knowledge, Bob Dylan has sung the greatest number of weather-related songs of any artist.

We recently wrote a paper on this (Brown et al. 2015). Night After Night, we checked Dylan’s songs for weather-related references, finding all the Odds and Ends. Lo and Behold there were 163 songs! Weather references were often clustered (most often wind and sun), but there was little direct evidence of him being influenced by specific weather events. Can’t Wait to find out more? See our list http://bit.ly/1IfrtoL. If it’s not too much Trouble, Tell Me of any more you find, by adding them on the spread sheet.

We are not about to count medical references – that would be a lot of Trouble! But we are sure for the medics, this is not the End of the Line.

References:
Brown S, Aplin KL, Jenkins K, Mander S, Walsh C and Williams PD, 2015. Is there a rhythm of the rain? An analysis of weather in popular music. Weather, 70(7), 198-204. doi:10.1002/wea.2464

Epstein, DM. 2011. The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait. Harper: London.

Gornitzki C, Larsson A, Fadeel B, 2015. Freewheelin’ scientists: citing Bob Dylan in the biomedical literature. BMJ 351:h6505

Robock A, 2005. “Tonight as I stand inside the rain”: Bob Dylan and weather imagery. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 86(4), 483–487. doi:10.1175/BAMS-86-4-483