• Chronicles

  • Volume One
  • By: Bob Dylan
  • Narrated by: Sean Penn
  • Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,112 ratings)

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Chronicles  By  cover art

Chronicles

By: Bob Dylan
Narrated by: Sean Penn
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Editorial reviews

Why we think it's Essential: Sean Penn reading Bob Dylan's memoirs. It doesn't get any better than this. Dylan mixes his life with his music, his thoughts with his lyrics, and Sean Penn puts us right inside his head. Dylan and Penn are a perfect combination, spanning two generations of celebrity, making us feel the weight and breadth of life for Dylan and the people who have hung on his every word and note. — Chris Doheny

Publisher's summary

Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One explores the critical junctions in his life and career. Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan's New York is a magical city of possibilities: smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.

Revealing, poetical, passionate and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window on Bob Dylan's thoughts and influences. Dylan's voice is distinctively American: generous of spirit, engaged, fanciful, and rhythmic. Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling and the exquisite expressiveness that are the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns Chronicles: Volume One into a poignant reflection on life, and the people and places that helped shape the man and the art.

©2004 Bob Dylan (P)2004 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Winner, Biography/Memoir, 2005
  • 2005 Quill Award Nominee
  • Grammy Award Nominee, Best Spoken Word Album, 2005

"Volume 1 of Dylan's memoirs was pretty cool to begin with. But to have it read by Sean Penn on audio takes it to a new level: the most talented songwriter of all time as performed by the most talented actor of his generation. Mr. Penn clearly has a blast inhabiting the role and navigating Dylan's jagged, impressionistic prose." (The New York Times)

Featured Article: Tune In to Our Favorite Music Memoirs


We’ve been finding solace in stories that follow our other favorite thing to listen to: music. We’ve gathered a selection of pitch-perfect memoirs from music legends in a variety of genres and styles. By turns bold, brash, and moving, these listens shed light on the sold-out shows, backstage drama, and sometimes dark underbelly of the recording industry, while highlighting the charisma, energy, and artistry that had us hooked from the first soundwave.

What listeners say about Chronicles

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Understanding

Not the autobiography I was hoping for, Chronicles Volume One has some interesting tales of Bob Dylan and his brushes with music legends. Though, Sean Penn did an excellent job of reading the work, I found Dylan?s prolific use of similes and metaphors almost comical. I haven?t heard the word ?like? used this much since the movie ?Valley Girl.? I wish I had counted how many comparisons he made in this book.
He was talking about writing music and said ?music was covering the floor like shot rabbits.? Shot rabbits? What the heck does that mean? Oh well, the book has some entertainment value, but I doubt I will read volume Two.
In typical Dylan-esque ?reading this book was like riding a tricycle in a river of molasses with eagles pecking at my head.?

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating Book, Lousy Abridgement

This is a really fine autobiography, with plenty of fascinating insights into what has made Dylan tick. It's great as a companion to the new Martin Scorsese documentary picture No Direction Home, providing more detail, background and color on much of the same material. For my taste, Sean Penn's reading is good, certainly very listenable (even if he doesn't know how to pronounce Don Juan). Unfortunately, the abridgement seems to be terrible, leaving out huge chunks and ruining any sense of continuity. I don't mind the jumping back and forth, but completely excising a whole decade and suddenly Bob has a wife and 5 kids - it doesn't work. Still worth 4 stars for what remains.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Abridged dissapoints

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sean Penn has done a marvelous job , but the abridged narration is too hurried and doesnt do justice to the listener. I strongly recommend audible to put up the complete version.

What was most disappointing about Bob Dylan’s story?

The abridged version had just a paragraph on Joan Baez , disappointing for me.

What does Sean Penn bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Sean Penn is fabulous.

Could you see Chronicles being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Sure.. the complete version

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

If you enjoy Dylan, You'll love Chronicles

I first saw Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1963 and have followed his songs and career with great interest. May be hard to believe but the book is easy listening and superbly read by Sean Penn. You begin to understand the many levels of music, both creating and performing, and the man behind it.

I can?t wait until we get ?Volume Two?.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Abridged??!!! Why????

Did not realize this was abridged, but it soon became clear. It is choppy and makes no sense. Penn may be a great actor, but he it a terrible reader—felt ripped off in every way and a real disservice to Dylan. Can’t believe he allows it.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

If only it weren't abridged

I've been a fan of Dylan for years, and looked forward to this book to learn more about him.

I did get a feeling of his early life in NY. Felt the frustration when he wanted to simply enjoy his family, while critics and crowds pushed him to lead the charge and bring songs of their generation/ Then touring with Tom Petty/Dead, and the recording in New Orlenas. The narration then goes back to Minneapolis, then NY and his first contract with Columbia.

I felt the book made huge, disjointed leaps from one point to another, which may be because it was abridged. I was so excited about the title, that I did not notice this, or I would not have bought it.

Penn does a great job of narration. I'm just disappointed I didn't get the whole story.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Positively 4th Street

It's a warm summer's day in the interlude between summer school and fall quarter in the late 60's. We're all on the front porch of the adobe looking out over the valley. The big event of the day is that eventually the train will ramble by the back fence. The music is Dylan. Some say that if you can remember the 60s, you weren't there. I say that if you can't remember the words to your favorite Dylan tune, you weren't there.

There is a reason that Dylan is considered the poet laureate of the Twentieth Century. And now he's back. Add to that the amazing reading by Sean Penn. Occaisonally you hear in his voice the sing-song verse of Dylan's early work. Occaisonally Penn sounds just like him.

A definite read if you were there (and maybe styill are).

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Abridged, dang it!

I missed seeing that this was abridged. Would've passed on it if I'd have seen that. Of course it's good, real good, it's Penn reading Dylan's words, how could it not be? But it was confounding and now I know why: it's abridged! I will never buy an abridged book again.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Shot Rabbits

Been thinking about Charles question about Shot Rabbits -- The description Dylan gave of music littering the floor like the aforementioned shot rabbits. I kinda liked it... it brought an image of activity, frenetic, lively and not too controlled being stilled and discarded... an " off" image no doubt but one that allowed me to get a picture of what he was seeing/experiencing

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Best audio book I ever heard

I have just listen to this book for 5 hours straight, I just wish it was 5 hours longer, best narrator voice I have ever heard, and what an unbelievable story. It felt like when my father would read me my favorite bedtime story, and I wish it would never end.
Thank you Sean Penn and Bob Dylan

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5 people found this helpful