Expecting Rain

Mr. D. joked in the "Street Map" show he was in negotiations to license his voice for GPS systems. Or maybe he wasn't joking. Among others, Burt Reynolds, Mr. T, and Dennis Hopper have licensed their voices for GPS use. You can hear a demo of Hopper's voice here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZah85pF4HI

So the question is, if Mr. D. wasn't joking, would you buy his voice?

I just posted a "no" on this poll. Maybe if Bob spoke with his real voice and was crystal clear I would pick him for my GPS. If he used his TTRH or his "Let me introduce my band" net voice I wouldd get very lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^
Cant be any worse then the "Irish" accent...."stay right to merge onto the motorway in 300 yards"



I dont use GPS, I just print out directions from MapQuest

Months ago I was telling people that I'd love a Dylan voice SatNav. I laughed out loud when it came up on the show last week - he must read my mind. I'd be first in line to buy one!

If he'd do it, I'd even buy a GPS!!!!

(my daughter has one of these things and the funniest voice is Darth Vader's saying "you are approaching the dark side....")

'Take the next left into Desolation Row...it's not dark yet, but it's getting there so turn on the lights now...'

.

i love the idea of a dylan sat nav but this reminded me of some directions i was given in ireland once - "go straight over the t-junction then keep on for, er, fockin' miles!"

How about...

If you need your oil changed I'll do it for you free
Oh (insert name - mine happens to have 2 syllables ), the pleasure be all mine
If you let me drive your pickup truck and park it where the sun don't shine

I'll take my flu medicine and go to bed now...

If he'd do it, I'd even buy a car !

Of course. Let's get lost.

I would buy a tracheotomy if he was selling it

Ah, man, what an idea. I flipped out when Bob suggested it. Maybe they'll give 'em out with Cadillacs. But I think I'd get lost all the time from laughing so hard.

Imagine this for a GPS journey!"


Drive all night into San Anton'
Sleep near the Alamo,
Way down in Mexico find a doctor
over the Rockies go out of control
cross the panhandle
and then head towards Amarillo
pull up where Henry Porter used to live
a wreckin' lot outside of town about a mile
Roll up in a cloud of dust
To the land of the living dead.
Go all the way 'til the wheels fall off and burn,
'Til the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade
and the water moccasin dies."


I'd buy it!

.

_______________

*and watch out: as soon as you cross the Hiway61, you'd be lost....................*

To quote LJ quoting Bob:



Who knows were we'd arrive....

According to Google, there are currently (August 2009) 104 news stories - nearly all of them written as factual reports - on a joke that Our Host made in December 2008.

I'm not sure what that says, but it says something. By the way, I'm offering a suite for lease in the Abernathy Building at a very reasonable price and with a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge, (which I can also provide to you for a modest sum).

As I said over at Dreamtime, I suspect Mr. D.'s offices have fielded a few calls from GPS providers since Sunday. I suppose the perfect cap to this story will be TomTom next announcing that they will be offering a Bob Dylan directional voice.

Fred, I think this MAY have originated in the UK (shame on us!) following the recent BBC Radio 6 broadcast of that Dec 2008 edition of Theme Time etc. We get the press we deserve, I guess?

I'm afraid the U.K. is the guilty party, SuperrMabel, not that our media across the pond is any better. According to Google News, the story was "broken" by the Telegraph on the 24th, after the writer heard the "Street Map" show on Sunday. She left out the fact, if she knew or cared, that the show was originally broadcast in 2008.

What fascinates me is that The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNET, and NPR, among many other outlets, reported the story as straight fact, citing everything from Agence France-Presse to the BBC as their source. I think I saw one story, out of the dozen or so I skimmed through, where the writer actually reported that the show was from 2008, and that Dylan was most probably joking.

I'm probably being overly grumpy. It is, after all, the Silly Season, and most of the writers just wanted to use the story to make the predictable "No Direction Home" or "nobody would understand him" jokes. But lazy reporting is one of my pet peeves, and this is a classic example.

NPR told this story Again! On Morning Edition this am.... Can't they tell he is joking? They even played an audio clip! They presented it as "Dylan is in negotiations with several gps systems to use his voice for directions, like some companies who are already using Homer Simpson" I'm using quotes but I'm paraphrasing!

this is too funny - just found the link to NPR
just google it and you'll find it
54 seconds with a transcript
Title : Would You Follow Bob Dylan's Driving Directions?

Remember the Victoria's Secret ad came about from that silly answer Bob gave at that '65 press conference saying if he ever did sell his music it would only be for ladies’ undergarments? So I bet he'd be game and I'd have to pull over to the side of the road whenever he said anything or I'd get in an accident from laughing my head off. It'd take a long time getting somewhere!!