Contributions

IN his defense of Robert Hilburn’s opinion that Bob Dylan is “the most important songwriter of the 20th century,” reader Fred Lucero states [Letters, Nov. 25] that he has “heard of” Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and Duke Ellington. Lucero concedes that they were all “wonderful artists” but asks: “Can it be said that they changed the culture of this country the way Dylan did?”

The answer is obvious: Yes and no. Each artist contributed immensely to our culture, thereby changing it immeasurably, but each in his own way. “Blonde on Blonde” changed 20th century America, but so did “Show Boat” and “The Wizard of Oz” and “Kiss Me, Kate” -- not to mention “Pet Sounds” and “Electric Ladyland.”

Bob Dylan was undoubtedly the greatest ... but then again, so were those other guys.

NEAL MCCABE

Los Angeles

*

LUCERO agrees that Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, Berlin and Arlen were “wonderful artists” but goes on to ask whether it can be said that “they changed the culture of this country the way Dylan did?” The real question is whether the culture was changed for the better. And the answer to that is an obvious, and resounding, no!

BURT PRELUTSKY

North Hills