And Sing When You're Winning, the second U.S. release from British star Robbie Williams, makes oblique reference to David Bowie and Gloria Gaynor. Dylan is wary of undying devotion, maybe incapable of Cooke's lovestruck innocence. He invokes Cooke as a measure of all he's not. Used cleverly, these mentions enrich a song, making an abstract narrative real. A song can define a period, sum up a transition, or represent a moment of crystalline insight.
Every budding romance has a soundtrack.
So does every break-up. The mere mention of a name can set off a thousand images. They were his lifeline. His voice trembles as he testifies about the impact of his heroes, and though he doesn't mimic them, his gorgeous blue moans and vocal scowls conjure a little bit of what he found amazing about each. Robbie Williams' gift is for unlikely appropriation, the juxtaposition of references that, at first, don't appear to have anything in common.