Things have changed. For rock and roll legend Bob Dylan, that is not only the title of a song that won him an Oscar earlier this year, but also an apt description of the past 10 years of his 40-plus year career.

In the mid-1990s, people wondered whether it was time for the old troubadour to hang up his harmonica. Dylan would appear onstage and give a cursory performance. His distinctive voice was often no more than a muddled grumble. By Spring 1996, his concerts were no longer cant-miss events.

Then, in the middle of a tour in 1997, Dylan took ill. A springtime motorcycle ride along the muddy banks of the Ohio River caused him to contract pericarditis (an inflammation of the thin sac (membrane) that surrounds the heart and the roots of the great vessels, which restricts the action of the heart.) The pollution in the mud kicked up and Dylan inhaled it. Though he continued on his tour that night, he soon found himself in the hospital, locked in a life-and-death struggle. There were rumors that the legend was near death and many wondered whether the enigmatic, Robert Zimmerman (his birth name) had strummed his last note.

After an extended convalescence, Dylan returned to the road. Fans who had seen the singer over the previous few years noticed something. Things had changed. The Dylan who seemed to be disinterested, who seemed to be going through the motions in concert had been replaced with a new, revitalized Dylan. His December 1997 New York show at Irving Plaza (a legendary Manhattan club) were met with stunning reviews. Critics could not believe that this was the same artist who had played an uninspired show at a New Jersey university earlier that same year.