Bob Dylan - Tempest, Sept. 11, 2012

I want to ask about the controversy over your quotations in your songs from the works of other writers, such as Japanese author Junichi Saga's Confessions of a Yakuza, and the Civil War poetry of Henry Timrod. In folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition, but some critics say that you didn't cite your sources clearly. What's your response to those kinds of charges?

Oh, yeah, in folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition. That certainly is true. It's true for everybody, but me. There are different rules for me. And as far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him? Who's been reading him lately? And who's pushed him to the forefront? Who's been making you read him? And ask his descendants what they think of the hoopla. And if you think it's so easy to quote him and it can help your work, do it yourself and see how far you can get. Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff. It's an old thing – it's part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you've been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.

Seriously?

I'm working within my art form. It's that simple. I work within the rules and limitations of it. There are authoritarian figures that can explain that kind of art form better to you than I can. It's called songwriting. It has to do with melody and rhythm, and then after that, anything goes. You make everything yours. We all do it.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-strikes-back-at-critics-20120912#ixzz26Gfbn1IT

wussies and pussies!

All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.

Should be title of next Chronicles.

can we poll the two options?

It's really weird and arresting when this guy actually makes any kind of public statement, especially one as outspoken as this. He spends most of his life being so aloof and inscrutable and then when something like this comes out it's like WHAM.

I love Gospel Dylan so much.

WUSSIES AND PUSSIES

haha wow!

just stopped by electric fetus and got tempest on CD, sounding good so far! love long & narrow way!

WUSSIES AND PUSSIES

tipsy mothra can this please be the title of the Dylan tracks poll?

frankly it's really hard to tell fake dylan quotes from real dylan quotes. i find myself staring into that uncanny valley whenever i read interviews with him.

dylan OTM obviously, but do i detect a little protest-too-much in that interview?

Wussies, Pussies, and Motherfuckers: The Bootleg Series, Vol. X [3 CD]

Kind of imagine he was grinning while saying all of that. Don't know if he was pounding his fist on the table or anything.

!!!!!!

after 'tempest' today i played through some of the theme time radio hour extras from the last album, so i could totally hear dylan's voice saying all that shit just now.

"All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell," he said with a good natured laugh.

best lost verse from subterranean homesick blues ever

"That said," Dylan added, "Fuck Jimmy Page. That guy's a fuckin' thief."

i read a bunch of the RS interview thru the expecting rain site & some of it is super, mega weird & rad, in the same vain. he talks about having been transfigured by his motorbike accident & encourages the interviewer to read into his recorder from a hells angels bio that mentions a Bobby Zimmerman's automotive fatality.

Dylan brought his own recorder to the interview? Cool, hope he was playing guitar while the guy was reading that. "Fuck you," he explained.

Mikal Gilmore brings out the best in Dylan, I must say.

I cannot wait to read this

Dylan brought his own recorder to the interview? Cool, hope he was playing guitar while the guy was reading that. "Fuck you," he explained.

― dow, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 22:16 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i remember reading a dylan interview, p recent, where apparently he was plucking on a guitar throughout. conversation turned to irving berlin & he started playing blue skies. this isn't super relevant but i would love to see dylan fuck around on a guitar playing standards.

I cannot wait to read this

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 13 September 2012 00:57 (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i need to finish it it's killer. really hoping it turns out that dylan's ~reclusive mysticism~ turns out to be a PR strategy to manage him & prevent him talking shit to the press.

interview makes me think...are there any dylan songs w/ swearing in em?

There's a shit in Hurricane.

"Hey Judas, don't make it bad-ass.."

Everyone's dreams have come true!

LEX ON BOB DYLAN!

Okay, great headline.

so proud, so smug, so uncomprehending

Yes but about lex.

so proud, so smug, so uncomprehending

that's exactly what i thought too!

bah ned xp

xpost Why? Cos he doesn't like Dylan and doesn't give a shit? In exactly the way many Dylan fans would feel about the lyricists he loves?

i tried to be nice, i said dylan had potential :)

'there are people who don't understand our music, so we can not understand theirs!' is not so rewarding a critical posture, ithappens.

trying to give dylan notes on the rudiments of vocal performance just makes you sound like you have broken ears.

That comments box thread is going to be an absolute humdinger.

I liked Dylan's last album. But Lex is right - this one sucks.

You make it sound like he would like the last one.

There's a serious point in the piece: if Dylan is the great popular artist of the last 50 years, should his art not be accessible to even those not steeped in"Dylanology"? I like classic rock. I have plenty of Bob Dylan records. I don't enjoy the records he makes now. Why does that make me the failure, rather than him?

how about neither of you?

we are all failures, let's be really real

We're all motherfuckers who can rot in hell.

I'll get me coat.

i know it's hard to ignore the slavish praise that the dude gets all the time now, but hey if it's not your thing, you probably shouldn't feel bad about it. funny thing about dylan being "the great popular artist of the last 50 years" is that he really isn't that popular, at least relative to other "popular" artists. he's got a certain cultural cache, but he's more like the ultimate cult artist.

Words are fit rigidly to the metre

lol lex I love you but you have literally no idea what meter is if you think this about Dylan. I'll be happy to show you metrical substitutions in, hazarding a guess here, every song he's ever written.

funny thing about dylan being "the great popular artist of the last 50 years" is that he really isn't that popular, at least relative to other "popular" artists

yeah this is something i mentioned - since 2001, when i first tried him out, he has literally cropped up in my everyday life (which is v music-oriented obv) two or three times max. literally two people in my social circles give a shit about him, i think. it's not like he's fucking radiohead or something

xp i intend to listen to no further b-dyl songs in my life i have sacrificed enough years on this

but what about When Bob Dylan dies

Lex I think writing about things you love brings out way better qualities of your writing, for me at least.....also it's pretty hard to believe you came to this album and writing this piece with anything other than a takedown in mind before your heard a note

Also it's not like this album is being met without criticism in the dylan fan camp

I’m a huge Dylan fan — and I like the album, although it doesn’t compare to Love and Theft or Modern Times — but I have no problem with Lex’s review. Most critics are far too reverential when it comes to reviewing Dylan (the 5-star RS review was as ridiculous as it was predictable).

What exactly do you think the Guardian were expecting when they commissioned him?