Dylan on Dylan

by Jeff Burger

  Coburn: I’d like to see some of that stuff. We’ll talk to Michael now. He’s in Norfolk, Virginia. You’re on the show, Michael.

  Caller: Good evening, Bob. How you doing?

  Dylan: I’m doing fine.

  Caller: What have you been listening to recently? Any good music?

  Dylan: Hmm, you ever heard of a group called Fishbone? I thought they’re pretty good.

  Caller: You been listening to any jazz?

  Dylan: Oh, yeah.

  Caller: Tell me something. Did you ever record any tunes as Blind Boy Grunt?

  Dylan: I’m sure I did. [Laughs.] That was a few years ago, I think.

  Caller: OK, Bob. I just wanna say thanks for the thrill.

  Coburn: Thanks for the call, Michael. We appreciate it. We’ll talk to Peter now in Santa Monica. How you doing, Peter?

  Caller: Oh, I’m doing great. I’m very excited to talk to Bob.

  Coburn: Well, take advantage of it. You’re on the air.

  Caller: Oh, great. The question I wanted to ask is that I consider you one of the people who have proven that one person can change the world, make a difference in the world. First of all, I want to ask you if you agree with that and, if no, respond to that.

  Dylan: Oh yeah, I do agree with that. I don’t know if I’ve ever done anything like that but a lot of the great changes in the world were brought about by one person for sure.

  Caller: Aha, do you think that in the ’60s, there was that energy? Everybody was listening to your music and it promoted them to do things. Whereas here in the ’80s there’s more of a hope that one person can’t do as much. Do you feel that that’s what’s happening?

  Dylan: Well, maybe, but that’ll probably change.

  Caller: All right, I want to identify myself as Peter Landecker, the person who’s doing this show about you. I’ve put together this show, which is a collection of your words and music. The thing I’m concerned about is when people see this show—a collection of your words and music—and they’re going to leave the theater, what kind of a feeling would you want them to leave with?

  Dylan: I don’t really know, ’cause I do my own shows. So somebody else who’s doing them, I don’t know what they’re doing.

  Coburn: We’ll take a time out and return with Bob Dylan, our guest for the full ninety minutes on Rockline.

  [Commercial break.]

  Coburn: We’re gonna play a song now that was done by the Textones. It’s on Bob’s new album. He wrote it, of course. It’s called “Clean Cut Kid.”

  [“Clean Cut Kid” plays.]

  Coburn: Ron Wood of Stones fame on guitar on that track, sounding good. We’re going to talk to somebody in Little Rock, Arkansas, right now, and this is Rust. Is that correct?

  Caller: That’s right. Hello there, Mr. Dylan. I want to say one thing first before I ask my question. I want to tell you that you’re number one on the top of my list of musicians, for the simple reason that when I was twelve years old I listened to you, and I picked up the harmonica and I’m still playing, and I’m twenty-eight years old. Well, my question is, have you ever planned to take any of your private works and poetry and maybe simultaneously with autobiography write a book?

  Dylan: No, I never did plan that. I haven’t had time. I’ve been asked about it, though. Maybe one of these days.

  Caller: Aha, and I think that producing your own LP there is a great accomplishment, and I hope to hear a lot from you in the future because I think that you’re one of the best, sir.

  Dylan: Well, thank you.

  Coburn: All right. That’s a from-the-heart call and we appreciate it. We’ll talk to somebody in Milwaukee now. His name is Randy. Randy, meet Bob Dylan.

  Caller: Hi, Bob. Listen, in 1976, I bought your album [Desire] and “Hurricane” struck me first, but “Isis” has always haunted me and I wanted to know what you meant by the song.

  Dylan: Hmm . . . well, it’s kind of like a journey. I wrote that with another person, and I think half the verses were mine and half the verses were his, and it just sort of ended up being what it was. I don’t really know too much in depth what it would mean.

  Coburn: Who did you cowrite that with?

  Dylan: Jacques Levy.

  Coburn: And the basis, I guess, is Egyptian mythology, Isis being a goddess. Is that what it stemmed from?

  Dylan: [Laughs.] I guess so.

  Coburn: You’re not sure. Anything else on your mind there, Randy?

  Caller: Well, “Like a Rolling Stone” is my favorite song and I appreciate him writing that. And I want to tell him that.

  Coburn: Right. We appreciate that. We’ll talk to Philip now. Where you calling from, Phil?

  Caller: I’m calling from Indiana.

  Coburn: OK. You’re on the air.

  Caller: Yeah. Hi, Bob. I was wondering how did you get involved in the USA for Africa [project]?

  Dylan: Oh, Ken Cregan had called and asked me about it.

  Coburn: And who is Ken Cregan? What does he do?

  Dylan: Well, he put that together. He’s the manager of Lionel Richie. That’s how I got involved.

  Coburn: Did you have any hesitation or say, “Yeah, I’ll be there.” What was your reaction?

  Dylan: Oh, I said I’ll be there.

  Coburn: And you were. We’re gonna listen to a song that’s Randy’s favorite cut. How can we not play “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan on Rockline?

  [“Like a Rolling Stone” plays.]

  Coburn: A song that’s burned into the mind of anyone who went through the ’60s, “Like a Rolling Stone,” originally on Highway 61 Revisited. So many of your songs, Bob, have been re-recorded by other people, yet I don’t think I’ve ever heard another version of that. Have you? Is there another version of that?

  Dylan: Yeah. Jimi Hendrix did it, and a couple of others did it.

  Coburn: Oh, yeah, that’s right. Boy, that’s a song that you’d better do something really fine with, ’cause that one you don’t mess with. That one’s sacrosanct almost. We’ll talk to Jeff now. He’s in Knoxville, Tennessee. Jeff, you’re on the Rockline.

  Caller: Well, what I wanted to ask you, Bob, was what possessed you to change your name from Robert Zimmerman to Bob Dylan?

  Dylan: Hmm, that’s an interesting question. I really can’t say. It’s been so long. I think I was just playing somewhere one night and the club owner asked me what my name was, and that was the name that came into my mind. I don’t think there was anything really profound about it.

  Coburn: Are the stories that it was taken from the poet Dylan Thomas true?

  Dylan: I think I’d heard that story [laughs] and I knew who Dylan Thomas was, but I’m not sure if I was familiar with his poetry or not.

  Coburn: Yeah. Interesting, Jeff. Did you have another question?

  Caller: Well, the second part of my question was, what’s your favorite album and your favorite song? That’s what I wanted to know.

  Dylan: Favorite album? I think the Robert Johnson album. I listen to that quite a bit still.

  Coburn: Some of that old blues stuff, huh? Do you have a favorite of any of your records? Is there one that stands out as your all-time album?

  Dylan: Hmm, I like ’em all when I make ’em. And then I don’t listen to them too often after they’re released.

  Coburn: Time to move on, I guess. Thanks for the call. We’ll talk to Ken now. He’s in Cleveland. Hi.

  Caller: Hi, how you doing, Bob?

  Dylan: I’m doing all right.

  Caller: I’d just like to comment. The Young Rascals also did “Like a Rolling Stone.” Also, my favorite song is your “[Bob Dylan’s] 115th Dream” on Bringing It All Back Home. That brings me to my question. Right before the release of that album, there was a rumor [about] an album called Bob Dylan in Concert, and the rumors are that there was a disagreement between you and Columbia over what would be on the album and it was never released. Any chance of us hearing it ever?

  Dylan: Hmm, that may
have been the second album. They asked me to change a few songs, I think.

  Caller: The “John Birch Society Blues” material?

  Dylan: Yeah, I think they requested that I drop that from the record.

  Caller: Do you think in these less prudent times that it could come out?

  Dylan: [Laughs.] Yeah. It probably could now.

  Caller: Well, you gonna shoot for it, maybe?

  Coburn: [Laughs.] Definite ulterior motive there. Fire off a letter to the record company and see what you can get going there, Ken.

  Dylan: They have the rights to that. They could release it.

  Caller: Well, I’ll bet you’ll have a little more push in the matter than I would.

  Coburn: You might have a point there. Thank you for the call, Ken. We appreciate it. It’s Jim’s turn. He’s in Toronto. Hi, Jim.

  Caller: Oh, hi. First of all, I’ve got to say that this is like talking on heaven’s line. You’re it to me, you’re the end all. I guess what I want to ask you about is creative desire in general. But, to pose it, I’m an artist and I’m just starting out, and I want to know how you think your music has changed from the beginning when you had to give in to some kind of commercial ideas, compared to now where you’re basically set and you can record whatever you want. Has that affected you?

  Dylan: Well, I’ve just about all the time recorded whatever I want, but my music, my musicianship, is so limited that I just work within that sound. I stay pretty much to that so I can do most anything I wanna do within that small framework.

  Caller: It hasn’t really ever changed then, from when you first started out?

  Dylan: No, I don’t think so.

  Caller: The other thing I wanted to ask you, and I’ve read an awful lot about you, and I’ve also read about other artists in general because I am an artist—a painter. You don’t seem to have gone through, at least to my knowledge, any kind of really trying times that most of the other artists have that have reached the heights and success that you have. I’m talking artistically, not commercially. Is there anything I’m missing? Is there anything that sort of changed your direction in life, that gave you the creative desire that made you so prolific?

  Dylan: No, I can’t say what it is. A lot of times, I even think about stopping. But sometimes it just keeps coming, so as long as it does, I just keep bringing it out.

  Coburn: Yeah, don’t stop, please. Jim’s hit on a really good point, in that in the early days you sounded like you had been around and really paid the dues, but were only eighteen years old, back in the early days when you left Minnesota and went to New York. You don’t know what you had? That explains it all. Bob Dylan says, if you want somebody you can trust, “Trust Yourself.”

  [“Trust Yourself” plays.]

  Coburn: A couple of Heartbreakers on that song, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. Bob Dylan’s “Trust Yourself” from Empire Burlesque. . . . Still plenty more time for you to talk to Bob Dylan tonight on Rockline. I’m Bob Coburn. Marie called from Pittsburgh. Hi.

  Caller: Hi. First, I’d like to wish you a happy birthday, a little belated.

  Dylan: Well, thank you.

  Caller: I was wondering, are you going to do any more movies, like Don’t Look Back or Pat Garrett [and Billy the Kid]?

  Dylan: Oh, I sure hope so. [Laughs.]

  Coburn: A little tongue in cheek there. Do you seriously have any plans for doing anything, or are you going to avoid that?

  Dylan: Well, somebody sent me a script the other day. I don’t know what makes them think I could do it, but it’s a fairly interesting script.

  Coburn: Ha, so don’t rule that out. Thanks for the call, Marie. We’ll talk to Brian now. He’s in Warren, Ohio. You’re on the show, Brian.

  Caller: Hi, how you doing, Bob?

  Dylan: I’m doing all right.

  Caller: I notice you’ve been touring a lot in Europe. What do you like better, the European audiences or the American, and why?

  Dylan: Mostly they’re all the same. Sometimes in a foreign country you wonder how people can understand what you’re saying. But it seems like they can. Maybe when you go over to Europe and play, you’ve gone so far to do it, maybe people appreciate it differently.

  Coburn: But there’s really no discernible difference? The crowds are the crowds?

  Dylan: Yeah, it’s just whether you’re playing in an indoor arena or outdoors. There’s difference in those kind of different kinda places you play. There’s a different kind of vibe in the air.

  Coburn: We’re gonna play another song from Empire Burlesque. This one is a bit lengthy but we wanted to get this on tonight. This is a song that’s a tour de force from the latest LP, Empire Burlesque. Bob Dylan on Rockline, “When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky.”

  [“When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky” plays.]

  Coburn: “When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky” is the name of that song. Bob Dylan reunited with Al Kooper, who worked on so many of the earlier Bob Dylan LPs. Nice to hear him back in the fold again. That’s from Empire Burlesque. We’ll take a brief time out and return with more.

  [Commercials air.]

  Coburn: It’s a very special evening with Bob Dylan tonight on Rockline. I’m Bob Coburn. We’re back on the phone lines. A call from Virginia . . .Tommy, you’re on the air.

  Caller: Yeah, Mr. Dylan, let me start by saying that I really enjoy your music, and your music is very deep and prophetic, very much like the late John Lennon. And I was just wondering what inspired you to write the song “Like a Rolling Stone.”

  [Pause.]

  Coburn: Do you remember the inspiration for that?

  Dylan: Well, it was just a riff, really. It was like the “La Bamba” riff.

  Coburn: You mean Ritchie Valens.

  Dylan: Yeah. I was just fooling with that, I think.

  Coburn: What were you going to say there, Tommy?

  Caller: I was thinking, was there any significance to the time period or anything? Did it tell a story?

  Dylan: Well, yeah. It was so long ago I can’t really remember the inspiration for it, but . . .

  Caller: OK, I really appreciate talking to you. It’s been a great honor.

  Coburn: Thanks for the call, Tommy. You know, it’s hard to say what a song means because it means what it means to the person that hears it. That’s the beauty . . . that’s called art.

  Dylan: Yeah, it means what it means.

  Coburn: Yeah. Let’s talk to David. He’s in Sierra Madre. David, how are you tonight?

  Caller: I’m pretty good. Me and my buddy Pete would like to wish you a late happy birthday. And I was wondering, are you ever going to release the soundtrack to Renaldo and Clara?

  Dylan: I think that is released. Well, maybe four songs from it. But that’s a good idea. I’d like to release that, but the record company usually have their own idea what they like to release and what they don’t.

  Caller: Well, I watched the four-hour version a couple of times [Dylan laughs] and I wonder, was there any particular meaning behind that movie? I never really caught it. I just went to see the music.

  Dylan: Well, there was, but it’s hard to put it into words. I don’t think I can put it into one line.

  Caller: You probably can’t explain it in the time that we’ve got.

  Dylan: No.

  Coburn: Well, thanks, David. Nice talking to you. OK, Bob, we’ll talk to George now, in Detroit. George, meet Bob Dylan.

  Caller: Hi, Bob, how you doing?

  Dylan: I’m doing all right.

  Caller: How are your kids?

  Dylan: Fine.

  Caller: That’s good. A guy a couple before me already asked my question about what a song means to you. I was going to ask you about a personal favorite song of mine, an old one, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).” I was wondering if that was the situation in the ’60s that caused you to write that or if you could view that as your own personal philosophy on life? I think that’s a very st
rong song.

  Dylan: Well, I still do that song. It’s still very relevant to me.

  Caller: Do you play it in concert?

  Dylan: Yes, I do.

  Caller: Oh, wow. I hope you come around soon to Detroit.

  Dylan: Well, I hope I do, and I hope you come.

  Caller: I’ll be there, front row, me and all my friends. We’re big fans of yours, Bob.

  Coburn: That brings up a good point. How do you pick what you play live, out of thirty albums? Is it the closest to the heart, or new material? What do you do?

  Dylan: Well, usually you just kind of go over the stuff that you can remember, and then once in a while somebody will suggest something else . . . I’ve had people in my bands say, “Let’s do this song,” and they’ve taught it back to me.

  Coburn: Really! Interesting. Boy, you really do remove yourself from it when time goes by, don’t you?

  Dylan: Well, there’s so many songs. Sometimes on the old records we used to make—I hate to think of them as what you call filler songs—but sometimes you’d do a song, just write it in five or ten minutes and do it, and not think much more of it. But it sticks in your mind after, and it sticks in other people’s minds and you think, well, maybe we’ll play it.

  Coburn: Yeah. Let’s take a Canadian call. We’ll talk to Rick. He’s in Kitchener. Hi, Rick.

  Caller: Hi. How are you, Bob?

  Dylan: I’m all right.

  Caller: I’d just like to say that John Wesley Harding was a great album by you and that if I didn’t happen to hear that song “Frankie Lee and Judas Priest,” I probably wouldn’t be calling you right now. It’s a super album. Now, there’s one other question I’d like to ask. In 1980, when you played Massey Hall [in Toronto] you did four concerts in a row and they were filming it every night. I was wondering, is there any sort of documentary or anything coming up on that?

  Dylan: Hmm, well, they do a lot of filming at different shows sometimes. I don’t remember that.

  Caller: Well, we were there for four nights, and I’ve never seen you perform so great. It was just unbelievably super fantastic, as they say. And I just want to thank you. I really appreciate all you’ve done for the last twenty years of music, for me and other people in general.