Published in "Retrospective" ed. by Craig Mcgregor as "An interview
in Austin Texas"
Reprinted in "Bob Dylan" by Miles; also reprinted in "Positively
Tie Dream" (Ashes and
Sand 1979) Commonly dated summer of 1966, but these quotes appear
in Sept. 25, 1965 AmericanStatesman.
Reporter: What do you consider yourself? How would you classify yourself?
Bob Dylan: Well, I like to think of myself in terms of a trapeze artist.
Reporter: Speaking of trapeze artists, I've noticed in some of your
recent albums a
carnival-type sound. Could you tell me a little about that?
Bob Dylan: That isn't a carnival sound, that's religious. That's very
real, you can see that
anywhere.
Reporter: What about this "Ballad of a Thin Man"? This sounds as though
it might have
been dedicated to a newspaper reporter or something.
Bob Dylan: No, it's just about a fella that came into a truckstop once.
Reporter: Have the Beatles had any influence on your work?
Bob Dylan: Well, they haven't influenced the songs or sound. I don't
know what other
kind of influence they might have. They haven't influenced the
songs or the sound.
Reporter: In an article in "The New Yorker," written by Nat Hentoff,
I believe, you said
you sang what you felt and you sang to make yourself feel good, more
or less. And it was
implied that in your first two albums you sang "finger-pointing
songs," I believe.
Bob Dylan: Well, what he was saying was, I mean, I wasn't playing then
and it was still
sort of a small nucleus at that time and by the definition of
why do you sing, I sing for the people. He was saying, "Why do you sing?"
and I couldn't think of an answer except that I felt like singing, that's
all.
Reporter: Why is it different?
Bob Dylan: Come on, come on.
Reporter: What is your attitude toward your "finger-pointing" songs?
He implied that you
thought they were just superficial.
Bob Dylan: No, it's not superficial, it's just motivated. Motivated.
Uncontrollable
motivation. Which anyone can do, once they get uncontrollably
motivated.
Reporter: You said before that you sang because you had to. Why do you sing now?
Bob Dylan: Because I have to.
Reporter: Your voice in here is soft and gentle. Yet in some of your
records, there's a
harsh twang.
Bob Dylan: I just got up.
Reporter: Could you give me some sort of evaluation as far as your own
taste is
concerned, comparing some of the things you did, like old music,
say, "Girl from the North Country," which I consider a very beautiful-
type ballad? Perhaps some of the things that have come out in the
last couple of albums--do you get the same satisfaction out of doing
this?
Bob Dylan: Yeah, I do. I wish I could write like "Girl from the North
Country." You
know, I can't write like that any more.
Reporter: Why is that?
Bob Dylan: I don't know.
Reporter: Are you trying to accomplish anything?
Bob Dylan: Am I trying to accomplish anything?
Reporter: Are you trying to change the world or anything?
Bob Dylan: Am I trying to change the world? Is that your question?
Reporter: Well, do you have any idealism or anything?
Bob Dylan: Am I trying to change the idealism of the world? Is that it?
Reporter: Well, are you trying to push over idealism to the people?
Bob Dylan: Well, what do you think my ideas are?
Reporter: Well, I don't exactly know. But are you singing just to be singing?
Bob Dylan: No, I'm not singing to be singing. There's a much deeper
reason for it than
that.
Reporter: In a lot of the songs you sing you seem to express a pessimistic
attitude toward
life. It seems that "Hollis Brown" gives me that feeling. Is
this your true feeling or are you just trying to shock people?
Bob Dylan: That's not pessimistic form, that's just a statement. You
know. I'm not
pessimistic.
Reporter: Who are your favorite performers? I don't mean folk, I mean general.
Bob Dylan: Rasputin . . . Hmmm . . . Charles de Gaulle . . . the Staple
Singers. I sort of
have a general attitude about that. I like just about everybody
everybody else likes.
Reporter: You said just a minute ago you were preparing to go to classical
music. Could
you tell me a little about that?
Bob Dylan: Well, I was going to be in the classical music field and
I imagine it's going
right along. I'll get there one of these records.
Reporter: Are you using the word classical perhaps a little differently than we?
Bob Dylan: A little bit, maybe. Just a hair.
Reporter: Could you explain that?
Bob Dylan: Well, I'm using it in the general sense of the word, thumbing a hair out.
Reporter: Any attention to form?
Bob Dylan: Form and matter. Mathematics.
Reporter: What is your belief in God? Are you a Christian?
Bob Dylan: Well, first of all, God is a woman, we all know that. Well,
you take it from
there.
Jim Langdon's Statesman interview has many direct quotes from above plus additional quotes from this press conference not in the previous transcript:
On the progression from folk to rock:
"It just sort of came natural"
On children's songs:
"All my songs are children's songs, really, they're just for different types of children that's all.'
On folk music:
"Folk music is all tied up in ancient symbolism - this is something that the folk music critics don't realize..."
On New York:
îI love New York. I never had anything when I was there and that's why the city never strangled me. You can only be strangled if you've got something, if you're caught up in the middle."
On politicians:
"They're all trying to better themselves, aren't they? I'm always wary of people who try to better themselves."
Has financial success changed your life?
"Yes, I have more money now.'
What have you done with it?
"I buy things"
Paraphrased by Langdon:
"He's written a book of, well, a book of words...he wants to make a movie, a horror story with Robert Taylor...he thinks Alan Ginsberg is a legitimate poet...literature is becoming a snobbish kind of thing..."
Another Statesman preview article by Jon Bustin had these 2 quotes:
"I just seem to draw into myself whatever comes my way, and it come out me..."