The wise and the weird: Bob Dylan's (114th?) Rolling Stone Interview

Friend AW sent me the Bob Dylan Rolling Stone interview (M. Gilmore)with the warning that it's incredibly weird and even disturbing - and, yes, I guess so, but also a lot of wisdom and shrewd observations and some insights into what makes Dylan what and who he is (world's greatest living artist, for one): first, the weird. A large segment of the interview builds off a moment when BD gets excited, stands up, walks over to a bag he's left on a another table in the restaurant where Gilmore's interviewing him, and gives Gilmore a book about a Hells Angel, apparently written by a guy named Zimmerman, and about an early Hells Angel named of all things Bobby Zimmerman who died in a cycle crash in 1964 (Gilmore's research reveals that the crash was actually in 61), right around the time BD was injured in a crash, went silent at the peak of his creativity, and returned to performing and recording changed in many ways. Dylan riffs about how he seems to be a transformed or even reincarnate version of his Hells Angel namesake: it's hard not to see this as some kind of Dylan put-down or playfulness or hostility or maybe it's just plain weirdness, but over his career there have been many instances of his toying with the press and with interviewers - and also many instances of his interest in motorcycles and his odd fascination with outlaw gangs (the motorcycle black madonna two-wheel gypsy queen - to quote one reference). I can't make too much out of this oddity in the otherwise pretty serious interview. Among the highlights for me are BD's great description of the way his music is perceived: he notes that people don't and cannot sing along with his songs (they do, sometimes, on a few of the anthemic choruses: How does it feel?) because they're so personal: he's writing and singing strictly about his own emotions - however - in doing so, he notes, he helps people understand and even express their own emotions. A great description of his art - or anyone's really. He has some wise things to say about live performance, which he truly enjoys, and about the phases of his career. He also makes it clear that, despite the way it appeared, he was deeply honored by the Medal of Freedom, and he mentions the other winners present with him with a kind of reverence (I'm sure they were reverential in return, at least I hope so) - I suspect this portion of the "interview" may have been in an e-mail exchange, it didn't seem spoken. Finally, we're all always surprised by the range of his knowledge and interest in all phases of popular music, but who knew that Bing Crosby was his Dad's favorite crooner? I'd love to know what BD is reading and listening to at any given time - I bet the list would be eclectic and enlightening.