Iconic songwriter Bob Dylan’s ongoing interview with Bill Flanagan has appeared online, with the songwriter taking a swipe at some of his 60s contemporaries.
Dylan is back. The seismic affect that news has on his fans is difficult to gauge, but with previous album ‘Modern Times’ topping the Billboard charts the songwriter is back to being a genuine cultural force.
Forthcoming album ‘Together Through Life’ has become the most talked about the release of the year so far. Containing his first new material in some time, the album follows on from a period of creativity for the artist who exhibited his paintings around the world last year.
However in the newly published portion of the interview Dylan is keen to point out that despite his success he is not a commercial artist. Asked about the nostalgia that surrounds so many artists of his generation, the songwriter is scornful.
“Those guys you are talking about all had conspicuous hits. They started out anti-establishment and now they are in charge of the world. Celebratory songs. Music for the grand dinner party. Mainstream stuff that played into the culture on a pervasive level. My stuff is different from those guys. It’s more desperate.”
“Daltrey, Townshend, McCartney, the Beach Boys, Elton, Billy Joel. They made perfect records, so they have to play them perfectly … exactly the way people remember them. My records were never perfect. So there is no point in trying to duplicate them. Anyway, I’m no mainstream artist.”
Asked if he had ever tried to fit in with pop trends, the singer was unequivocal. “I’m coming out of the folk music tradition and that’s the vernacular and archetypal aesthetic that I’ve experienced. Those are the dynamics of it. I couldn’t have written songs for the Brill Building if I tried. Whatever passes for pop music, I couldn’t do it then and I can’t do it now.”
Bob Dylan releases his new album ‘Together Through Life’ later this month.
