Bob Dylan

The radio makes hideous sounds.

If I wasn’t Bob Dylan, I’d probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.

All I can do is be me, whoever that is.

There is nothing so stable as change.

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.

All that I’ve played, all that I’ve sung, I couldn’t have done any other way.

First I was working on classical music that didn’t move me at all. I hated it. So I decided to discover the kinds of classical music that did move me—like Chopin, Satie, Beethoven, and certain Mozart songs. Mozart would play a counterpart with his left hand while using his right to mock it. It was blue, dark, shadowy and it made me feel something. That’s when I realized music was inside me.

My wife Martha used to call me Ol’ Lemon Face because of my facial contortions when I play Lucille. I squeeze my eyes and open my mouth, raise my eyebrows, cock my head and God knows what else. I look like I’m in torture, when in truth, I’m in ecstasy. I don’t do it for show. Every fiber of my being is tingling.

I’m believe that all people are in possession of what might be called a ‘universal musical mind.’

You usually can’t tell what’s inspiring until you look back on it.

Check out the albums, … Check out the live performances. That’s the reality of it all. Music is such an energizing thing.

Whatever else has been said about me personally is unimportant. When I sing, I believe I’m honest.

The people who really got me off were dealing with the musical potential of their instrument.

Black and white players hadn’t appeared together in public before Teddy Wilson and I began working with B.G.

[In 1972] At the moment, we’re getting the same thrill from seeing the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Jo Jo Gunne, and Judee Sill happen… It’s as hard to do it with Jackson Browne as it was to do it with Joni five years ago.

I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.

You never master the instrument. You always just strive to get better.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

[Ben Taylor] He is an interesting combination of the two of us. His voice box is more like mine but the way his tongue sits in his mouth, and the way he pronounces words, is just like James Taylor.

When the label came to me to say, ‘would you like to do another record,’ I said, ‘Well I got these sixteen songs sitting here, so let’s do it.’ And that was pretty much it… I never stopped writing, it’s just the way that the business is now; you just try to find a different model.