Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images Leading up to the release of his new album Together Through Life, Bob Dylan's website has been releasing snippets of an interview with Dylan conducted by our buddy, Bill Flanagan.
(By the way, Together Through Life is amazing. We've been listening to it nonstop. Our favorite cut is the album closer, "It's All Good.")
Today we received excerpts from the latest installment, which offers Dylan's thoughts on Barack Obama. If you remember, Dylan endorsed Obama early in his campaign, an unusual move for him, as he usually steers clear of discussing politics.
Here's how it went down...
Bill Flanagan: You like Barack Obama early on. Why was that?
Bob Dylan: I'd read his book and it intrigued me.
BF: Audacity of Hope?
BD: No it was called Dreams of My Father.
BF: What struck you about him?
BD: Well, a number of things. He's got an interesting background. He's like a fictional character, but he's real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas, though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage -- cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it's just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you're into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.
BF: In what way?
BD: First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii. Most of us think Hawaii as paradise -- so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise.
BF: And he was thrown out of the garden.
BD: Not exactly. His mom married some other guy named Lolo and then took Barack to Indonesia to live. Barack went to both a Muslim school and a Catholic school. His mom used to get up at 4:00 in the morning and teach him book lessons three hours before he even went to school. And then she would go to work. That tells you the type of woman she was. That's just in the beginning of the story.
BF: What else did you find compelling about him?
BD: Well, mainly his take on things. His writing style hits you on more than one level. It makes you feel and think at the same time and that's hard to do. He says profoundly outrageous things. He's looking at a shrunken head inside of a glass case is some museum with a bunch of other people and he's wondering if any of these other people realize that they could be looking at one of their ancestors.
BF: What in his book would make you think he'd be a good politician?
BD: Well nothing really. In some sense you would think being in the business of politics would be the last thing that this man would want to do. I think he had a job as an investment banker on Wall Street for a second -- selling German bonds. But he probably could've done anything. If you read his book, you'll know that the political world came to him. It was there to be had.
BF: Do you think hell make a good president?
BD: I have no idea. He'll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that.... Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. It's like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.
Click here for the full interview.
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
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Anon | April 8, 2009 8:34 PM
Bob Dylan is still alive and making music? Man, people will but anything these days.
Anonymous | April 7, 2009 3:24 PM
I voted obama but i totally agree. But why should he care its not his hard earned money. when you live in luxury its easy to forget about how hard the normal people work for there coin. And it pisses me off to know that im paying some assholes bonus or severence in six figure cheques. You know what? Fuck Obama. I wish i could vote again cuz i would even.
Anonymous | April 7, 2009 3:21 PM
I am not a Republican but I honestly think Barack Obama is a dumbass. I mean what kind of guy gives away billions of dollars of tax payers money without knowing who its going to and what it is going to be used for? he jumped the gun and now hes digging us a deeper hole. Barack Obama is only a good public speaker. that's it.