Dylan to Pen Autobiography

More than 150 books have been published about Bob Dylan -- from bountiful biographies to accounts of recording sessions to interpretations of his music -- and more than 100 remain in print today. Two high-profile Dylan books have been published this year alone: Howard Sounes' biography Down the Highway and David Hadju's account of Dylan and Joan Baez's Sixties stint in New York City's Greenwich Village. But save Tarantula, a thirty-five-year-old collection of Dylan-penned poems, the reclusive songwriter has never put his story down on paper.

That is, until now. Simon and Schuster has inked a deal with Dylan to pen Chronicles, a multi-volume biography, the first volume of which may see publication next year.

For Dylan, the biography is the latest in a string of high-profile releases over the past year. A song he penned for the soundtrack to last year's Wonder Boys earned him a Golden Globe Award and his first ever Academy Award, both for Best Original Song. And six weeks ago he released "Love and Theft", his forty-third album, which remains in the Top Fifty with sales of 350,000 to date.

Dylan is currently on the road touring behind "Love and Theft".

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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