Dylan on Dylan

For Douglas Brinkley's feature "Bob Dylan's America," check out our new issue, on stands now.

In the current Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan discusses his new album Together Through Life and American icons from Chuck Berry to Walt Whitman to Elvis Presley. This is just the most recent of many conversations we've had with Dylan since he first appeared on our cover in 1968. Here we present some of his most intriguing moments with us, including his thoughts on bootlegs, the Sixties and religion.

On Performing Live:

"There's always those butterflies at a certain point, but then there's the realization that the songs I'm singing mean as much to the people as to me; so it's just up to me to perform the best I can. ... For me, it's just reinforcing those images in my head that were there, that don't die, that will be there tomorrow. And in doing so for myself, hopefully also for those people who also had those images."
[From Issue 154 - February 14, 1974]

"Ask Muhammad All why he fights one more fight. Go ask Marlon Brando why he makes one more movie. Ask Mick Jagger why he goes on the road. See what kind of answers you come up with. Is it so surprising I'm on the road? What else would I be doing in this life — meditating on the mountain? Whatever someone finds fulfilling, whatever his or her purpose is — that's all it is."
[From Issue 278 - November 16, 1978]

"Since 1974, I've never stopped working. I've been out on tours where there hasn't been any publicity. So for me, I'm not getting caught up in all this excitement of a big tour. I've played big tours and I've played small tours. I mean, what's such a big deal about this one? ... To me, an audience is an audience, no matter where they are."
[From Issue 478/479 - July 17, 1986]

"They say, 'Dylan never talks.' What the hell is there to say? That's not the reason an artist is in front of people. An artist has come for a different purpose. Maybe a self-help group — maybe a Dr. Phil — would say, 'How you doin'?' I don't want to get harsh and say I don't care. You do care, you care in a big way, otherwise you wouldn't be there. But it's a different kind of connection. It's not a light thing. ... It's alive every night, or it feels alive every night."
[From Issue 1008 - September 7, 2006]

"My band plays a different type of music than anybody else plays. We play distinctive rhythms that no other band can play. There are so many of my songs that have been rearranged at this point that I've lost track of them myself. We do keep the structures intact to some degree. But the dynamics of the song itself might change from one given night to another because the mathematical process we use allows that. As far as I know, no one else out there plays like this. Today, yesterday and probably tomorrow. I don't think you'll hear what I do ever again."
[From Issue 1078 - May 14, 2009]