Q&A: Bob Dylan
This is the second half of a press conference Bob Dylan gave when he was in San Francisco in the winter of 1965. It was one of his rare press conferences, one which was televised and is reprinted here in its entirety. The first part of the Bob Dylan conference can be gotten by sending 25c to “Dylan Interview, Rolling Stone, 746 Brannan Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103.”
[Q] Of all the people who record your compositions, who do you feel does the most justice to what you’re trying to say?
[A] I think Manfred Mann. They’ve done the songs — they’ve done about three or four. Each one of them has been right in context with what the song was all about.
[Q] What’s your new album about?
[A] Oh, it’s about, uh—just about all kinds of different things—rats, balloons. They’re about the only thing that come to my mind right now.
[Q] Mr. Dylan, how would you define folk music?
[A] As a constitutional re-play of mass production.
[Q] Would you call your songs “folk songs?”
[A] No.
[Q] Are protests songs “folk songs?”
[A] I guess, if they’re a constitutional re-play of mass production.
[Q] Do you prefer songs with a subtle or obvious message?
[A] With a what???
[Q] A subtle or obvious message?
[A] Uh—I don’t really prefer those kinds of songs at all—’message’ — you mean like — what songs with a message.
[Q] Well, like “Eve of Destruction” and things like that.
[A] Do I prefer that to what?
[Q] I don’t know, but your songs are supposed to have a subtle message.
[A] Subtle message???
[Q] Well, they’re supposed to.
[A] Where’d you hear that?
[Q] In a movie magazine?
[A] Oh,—Oh God! Well, we won’t—we don’t discuss those things here.
[Q] Are your songs ever about real people?
[A] Sure they are, they’re all about real people.
[Q] Particular ones?
[A] Particular people? Sure, I’m sure you’ve seen all the people in my songs—at one time or another.
[Q] Who is Mr. Jones?
[A] Mr. Jones, I’m not going to tell you his first name. I’d get sued.
[Q] What does he do for a living?
[A] He’s a pinboy. He also wears suspenders.
[Q] How do you explain your attraction?
[A] Attraction to what?
[Q] Your attraction—your popularity—your mass popularity.
[A] No, no. I really have no idea. That’s the truth, I always tell the truth. That is the truth.
[Q] What are your own personal hopes for the future and what do you hope to change in the world?
[A] Oh, my hopes, for the future: to be honest, you know, I don’t have any hopes for the future and I just hope to have enough boots to be able to change them. That’s all really, it doesn’t boil down to anything more than that. If it did, I would certainly tell you.
[Q] What do you think of a question and answer session of this type (with you as the principal subject)?
[A] Well, I think we all have different — uh — (I may have dropped an ash on myself somewhere — you’ll see in a minute here) — I’m not going to say anything about it though—uh—What was the question?
[Q] What are you thinking about right now?
[A] I’m thinking about this ash.
[Q] Right before that.
[A] Uh—the ash is creeping up on me somewhere—I’ve lost—lost touch with myself so I can’t tell where exactly it is.
[Q] Was that an inadvertent evading of the question?
[A] No, no—
[Q] What do you feel about the meaning of this kind of question and answer session?
[A] I just know in my own mind that we all have a different idea of all the words we’re using—uh—y’know so I don’t really have too much—I really can’t take it too seriously because everything—like if I say the word “house”—like we’re both going to see a different house. If I just say the word—right? So we’re using all these other words like ‘mass production’ and ‘movie magazine’ and we all have a different idea of these words too, so I don’t even know what we’re saying.
[Q] Is it pointless?
[A] No, it’s not pointless. It’s—it’s—you know, if you want to do it, you’re there — then that’s not pointless. You know, it doesn’t hurt me any.
[Q] Is there anything in addition to your songs that you want to say to people?
[A] Good luck.
[Q] You don’t say that in your songs.