The Book of Bob

Bob Dylan is on the cover of Newsweek with an article by David Gates on Dylan's the upcoming book "Chronicles, Volume One."

Dylan:

"I'm used to writing songs, and songs - I can fill 'em up with symbolism and metaphors. When you write a book like this, you gotta tell the truth, and it can't be misinterpreted. Lest we forget, while you're writing, you're not living. What do they call it? Splendid isolation? I don't find it that splendid."

An excerpt from the book's chapter 'On the Run':

"People think that fame and riches translate into power, that it brings glory and honor and happiness. Maybe it does, but sometimes it doesn't. I found myself stuck in Woodstock, vulnerable and with a family to protect. If you looked in the press, though, you saw me being portrayed as anything but that. It was surprising how thick the smoke had become. It seems like the world has always needed a scapegoat—someone to lead the charge against the Roman Empire. But America wasn't the Roman Empire and someone else would have to step up and volunteer.

I really was never any more than what I was — a folk musician who gazed into the gray mist with tear-blinded eyes and made up songs that floated in a luminous haze. Now it had blown up in my face and was hanging over me. I wasn't a preacher performing miracles. It would have driven anybody mad."

Dylan's "Chronicles" will be in stores Oct. 5. Should be an interesting read.

---