There's enough songs for people to listen to, if they want to listen to songs. For every man, woman and child on earth, they could be sent, probaby, each of them, a hundred records, and never be repeated. There's enough songs. Unless someone's gonna come along with a pure heart and has something to say. That's a different story.
Bob DylanWatch waterfalls of pity roar, you feel to moan but unlike before, you discover that you'd just be one more person crying.
Bob DylanCome writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin' For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'.
Bob DylanA lot of people say there is no happiness in this life and certainly there's no permanent happiness. But self-sufficiency creates happiness.
Bob DylanNo reason to get excited,' the thief, he kindly spoke, There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
Bob DylanI'm not going to read any of these magazines. I mean, because they've just got too much to lose by printing the truth. You know that.
Bob DylanRod's a great singer. He's got a great voice, but there's no point to put a 30-piece orchestra behind him. I'm not going to knock anybody's right to make a living but you can always tell if somebody's heart and soul is into something, and I didn't think Rod was into it in that way.
Bob DylanI've been up the mountain and I had a choice. Should I come down? So I came down. God said, Okay, you've been up on the mountain, now you go down. You're on your own, free. Check in later, but now you're on your own.
Bob DylanWell the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers.
Bob DylanYou're gonna have to serve somebody; well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Bob DylanI was sick of the way my lyrics had been extrapolated, their meanings subverted into polemics and that I had been anointed as the Big Bubba of Rebellion, High Priest of Protest, the Duke of Disobedience, Leader of the Freeloaders, Kaiser of Apostasy, Archbishop of Anarchy, the Big Cheese. Horrible titles any way you want to look at it. All code words for Outlaw.
Bob DylanPeople's lives are filled with vice and the trappings of it. Ambition, greed and selfishness all have to do with vice. Sooner or later, you have to see through it or you don't survive.
Bob DylanThe corporations have taken over. Even in the recording studio. Actually, the corporate companies have taken over American life most everywhere. Go coast to coast and you will see people wearing the same clothes, thinking the same thoughts, eating the same food. Everything is processed.
Bob DylanHere's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else.
Bob DylanThe only sound that's left after the ambulances go is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row.
Bob DylanFreedom just around the corner for you, but with the truth so far off, what good will it do?
Bob DylanI am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay.
Bob DylanI have tried my hand at bribery, blackmail, and deceit. And I've served time for everything, cept beggin on the street.
Bob DylanYou want to know about creativity? Just go out and buy that book Imagine by Jonah Lehrer. It's only $29.00 in hardcover.
Bob DylanNight can swallow you up, yet none of it touches you. Around any corner, there's a promise of something daring and ideal and things are just getting going. There's something obscenely joyful behind every door, either that or somebody crying with their head in in their hands. A lazy rhythm looms in the dreamy air and the atmosphere pulsates with bygone duels, past-life romance, comrades requesting comrades to aid them in some way. You can't see it, but you know it's there
Bob DylanThe land created me. I'm wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I'm more at home in the vacant lots.
Bob DylanHow does it feel, how does it feel to be without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone.
Bob DylanRecording studios are filled with technology. They are set in their ways. And to update them means you'd have to change them back. That would be my idea of upgrading. And this will never happen. As far as I know, recording studios are booked all the time. So obviously people like all the improvements. The more technically advanced they are, the more in demand they become.
Bob DylanI'm used to writing songs and songs-I can fill em up with symbolism and metaphors. When you write a book (Chronicles, Vol. 1), you gotta tell the truth, and it can't be misinterpreted.
Bob DylanOne night around that time, at Hammersmith, Bob Dylan was about to go into [his 1963 classic] 'Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.He said, 'Hey, Bucky! Play mandolin on this.' I am not really a mandolin player; I could only play in certain keys. Halfway through, he stops the band, turns to the audience and points to me. He says: 'He isn't playing, he's miming.' And then: 'Should I fire him?' The whole audience yells.
Bob Dylan..When I first heard Elvis' voice, I knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody ... hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail
Bob Dylan