by BOB DYLAN ( Robert Allen Zimmerman )
kränək(ə)l
"John Hammond, who had brought me to the Columbia Records, had taken me over to see Lou Levy, asked him to look after me. but he had a premonition that there would be more." Page 4
"It was years before the Beatles, the Who or the Rolling Stones would breathe new life and excitement into it." page 6
"In American history class, we were taught that commies couldn't destroy American with guns or bombs alone, that they would have to destroy the Constitution -the document that this country was founded upon." page 30
“It was said that world war two spelled the end of Age of Enlightenment, but I wouldn't have known it. I was stillin in it. Somehow, I could still remember and feel the right of something about it.I'd read that stuff. Voltaire, Rousseau, John Locke, Montesquieu, Martin Luther-visionaries, revolutionaries... It was like I know those guys, like they'd been living in my backyard.” Page 30
"If you told the truth, that was all well and good and if you told the un-truth, well, that's still well, and good. Folk songs had taught me that." page35
“Some early archaic period where society grows and develops and thrives, then some classical period where the society reaches its maturation point and then a slacking off period where decadence makes things fall apart. I had no idea which one of these Stages Americawes in.” page 36
" ...Those were my favorites[book], but that was before I discovered the folksingers. The folksingers could sing songs like an entire book, but only in a few verses. It's hard to describe what makes a character or an event folk song worthy. It probably has something to do with a character being fair and honest and open. Bravery in an abstract way." page39
“what was the future? The future was a solid wall, not promising, not threatening - all bunk. No guarantees of anything, not even the guarantee that life isn't one big Joke.” Page 49
" I can't say when it occurred to me to write my own songs...I was singing to define the way I felt about the world.
…I guess it happens to you by degrees." page 51
"Protest songs are difficult to write without making them come off as preachy and one- dimensional. You have to show people inside of themselves that they don't know is there." page 54
"...Folk songs are eva-the truth about life, and life is more or less a lie, but hen again that's exactly the way we want it to be. We wouldn't be comfortable with it any other way. A folk song as over a thousand faces and you must meet them all if you want to play this stuff. A folk son song might vary in meaning d it might not appear the same from one moment to the xt. It depends on who's playing and who's listening." page 71
" Chloe knew that I was trying to get places." Maybe someday your name will get around the country like wildfire," She'd say." Page 103
“The future was nothing to worry about. It was awfully close.” Page 104
“Being born and raised in America, the country of freedom and independence, I had always cherished the values and ideas of equality and liberty. I was determined to raise my children with those ideas.” page 115
"Musicians have always know that my songs were about more than just words but most people annave not musicians." page 119
" The first thing that has to go is any form of artistic self-expression that's dear to you. Art is unimportant next to life, and you have no choice. I had no hunger for it anymore, anyway." page 121
"Even the russian newspaper pravda had called me a money hungry capitalist." page 133
"I'm in the bottomless pit of cultural oblivion. You name it. I can't shake it. Stepping out of the woods, people see me coming. I knew what they were thinking. I have to take things for what they were worth." Page 148
for example, ... "The entire song came to me all at once; I don't know what could have brought it on.Maybe seeing the homeless guy, the dog, the cops, ..." page 167
“I started and completed the song "Dignity" the same day. I'd heard the sad news about pistol petty. (Peter Press Maravich, nicknamed "Pistol Pete").page 169
“In New orleans you could almost See other dimensions.” Page 181
"New orleans had the best radio stations in the world." page 188
"Human dynamics plays too big a part, and getting what you want isn't always the most important thing in life anyway." page 218
"folk music was all I needed to exist." page 236
“Pankake was right. Elliott ( Ramblin’ Jack Elliott) was far beyond me.” page 251
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott ( Pankake said sometimes earlier, like Jack being the king of the folksingers... page 252)
“The "Queen of the folksingers, " that would have to be Joan Baez.” page 254
“It was a strange world ahead that would unfold, a thunderhead of the world with jagging lightning adges. Many got it wrong and never did get it right. I went straight into it. It was wide open. One thing for sure, not only was it not run by God, but it wasn't run by the devil either.” page 293
