Chronicles: Volume One

“I told him it was handed down songs. I hated these kind of questions. Felt I could ignore them.”

Here, Dylan reluctantly describes folk music to Columbia Record’s publicist. This definition of folk music as being handed down is key to understanding Dylan’s musical philosophy and the shaping of his artistic identity as Chronicles describes the numerous ways that music and knowledge were “handed down” to Dylan and informed his own songwriting. His reluctance to speak to the publicist and give detailed answers also introduces Dylan’s sense that he doesn’t have to conform to the public’s or the industry’s expectations and his refusal to sell himself or make his music more palatable.

“Most of the other performers tried to put themselves across, rather than the song, but I didn’t care about doing that. With me, it was about putting the song across.”

In this passage, Dylan describes how the music was always the most important thing for him. He wanted his audience to hear and appreciate the songs he played and cared little for his persona as a performer. Ironically, of course, this disdain for personal attention created a mystique of its own that powered Dylan’s public persona.

“The madly complicated modern world was something I took little interest in. It had no relevancy, no weight. I wasn’t seduced by it. What was swinging, topical and up to date for me was stuff like the Titanic sinking, the Galveston flood, John Henry driving steel, John Hardy shooting a man on the West Virginia line. All this was current, played out and in the open. This was the news that I considered, followed and kept tabs on.”

Dylan often describes himself as living in a kind of alternate reality, out of touch with the modern world. His life was consumed by folk music, art, literature, and history, making it even more ironic that his songs became rallying cries for the social movements of the day.