This last Bob Dylan’s interview in Rolling Stone is hilarious! The famous songwriter is losing his temper, calling critics, ‘wussies and pussies’ when answering the accusations that he plagiarized some of his lyrics.
But it is too good to pass, so this is exactly what he said:
‘Oh, yeah, in folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition. That certainly is true. It's true for everybody, but me. There are different rules for me. And as far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him? Who's been reading him lately? And who's pushed him to the forefront? Who's been making you read him? And ask his descendants what they think of the hoopla. And if you think it's so easy to quote him and it can help your work, do it yourself and see how far you can get. Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff. It's an old thing – it's part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you've been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.’
‘I'm working within my art form. It's that simple. I work within the rules and limitations of it. There are authoritarian figures that can explain that kind of art form better to you than I can. It's called songwriting. It has to do with melody and rhythm, and then after that, anything goes. You make everything yours. We all do it.’
Ha! Go Dylan! Critics have accused him to have stolen quotations from the works of authors such as Japanese author Junichi Saga, and Civil War poet Henry Timrod, for his 2001 album ‘Love and Theft’, and his 2006 album ‘Modern Times’.
He has a point, of course, people do it all the time, rap and hip hop artists sample all the time (and get sued sometimes!), and Dylan thinks there are different rules for him!
The more I think about it, the more ambiguous this situation becomes. First, aren’t we told over and over at school that plagiarism is the worst thing in the world? You can sure be disqualified from an exam for this crime… then artists are entitled to steal all the time, then the most acclaimed songwriter of our generation is a thief…. Where is the logic in all this? What is the rule?
Artistic creation can’t certainly be possible without borrowing and stealing, but Dylan can be such a hypocrite sometimes, if stealing is OK, why did he sue Hootie and the Blowfish for using his lyrics from his songs ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ and ‘Idiot Wind’ in 1995? Why did he sue Apple 18 years ago for their use of the name Dylan for a software?… and remember about these Dylan’s paintings which were really really close from some original photographs? I still don't know what rules apply to Mr. Zimmerman… He doesn’t care, he is an artist and a thief, and he is Dylan.