Music made by legendary songwriter Bob Dylan was a “matter of survival” for the songwriter.
Where fans and peers may wonder why and how Dylan creates so much work, the veteran of the stage would share exactly why he continued to work in an interview given to Rolling Stone Magazine. The Mr. Tambourine Man hitmaker would share his reason for entering into music as a career, and why he stuck around so long. Dylan’s work on and off stage would remain relatively consistent from 1961 onwards, with a few brief breaks across the decades. While Dylan says he would never “push or encourage” anyone into the industry, he suggests his need to make music was more about survival than pursuing the accolades and financial rewards of so many hits. The Grammy Awards winner says he had no interest in the business side of music.
He told Rolling Stone Magazine: “I would never push ‘em or encourage ‘em to. I mean, I never went into it as a business. I went into it as a matter of survival. So I wouldn’t tell anybody to go into it as a business. It’s a pretty cutthroat business, from what I’ve seen.”
Another reason Dylan started writing is that nobody was releasing songs about what he wanted to say. The songwriter would share the reason behind his writings, be it protest folk or religiously inclined material, was simply a chance for him to share his voice and thoughts.
He said in 1963: “I wanted just a song to sing, and there came a point where I couldn’t sing anything. I had to write what I wanted to sing because what I wanted to sing, nobody else was writing.”
You can see part of Dylan’s frustration at having to write the words to his own feelings in a letter shared with Suze Rotolo. In it, he says life gets “very complicated” for him and that he feels like he is “livin’ in a contradiction.” We are better off for having Dylan’s songs, but the legendary performer seemed to struggle with his role.
He wrote: “but other times the back of my mind tells me / it is not honest… for I am just fulfillin / a myth t somebody who’d actually treasure my / handwritin more’n his own handwritin… / this gets very complicated for me / an proves t me that I am livin in a contradiction…”
Dylan would later share he felt as though he was “doin’ nothin’” with his career despite the success of his record sales. He would add: “it makes me think that I’m doin nothin / it makes me think that I’m not being heard / yes above all the mumble jumble an rave praises / an all the records I’ve sold… thru all the packed / houses I play… thru all the communication systems / an rants an bellows an yellin an clappin comes.”
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