For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale

Rock legend Bob Dylan is seen at the White House in Washington, where President Barack Obama was to present Dylan with a Medal of Freedom. (Charles Dharapak / AP Photo / May 29, 2012)

Rock legend Bob Dylan is seen at the White House in Washington, where President Barack Obama was to present Dylan with a Medal of Freedom. (Charles Dharapak / AP Photo / May 29, 2012)

Robert Zimmerman was born in Duluth, Minnesota 71 years ago today. He became Bob Dylan several years after that. The above is an image of Duluth in 1905 (via Shorpy - Duluth, Minnesota, circa 1905. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.)

Robert Zimmerman was born in Duluth, Minnesota 71 years ago today. He became Bob Dylan several years after that. The above is an image of Duluth in 1905 (via Shorpy - Duluth, Minnesota, circa 1905. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.)

‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’ changed my life. When I heard that, I thought, ‘If Bob can do it, I can do it’ … It’s twenty (sic) minutes long … It’s a whole album side! And it in no way gets dull or boring … it becomes more and more hypnotic. — Roger Waters, on The Howard Stern Show

The Playboy Interview, 1966

  • PLAYBOY: Some people might feel that you're trying to cop out of fighting for the things you believe in.
  • DYLAN: Those would be people who think I have some sort of responsibility toward them. They probably want me to help them make friends. I don't know. They probably either want to set me in their house and have me come out every hour and tell them what time it is, or else they just want to stick me in between the mattress. How could they possibly understand what I believe in?
  • PLAYBOY: Well, what do you believe in?
  • DYLAN: I already told you.
Bob Dylan and Françoise Hardy, May 1966 © Barry Feinstein

Bob Dylan and Françoise Hardy, May 1966 © Barry Feinstein

I have gone from rags to riches…
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
… in the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face

***
I am hanging in the balance of a perfect, finished plan
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

Copyright © 1981

Tomorrow’s gonna be another day. I guess it’s too late to say the things to you that you needed to hear me say.

I seen a shooting star tonight slip away.

Copyright © 1989

Our Sunday Gospel

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’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