Q: Have you ever put something in a song that was too personal? Ever had it come out and then said, Hmm, gave away too much of myself there? DYLAN: I came pretty close with that song Idiot Wind. That was a song I wanted to make as a painting. A lot of people thought that song, that album Blood on the Tracks, pertained to me. Because it seemed to at the time. It didnt pertain to me. It was just a concept of putting in images that defy time - yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I wanted to make them all connect in some kind of a strange way. Ive read that that album had to do with my divorce. Well, I didnt get divorced till four years after that. I thought I might have gone a little bit too far with Idiot Wind. I might have changed some of it. I didnt really think I was giving away too much; I thought that it *seemed* so personal that people would think it was about so-and-so who was close to me. It wasnt. But you can put all these words together and thats where it falls. You cant help where it falls. I didnt feel that one was too personal, but I felt it *seemed* too personal. Which might be the same thing, I dont know. But it never was *painful*. Cause usually with those kinds of things, if you think youre too close to something, youre giving away too much of your feelings, well, your feelings are going to change a month later and youre going to look back and say, What did I do that for? Q: But for all the power of Idiot Wind, theres part of it that always cracked me up. You talk about being accused of shooting a man, running off with his wife, she inherits a million bucks, she dies, and the money goes to you. Then you say, I cant help it if Im lucky. (Laughter.) DYLAN: Yeah, right. With that particular set-up in the front I thought I could say *anything* after that. If it did seem personal I probably made it overly so - because I said too much in the front and still made it come out like, Well, so what? I didnt really think it was too personal. Ive never really said anything where I thought I was giving away too much. I mean, I give it all away, but Im not really giving away any secrets. I dont have that many secrets. I dont find myself in that position. Q: Now, you *had* temporarily split with your wife before Blood on the Tracks. That album must be at least somewhat about that. DYLAN: Yeah. Somewhat about that. But Im not going to make an album and lean on a marriage relationship. Theres no way I would do that, any more than I would write an album about some lawyers battles that I had. There are certain subjects that dont interest me to exploit. And I wouldnt really exploit a relationship with somebody... If youre going through some relationship and its not working out well and thats the way you feel, no matter what else you see or what else you do you keep getting back to that: Oh, I feel lousy. So you try to take it out and write a song about it. A lot of people cant do that. They have nobody to sing it to. So a person in my position says, Well, I got this available information, this is the way I really feel; I think Ill write it and say how I feel. I dont do that. I dont like feeling those kinds of feelings. Ive got to think I can do better than that. Its not going to positively help anybody to hear about my sadness. Just another hard luck story. [Bill Flanagan interview 1985]
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:00:33 +0000
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