Bob Dylan opens up about his own creativity and how he writes songs
Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan seldom speaks and can go years without saying a word in public. Thankfully, Dylan has now broken his silence, and among the topics discussed is creativity.
Dylan has given a rare insight into his mind to Wall Street Journal for a wide-ranging discussion, including his thoughts on streaming, his favourite television shows, and how he approaches the art of songwriting. In his perspective, music today is more disposable than ever, and most songs won’t “go on to become standards”.
The musician wrote: “Creativity is: a funny thing. When we’re inventing something, we’re more vulnerable than we’ll ever be. Eating and sleeping mean nothing. We’re in ‘Splendid Isolation,’ like in the Warren Zevon song; the world of self, Georgia O’Keeffe alone in the desert. To be creative you’ve got to be unsociable and tight-assed. Not necessarily violent and ugly, just unfriendly and distracted. You’re self-sufficient and you stay focused.”
Dylan continued: “Very few songs of today will: go on to become standards. Who is going to write standards today? A rap artist? A hip-hop or rock star? A raver, a sampling expert, a pop singer? That’s music for the establishment. It’s easy listening. It just parodies real life, goes through the motions, puts on an act. A standard is on another level. It’s a role model for other songs, one in a thousand.”
Fascinatingly, Dylan also discussed his own songwriting methods and his flexible approach to creativity. He added: “I write songs when: the mood strikes me, not with a set routine. My method is transportable. I can write songs anywhere at any time, although some of them are completed and redefined at recording sessions, some even at live shows.”
Dylan recently released a book full of his musings on the world of music in The Philosophy Of Modern Song. The book has been released through Schuster & Schuster and finds him analysing 66 songs which have been crucial in the development of the format of a song into what it’s become today.
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