The following Bob Dylan quotes refer to the album Modern Times (2006):
"I'd make this record no matter what was going on in the world. I wrote these songs in not a meditative state at all, but more like in a trancelike, hypnotic state. This is how I feel? Why do I feel like that? And who's the me that feels this way? I couldn't tell you that, either. But I know that those songs are just in my genes and I couldn't stop them comin' out."
"There's no nostalgia on this record. Pining for the past doesn't interest me."
"[When the Deal Goes Down] demands all your attention. There's no song you're listening to that's influencing it. The song you wrote before is irrelevant. All you can do is hang on and hope you do it justice."
"[Nettie Moore] troubled me the most, because I wasn't sure I was getting it right. Finally, I could see what the song is about. This is coherent, not just a bunch of random verses. I knew I wanted to record this. I was pretty hyped up on the melodic line."
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While searching for this very photo, I came across a site that has collectively (it seems) annotated the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Modern Times (2006)," track by track. These annotations remind me somewhat of those for classical authors I've read such as Vergil.
While I am very (okay, extremely) taken by this album, I realize that Bob Dylan is not everybody's cup of tea. And that is normal, de gustibus non est disputandum.
Usually it’s the dislike of his voice. I have tried defending it in vain. I’ll claim that it sounds just as world-weary as his lyrics. But then I see the eyes roll.
Anyhow, I thought you might be interested in some of his own words (which I’ve posted) and the annotations to be found at this dylanologist’s delight webpage from which they're taken:
http://bobdylan.republika.pl/mt/
Goodness gracious, I’ve really got to hand it to some of these Dylan fans out there! In the words of Christopher Ricks, who once said "Shakespeare is Dylanesque," I too am excited just to be alive at the same time as an artist such as Dylan.
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