@stuartk I love that interview he gave with Ed Bradley in the mid-‘00s.
I’d always perceived Dylan to be guarded in interviews, and in that one he seemed so unguarded and forthright.
Bradley asked him, “Do you ever look at music that you’ve written and look back at it and say, “whoa, that surprised me”?”
Dylan said, “…I don’t know how I got to write those songs. Those early songs were like almost magically written…
’darkness at the break of noon / shadows even the silver spoon / the handmade blade, the child’s balloon / eclipses both the sun and moon / to understand, you know too soon / there is no sense in trying / pointed threats, they bluff with scorn / suicide remarks are torn / from the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn / plays wasted words, proves to warn / that he not busy being born is busy dying’…
…well…try to sit down and write something like that. There’s a magic to that. It’s not Siegfried & Roy kind of magic, you know? It’s a different kind of a penetrating magic. I did it at one time”
“Try to sit down and write something like that.”
What a great comment!
I love that.
That sums up whatever it is we’re talking about here, whether one calls it “mysticism,” “channeling,” “magic,” or whatever.