Bob Dylan San Francisco Press Conference 1965

what also happens to be a singer I figure you all know so everybody will try to ask questions about what one supposed to be talking to this microphone welcome to the first KQED poets conference press conference the Dylan is a poet he will answer questions about everything from atomic science to let riddles and rhymes go first come on like to know about the cover of your forthcoming album the songs of praise music blues in it know about the meaning of the photograph you in the wearing trial teacher boys you know about it well Elektra note that that's an equivalent photograph it means something it's got a philosophy in it visually what it represents to you because you're a part of that um I hadn't really looked at it that much I've thought about it a great deal alright it was just taking one day when I was sitting on the steps you know I don't I don't mean I remember I'm afraid too much about it but what about the motorcycle is an image in your in your songwriting you seem to like that oh we all like motorcycles to some degree I do these give yourself primarily as a singer or a I think myself as a song-and-dance man you know song and dance man I think we have enough time to really you're holding news is saying that when you're really wasted you may enter into another field how wasted is really wasted and do you foresee it no I don't first see it but it's more or less like a ruthless type of feeling oh very ruthless and intoxicated to some degree the criticisms you receive for more or less leaving both using your home brach hasn't seemed to bother you very much do you think you'll stick with folk rock or are you going on into more writing I don't play folk rock how would you call your music I'll call it I think of it more in terms of vision music it's a mathematical music would you say that the words were more important than the music the words are just as important as the music there'd be no music without the words which you do phrase ordinarily oh the words you think there will ever be a time when you will paint or sculpt oh yes ah oh sure Bob you said when you you always do your words first and you think of it it's music when you do the words can you hear it can you sort of hear what's music you want to do you oh yes yeah do you hear any music before you have worry do you have any songs that you don't have sometimes on very gentle instruments not on the guitar though maybe something like the harpsichord or the harmonica or autoharp I might hear some kind of melody tune which I would I would know the words to put to you say that yes nuts not with the guitar though the guitar is too hard an instrument I don't hear to hear many melodies based on the guitar do you sit down just to write a song from just gliding on inspiration I'm more or less writing on a lot of things what poets do you dick Oh Oh Rambow yes WC Fields the the family you know the trapeze family in the circus Smokey Robinson Allen Ginsberg Charlie Rich good poet a lot of your songs are part of a lot of people like dogs and like a rolling stone you're pretty hard on the girl and it positively Foster's you're pretty hard on the supposed friend are you hard on them because you want to Tormentum or because you want to change their lives and they can no nor needle them you still sing your older songs no I just saw a song book last night I don't really see too many of those things but a lot of songs and those books I haven't even recorded hmm I've just written down you know put new tunes too and they've published and I haven't sung them a lot of the songs I just don't need to know anymore even the ones that did sing this doesn't seem to be enough time you know did you change your program when you went to anyone no no I finished it there that was the end of my like my older program I didn't change it it was developed number the time we got there was it was more or less I knew what was gonna happen all the time you know how many encores it was you know um which songs are gonna clap run loudest all those kind of things on a concert to it like this do you do the same program night after night Oh sometimes it's different I think we'll do the same one here in this area though did you in England do any of the songs like subterranean no I didn't work with the band there will you be working with man oh yeah thank you very much na our recent broadside interview Phil Ochs said you should do films do you have any plans to do this no I don't I do have plans to make film but not because anybody said I should do them how soon will it be next year problem can you tell us what it'll be about it'll be just another song you dig flex with your with other people making films that you dig particular to fo I can really can't think of any more people but Italian movie directors you know but not not too many people enable in the United States which I think you can really think that I would dig you develop as an exit line I did that's Muslim accident hey stay away from that kind of thing that's pretty let's thank you very much how's that taking the idea to pull right hmm good god I must leave right away what do you think of people that analyze your songs do they usually end up with the same I welcome them with open arms lyrics do all all the songs in the layout on the last album on how to symposium discussing them do you welcome that oh sure I'm just kind of said I'm not around to be a part of it but it wasn't very well if you had better Josh Johnson book freedom in the air implies that you have sold out to commercial interests and the topical song movement yummy comments here well no comments no arguments no silly don't feel guilty Bob um ladies garments Bob have you worked with any rock-and-roll groups uh professionally or just sitting in or on concert tours with him we're sitting with other sessions no I don't usually play too much do you listen other people's recordings of your songs sometimes a few of them have heard I don't really make it I only come across it that much so that is strange experience no it's like more or less like a heavenly kind of thing what do you think about Joan Baez his interpretations of your earlier songs ah you mean the one she I haven't heard her latest album one before that I heard one as she doesn't alright I think colors what do I think of Donovan colors do you think he's a good poet of love balance yeah he's a nice guy though I'm shattered huh I'm shattered glad you asked oh yeah there's a the Sir Douglas quintet I think I've probably the best in that are going to have a chance of reaching commercial airwaves they already have a couple songs what about there is if good mr. Dylan you call yourself a completely disconnected no I didn't call myself that it's uh they should've drove those words in my mouth I saw that paper how will you describe yourself what is it that you have you analyze why you I certainly haven't know mr. Dillard I know you dislike labels and probably rightly so but for those those of us who are well over 30 could you label yourself and perhaps so tell us what your role is well sort of label myself as well under 30 my role is to you know you know to just stay here as long as I can recent broadside having to do with the fact that people just feels that it becomes increasingly dangerous period you can't hear no Phil Ochs wrote something in a recent broadside magazine to the effect that you have that you have twisted so many people's wigs that he feels that it becomes increasingly dangerous for you to perform in public before an audience well that's what it goes I don't can't apologize did you envision the time when you would give five concerts in one area like this was in 10 days no this is all very new to me if you were drastical at present do you have any feelings of what your actions might be no I probably follow just do it had to be done well I don't know I never really speak in terms of wadiya you know so I don't know considered by many people to be symbolic of this protest movement in the country for the young people are you going to participate in the Vietnam Day committee demonstration in front of the Paramount hotel tonight I'll be busy tonight you're planning any demonstrations well we thought one thought of why I know if it could be organized in time well it was a demonstration where make up the cards you know they have have a group of protesters here perhaps carrying cards with pictures of Jack of Diamonds is on them an ace of spades on them pictures of mules maybe words and oh maybe about twenty-five thirty thousand of these things printed up and just pick it here signs and a ticket what we're in front of the post office word Oh words camera microphone loose just just words name is of some famous people huh I'm sorry oh do you consider yourself a politician do I consider myself a politician well I guess so I have my own party though no there's no presidents in the party there's no presidents or vice presidents and secretaries or anything like that so it makes it kind of hard to get in cuz it runny will right-wing or left-wing gonna party no it's more or less in the center kind of on the up P scale I don't know I don't know if they have any people over there that it would be in the same kind of party you know so it might be kind of hard to infiltrate I don't think my party would ever be approved by the White House or anything like that anyone else no spark no most of us don't even know each other you know it's hard to tell who's in it was not in it you're recognizing what you're saying right off oh you can recognize how they're still tickets available for your constituents there I don't know I would imagine so stay for some this I don't know you think before do you know I could answer that you know but it would mean something different probably for everybody so we want to keep working I don't know what things are we talking about you said I don't think things can turn out I've accepted it yeah no no no no it's that I don't think things can turn out don't say anything you plan if it turns out the way your planet that's all no doesn't mean anything I don't know I've never done it either what a song called if you've been on my life yeah I'm good reporter make it comfortable no I haven't no him are the concerts fun still yeah concerts are much more fun than they used to be you consider them more important than your albums present no it's just a kick to do it now the album's are the most important because they reach more people no because it's all concise very concise and it's easy to hear the words and everything there's no chance of the sound interfering whereas in the contest we played some concerts where sometimes they have very bad very bad halls you know microphone systems so it's not that easy for somebody to come and just listen to a band as if they were listening to one person you know when you make all those lyrics of songs available on a book sometimes oh they are yeah yeah you say you no longer sing your older songs do you consider them less valid than the ones you're putting out now no I just consider them something else selves you know for you know at another time another dimension it would be kind of dishonest for me to sing him now because I wouldn't really feel like singing them what what is the strangest thing that ever happened to you haha you're gonna get it but what is the weirdest I guess friend I'll talk to you about later I wouldn't do that to you what areas and music that you haven't gotten into do you hope to get into writing symphony with different melodies and different words different different ideas all being the same which just roll on top of each other underneath each other mr. Dylan when will you know that it's time to get out of the music field into another field when I get very dragged when you stop making money no in my teeth my teeth get better or God we just when something makes a drastic when I start to itch you know when something just goes to a terrifying turn I know it's got nothing to do with anything it's time to leave yes I'm not sure well songs which are all written know as a part of a symphony different different melodies different changes with words or without them you know but at the end result being a total I mean they say that my songs are long now you know well sometimes it's just gonna bounce come up with it one it's gonna be you know one whole album consisting of one song and I was going to buy it that might be the time to leave I don't know I don't really check those things I just turned out long I guess I've recorded one about eleven twelve minutes long Hollis Brown is pretty long on my second record and he's got on your side was kind of long but but none of them uh I don't think there's words as much in into anything as a desolation role was and that was long - song shouldn't seem long you know it just so happens that it looks that way on paper that's all the length of it doesn't really have anything to do with it no they're just they're just ready to do anything that I put down now so they don't care but what happens if they have to kind of song and pass like subterranean homesick blues Jason didn't he have to cut that in half but they didn't have to but they did know they didn't know they took like a rolling stone oh yeah oh they cut it in half for the disc jockeys well you see that song it didn't matter for the disc jockeys if they had it cut in half because the other side was just a continuation on the other side and if anybody was interested they could just turn it over and listen to what really happens you know but we just made a song the other day which came out ten minutes long and I thought of it releasing as a single but that was just they would have easily released it and cut it up but it wouldn't work that way so we did we're not gonna turn it out as a single it's called freeze out you'll hear it on the next album record your composition who do you feel does most justice to what you're trying to say I think man man man fruit man they've done they've done the sun's get done about three or four in each one of them has been right in context what the song was all about oh it's about just about all kinds of different things rats balloons they're about the only thing that come to my mind right now yes yes no I don't really do too many of them I wouldn't do it if I was oppressed too depressed there's nothing running wrong seems kind of silly I'm up here it's often time how would you define folk music how do they define how would you define folk music as a constitutional replay of mass production do you call your songs Pro to folk songs no our protest songs folk song I guess if their constitutional replay of mass production do you for free songs with a settler obvious message with the word a subtle or obvious message oh I don't really prefer those kind of songs at all a message you mean like what song with a message well like even destruction and things like that do I prefer that to what I don't know but your songs you're supposed to have a same message subtle message well they're supposed to Kuching is that in a movie magazine oh good we we don't discuss those things here are you songs ever about real people like you know occasional poetry sure they are they're all about real people particular one particular people sure I'm sure you've seen all the people in my seats at one time or another who's mr. job mr. Jones I'm not gonna tell his first name I get sued what does he do for a living he's a pin boy he also wears suspenders can you explain your attraction as a performer and a writer protection to what your popularity your massive popular oh no I really have no idea that's the truth I always tell the truth that is the truth what are your own and personal hopes for the future and what do you hope to change in the world oh my hopes for the future I be honest you know I don't have any hopes for the future and I just hope to have enough boots be able to change them that's all really it doesn't blow up down to anything more than that mixer dip it did I would certainly tell you what you think of a question-and-answer session of this type with you as Li principal well I think I think we all have we all have different thing I dropped an ash in myself well you'll see them right here I'm not gonna say anything about it so I lose the question what are you thinking about right now think about this - right before that huh - it's creeping up on me somewhere I lost lost touch it to myself so I can't tell where exactly is was that another's burden the evading of the question no I didn't I didn't what you feel about meetings of this kind a question and answer says oh no no all right so I just know in my own mind that we all have a different idea of all the words we're using you know so I don't really have too much really can't take it too seriously because we're even like if I say the word house like we're both going to see a different house I just say the word right so we're using all these other words like mass production and moving magazine we all have a different idea of these words - so I don't really know what we're saying here bobby's why do you borrow right no it's not pointless if you know if you want to do it you know near there yeah that's not pointless you know it doesn't hurt me any you just said is there anything in addition to your song that you want to say to people good luck good no you don't say that your son oh yes it is every song tails off with good luck I hope you make it y-yeah I couldn't hit the most what you who are you it's Cameron this play this person good what are you bother to write the poetry for if we all get different images and we don't know what you told that man doesn't else to do man I didn't hear that write a rhyme for orange just a rhyme for orange oh is it true that you were censored from singing on The Ed Sullivan Show because they would not say they wanted me what did they censor you from seeing what you wanted to on The Ed Sullivan Show this was a wild long time ago what did you want to sing I don't know it was some song which I wanted to sing and and they said I could sing it's more to it than just censorship there they actually said I could sing the song but when we went to the rehearsal of it they came guy came back afterwards and says that I said I have to change it and and he said catchy sing some folk song like like the Clancy Brothers and I didn't know any of their songs and so I couldn't be on the program let's let it came down to have you found that the text of the interviews with you which have been published are accurate to the actual conversation no no that's that's another reason for that I don't really get press interviews or anything because you know I'm even if you could do something there are a lot of people here so they know what's going on but like if you just do it with one guy or a few guys I just take it all out of context you know it is take it split it up in the middle or just take what they want to use and they even you ask you a question and you answer it and then it comes out in print that they just substitute another question for your answer that makes you just sound like the way it's not really truthful you know to do that kind of thing so I just don't do it that's just a press problem there was the entire text of your news conference today should be printed in the phone no no nothing like that nothing like that but this is just for the interviews you know when they do want interviews in places like Omaha and Cincinnati man you go I don't I don't do it no they write bad things listen is partly because you're often inaudible like for most of this dialogue or monologue you have been inaudible and now when you've touched personally by the misquotation your voice rises oh yeah here you yeah well I just realized that maybe the people in the back there can't hear me that's I'm just going to ask you whether you're you know in your songs you sing out yes I do and whether in your vol the songs and what I do it you see that the songs though are is what I do yeah it is write the songs and sing them and perform them that's what I do the performing part of it could end but like I'm gonna be writing these songs and singing them records for I see no end right now that's what I do anything else has interferes with it I mean anything else trying to get top of it making something out of it which it isn't it just brings me down and and it's not it's not take it just makes it seem all very cheap well it made me feel like you were almost doing a kind of penance of silence here no no the first level of those kind of people don't keep silent no no silence it's always silent where I am mr. Dylan when you're on a concert tour how many people travel in your party you travel alone or do you have a trouble with about 12 people oh I do the number of people seem to go with him how much you're making uh uh I didn't hear the a member of people seem to increase is you make more money there's no yes of course is that known as Dylan why do you need so many people when you travel well we have the bear we have we have five in the group and we need other things we have to it's a lot of electronic equipment now a lot of different things which have to be taken care of so we need a lot of people we have three road managers and things like that we don't make any big public presentations though like we never come into town and the limousines anything like that we just go from place to place you know do the shows that's all you fly in your own plane Java projects what oh yeah I guess so certain type of food if you want to call it that fine do you find that you're perhaps more creative in a certain time of the day yes yes I feel wet boys like a Knight Rider and I won't say night has anything to do with it have you ever song in the middle no well we I think man messed around London them no I don't see anything serious huh it's not that kind of music yeah well what can I say you must know more about the music then than I do how long have you been playing it do you find it when you're writing you know what yes yes you find that what is writing that you sort of free-associate know it's all very clear and simple to me these songs are complicated me at all I know all about there's nothing hard to figure out for me I wouldn't write anything I can't really see I I don't mean it that way admit that when you're creating a song are you doing it more or less a sort of a subliminal level level where you're letting your mind just flow no more you're like that we're very conscious of each step each word no no that's the difference in the songs I'm right now right now in the past year or so the last year and a half me too I don't know but the songs before up till one of those records and I wrote the fourth record in Greece I was under a change there but the records before that I used to know that I wanted to say before you can write the song and see all the stuff which I had written before which wasn't song which is on piece of toilet paper when it comes out like that that's kind of stuff I never would sing because there people would you know I know people just would not be ready for it but I just went through that other thing of writing songs so and I couldn't write like it anymore it was just too easy and it wasn't really right I would start out I would know what I wanted to say before I wrote the song and I would say it you know I never really would come out exactly what way the way I thought it would but it came out you know touched it you know but now I just write a song you know like no it's just gonna be alright you know and I really know exactly what it's all about but I do know the minute and the layers of what it's all about what do you think about your song uh it's all right mine only bleeding that must be my favorite boss god bless you son yeah no I haven't heard it for a long time I couldn't sing it for you probably it's usually not too long time really I might write all night and get one song out of a lot of different things I write how many have I written I guess well there's one publisher that's got about a hundred I've written about fifty others I guess I got about 150 songs I've written well no just you know some of the scraps haven't been published but I find I can't really sing that anyway because I forget it you know so the songs I don't publish I usually do forget taking these scraps as you call them and middle I forgot your scraps I have to start over all the time I can't really keep notes or anything like you can't go back to any earlier saying so make let me use them in there no that would be yeah if it happened zero that was a very are you the same cat time sitting over there on your songs do you get any help from the rest of your you know your entourage what do you get any help me about the group that you play with a few records Robbie and lead guitar player sometimes we play any guitars together something might come up but I know it's going to be right we just sitting around playing so I can write up some words I don't get any ideas though to any kind of any kind of ideas of what I want you know what's really going to happen here I don't know I'm not a reporter my philosophy I did I would think other people would know but I don't think I know you know when you get too many people talking about the same thing it tends to clutter up things so I just everybody asks me that I realize it must be talking about it so I don't I would rather stay out of it and make it easy for them and when they get the answer I hope they tell me has there been any more bullying when you played electric others doing we can't tell where the booing is gonna come up can't tell it all comes up comes up in the weirdest strangest places and then when it comes up it's quite a thing itself I'm very special summation row I figure there's a little boo no but where is Desolation Row I didn't hear you where is Desolation Row where yeah oh that's some place in Mexico so across the border it's it's noted for its Coke Factory coca-cola machines or sells sell a lot of controlled owner we're highway highway 61 is it exists that's a vanilla country runs down to the South goes up north mr. Dylan you seem very reluctant to talk about the fact that you're a popular entertainer and you're a most popular addict or do you want me to say well I don't understand why you what do you want me to say it wouldn't really say about it well you seemed almost embarrassed to admit that you're to talk about well I'm not interested in you what do you want exactly need to say everybody jump up and say hallelujah crash the cameras would be something tell me I'll I'll go along as if I can't go on you'll find somebody to go along with you no but I find it you really have no idea as to why you are no thoughts on why you're popular that's what enters me on I just haven't haven't really struggled for that i I don't it happened you know it happened like anything else happens just a happening yeah Edmunds you dig happening so I'm not table you feel that part of the popularity is because of an identification of your audience with you or with what you're saying or what you've been writing about I have no idea I don't really come to much in contact we make life Morgan no it certainly doesn't were you surprised the first time the booze came yeah they were at that's at Newport well I would I did this very crazy thing so you know I mean I didn't really know what was going to happen but they certainly booth I'll tell you that could hear it all over the place I don't know who they were though and I'm certainly they make the where it was did it you know loud twice as long as they normally would they kind of quieted down somewhat Forest Hills although they they did it there too they've done it just about all over accepted Texas and they didn't boo us in Texas or in uh in Atlanta or in Boston and it or in Ohio they've done it just about or in Minneapolis or them do it there but they've done it a lot of other places I mean they must be pretty rich to be able to go someplace in boot although I couldn't afford if I was in their shoes other than the booing if the audience has changed I mean you get screaming to get people rushing to the stage sometimes you get people rushing in the stage but you just you know turn them off very fast chicken in the head or something they get back to what you said a minute ago about not really being concerned not really knowing why you are in this of this popularity that's in direct opposition to what most people who reach this level of popularity say and I well basically a lot of people a lot of people start out and they trying to try to be the stars I would imagine like however they have to be stars I mean I know a lot of those people you know and they start out and they go into show business for many many reasons to be seen you know I started out you know I got this was had nothing to do with it when I started I started from New York City you know and there just wasn't any of that around it just happened you know so don't listen to me I agree with your right not to have to care my my point is that it would be somehow somewhat disappointing to the many people who think that you feel towards them the way they feel towards you and that's the reason for your popularity that's what they think well I don't wanna disappoint anybody you mean tell me what I should say yeah good yeah all right you know I'll certainly go along with anything right okay it's uh I really don't have much of an idea you have a post yes his poster somebody gave to me look I didn't Jefferson Airplane John handy quintet and Sam Thomas and mr. e trend and the Great Society are all playing flat at Fillmore auditorium Friday December 10th and I would like to go if I could but unfortunately I won't be here I don't think but I was here I should certainly be there you tore this out yeah what more important to you the way that your music and words sound or the content a message of the work the the whole thing while it's happening the whole total sound of the words what's really going down is it either is it either happens or it doesn't happen you know that's what I feel is just just the thing which is happening there at that time that's that's the that's what what's that what's what we do you know that is the most important thing there really isn't anything else I don't know if I'll answer your question well you mean it might happen one time and might not have time to same time it's you know but while we always take good cuts for the record the records are always made on good cuts and in person that just most the time it does come across most time we do feel like you know playing that's important to me the aftermath or whatever happens before and after is not really important to me this is the time runs on the stage and the pennant acts that were singing the songs and performing them we're not really performing them even just letting them be there Bob we promise to spring you what a certain feeling such as now it's not two o'clock okay thank you very much I like the incidentally the suggestion Miriam caller explain how they all sell outs Marian or what is this like no not quite Bob Dylan's press conference was videotaped in the studio's of KQED San Francisco on Friday December 3rd 1965 the program was produced for KQED by the critic and jazz columnist Ralph J Gleason nobody asking for I was so together persuade Quinn you wanna changes for better ticket

Channel: Route TV

Views: 1,267,006

Rating: 4.885282 out of 5

Keywords: Bob Dylan, San Francisco Press Conference, 1965, JUDAS!, Interview, In Full, Allen Ginsberg, George Lucas, Funny

Id: wPIS257tvoA

Length: 51min 4sec (3064 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 20 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/sunischick3n]

When I first discovered Dylan I was absolutely in love with the press conferences around this time in his career,.

These days I find it amazing that i'm older now than he was here, and i've not developed anywhere near his intelligence, wit, or humour.

I always thought i'd be as cool as him - Life is full of dissapointments.

[u/Hipposeverywhere]

For me what always stuck out was how fake and forced and odd sounding the cackling laughter is from the press. They were so eager to laugh and look like they are "in" on Dylan's jokes. It's sick actually.

[u/WeeHootieMctoo]

I like how Bob is very uncomfortable with the press and the first question he gets is an utterly ridiculous one about the philosophy of motorcycles.

And I really want to know what the weirdest thing that ever happened to Bob-you know that question Ginsberg asked? Seemed like some kind of private joke and I wanna know. Bob if you're reading this...

[u/[deleted]]

Oh man! I watched this for the first time while on mushrooms (also while in a bath tub? I dunno it was a weird time in my life) and I think I connected with it on a spiritual level.

The whole situation is absurd with people tripping over themselves to impress a dude they obviously revere, meanwhile he is trolling them with genuine non answers like some kind of ancient wise man. I love everything about it.

Also Bob was a total stud muffin circa this era

[u/sonya_sandrasegara]

I always find myself coming back to this conference because it's the longest Bob interview and I love hearing him speak. We don't have a whole load of them.

[u/Ahavahtovah]

Priceless....