Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice It's Alraght

Bob Dylan, interview with Bill Flanagan

In a Telegraph online exclusive, Bob Dylan reveals what he thinks about The Rolling Stones, Nazis and the difference between actors and singers.

Bob Dylan rarely gives interviews and when he does they are rarely revealing. But in the run up to the release of his 33rd album, Together Through Life, he has been engaged in a long and fascinating conversation with leading US rock critic and MTV producer, Bill Flanagan. In three previously released extracts (available to read onwww.bobdylan.com) Dylan spoke about his love for the accordion, distrust of politicians, his concerns about the fate of Barack Obama, his experiences with the ghosts of the American civil war and his own role as an itinerant truth seeker.

Here, on playful, teasing form, a simple question about former wrestler turned Governor of Minnesota leads to some tongue-in-cheek criticism of The Rolling Stones, a discussion of the difference between actors and singers and Dylan's bafflement at the appeal of Adolf Hitler. With his weary acknowledgement that Hitler "knew something, he knew that people didn't think" and distrust of charisma and "the torch of the spoken word" that filled the graves of Europe in the Second World War, it adds up to a revealing insight into the greatest singer-songwriter of our times.

Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone

Bob Dylan Exclusive Interview: Reveals His Favorite Songwriters, Thoughts On His Own Cult Figure Status

In anticipation of the release of his 33rd album,Together Through Life, Bob Dylan sat down with rock critic and MTV producer Bill Flanagan for a rare and unusually candid conversation. The first three portions of their meeting can be read atbobdylan.com, and the fourth installment can be read here on the Huffington Post).

In the fifth installment, published below, Dylan reveals his favorite songwriters, discusses whether he's a cult figure, and gives his thoughts on trading on nostalgia and if he's a mainstream artist (to view a slide show of Dylan's favorite's, click here).

Bill Flanagan: Going back to that song you wrote for the movie that you mentioned earlier, "Life is Hard," has the formality of an old Rudy Vallee or Nelson Eddy ballad right down to the middle eight ("Ever since the day..."). Do you figure that if you start a song in that style, you stick with the rules right down the line?

Bob Dylan - Tangled up in blue

Bob Dylan

Biography

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American musician, poet and artist whose position in popular culture is unique.

Although Dylan started his musical odyssey in 1959, much of Dylan’s best known work is from the 1960s, when he became an informal documentarian and reluctant figurehead of American unrest. Some of his songs, such as “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. His song “Like a Rolling Stone”, released in July of 1965, was named “The Greatest Song of All Time” by Rolling Stone magazine in 2004, placing #1 in a list of 500 titles. Dylan remains an influential and popular artist; his most recent album of new songs, 2009’sTogether Through Life, reached #1 on the charts in the US, Britain, France and several other countries.

Bob Dylan’s strong influence over the past few years are becoming even more prominent amongst a growing group of younger emerging artists such as George Ellias, and Devendra Banhart.