Amanpour and Company

WOULD YOU SAY BOB DYLAN HAS REINVENTED HIMSELF OR THE NEW GENERATION IS ATTRACTED TO HIM? >> 20 YEARS AGO I WROTE A PIECE ABOUT BOB DYLAN THAT ASKED THE QUESTION "WHO IS THE NEW BOB DYLAN," WHICH IS CONSTANTLY ASKED ABOUT HIM. I CONCLUDED THEN THAT HE IS THE NEW BOB DYLAN. EVEN NOW HE'S STILL PUTTING OUT ALBUMS. HE WILL TOUR AGAIN EVEN INTO HIS '80s. HE CONTINUES TO REFINE AND PUT HIS PERSONA ON ITS END, LIKE CHANGING ALL THE TIME. MOST RECENTLY HE'S ACTING AS A LIVING ARCHIVE IN A SENSE. HIS SONGS ARE PACKED WITH REFERENCES. HIS LAST ALBUM HAD A SINGLE THAT HAD 70 REFERENCES TO OTHER SONGS IN IT. HE'S ENJOYING BEING HIS OWN ARCHIVE. >> IN TERMS OF BEING CALLED THE VOICE OF A GENERATION, HE ADDRESSED THIS TOO, BECAUSE THIS IS SOMETHING HE WAS LABELED WITH IN 1962 AND IT SORT OF STUCK SO MANY YEARS ON. I BELIEVE WE HAVE A SOUND BITE. TOMMY CAN YOU HEAR ME, I'M THE ACID QUEEN I'M RATTLING ALONG IN THE BACK OF A LIMOUSINE RIDING IN THE BACK SEAT NEXT TO MY WIFE AND STRAIGHT ON INTO THE AFTERLIFE >> SO I WAS WRONG. I WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO READ FROM AN INTERVIEW HE GAVE TO NPR ABOUT THAT LABEL, BEING CALLED THE VOICE OF A GENERATION. LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT WE JUST HEARD. THIS WAS HIS MOST RECENT ALBUM "ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS." IT HIT NUMBER ONE. THE SINGLE IS 17 MINUTES LONG. IT'S AN EXPLORATION OF JFK'S ASSASSINATION AND IT INVOKES SO MANY OTHER CULTURAL FIGURES JUST IN THOSE FEW LINES. CAN YOU TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT? >> YES. AS I JUST MENTIONED "MURDER MOST FOUL" HAS AT LEAST 70 REFERENCES TO OTHER SONGS, TO HISTORICAL FIGURES. MY COLLEAGUE BOB BOYLAN AND I WENT THROUGH AND DOCUMENTED ALL THE SONGS. AT SOME POINT WE HAD TO STOP BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY. AS I SAID, I THINK THIS IS DYLAN BEING HIS OWN LIVING ARCHIVE AND WANTING SO MUCH TO BE A CHANNEL FOR CULTURE, WHICH YOU COULD SAY IS IN SOME WAYS PROBLEMATIC. I MEAN, BOB DYLAN IS A STRAIGHT WHITE MALE AND HE'S EXPRESSING HIS OWN IDENTITY, BUT HE IS TRYING TO BE AN OPEN BOOK AND TO KIND OF REPRESENT AND ORACLERLY OFFER HIS VISION.