Tuesday, July 13, 2004

But seriously though, Bob....

It cheered me up to come across the Playboy Interview with Dylan, back in – oh, 1966.

Good jokes, of course, and funny locutions. More importantly – I like his refusal to answer a question until he has examined the underlying assumptions and implications of the question.

This is way before NLP, but long after General Semantics had analysed the way language hypnotises us – although people like R.D.Laing were already challenging the boorish assumptions of ‘everyday thought’ and ‘common sense’ – and back then it was considered flippant and smart-ass and rebellious whereas I read it as trying to answer the question (and its assumptions) accurately….

But then I’m a wise-ass, too.

And there's a definitive collection of interview material here.

2 comments:

pentaphobe said...

Nice one!
Didn't really know much about him outside of the music (only just saw "don't look back" recently) - quite. funky.

Toby said...

Thought the language would amuse you - of course nowadays (post gonzo) we are more used to unusual interviews - but back then most people gave straight show-biz answers to standard questions...

It was this whimsical dexterity with language that I enjoyed so much, not his angry young man stuff...

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