What’s The Impulse Behind Art? It’s Saying

I Learned That When Something Just Has To Be Said To Move The Discussion Along, Or Broaden It Or Deepen It, If I Can Just Keep My Mouth Shut For Five Minutes A Student Will Say It. So For Me A Lot Of Teaching Is About Keeping My Mouth Shut.

I Was The First Records Editor At Rolling Stone, And There Were No Rules. There Was Nothing To Fall Back On As To How Do You Write About This Kind Of Music, So People Were Trying Absolutely Everything With A Great Sense Of Freedom And Experimentation And Success And Failure, And A Feeling Of, “my God, People Are Actually Paying Attention To This. Let’s Pretend They Aren’t Because We Don’t Want To Be Intimidated By What Somebody Might Think Of What We’re Saying.

We Fight Our Way Through The Massed And Leveled Collective Safe Taste Of The Top 40, Just Looking For A Little Something We Can Call Our Own. But When We Find It And Jam The Radio To Hear It Again It Isn't Just Ours -- It Is A Link To Thousands Of Others Who Are Sharing It With Us. As A Matter Of A Single Song This Might Mean Very Little; As Culture, As A Way Of Life, You Can't Beat It.

I Never Could Understand - It Was Impossible For Me To Get My Head Around - What The Furor Was, What The Sense Of Betrayal And Anger And Rage Was About Bob Dylan's Beginning To Perform With A Band, To Play Rock-and-roll, To Get On The Radio.

I Am A Critic Who Is Pulled Toward History. But Bob Dylan Himself Is A Great Historian. He Is An Historian Who Acts Out History. So It Always Has A Personal Stamp. It Always Has A Particular Timbre. It Always Has A Particular Howl, Or A Moan, In That Voice.