Draft:False or misleading statements by Bob Dylan

Biographers and reporters have long noted that Bob Dylan should not be regarded as a reliable source on information about his own life.

Early career

In the early days of his career, Dylan claimed to have worked in a carnival, that he hailed from somewhere other than Hibbing, Minnesota, and so forth.

For instance, in the book, The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless Hungry Feeling, 1941-1966, author Clinton Heylin notes that the first time Dylan's name appeared in print relative to his music career was in the August 6, 1961 New York Mirror where Pete Karman reported as follows, "Bob Dylan, of Gallup, New Mexico, played the guitar and harmonica...."

In the November 4, 1963, issue of Newsweek, Dylan was profiled revealing that his colorful stories of his background were false, that his background was that he "grew up in a conventional home, and went to conventional schools" in Hibbing, Minnesota.

Chronicles: Volume One, 2004

Concerning his Chronicles: Volume One memoir of 2004, Dylan did once discuss his strategy for writing it in a Time magazine interview in 2001: "I'll take some of the stuff that people think is true and I'll build a story around that"...

But the book itself has no prefatory statement saying as much.

Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin has shown skepticism concerning the factualness of the book: "Jesus Christ, as far as I can tell almost everything in the Oh Mercy section of Chronicles is a work of fiction. I enjoy Chronicles as a work of literature, but it has a[s] much basis in reality as Masked And Anonymous, and why shouldn't it? He's not the first guy to write a biography that's a pack of lies." And he noted, "Not a single checkable story held water; not one anecdote couldn't be shot full of holes by any half-decent researcher."

Here is Clinton Heylin in a May 11, 2021, Rolling Stone interview:

Rolling Stone: Chronicles: Volume One is obviously not a straightforward history book. What frustrates you most about it, just as a student of history?

Clinton Heylin: "What really perplexes me is that I've seen only a smidgen, but enough, of the early drafts of Chronicles to wonder what happened. The early drafts, of course they're Dylanesque, of course they see things very much through his prism, but there's no conscious attempt to literally destroy history, to bend it to your will and show it to be a sham. The book that was published was very much that.

"And so at some point between 1997 when I quote that paragraph in my book, and 2004, when the book was published, Dylan had a complete re-think and decided that history is bunk. I'm guessing what happened is he started work on Masked and Anonymous. But of course it's legitimate to do it in Masked and Anonymous because it's a work of fiction. But to take that and run with it in what's supposed to be a memoir, it's clearly a conscious decision. And it's one he made after he started conceptualizing Chronicles. I don't understand why he did it."

"Murder Most Foul"

When Dylan released his song, "Murder Most Foul", he issued this statement:

"Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you. Bob Dylan, March 27, 2020." This spurred speculation that the recording may have been years old and perhaps even an outtake from his 2012 album Tempest.

But Fiona Apple, who played piano on the song, later confirmed that the song had in fact been recorded only one month previously, in February 2020.

General

Rolling Stone: If you had the chance to ask Dylan one question, what would it be? What would you want to hear him talk about in an honest way?

Clinton Heylin: "In an honest way? If I could get him to answer honestly, I'd ask him something about either motorcycles or Child Ballads. Both of which fascinate me, both of which I have a similar passion to him for."