Bob Dylan has responded to claims which state he has plagiarised other artists and authors’ material.
Rolling Stone asked Dylan about accusations that he previously ‘quoted’ Junichi Saga’s 1991 book Confessions of a Yakuza and the 19th century poetry of Henry Timrod, but didn’t ‘cite his sources clearly’. Dylan said: “Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff.”
He explained that had it not been for him, most people would not have heard of Timrod, saying: “…as far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him? Who’s been reading him lately? And who’s pushed him to the forefront? Who’s been making you read him?”
He added that the people accusing him of plagiarism are the same kind of people who branded him ‘Judas‘ for switching from an acoustic to an electric guitar in 1965. He explained:
“These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you’ve been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.”
Bob Dylan is currently at Number Three in the Official UK Album Chart with Tempest. The album is the 35th studio LP of Dylan’s career.
It contains a total of 10 tracks and has been produced by Dylan himself, although, as with his recent studio albums, the producer is named as ‘Jack Frost’. The album includes a special tribute to John Lennon named “Roll On John” and a 14-minute epic inspired by the Titanic.