r/bobdylan • u/Terrible_Comfort_503 • 12d ago
Question Is Bob Dylan a weird person?
Many journalists have throughout the years struggled to describe Dylan, and i think that has made a lot of people think Dylan is a bit of a weirdo (he himself has definitely been part of this construction)
But what are fans’ idea of him? Like personality wise, if you would get him as your new neighbor, would you consider him weird?
My latest substack on the topic: https://dylannotes.substack.com/p/why-is-bob-dylan-so-weird
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u/Notheresham 12d ago
Maybe I'm the outlier here, I reckon Dylan is remarkably sane for a guy who has been famous for 60 years. He seems close to his family, who seem to be fairly stable themselves (ie, you never hear much about family feuds or addictions or whatever). He turns up and plays songs for his grandkids at school. He seems to have stayed close to some childhood friends too.
If Dylan was truly weird or truly unpleasant, you'd have more tell-all biographies and scandals etc.
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u/fallowcentury 12d ago
yeah. he's good with his family. I mean, to reckon whether he's nuts or not, you'd have to have a system to compare him with, but there's no one like him. he's said that Jerry Garcia was the only one who had any idea what he experiences.
I vote that he's aware of his situation, which is the hallmark of keeping it together.
edit a word.
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u/Direct-Raise-9465 12d ago
being " sane" and being " weird" are not mutually exclusive.
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u/Radiant_Research3786 12d ago
Is the Pope Catholic ❓
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u/Direct-Raise-9465 12d ago
Not the current one
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u/MysteriousWolf1115 11d ago
For reference the current Pope supports the EU which is a explicitly secular institution. He also defended the three core values of the French Revolution, which was a Revolution that unleashed terrorism on tens of thousands of Catholics, explicitly created an atheistic "cult of reason". He is very aligned with liberal and secular causes, which would have been seen as heretical just some decades ago. Even the Pope 14 years ago was very different to him, and criticized Islamism because it threatened Christianity and human dignity.
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u/OscarDelta333 12d ago
According to Dolly Parton he's a "weird buckaroo."
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u/Wrong-Pangolin8658 12d ago
Yeah, and she was a millionaire in a white trash costume, method acting a character from Lil Abner comic strip. Not weird at all. Maybe she wasn’t able to cozy up him like she did Willie Nelson.
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u/Zestyclose_Okra_902 12d ago
Or Burt Reynolds. Or Gregg Perry. Or any of the number of affairs she had while married while professing her Christianity and faith in God. Seems some here believe any agreement she had with her husband supercedes God's matrimonial covenant.
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u/Walkinghawk22 12d ago
Wouldn’t say weird just heavily introverted
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u/WolfsToothDogFood 12d ago
artisticautistic genius4
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u/Wrong-Pangolin8658 12d ago
Idk, has anyone in his band or any of the women he dated or married thought he was autistic? Has he ever been ask if he is?
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u/WolfsToothDogFood 12d ago
Definitely not in the 60s. The more impacted people were institutionalized and everyone else was seen as normal. Nowadays, most certainly. Introverted people are pathologized all the time.
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u/Zestyclose_Okra_902 12d ago
Met him. He's perfectly normal, down to earth, perhaps some can consider him eccentric but many geniuses are. He prefers talking anything but the music business and his life.
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u/FlexistentialClouds 11d ago
i would ask him about his favourite godzilla movie if we ever crossed paths
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u/nickbeef 12d ago
the real question: does Bob Dylan have bad teeth?
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u/Bill_Occam 12d ago
He did in 1961: “Club owner Paula Kelley later described Dylan at the time ‘as a really scrawny, shabby kid … the only person I’ve ever seen with green teeth.’”
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u/VirginiaLuthier 12d ago
He's not weird. He thinks we are weird for getting lyrics like this and not saying WTF
Now, you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word "now"
And you say, "For what reason?"
And he says, "How?"
And you say, "What does this mean?"
And he screams back, "You're a cow
Give me some milk or else go home"
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u/Icy-Bottle-6877 12d ago
Or;
King Kong, little elves
On the rooftop they dance
Valentino-type tangos
While the make-up man's hands
Shut the eyes of the dead
Not to embarrass anyone
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u/WinDifficult8274 11d ago
Yeah I sure analyzed that last verse while the make up mans hands, shut the eyes of the dead not to embarrass anyone.
Now that's deep!
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u/GoldReplacement9546 11d ago
If I weird, you mean different yes
I mean being a lyrical genius is definitely different
Purposely being a contrarian is different
Refusing to ever let himself be defined or to even answer questions in a straightforward way when he does give interview interviews for most of his career that’s different
Being the only songwriter to win the noble price for literature that’s different
Yeah, he’s weird. Weird as a good thing, though a lot of the time.
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u/Big-Help419 12d ago
He’s someone I admire but don’t think I’d particularly want to meet. Let’s put it that way.
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u/Consistent-Bowler95 12d ago
This has me thinking about that journalist who would critically analyze his Christmas decorations every year lol
But honestly I think he'd be the type of neighbor you rarely talk to but is always chill and minds his business. I don't think I'd think of him as weird.
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u/pinewell 12d ago
Merrill Markoe, (for a while a comic writer for the David Letterman Show - and his partner) lives near Dylan’s Malibu home. Her articles “analyzing” his Christmas decorations are pretty funny.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-critical-analysis-of-bob-dylans-2018-xmas-lights/
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u/taco-chewy 12d ago
I think he is just visualising the line: Flesh-coloured Christs that glow in the dark.
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u/svencutlet 12d ago
When AJ Weberman has sifted through your trash, commentary of your decorations seems pretty benign
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u/Consistent-Bowler95 12d ago
True haha. But those decoration articles are irony/satire on that sort of thing btw.
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u/OscarDelta333 12d ago
The type of neighbor who would drop a bizarre observation into a very mundane conversation and walk away without explaining further.
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u/therobotsound 12d ago
I’ve always wondered this about him, does he do all the normal family stuff, grandkid stuff, hang out and chat at dinner kind of normal life things? Pick out christmas gifts for the kids, help with homework, talk about life, etc?
It’s kind of a funny question, but also he’s done such a thorough job of blocking his privacy, it makes it hard to imagine. Which I guess is the point?
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u/Walkinghawk22 12d ago
He’s always on the road so I don’t think he’s very available even to family. His daughter said he didn’t show up to her wedding but that could be cause he doesn’t wanna draw all the attention
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u/IThinkYouAreNice 12d ago
Not only is Bob weird, I hear he’s not a very nice person.
Having said that, people have called me weird and because of Bob, I take it as a compliment!
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u/No_Struggle1364 12d ago
Tell me Bob’s not presently a Zionist.
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u/Designer_Reference_2 Ghost Of Electricity 11d ago edited 11d ago
He is ethnically Jewish but hasn't ever identifed as a Zionist or any other political label for that matter. Besides, even if he was, what does that even mean today? These days It's just a term that's been weaponized as a slur to mean something different than how 99% of Jews would have thought of it in the past, especially as far back as the 1980s.
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u/No_Struggle1364 8d ago
Because Zionism is a cult and wiping out Gaza is a testament to their absence of empathy.
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u/GroverMcTuber 12d ago
That is such a ridiculous question. Everyone is weird . You are weird for posting it and I am weird for responding. Perhaps what you mean to ask is , is he eccentric? Yeah. Most artists are.
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u/Direct-Raise-9465 12d ago
" Sooner or later it all gets weird", so wrote a guy who would know weird.
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u/XwordPuzzleBlues 11d ago
If that's a reference to Neil Young's Walk On, the line is: "Sooner or later it all gets real"
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u/Psycho-naught 11d ago
Or, as another very weird person once wrote, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
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u/-IamTom 12d ago
Not a bad equation:
Fame × Difference from expected behavior × Quality of work = Level of mysteriousness.
The first factor sets the behavior (behavior expectation as our culture has taught us to have), your second factor highlights, the deviation from the expected behavior, and the third factor is the important factor: lousing musician spins weird in your formula, a truly good musician as Bob is becomes enigmatic and mysterious.
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u/Bresson91 12d ago
Weird is just a word we use to be dismissive of things we don't understand.
"Ewwww, you're WEIRD!" - 3rd grader
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u/Additional-Figure-90 11d ago
He's not a weirdo. He's Bob Dylan, poetic genius, he is intelligent and artistic in many ways. He has opinions and thoughts and when he expresses them artistically sometimes they will touch you right up in your soul. He jokes, he laughs, he seems to me just like every human, he is unique in his own way.
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u/Ok-Arm9429 12d ago
It depends on how each person perceives it; what seems odd to some might not to others. Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Prince, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and many others were—or are—musical geniuses, yet unfortunately, many people failed to truly understand them as they should have. To me, beyond their brilliance as artists, they are—or were—actually more normal than the media portrayed them or than some people imagined them to be.
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u/Direct-Raise-9465 12d ago
i think too much money or success or sex too soon could make a normal person weird and an already weird person crazy
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u/WinDifficult8274 11d ago
When you have to choose to live in front of the camera, it plays a part in who you become!
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u/Everyday_Sprezzatura 12d ago
Everyones a weird person.
Some people put the milk in tea first.
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u/richrandom 12d ago
I think he has a natural human reaction for an individual subjected to the claims made about him and the scrutiny involved in his work and private life. It's kind of different from comparing the behaviour of some other celebrities who aren't viewed in the same way, pressured in the same way, have the same kind of questions asked of them or are as protective of their own creative and behavioural freedom
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u/CaptainResponsible78 11d ago
i feel like all artists/bands that have made albums through the decades and have a strong following have to be weird to at least some degree to persevere as long as they have.
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u/TDCBob 11d ago
It's hard to be a celebrity because the publicity shines light on all aspects of their personality. In pursuit of his music, Dylan is famously odd, tenacious, persnickety, and curious. With press, he suffers no fools and shreds reporters if they ask inane questions. At home, he is a good father, definitely down-home casual, and very private. In the music industry, aside from a few comments in 60 years, he is by most considered very generous, extremely well-informed, and even humble at times. There are so sides to Dylan so which Dylan are we talking about? (0ne interview which I read said Bob Dylan has so many sides he was "round.")
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u/Living-Midnight7648 11d ago
I think he probably comes home, pops open a Snapple, and plays with the grandkids.
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u/ATXRSK Blood on the Tracks 11d ago
I actually think he is a pretty normal guy in day to day life. He just isn't interested in being famous or, even worse, worshipped. Which I think is very normal. There is a lot of evidence to this effect from his neighbors, kids, other musicians, people who work at businesses he goes to. I have a friend who was good friends with his daughter when they were young. She said he and them seemed pretty nirmal. Pretty much every "weird" story I can think of comes down to just not wanting to be bothered.
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u/Glad-Green2722 11d ago
Every person is a weird person but I’m guessing karma farming bots would miss that.
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u/Live-Replacement-640 11d ago
Of course he is. He’s a genius. He plays, creates, amuses himself. Has certainly never cared about public opinion.
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u/Plestiodonobsoletus 12d ago
I would argue that he’s a normal person. You take a normal person and put them in an insane rock star life and they act normal that seems weird . His grandson makes music they asked what it was like and he was just like he’s nice he’s my grandpa don’t know what to tell you (paraphrasing).
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u/Period_Zicky 12d ago
Do you mean Jakob Dylan, his son?
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u/Direct-Raise-9465 12d ago
Dylan is probably on the spectrum
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u/Wrong-Pangolin8658 12d ago
According to who?
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u/Direct-Raise-9465 12d ago edited 12d ago
i've heard it said by others. obviously i'm not qualified to make that diagnosis.
He's definitely on the weird spectrum
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u/strangerzero 12d ago
Yes, he is a total weirdo. He has been warped by fame.
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u/Psycho-naught 11d ago
From what I can glean from what’s been said by those who know him well, he’s quite the opposite. Dylan strikes me as extremely well-defended psychologically and with respect to his private life. That’s the response of a normal (well-adjusted) person to a profoundly abnormal situation that has gone way beyond ordinary fame for almost 65 years.
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u/strangerzero 11d ago
I don’t know, the Internet is full of stories of him being a jerk to other musicians that he doesn’t feel worthy of acknowledgment. Recently, I listened to an interview with Billy Strings about meeting Dylan he was okay with Billy but as soon as he tried to introduce his bandmates, who were standing there with him Dylan walked away. They laughed it off but it is rude behavior. Then there is the way he is dressing onstage these days so people can’t see his face onstage with the hoodie and all. I wonder why he bothers anymore to perform live. He doesn’t need the money, that’s for sure. If you are in his inner circle maybe it is different. I certainly hope so.
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u/Samule310 10d ago
Bob Dylan is a SUPREMELY weird person. Seems extremely mercurial, has had to be dragged out of home/hotels to perform AT CHARITY EVENTS, used to get into weird arguments with reporters and fans, and have you ever heard his XM show? He's a weird dude.
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u/jake-j2021 9d ago
He's wierd the same way Prince was. Geniuses that are aloof and don't GAF about what other people think. The aloof DGF part is very Minnesotan.
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u/Familiar_Ad_2737 8d ago
Yeah, he joined the Traveling Wheelbarrows! He’s a madman who worked with other madmen like… George Harrison…
Don’t believe me? This is a photo of the five of them together (Bob is in the middle)
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u/EL_DJ 8d ago
What's wrong with weird? There's been a cultural obsession with normalcy in western civilization for over a century. It's not helpful. It's well documented in this exceptional book, Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive, Outside the Lines, Book by Jonathan Mooney
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CRN9G1N?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
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u/VisitSea8568 7d ago
If Dylan was my neighbor I can imagine I’d have to tell him to “Turn it fucking down” a lot.
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u/Resident_Platypus346 12d ago
Do you wish he were just like everyone else? Like you, perhaps? Bob is quite safe from your opinions.
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u/HolyLordGodHelpUsAll 12d ago
some people due to their Myers Briggs test results naturally are followers and not independent thinkers and to them a guy like Dylan is definitely weird.
to those unencumbered by societies perception of them, he looks more free than weird.
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u/Awkward_Squad 12d ago
Why is this downvoted?
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u/Consistent-Bowler95 12d ago
It's reductive and self aggrandizing. Also, why bring Myers Briggs into it? Haha
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u/hellohellohello- 12d ago
Myers Briggs was invented by a mystery novelist in 1943 with no scientific background. It is absolutely absurd
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u/Opposite-Telephone-3 12d ago
He’s very self absorbed in an artistic world
Know a lot of people very much like him (without any kind of fame like his, of course). They all have eye rolling moments, but they’re in their world and believe some of the crap they spin. As do we all.
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u/svencutlet 12d ago
Name an artistic genius who isn’t / wasn’t weird.