Skip to content

Bob dylan Quote by Bob Dylan

“I had no songs in my repertoire for commercial radio anyway. Songs about debauched bootleggers, mothers that drowned their own children, Cadillacs that only got five miles to the gallon, floods, union hall fires, darkness and cadavers at the bottom of rivers weren't for radiophiles. There was…” quote by Bob Dylan
Download Open image
““I had no songs in my repertoire for commercial radio anyway. Songs about debauched bootleggers, mothers that drowned their own children, Cadillacs that only got five miles to the gallon, floods, union hall fires, darkness and cadavers at the bottom of rivers weren't for radiophiles. There was nothing easygoing about the folk songs I sang. They weren't friendly or ripe with mellowness. They didn't come gently to the shore. I guess you could say they weren't commercial. Not only that, my style was too erratic and hard to pigeonhole for the radio, and songs, to me, were more important that just light entertainment. They were my preceptor and guide into some altered consciousness of reality, some different republic, some liberated republic. Greil Marcus, the music historian, would some thirty years later call it "the invisible republic." Whatever the case, it wasn't that I was anti-popular culture or anything and I had no ambitions to stir things up. i just thought of popular culture as lame as hell and a big trick. It was like the unbroken sea of frost that lay outside the window and you had to have awkward footgear to walk on it. I didn't know what age of history we were in nor what the truth of it was. Nobody bothered with that. If you told the truth, that was all well and good and if you told the un-truth, well, that's still well and good. Folk songs taught me that.””

Bob Dylan

About This Quote

Source Interview: Folk Music Perspective, 1970s

The artist rejects mainstream radio, valuing folk songs as profound guides to altered reality, criticizing commercial culture as superficial.

In simple terms: Folk music is a deep, non‑commercial truth.

Key Takeaway

Prioritize authenticity over mass appeal.

Themes

authenticity culture music art individuality

Mood

reflective defiant nostalgic

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

  • songwriting
  • radio programming
  • personal expression

Key Concepts

folk tradition counterculture social critique

Questions to Reflect On

  • How can artists balance truth and livelihood?
  • What role does folk music play in societal awareness?
A Different Perspective

Commercial success can limit artistic depth.

4.7 out of 5 (10 ratings)

More by Bob Dylan

Explore all 1,018 Bob Dylan quotes

More Bob dylan quotes

Browse all 351 Bob dylan quotes