Transcript of Sean Wilentz audio
It's been said by people who have played with him that you just never know what Bob Dylan is going to do from night to night with any particular song. It's in part spontaneity. I think Dylan doesn't put too much store by any one performance. He has said even about his recordings some of which have taken some time but most of which are recorded fairly quickly Blonde On Blonde being an exception, although there, even there about half the album is recorded pretty quickly. It's just to come into the studio, perform the song, get it as good as you can, get it as concise as you can and then leave. Don't worry about it. The song will have its life on record but also have it's life as people sing it and as he sings it. So he has a very what shall we say, un-perfectionist view of his work even though he is trying to- well perfectionist but also performative that these are not just works to be read on the page or even listened to on the record; they're meant to be sung and he is meant to sing them and that is part of his art as well.
