Here Are Ten More Fake Bob Dylan Quotes
Last week it was revealed that New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author Jonah Lehrer made up a few Bob Dylan quotes in his new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. "It's a hard thing to describe. It's just this sense that you have something to say," Lehrer fake quotes Dylan about the writing of "Like A Rolling Stone," following a lengthy anecdote (which he also invented). ![]()
Cate Blanchett didn't say any of this stuff either
Since these sins have been exposed, he's gotten lots of flack; his publisher yanked the book, and Lehrer resigned his New Yorker post. But we should feel bad for the guy, because it turns out fake Dylan quotes are everywhere! We've spent a week combing through the annals of written history, and here are ten even more egregious ones.
-From the 2011 Newport News article, "The Bobby Electric: Looking Back Once Again at the Time That Guy Who Played an Acoustic Didn't Play an Acoustic"
9. "I like these guys. They remind me a lot of a young me."
-From the liner notes of LMFAO's 2009 album Party Rock
8. "So many people are, like, 'Bob, how does it feel to be on your own? To be without a home? Like a complete unknown? With no direction home?' And I'm, like, DUH, I don't know. THAT'S WHY I ASKED!"
-From 15-year-old Becky Tinsely's 2006 LiveJournal entry "I hung out with this old guy named Bob and he smelled."
7. "I'm chillin' like a villain on penicillin listenin' to Bob ... well, me. Listenin' to me. My name rhymes."
-From the transcripts of Dylan's 1986 interview with Houston's 101 KLOL
6. "People call me a poet. I'm not. Know who is? That lead singer of Cake. That guy can really spin a yarn."
-From the 1997 SPIN article "Is Bob Dylan God?"
5. "Folk music is powerful. It can put you to sleep."
-From Stephen Glass' New Republic article "Big Pharma's Big Secret: Music's Power To Cure All That Ails"

































