Bono on Dylan :
I can't remember a time when Bob Dylan's voice wasn't in my head, but I first met him when U2 were recording The Unforgettable Fire at Slane Castle in Ireland, and he played there. His family was around, and I remember being struck then - as I'm continually struck - by how he seems to have a certain old-fashioned attitude toward his family. For example, he asked me if I'd take a photograph with him, and I was just about to fall backward, when I realized it was so his kids could be in it.
Then one time I interviewed him and Van Morrison for the [Irish magazine] Hot Press, and in the interview I told him, "U2 have no roots." He just said, "Well, you've got to look back, that's the riches in Ireland." He's like this ancient voice that tells you that you need to know where you come from. There was a moment in the Sixties when he came off all mod, but he's been combating the filthy modern tide, as Yeats called it, for a long time.
His words have always had an almost Biblical uprightness. No matter where you are in your life, there's a Dylan record that helps you map out the locale. When you're filled with teenage idealism. When you're falling in love. When you've just been divorced. When your kids are growing up. Even when you're facing the shock of illness or a brush with mortality. Bob is like religion: He'll get you one way or the other!
I'm sure he has his demons - the records pay tribute to that. But he's still alive and doing his best work. He started out as sort of a Rimbaud figure, but he just refused to die stupid. There's a lot of mystery about him, but he doesn't turn mystery into melodrama. He's dealt with celebrity with a smirk and a mask of indifference. The same stare he gives the outside world, he gives himself.
When Dylan played Dublin recently, he walked to the gig! He had his hood up, and he just walked past the punters on the way to see him. I think that's how he wants it. He's lost interest in playing the game, and he's just gotten on with his life as a writer and performer. He's more of the Middle Ages than the New Millennium, the troubadour who will play wherever there's a meal on the table - whether it's Las Vegas or in front of the pope. God bless him.
