Restless Farewell: Difference between revisions

Dylan expressed his distaste for the ''Newsweek'' type of journalism in ''11 outlined epitaphs'', the sleeve notes he wrote for the album ''The Times They Are a-Changin''': “I do not care t’ be made an oddball/ bouncin’ past reporters’ pens/ cooperatin’ with questions/ aimed at eyes that want t’ see/ ‘there’s nothin’ here/ go back t’ sleep/ or look at the ads/ on page 33.’”<ref name =Gill>Gill, 1998, “Classic Bob Dylan: My Back Pages”, pp. 50–51.</ref> According to [[Robert Shelton (critic)|Robert Shelton]], the ''Newsweek'' interview caused Dylan to withdraw from public life for three weeks, and "resulted in him breaking off nearly all contact with his parents for years… Dylan turned from an accessible subject into a cagey game-player who toyed with interview questions, who developed the "anti-interview" saying shocking things he often didn’t believe."<ref name =Shelton>Shelton, 2011, ''No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Revised and updated edition'', pp. 138–139.</ref>

 

Heylin writes the original title of the song was “Bob Dylan’s Restless Epitaph” and so makes plain "this is one instance where narrator and writer are one and the same". Heylin calls the song “a memorable declaration of independence from ‘unknowin eyes’, signalling a desire to write only ‘for myself’. Never again would he knowingly expose himself to anyone looking to bury him in ‘the dust of rumors’.”<ref name =Heylin2009/>