You're Going To React To A Painting

As I Write, Johnny Rotten's First Moments In "anarchy In The U.k." - A Rolling Earthquake Of A Laugh, A Buried Shout, Then Hoary Words Somehow Stripped Of All Claptrap And Set Down In The City Streets - I Am An Antichrist - Remain As Powerful As Anything I Know. Listening To The Record Today - Listening To The Way Johnny Rotten Tears At His Lines, And Then Hurls The Pieces At The World; Recalling The All-consuming Smile He Produced As He Sang - My Back Stiffens; I Pull Away Even As My Scalp Begins To Sweat.

What Always Attracted Me To [bob] Dylan, And What Has Sustained Me As A Dylan Listener, Or Has Always Continued To Surprise Me, Is His Voice, The Way He Sings, The Way He Wraps His Voice Around Certain Words, The Way He Backs Off From Melodic Moments, The Way He Moves Forward To Grab Something In A Song That, Were Anybody Else Performing It, They Would Have No Idea It Was Even There.

It Is A Sure Sign That A Culture Has Reached A Dead End When It Is No Longer Intrigued By Its Myths.

No Failure In America, Whether Of Love Or Money, Is Ever Simple; It Is Always A Kind Of Betrayal, Of A Mass Of Shadowy, Shared Hopes.

I Was The First Records Editor At Rolling Stone, And There Were No Rules. There Was Nothing To Fall Back On As To How Do You Write About This Kind Of Music, So People Were Trying Absolutely Everything With A Great Sense Of Freedom And Experimentation And Success And Failure, And A Feeling Of, “my God, People Are Actually Paying Attention To This. Let’s Pretend They Aren’t Because We Don’t Want To Be Intimidated By What Somebody Might Think Of What We’re Saying.