Sometimes We Mean It

Bob Dylan is a thief. This is not an indictment. Read even a little about Dylan’s early years in the New York folk scene—or watch Martin Scorsese’s documentary No Direction Home—and you’ll find a good number of grumbling contemporaries with stories to tell about how the man formerly known as Robert Zimmerman stole from them. He swiped vintage record collections, and arrangements of old folk songs (which on the hootenanny circuit was tantamount to taking someone else’s act). Even his stage name was stolen, from Dylan Thomas. But that’s showbiz. Performers build on what other performers have done. They pay homage. They reinterpret. They personalize. They steal. And if they’re masterful enough, they become artists distinctive enough to be duplicated themselves.