To Promote A New Album, Bob Dylan Gave His Only Interview To ... The AARP?

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Bob Dylan has always been - well, let's let him tell you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I AM A LONESOME HOBO")

BOB DYLAN: (Singing) I am a lonesome hobo without family or friends.

GREENE: Which makes it difficult to find him when, say, he comes out with some new music. "Shadows In The Night" is his new collection of show tunes and jazz standards once performed by Frank Sinatra. So this song...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOME ENCHANTED EVENING")

FRANK SINATRA: (Singing) Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger.

GREENE: ...Now sounds like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOME ENCHANTED EVENING")

DYLAN: (Singing) You may see a stranger across a crowded room that somehow you know.

GREENE: Turns out Dylan is a big Sinatra fan. You just probably won't hear it from him. To promote the album, he gave just one print interview. And when you're Bob Dylan, you can choose anyone you want. He picked...

BOB LOVE: Bob Love - I'm the editor-in-chief of AARP The Magazine.

GREENE: That's right. Dylan gave the exclusive to AARP, a magazine for the 50-and-over set.

LOVE: I got a couple of phone calls from Dylan's people. And I actually ignored the first couple.

GREENE: He ignored them because he figured maybe they had mistakenly thought he was still at his old job as the managing editor of Rolling Stone. He never spoke to Dylan when he was there.

LOVE: Once I did speak to them, that, no - Bob intentionally wanted to reach the AARP audience. And he thought that this record would be more appreciated by people who had more wisdom and experience in life.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AUTUMN LEAVES")

DYLAN: (Singing) The falling leaves drift by the window.

GREENE: And so Love did this interview and got a 9,000-word article, which you can find on their website. But here's his take.

LOVE: This music is almost sacred to him. The American Songbook, as it's called - the great songs from the '20s to the '60s are something that he feels very, very strongly about. He calls these songs of virtue in an era when so much vice is in the air.

GREENE: And he says Dylan really admires Sinatra.

LOVE: He said, first of all, if you're going to do these songs, you're going to run into Frank. And Frank is the mountain you have to climb. You may not get to the top, but you've got to understand what Frank has done with this music before you begin your own ascent. He said that Frank is the kind of singer he always wanted to be because Frank sang to his audience, not at his audience. He said I want to be a singer who sings to people, not at people.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AUTUMN LEAVES")

DYLAN: (Singing) But I miss you most of all.

GREENE: That's Bob Love of AARP The Magazine talking about Bob Dylan's new album "Shadows In The Night." You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AUTUMN LEAVES")

DYLAN: (Singing) When autumn leaves start to fall. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.