Bob Dylan has staunchly defended the work he produced on his most recent album, Tempest , after it had been suggested that he had plagiarised several different artists . The 71-year-old folk rock genius issued a strongly-worded response to those who questioned his music.
“Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff,” Dylan told Rolling Stone magazine . “In folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition. It’s true for everybody but me. There are different rules for me.”
In the forthright interview, which comes days after his controversial statements surrounding slavery and is now on shelves from today, the rocker also discusses the likes of John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen and the way he has been depicted on film and television recently.
This plagiarism charge comes after he was accused of stealing from the work of the poet Henry Timrod, who died in 1867, on his 2006 album Modern Times .
“As far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him? Who’s reading him lately? And who’s pushed him to the forefront?”
Dylan continued to rage citing, “If you think it’s so easy to quote him and it can help your work, do it yourself and see how far you can get.”
In the past, the writer of “Like a Rolling Stone” has been accused of stealing passages from the memoir of a Japanese gangster, which seems to have the same passion and fervour of the period in the mid 1960s when he was labeled Judas for changing to an electric sound.
Dylan’s music continues to generate huge public interest, and his 35th studio album, Tempest , was released earlier this week.
