Addicted to Dylan

Which reminds me: did I say free? Because while the music itself is free, there are all those blank CDs to consider. And when you get up to burning through a spindle of fifty in less than a week, it’s cheaper to take up smoking, and probably better for your health. And then there’s the postage. It was great to connect with Dylan fans around the world, but mailing bundles of discs to Japan and the UK—and always by air, a courtesy of the gentleman collector—adds up.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped listening to them. I didn’t have the time; I simply had too many CDs to burn. Actually listening to music was a leisure I couldn’t afford. Besides, my wife couldn’t bear to hear Dylan’s voice when my collection was still limited to the official canon. Several more hundred renditions of “Blowin’ in the Wind” have failed to win her over.

My breaking point was a single eighty-disc trade. I thought it was going to kill me. As it happened, it killed only my desire for more, always more. Finally, thankfully, I’d reached my Roberto Duran moment: No más!

In an interview from the summer of 2001 (The Rome 2001 Interview—two discs, excellent quality), Dylan is asked what he thinks of the Internet. “I’m afraid to go on the Internet. I’m afraid some pervert will lure me someplace.”

For the first time, I know how Bob Dylan feels. Be afraid.