Back when Modern Times was getting its first advance publicity, Columbia’s chairman Steve Barnett described it as the third of a trilogy, numbers one and two being Time Out Of Mind and “Love and Theft”. Not so, says Dylan, in Rolling Stone. It might be number two in a trilogy, though:

I would think more of “Love and Theft” as the beginning of a trilogy, if there’s going to be a trilogy. … If I decide I want to go back into the studio.

Back then, I speculated in various ways in this space about the “trilogy” idea, including by saying this: “Columbia may simply see it as shrewd marketing to associate this album with the previous two, because it means that stories about it, like this one, will mention all three albums.” Bob (RWB) is right again. It’s worth remembering that everything that Columbia says and does in relation to Dylan is not necessarily Dylan’s own idea. Should be obvious, but there you go. This “trilogy” concept has acquired a life of its own.

Dylan also says in RS:

Time Out Of Mind was me getting back in and fighting my way out of the corner. But by the time I made “Love and Theft”, I was out of the corner. On this record, I ain’t nowhere, you can’t find me anywhere, because I’m way gone from the corner.

That might sound kind of abstract to some, but I think if you listen to those records, it’s clear enough exactly what Bob is talking about.

Dylan also speaks in the RS article regarding notions of retirement:

I always wanted to stop when I was on top. I didn’t want to fade away. I didn’t want to be a has-been, I wanted to be somebody who’d never be forgotten. I feel that, one way or another, it’s OK now, I’ve done what I wanted for myself.
…
I see that I could stop touring at any time, but then, I don’t really feel like it right now.
…
I think I’m in my middle years now … I’ve got no retirement plans.

Hooray to that.

Another interesting tidbit in the RS interview is a sort-of answer to a question RWB asked not long ago — is Bob Dylan a Yankee fan? That was after he had made a reference to Derek Jeter on his radio show (and, after all, he did write a song about Catfish Hunter). Dylan says this when Jonathan Lethem asks him who his favorite baseball team is:

The problem with baseball teams is all the players get traded, and what your favorite team used to be — a couple of guys you really liked on the team, they’re not on the team now — and you can’t possibly make that team your favorite team. It’s like your favorite uniform. I mean … yeah … I like Detroit. Though I like Ozzie [Guillen] as a manager. And I don’t know how anybody can’t like Derek [Jeter]. I’d rather have him on my team than anybody.

So, for non-Americans or sports-phobic persons reading this, that means Dylan has named three teams that he sorta likes … this year. The Detroit Tigers get pride of place — and that shows Dylan really follows the sport, because the Tigers have been the hottest team in the Major Leagues this year, to many people’s surprise. (With the prophetic Zimmerman picking them like this, does it make them a lock for the World Series?) Spreading the love around, however, Dylan says he likes Ozzie Guillen as a manager — and he manages the Chicago White Sox. (Ozzie is nothing if not a colorful guy, by the way, as you could discern by reading his Wikipedia entry.) Finally, he again gives Derek Jeter a namecheck — and he plays shortstop for the New York Yankees. Coming out of the closet, for a moment, as a Yankee fan myself, I have to concur with Bob’s remarks about Jeter. Too often written off as a pretty boy by some Yankee haters, Jeter is one of the great character players in the game at the moment (the pretty boy plays third base, I regret to say).

So there’s good reasons for all of Dylan’s remarks about baseball, but, at bottom, isn’t he copping out? Let’s see; he was born in Minnesota. Why doesn’t he like the Minnesota Twins (who are more than merely competitive this year)? I guess you can give him a break, since that franchise only moved to Minnesota when Bob moved out (1961) and so cannot lay a claim on him as his childhood team. Still, he has a place in Minnesota now, by all accounts. He could, with integrity, claim the Twins as his own. Alternately, he could go with the Yankees, as being the team of his adopted hometown — New York. There’s also the Mets, but they also only came into being around 1961, and, well, they’re the Mets. Also, based on his picks, it seems Dylan is an American League — versus National League — kind of guy. Dylan could make a respectable case that the Yankees should be his team. He may have been born in the Midwest, but he found himself in New York City. A third defensible alternative would be to use his Malibu address to justify an affection for the Anaheim Angels (Los Angeles). Again, we’ll rule out the LA Dodgers since they’re National League. While support of the Angels is defensible, this would be the weakest argument Dylan could make. After all, he was into his thirties by the time he took up residence in Malibu. That’s no time to be coming up with new baseball loyalties.

Instead, however, Dylan dispenses with all of this, and basically says he’s a fan of the game, and of particular players and characters, as opposed to any one team. Maybe that’s a natural offshoot of his peripatetic lifestyle. And he has a point about the constant trading of players — it’s difficult to take. Still, something in me chafes at the notion of just picking different favorites year after year. Part of baseball is pain (something which Yankee fans are very familiar with, having not celebrated a World Series victory since the year 2000). Dylan is exempting himself from any of that, and I think that it ill suits a man of his integrity.

Still, I’ll give the new album a chance.

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