Many leave, but he begins: Bob Dylan’s enigmatic X (Twitter) account | Culture

Get in position. Bob Dylan, 83, Nobel Prize winner in Literature and the most influential English-language singer-songwriter in popular music. One bored afternoon he grabs his mobile phone, presses the X app (formerly Twitter) and writes a message. Do you believe it? Well, it has been happening since September to the astonishment of thousands of dylanitas who would never have thought to see their idol involved in social networks. There is little doubt that it is the musician himself who presses the keys and writes messages that are both enigmatic and prescriptive. The decision to personally use your account also occurs when there is a significant current of rejection of the company run by Elon Musk, one of the strong men of the re-elected president of the United States, Donald Trump. Many people close their X accounts (and some media, such as English The Guardian and spanish The Vanguard) and goes to other platforms, such as Bluesky. And here comes Dylan and begins his activity on Musk’s social network. One more example of the desire to go against the current of the composer of Like A Rolling Stone.

But let’s get to the important thing, the content. Both direct and enigmatic messages lend themselves to debate. The last of them, at the close of this article, occurred last Tuesday and belongs to the group of those of Bob recommends: “I recently saw Nick Cave at the Accor Arena in Paris and the song really impacted me.” Joy, where he sings: ‘We’ve all had too much sadness, now is the time for joy.’ I thought to myself: yes, that’s right.” Did Dylan really attend a Nick Cave concert as an audience member and no one found out? Certainly, it would not be the first time that the musician disguises himself to go unnoticed. The reality is that Nick Cave was performing at the Accor Arena in Paris on November 17, where he performed the chilling Joy, that he actually sings those verses in the song and that Dylan had free that day and was near the French capital: he ended his European tour on November 14 in London. The text receives 700 messages. One of them dares to suggest something to Dylan: “Bob, send a question to Red Hand Files (the section where Cave has been corresponding with his followers for years).” Lots of humor on that side.

Another recommendation from the singer-songwriter, this time a film buff: “Nick Newman had responded to a tweet a few weeks ago in which he asked me what movies I would recommend. I told him to try human clawswith Lon Chaney.” Maybe Nick Newman is the English cartoonist. Or it is possible that he refers to Nicholas Newman, the fictional character from the American soap opera The Young and the Restless. And about the film it can be noted that it is a silent horror film, from 1927, directed by the master of the genre Tod Browning. Dylan works hard and instead of recommending Browning’s most popular films (Dracula the Freaks) opt for a more unknown one, Human claws, Incidentally, one of Guillermo del Toro’s favorite films. But what seems to interest Dylan is the American actor specializing in horror Lon Chaney, called “the man of a thousand faces” for his ability to transform himself with makeup and characterization. Like Dylan himself seeing Cave in Paris.

Let’s continue. In another tweet, Bob acts as a gastronomic prescriber: “The last time we were in New Orleans we ate at Dooky Chase’s restaurant, on the corner of North Miro and Orleans. If you ever go there, I highly recommend it.” From the chapter of look what happened to me today…we rescued this message: “At the Frankfurt hotel (sic) there was an editorial convention and all the rooms were occupied: there were parties all night. I didn’t know there were so many publishers in the world. I was trying to find Crystal Lake Publishing to congratulate them on publishing The great god Pan, one of my favorite books. I thought you might be interested in some of my stories. Unfortunately, there were too many people and I never found them.” Well, apart from stating that Bob enjoys the horror genre (The great god Pan, by Arthur Machen, is an essential book for Stephen King), a message here for Crystal Lake Publishing: Dylan is interested in offering you his stories, stay tuned.

Jesús Ordovás, one of the first Spanish journalists to publish a book about the author of Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan, 1974), he says by phone: “It seems like it’s typical Dylan sense of humor. “He has always liked these things.” Ordovás, who left For example, he messes with those who make money and then there are testimonies that say that he really likes money and has a reputation for being stingy. He has also criticized advertising a lot and he has done a lot of it. Well, in addition to being a musical genius, he also has that other side.”

It all started a little less than two months ago, since until then the musician’s account was used only for promotional purposes, to announce album releases and tours. But on September 26, this text appeared: “Happy birthday, Mary Jo! See you in Frankfort.” Mary Jo? Who is that woman Dylan is dating? Frankfurt? Did you get confused when typing due to lack of habit and were you referring to the German city of Frankfurt? Wait: there is a Frankfort, the state capital of Kentucky, so maybe Bob didn’t get his fingers mixed up. What is not known is Mary Jo’s identity. A user points out: “My name is Mary Jo, but today is not my birthday (and attaches a symbol of sadness).” Ordovás does not doubt: “Surely she is a girlfriend.”

Dylan has 452,000 followers on his The author of Mr. Tambourine Man He is an absolute concert addict. For years he has not stopped touring the world playing anywhere, from pavilions to casinos. In 2023 he toured a dozen concerts in Spain. On that occasion, in addition to prohibiting cell phone access to the venue, he did not perform any of his classic songs and based the repertoire on the material from his latest work, the excellent Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). During 2024 he has not stopped offering recitals. Last October, for example, he added 16 performances. He closed his European tour on November 14 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where he performed three nights. On this last tour he has performed some of his classic songs, such as All Along the Watchtower, It Ain’t Me Babe o It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.

In December a new film focused on his figure will be released, A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold and performed by Timothée Chalamet. At the moment, Dylan hasn’t tweeted about the film…