ON BOB ON BOB

Contrary to Bob Dylan’s utterances in his interview with Robert Hilburn, I was his fan way back then and I’m his fan today (“Reborn Again,” Dec. 14). I did drift, back in the early ‘80s, but I’m back. “Time Out of Mind” is an exquisite album.

I agree with him that these songs are meant to be sung, not talked to death. Dylan shied from reviewers in the early years who wanted him to explain his songs. We understand his songs. Dylan, in spite of himself and his genre, is a great poet who sings to himself for understanding and touches the lonely circle of all our souls.

An interview with him is a chance to establish those sparks of intelligence that differentiate show business from art, to try and achieve the communication that is the genesis of the songs in the first place.

I like James Taylor too, Bob, and I understand what you mean, but I’m afraid you have to live with the fact that you touch the transcendent in a way most artists only dream of.

REX M. OPPENHEIMER

Los Angeles

I was surprised at Dylan’s statement that his early fans would have left long ago. My feelings were a bit hurt by that. It is almost as if he sees himself as just another band like U2 or James Taylor (to cite a couple of his examples). For so many of us, it has never been about that. I became aligned with Dylan in New York in 1962, and spiritually we’ve been together ever since. That’s 35 years. I’m surprised that he didn’t make more of an acknowledgment of the thousands of us who feel that profound kinship with him.

JEFFREY GERSHOFF

Woodland Hills