Dylan Looks Back

Music Legend Talks To Ed Bradley In His First TV Interview In 19 Years

(CBS)  "If the common perception of me out there in the public was that I was either a drunk, or I was a sicko, or a Zionist, or a Buddhist, or a Catholic, or a Mormon – all of this was better than 'Archbishop of Anarchy,'" says Dylan, referring to being considered the voice of a generation opposed to everything.

Dylan was especially opposed to the media, which he says were always trying to pin him down. He wrote, "The press, I figured, you lied to it." Why?

"I realized at the time that the press, the media, they're not the judge - God's the judge," says Dylan. "The only person you have to think about lying twice to is either yourself or to God. The press isn't either of them. And I just figured they're irrelevant."

Dylan tried to run away from all of that. In the mid-'60s, he retreated with his wife and three young children to Woodstock, N.Y. But even there, he couldn’t escape the legions of fans who descended on his home, begging for an audience with the legend himself. He says people would actually come to the house, wanting to "discuss things with me, politics and philosophy and organic farming and things."

What did Dylan know about organic farming? "Nothing," he says. "Not a thing."

What did he mean when he wrote that "the funny thing about fame is that nobody believes it's you"?

"People, they'll say, 'Are you who I think you are?' And you'll say, 'I don't know.' Then, they'll say, 'You're him.' And you'll say, 'OK, you know, that – yes,'" says Dylan. "And then, the next thing they'll say, 'Well, no, you know? Like are you really him? You're not him.' And, you know, that can go on and on."

He says he doesn't like to eat in restaurants because of all the attention he gets. And he says he has never gotten use to it.

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At his peak, fame was taking its toll on Dylan. He was heading toward a divorce from his wife, Sara. And in concerts, he wore white makeup to mask himself. But his songs revealed the pain.

About his ex-wife, Dylan says: "She was with me back then, through thick and thin, you know? And it just wasn't the kind of life that she had ever envisioned for herself, any more the than the kind of life that I was living, that I had envisioned for mine."

By the mid-1980s, Dylan felt he was burned out and over the hill. And he wrote some pretty harsh words about himself: "I'm a '60s troubadour, a folk-rock relic. A wordsmith from bygone days. I'm in the bottomless pit of cultural oblivion."

"I'd seen all these titles written about me," says Dylan. "I believed it, anyway. I wasn't getting any thrill out of performing. I thought it might be time to close it up. … I had thought I'd just put it away for a while. But then I started thinking, 'That's enough, you know?'"

But within a few years, Dylan said he had recaptured his creative spark, and went back on the road. He performed more than 100 concerts a year. And he won three Grammy awards in 1998 for his album, "Time Out Of Mind."

At 63, Dylan remains a voice as unique and powerful as any there has ever been in American music.

His fellow musicians paid tribute to him when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joining him in a rousing rendition of his most famous song, "Like a Rolling Stone." That song was recently named by Rolling Stone magazine as the No. 1 song of all time. And he has 12 other songs on their list of the Top 500.

"That must be good to have as part of your legacy," says Bradley.

"Oh, maybe this week. But you know, the list, they change names, and you know, quite frequently, really. I don't really pay much attention to that," says Dylan.

"But it's a pat on the back," says Bradley.

"This week it is," Dylan replies. "But who's to say how long that's gonna last?"

His success, however, has lasted a long time. Dylan is still performing all of his songs on tour, and he says he doesn't take any of it for granted.

So why is he still out there?

"It goes back to that destiny thing. I mean, I made a bargain with it, you know, long time ago. And I'm holding up my end … to get where I am now," says Dylan.

And with whom did he make the bargain? "With the chief commander," says Dylan, laughing. "In this earth and in the world we can't see."

Dylan's book was a bestseller. It was published by Simon & Schuster, which is owned by Viacom, the parent company of CBS. Dylan is planning to write two more volumes of his memoirs.