A comment made by Bob Dylan on his Sirius XM radio program, “Theme Time Radio Hour”, about using his voice for a GPS navigation system, was picked up by various media outlets in Europe, and has made its way back to these shores via The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The eighty-third episode of “Theme Time” was entitled “Street Maps” , and premiered last December. It featured music by everyone from Woody Guthrie to Green Day. After playing Roger Miller’s “King of the Road”, Dylan discussed the origin of the word “Hobo”. Then Dylan, pretending to share a secret with his audience, said,
“You know I don’t usually like to tell people what I’m doing, but I am
talking to a couple of car companies about possibly being the voice of
their GPS system. I think it would be good if you’re looking for directions
and you heard my voice saying something like, ‘Take a left at the next
street…no, a right…you know what, just go straight.’ I probably shouldn’t
do it, ‘cause whichever way I go, I always end up in one place: on
Lonely Avenue. Luckily I’m not totally alone. Ray Charles beat me there.”
This fictitious story was used by Dylan as a humorous way to introduce the next song, and was not taken seriously at the time. However, the program was premiered on BBC 6 radio in the United Kingdom on the evening of August 23. The next day, The Telegraph published an article , presenting Dylan’s radio bit as a fact, saying the singer could join such luminaries as John Cleese, Homer Simpson, and Mr. T. The story was then picked up by NME and the BBC. The Guardian then published a couple of follow-up articles, neither adding any substantiation, nor admitting it was a joke.
On August 26, in the Arts, Briefly column of The New York Times, somewhere beneath a story about Paula Abdul’s new job, the Dylan story was published again as a realistic possibility, and credited to Agence France-Presse. The original story said it was on "his satellite radio show", while the current web article says it was "a recent broadcast of his radio show". It still states, however, that it was "the latest edition" of "Theme Time". The 100th, and seemingly final, episode was broadcast in April.
The story also made its way to The Washington Post. The original article said that it was a BBC radio program, not a rebroadcast of his Sirius XM Satellite show.
Comments
Thank God, (Who incidentally is Eric Clapton BTW)
Somebody finally got it right!
Bravo Omaha!
The L.A. Times added that Bob has joined the ranks of so-called "sell outs" for the up coming release of his Christmas Album.
What ever happened to fact checking in journalism?
I wonder if the Washington Post, N.Y. Times and L.A. Times will print any retractions/corrections?
Thanks for finally straightening this out. I've added comments to several online versions of the article since Monday morning pointing out the true origin of the story, but to no avail. I was truly amazed at how quickly it found its way, intact, to the New York Times!
this just proves that dylan fans will put any kind of news about the bard as true and were putting our dollars away for a new car, myself included. this proves that bob like the late johnny carson who sent americans on a toilet paper frenzied searh for paper the next morning due to an aside he made the night before/. how these frenzies get going doesn't matter, because listeners heard it from uncle bobby on the radio. how sad that fans have to listen a radio show to get him to speak. in the 60s till the end of the 80s may the mid 90s no later i used to go to about 3 or 4 concerts a summer and he spoke like a politician at all the shows i saw especially the concert at danbury connecticut's west fest concert in the afternoon he gave a little speech about what his songs were about. my daughter took me to a concert in hardford ct. concert but we sat too near the speakers in the 2nd row and you could hear his voice going i don't go anymore because he is a shadow of who he was before
evilcos this story is not about his christmas album, it's about giving directions on gps systems in cars. change your blog and i'll bet someone answers you
Hey Mike,
It's not evilcos, it's evilCoz, as in we're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.
Furthermore, I don't care if anyone answers me or not. (I'm used to it by now). Even though you just did. HA HA.
And this is not a story about giving directions on gps systems in cars either, Mike. It's a story about a false story about Bob Dylan being the next voice for satnav in cars. And how a comedic intro to Ray Charles, Lonely Avenue, by Bob Dylan, DJ, was skewed into fact by the N.Y. Times, The Washington Post and The L.A. Times, Via the BBC. Nine months after the non-fact.
As far as you saying Bob gave political speeches at the concerts you saw. I say: You must have meant, that is how you interpreted his songs. Or, you were having audio hallucinations. Because Bob’s so called speeches in concert are contained to little more than: “Thank You” and introducing his band. If that.
About your opinion of Bob Dylan being a shadow of who he used to be. It is just that.
You’re opinion Mike. Like a**holes we’ve all got one! Commercially speaking, I would say Bob is doing just as well as he ever has. With his current album Together Through Life debuting at #1 on the Billboard Charts. The same is true for his previous album Modern Times. Love And Theft, his album before that, won a Grammy. Debuted and topped the charts at #5. And get this Mike, 1997’s Time Out Of Mind debuted at #10 and won 3 Grammys. One of them was for Best Album of the Year.
Insomuch as me mentioning BD’s upcoming X-mas lp.. Read the L.A. Times version of this story. That should explain it. As if I wasn’t concise enough.
And finally, last but not least, Mike. You say I should change my blog? I didn’t notice any editing options that would allow me to do that. Did you? If you did. I would suggest you take the time to use them yourself. All you have to do to make a new paragraph is push enter. All you have to do to make CAPITOLS is push shift.
Comma’s and periods have there own keys. Just like in music's E,G,B,D,F. Hey where is the C? It's after evil and before ozPoetry.
I know the space bar has been confused by many as a watering hole for Han Solo's 1st mate Chewbacca. And they refuse to hit it.
Well I jumped up, turnedaround, spit in the air, fell on the ground
Asked him which was the way back home
He said take a right at the light, keep goin' straight until night, and then boy, you're on your own
It's funny to read this after I just finished listening to those same so-called "professional" journalists whine about how customers' preferences for free online news content is putting them out of business. With quality journalism like that, it's no wonder that people aren't willing to pay for their garbage.
It is just great to get your name in the papers; and it still doesn't matter as to how it got there, even if it was just a couple of dopey bastards screwing up.
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