Bob Dylan has been thinking about doing an album of songs made famous by Frank Sinatra since he heard Willie Nelson's album Stardust in the late 1970s, he tells Robert Love in AARP The Magazine — an interview Dylan requested, his one and only for the album Shadows in the Night. Longtime fans shouldn't be surprised by his Sinatra album, Dylan said, because he's played most of the standards over the years.
"To trash those songs would be sacrilegious," he tells Love. "And we've all heard those songs being trashed, and we're used to it. In some kind of ways you want to right the wrong." He continues:
When you start doing these songs, Frank's got to be on your mind. Because he is the mountain. That's the mountain you have to climb, even if you only get part of the way there.... I myself never bought any Frank Sinatra records back then. But you'd hear him anyway — in a car or a jukebox. Certainly nobody worshipped Sinatra in the '60s like they did in the '40s. But he never went away — all those other things that we thought were here to stay, they did go away. But he never did. [AARP]
Part of this is about getting old, Dylan suggested: "Don't try to act like you're young. You could really hurt yourself." But he also laughed off any comparisons to Sinatra: "Comparing me with Frank Sinatra? You must be joking. To be mentioned in the same breath as him must be some sort of high compliment. As far as touching him goes, nobody touches him. Not me or anyone else." Read the entire interview at AARP.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The trial of Jair Bolsonaro, the 'Trump of the tropics'The Explainer Brazil's former president will likely be found guilty of attempting military coup, despite US pressure and Trump allegiance
-
Telephobia: why young people are being taught how to make phone callsIn The Spotlight Young people are so scared of calls that they 'scream' when their phone rings
-
Sudoku medium: September 2, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
