A lighter side of Bob Dylan - a different look at the iconic troubadour on his 80th birthday

The troubadour turns 80 today and while much seriousness will be dedicated to his undoubtable genius, the fact is that ‘Bob is a comedian’, writes David Lister

Dylan: ‘I accept chaos – I’m not sure whether it accepts me’ (Getty)

On 24 May Bob Dylan turns 80. The tributes to the man who has stayed forever young (yes getting a song title in early) will be many. And they will celebrate an incomparable musician, lyricist, poet, protester, innovator, performer and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. But as the intense seriousness of Dylan-worship begins, I can’t help but think of something I heard from Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, and a friend of Dylan. “What people don’t realise,” she said, “is that Bob is a comedian.”

Well, there could be any number of Dylan sayings that she may have been thinking of. “No one is free. Even the birds are chained to the sky.” Or maybe: “I accept chaos. I’m not sure whether it accepts me.” Or perhaps: “Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.”

It’s her premise that a number of Dylan’s more opaque statements are deliberately designed to confuse as some sort of private joke. Dylan can indeed be a comedian. But he has also been inadvertently in comedic situations throughout his career. And, from talking to his entourage, people in his record company and filleting the numerous books about him, I have dug up some of those situations, in some cases never yet reported. They show another side of Bob Dylan (oops album title).