Bob Dylan Amy Winehouse flattered as the last great artist with a unique style, in a rare interview published Thursday on the internet page of the American music legend.
In a long dialogue with the writer and journalist Bill Flanagan, the recent Nobel Prize for Literature praised the British soul singer who died in 2011 at age 27.
"It was the last great personality that was out there," said Dylan.
Bob Dylan, 75, also praised two live singers with influences from blues and folk, Valerie June and Imelda May. And unexpectedly he said also appreciate the work of the Welsh rock band Stereophonics.
The composer spoke quite highly of folk legend Joan Baez, who was for a time his partner. They separated in the 60s, and Dylan decades later apologized for how he had treated.
"His voice I was like a siren of some Greek island. Just the sound of his voice could fascinate, was a seductive" he said.
"He'd have to tie you to the mast and the Odyssey and cover your ears not to hear it. I did forget who you were," he said in reference to Homer's epic.
The artist, little given to public statements, practically has not spoken Nobel Prize and did not attend to Sweden to receive it. He agreed to speak to Bill Flanagan before the release of their album "Triplicate", a collection of three albums coming out on March 31 in which he sings themes popularized by Frank Sinatra.
For Dylan, reinterpret the music is part of creativity: "There is always a precedent, almost everything is a copy of something else," he said, noting that composers inspired many times in a newspaper article, a sign or a novel .
"Once you get the idea, everything you see, read, taste or smell becomes an allusion to that. It is the art of transforming things," he said.
"It really does serve to art, art serves to you and is only an expression of life is not real life," he said.
Elsewhere in the interview he joked about his reputation for being unkind to other musicians with whom he shares the stage.
"But why they want to go out with me? I go out with my band when I'm on tour."
Asked about what he sees on television when his bus tour, Dylan replied, probably sarcastically: " 'The Lucy Show', all the time, without stopping."
