“I’m happy to just be able to come across things. I don’t need to be happy. Happiness is a kind of cheap word. Let’s face it, I’m not the kind of cat that’s going to cut off an ear if I can’t do something. I would commit suicide. I would shoot myself in the brain if things got bad. I would jump from a window…you know, I can think about death openly. It’s nothing to fear. It’s nothing sacred. I’ve seen so many people die. Life’s not sacred either”

American singer-songwriter, 69-year career

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned 69 years. He is known as a major figure in popular culture and as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. In the early 1960s, he brought more intricate lyrical methods to folk music, drawing on the language and concerns of classic literature and poetry. His songs often take in political, social, and philosophical themes, and they pushed against pop conventions while speaking to the growing counterculture.