Why Did Bob Dylan Say His Father Was Worth a Hundred of Him?

David Senra, reading Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One, says Dylan came home to bury his father and found that his father was the best man in the world and probably worth a hundred of him. Dylan was a father three times over, so they had more in common than ever, and there was a lot he wanted to say. The chance was gone.

The cultural and generational differences growing up had been insurmountable. Dylan's father was plain speaking and straight talking. Told that his son had the nature of an artist, he asked whether an artist is a fellow who paints. Leaving home had felt like Columbus going off into the desolate Atlantic. Senra reads the homecoming as Dylan back about 10 years after leaving town to chase the dream, laying his father to rest where life started. In that short stay the older order returned, and his father still did not understand him.

Senra says the chapter is framed as the making of the album New Morning, and that it is really about the price of fame and Dylan trying to get away from being Bob Dylan. Dylan wanted out of the rat race. Having children changed his life and cut him off from just about everybody and everything going on around him.