Bob Dylan Lists John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot Among His Favorite Songwriters

Bob Dylan’s Gordon Lightfoot obsession continues.

In case you missed it, here’s a link to the latest installment of Bob Dylan’s interview with Bill Flanagan that ran in the Huffington Post Wednesday. In it, Dylan names his favorite songwriters, citing Gordon Lightfoot, John Prine and more. He also discusses the possibility of teaming with Nashville songwriters.

Here’s Flanagan grilling Dylan on John Prine and Randy Newman:

BF: Randy Newman?

BD: Yeah, Randy. What can you say? I like his early songs, “Sail Away,” “Burn Down the Cornfield,” “Louisiana,” where he kept it simple. Bordello songs. I think of him as the Crown Prince, the heir apparent to Jelly Roll Morton. His style is deceiving. He’s so laid back that you kind of forget he’s saying important things. Randy’s sort of tied to a different era like I am.

BF: How about John Prine?

BD: Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone” the soldier junky daddy and “Donald and Lydia,” where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be “Lake Marie.” I don’t remember what album that’s on.

Read the whole thing HERE.