Out of many, one

In new tune, Dylan likens himself to Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Frank

His second release in a month, ‘I Contain Multitudes’ is a rumination on singer’s multifaceted personality

By AFP 18 April 2020, 4:55 pm

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Bob Dylan accepts the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year award at a ceremony in Los Angeles, February 6, 2015. (Vince Bucci/Invision/AP)

Weeks after releasing his first original song in nearly a decade, Bob Dylan on Friday posted another fresh single online.

“I Contain Multitudes” is a rumination on the storied singer’s multifaceted personality, and includes Dylan comparing parts of himself to Edgar Allan Poe, William Blake, Indian Jones, the Rolling Stones and Anne Frank.

Listen to it below.

The song follows Dylan’s release in late March of “Murder Most Foul,” a 17-minute ballad about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

That song, too, was packed with artist name-drops and pop culture references, including to The Beatles, Charlie Parker, the Eagles, Stevie Nicks and the Woodstock festival.

It was the folk singer’s first original song since his 2012 album “Tempest,” though he has released a number of cover albums in the interim.

“Murder Most Foul” is also the first song Dylan has penned and released since he reluctantly accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, the first songwriter awarded the honor.

At 78, Dylan has maintained a relentless touring schedule, though he was forced to cancel a string of April dates in Japan over the coronavirus pandemic. The artist is still set to kick off a North American tour in June.