Bob Dylan has given one of his rare interviews to one of his favorite few journalists, Rolling Stone's Mikal [pr: Michael] Gilmore. In the new issue, on newsstands this Friday, Dylan talks about:

  • John Lennon, who he wrote a song about on his new album, Tempest
  • Bruce Springsteen
  • Being picked up by the police in New Jersey in 2009 -- when he was peering into an old house Springsteen used to live in
  • His belief that he was "transfigured" around the time of his 1966 motorcycle accident

Dylan also fired back at critics who've accused him of using quotes from others in his songs, without citing his sources. "In folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition. That certainly is true. It's true for everybody, but me. There are different rules for me... [But] it's an old thing -- it's part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history!... For playing an electric guitar?... All those evil mother [bleepers] can rot in hell... I'm working within my art form. It's that simple... It has to do with melody and rhythm, and then after that, anything goes. You make everything yours. We all do it."

Tempest, Dylan's 35th studio album, is in stores now.