I remember the first day I ever recorded with Dylan. The assistant engineer ran a cassette of the session, and there’s a moment where Bob is standing at the piano trying to tell me what he wants to do next, and I’m arguing with him. I had a preconception about what Bob Dylan should sound like on a record. I hadn’t even heard the song, so what preconception could I have? It was just some stupid, amateurish thinking. Bob Dylan is telling me what he wants to do, and I’m thinking, “Well, this goes against the way I’m hearing my imagined Bob Dylan record.” I was arguing with him about why it wouldn’t work before we even tried it. Even as I recount that story now, it gives me a knot in my stomach. I waited my whole life to work with Bob Dylan, and then I wouldn’t let him be Bob Dylan. It was gracious of him just to continue working with me.
I hope I haven’t made that mistake since then. If anything, I err to the opposite, which is to say that no matter how crazy an idea might sound, I’ll chase it down with an artist. And if we waste two days, then we waste two days. I’ve probably wasted two years of my life chasing down things with artists that never came to fruition.