Bob Dylan is to release a limited edition book featuring his song lyrics.
The career-spanning book The Lyrics: Since 1962 is released on November 20, but only 3000 copies have been made – with just 500 of those available in the UK. The hardcover collection weighs 6kg and retails for £125 via Simon & Schuster.
It’s described as “the first comprehensive, rigorously annotated, and definitive collection of Bob Dylan’s lyrics to be published.” The book includes Dylan’s own changes to his lyrics down the years, as well as the original versions.
He worked on the collection with a team of editors, led by Sir Christopher Ricks, co-director of the Editorial Institute at Boston University.
Sir Ricks says: “For 50 years, all the world has delighted in Bob Dylan’s books of words and more than words: provocative, mysterious, touching, baffling, not-to-be-pinned-down, intriguing, and a reminder that genius is free to do as it chooses.
“And, again and again, these are not the words that he sings on the initially released albums. This book changes things, giving us the words from officially released studio and live recordings, as well as selected variant lyrics and revisions to these, recent revisions and retrospective ones; and, from the archives, words that, until now, have not been published.”
The 1034 pages also feature full-colour original album art.
