In a public statement, Bob Dylan has apologized to his outraged fans for what he described as an “error in judgment.” The source of his fans’ ire is his recent book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” released in early November with a limited run of 900 copies.
The book is a collection of Dylan’s thoughts on 66 songs by other artists, each of which influenced his songwriting in some way. The limited, “hand-signed” edition came with a $599 price tag and a certificate of authenticity from publishing company Simon & Schuster. Unfortunately, buyers learned that the books weren’t signed by Dylan’s hand as promised.
When fans began to share photos of their books on Twitter, it quickly became apparent that Bob Dylan’s signature was identical in every copy. In response, Dylan took to social media to explain what happened.
On Saturday, the 81-year-old singer insisted he has always hand-signed his autographs until he began experiencing chronic vertigo in 2019, which hindered his ability to conduct marathon signing sessions. From there, his vertigo persisted through the COVID-19 pandemic. In his statement, Dylan wrote, “It takes a crew of five working in close quarters with me to help enable these signing sessions, and we could not find a safe and workable way to complete what I needed to do while the virus was raging.” Due to the looming deadline from Simon & Schuster, someone suggested he use a specialized signing machine called an “auto-pen,” with assurances that they’re used “all the time” in the book industry.
Days earlier, Simon & Schuster responded to fans with a Tweet that read, “As it turns out, the limited-edition books do contain Bob’s original signature, but in a penned replica form. We are addressing this information by providing each purchaser with an immediate refund.”
At the very least, Simon & Schuster’s bait-and-switch tactic left buyers with a bad taste in their mouth. At most, fans are left wondering if there are more auto-penned autographs out there in the world.
