Newly Released Interview Tapes Reveal Bob Dylan’s 60’s Heroin Addiction

In an interview between New York Times music journalist Robert Shelton and Bob Dylan recorded on a private plane headed towards Denver Col. in 1966, Dylan opened up to his reporter friend about his thoughts on death and his history with addiction.

Sheldon described the interview as a “kaleidoscopic monologue" and said that the songwriter was "twisting restlessly" throughout their talk. Talking drugs, Dylan revealed an addicted period early in his career, saying, "I kicked a heroin habit in New York City. I got very, very strung out for a while, I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it."

Although Shelton, who died in 1995, never revealed the drug use, the interview tapes were discovered by a research team looking into materials for the anniversary re-release of Shelton’s 1986 biography of the singer, No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan.

The interview tapes are now being used as the background material for another documentary film on Dylan.