Bob Dylan Said He Never Gives Anything 100 Percent Effort: ‘I’m Not Judy Garland’

In his many years as a musician, Bob Dylan has released celebrated albums and even won a Nobel Prize, but he said he doesn’t give anything his full effort. He once explained that someone told him never to give 100 percent, and he took the advice to heart. He shared why he still felt motivated to work without feeling like he needed to give everything his all.

The ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ singer has been a musician for over 60 years

In 1961, Dylan moved to New York City to become a musician. He began playing in clubs in Manhattan and then released his first album in 1962. With the release of his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, in 1963, he established himself as an important figure in folk music. 

Since then, Dylan has been awarded 10 Grammys, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Nobel Prize in Literature, among other things. He has also published books, dabbled in visual art, and acted on film.

Bob Dylan once said he never gives anything his full effort

Despite all his accomplishments, Dylan said he never gives anything his full effort. 

“See, somebody once told me — and I don’t remember who it was or even where it was — but they said, ‘Never give a hundred percent,'” he told Rolling Stone in 1986. “My thing has always been just getting by on whatever I’ve been getting by on. That applies to that time too, that time in the Sixties. It never really occurred to me that I had to do it for any kind of motive except that I just felt like I wanted to do it. As things worked, I mean, I could never have predicted it.”

He said that he doesn’t think the strain of giving everything one’s all is worth it. To prove his point, he pointed to Judy Garland as an example.

“There’s something at the back of your mind that says, ‘I’m not giving you a hundred percent. I’m not giving anybody a hundred percent,” he said. “I’m gonna give you this much, and this much is gonna have to do. I’m good at what I do. I can afford to give you this much and still be as good as, if not better than, the guy over across the street.’ I’m not gonna give it all — I’m not Judy Garland, who’s gonna die onstage in front of a thousand clowns. If we’ve learned anything, we should have learned that.”

Tom Petty said people put a lot of effort into understanding Bob Dylan, but he’s just a normal person

Many people have sought to better understand Dylan, but his friend and collaborator Tom Petty said he’s not as mysterious a figure as he may seem.

“Everyone’s always saying to me, ‘What’s Bob Dylan like?'” Petty said. “It’s funny,” Petty said, “but people still attach a lot of mystery to Bob . . . I think they figure that, since we’ve spent time around him, we can explain him, as if he’s somebody who needs to be explained.”

Petty said that Dylan is just a normal person who has always been good at captivating an audience.

“I mean, Dylan’s just a guy like anybody else — except he’s a guy who has something to say,” he said. “And he has a personality that makes it his own. There’s not many people that can walk into a room of 20,000, stare at them and get their attention. That’s not an easy trick.”