Bob Dylan Interview Tapes Reveal Singer's Heroin Addiction

Bob Dylan had to overcome a heroin habit in the early '60s, a previously unheard interview with the singer has revealed.

Dylan, who turns 70 on Tuesday, May 24, speaks candidly about becoming addicted to heroin whilst living in New York, BBC News reports.

The singer confesses to his journalist friend Robert Shelton, "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."

Recorded in March 1966 on board Dylan's private plane bound for Denver, Colo., Shelton describes the interview as a "kaleidoscopic monologue" and the interviewee as "twisting restlessly" throughout the flight.

Elsewhere on the tapes, the singer talks about how suicidal thoughts entered his thinking after being labelled a 'genius'. He says, "Death to me is nothing ... death to me means nothing as long as I can die fast. Many times I've known I could have been able to die fast, and I could have easily gone over and done it. I'll admit to having this suicidal thing ... but I came through this time."

Returning to the subject later in the interview, Dylan concludes, "I'm not the kind of cat that's going to cut off an ear if I can't do something. I'm the kind of cat that would just commit suicide. I'd shoot myself in the brain if things got bad. I'd jump from a window ... man, I would shoot myself. You know I can think about death, man, openly."

The tapes, which also include an interview once the pair arrived in Denver, are the subject of a film currently in production.

Get more at Spinner >>

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=691977&pid=691976&uts=1273167996

http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/music/?s_channel=us.musicpop&s_account=aolpopeater,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

PopScene: Week's Hottest Pics

Gabourey Sidibe attends The American Cancer Society's Choose You luncheon on May 5th in New York City.

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

Source: http://www.popeater.com/2011/05/24/bob-dylan-heroin-addiction/

Brittany Snow Ivanka Trump Mischa Barton Diane Kruger Lena Headey