“I Contain Multitudes” – where Stephen King meets Bob Dylan

I won’t call them my heroes because they haven’t done anything heroic. But they are two people whom, through their immense creativity, have added so much to life. Not just mine but to millions.

They, however, stand on different mountains.

Stephen King, my favourite author, is perched on the Himalayas of Horror while Bob Dylan, my favourite singer/songwriter, eyes us from the tops of the Matterhorn.

What brings them together is the Walt Whitman’s 1,300 lines poem “Song of Myself” where in part 51 he writes:

Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,

(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

In April 2020 Stephen King publishes his short story collection If It Bleeds where in part 3 of his story “The Life of Chuck” is entitled “I Contain Multitudes”.

Two months later, Bob Dylan releases his Rough and Rowdy Ways album and the first track is called, wait for it, “I Contain Multitudes”.

Wow!

A strange coincidence?

Most certainly for, although King is big fan of Dylan, I doubt the two are friends and tell each other what they’re working on. But, for me, this is an intersection of two minds meeting through their creativity, using the words of Walt Whitman written 165 years ago.

So now I must leave you and read “Song of Myself’ to see what other mysteries it might contain.

P.S Dylan’s album also includes the song “Murder Most Foul” about the JFK assassination which King’s novel 11.22.63 is mostly about. The assassination and the mysteries surrounding it remain unresolved and, while the unanswered questions remain, the country will never find closure over that tragic event.