The New Yorker reprinted a piece by the late great music writer for the Village Voice and the New Yorker, Nat Hentoff. An early Dylan recording session. Hentoff on Why Dylan didn't want to be part of a vowel Movement:
The conversation turned to civil rights, and the actor used the term “the Movement” to signify the work of the civil-rights activists. Dylan looked at him quizzically. “I agree with everything that’s happening,” he said, “but I’m not part of no Movement. If I was, I wouldn’t be able to do anything else but be in ‘the Movement.’ I just can’t have people sit around and make rules for me. I do a lot of things no Movement would allow.”
Hmph.
Then there's the explanation for Dylan's disdainful speech at a Civil Rights fundraiser held by hypocritical Lefties:
I had the added personal pleasure of knowing that as a teenager I used to correspond with Nat Hentoff myself. Look at me today.
Great read.