The Poetic Lyrics Behind the Bob Dylan-Post Malone Collaboration That Almost Came True

Post Malone has always been a long-time Bob Dylan fan, and he acquired part of his fame thanks to his cover of Dylan’s hit, “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.” Malone’s long-time affinity for the musical bard has presented itself in numerous other ways. One of which almost entailed a songwriting collaboration between the two. However, it tragically never came to fruition.

Bob Dylan has lyrics pouring out of his ears, and as a result, any musician would seemingly like to record one of his songs. That being so, when Dylan and his representative wanted to gift lyrics to Post Malone, it surely was quite a surreal moment for the musician. Though, like many things, life gets in the way and hinders the completion of dreams. And that is exactly what happened with this lost song.

Bob Dylan’s Lyrical Gift

The producer, Michael Cash, is the one who got the ball rolling on the project. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cash explained the complete timeline of the song and its falling out. After reaching out to Dylan’s representative and discovering their desire to participate with Malone, he texted Malone stating, “Bob’s going to write you something. He’s got something in mind that he wants to craft specifically for this.”

According to Cash, the song was not much of a song. Rather, it was lyrics that they were going to have to put the music to. “Be Not Deceived” was the song’s alleged title. Cash went in depth stating, “[The song] was talking about a loss of innocence. And what people are going through — disfranchised, kind of leaderless masses of children with no parent or guardian or shepherd or anything.” “It talked about going out and making your own way. And when you read it, honestly, it’s poetry. It’s beautiful,” he added.

Even though Post Malone was delighted to record the song, some undisclosed reasons obstructed the song’s completion. Cash recalled, “Rosen said to me at a certain point, ‘Well, we’re just going to retract the lyrics’” and “They just were like, ‘This should be finished.’”

Despite not being completed the first time around, Cash still hopes that Bob Dylan and his representative will grant them access to the lyrics sometime in the near future. Though, time will tell, and all we can do is hope.

Onstage at the 25th anniversary MusiCares 2015 Person Of The Year Gala honoring Bob Dylan per Getty Images