When it comes to legendary figures, is the truth even important? The stories behind such people get bent whether they decide to fib a little or not. It’s like one big game of telephone where the players are passing down myths that ultimately make the subject larger than life.
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Nevertheless, the three musicians below attempted to help out that process a bit by fabricating a life story or two.
1. Jim Morrison
Rather than explain the intricacies of his life, Jim Morrison painted himself as a sibling-less orphan. In actuality, his parents and his two siblings were very much alive. However, Morrison might have felt they were “dead” to him, given how different their lifestyles were.
Morrison’s childhood was a strict one, fueled by his father’s military background. Given what we know about Morrison, that discipline didn’t exactly stick.
According to his sister, Anne Morrison Chewning, the lie was also an effort to protect their father. “It was always my belief that he did it to protect my dad who was moving up in the Navy, and to keep his life separate, not to shake it up on both sides,” she once explained.
2. Bob Dylan
There is a mystique that follows Bob Dylan around. The folk icon seems to transcend any backstory. It’s like he came into the scene in a puff of smoke, delivered many a hard truth, and became the legend that he is today. Nevertheless, Dylan’s recollection of his backstory has proven to be less than true.
“I was with the carnival off and on for six years,” Dylan once explained. “[I was doing] just about everything. I was a clean-up boy. I used to be on the main line on the Ferris Wheel, just run rides.”
As it turns out, that story wasn’t true, but it certainly helped to paint Dylan as a traveling musician of sorts–coming from nowhere and headed in no direction. It was a clever play on Dylan’s part, molding himself into the type of mysterious figure we have come to know him as.
3. Lou Reed
In contrast to the two prior musicians, Lou Reed told so many lies about his life that it’s hard to discern the truth. “Look, why should any of that shit be true,” Reed once explained. “I’ve lied so much about the past I can’t even tell myself what is true anymore.”
Reed’s lies largely stemmed from his distaste for interviews. Despite his candid lyrics, he felt talking to the press was an invasion of privacy. Thus, he decided to make it all up as he went along.
“You can say anything you want, and that’s what I did for years,” Reed said. “Unfortunately, I’m still haunted by those lies. People continue to ask, ‘Did you really put a rifle to a guy’s head?’ and ‘Do you really have a degree in music from Harvard?'”
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
