Paul Simon is mad that Bob Dylan blew off his duet request

In case the world needed further evidence that Bob Dylan is a Diva with a capital 'D' (or so I like to imagine), Paul Simon has provided it, claiming that Dylan didn't even bother to respond to a request to duet on his new album. "I thought Bob could sing, put a nice voice on the verse from So Beautiful Or So What that begins: 'Ain't it strange the way we're ignorant/ how we seek out bad advice.' I thought it would be nice if he sang that, since his voice has become so weathered I thought he would sound like a sage. I sent it to him, but I didn't hear back. I don't know why."

Ice cold. Simon is also tired of living in the folk legend's shadow, saying, "I usually come in second to (to Dylan), and I don't like coming in second. In the beginning, when we were first signed to Columbia, I really admired Dylan's work. The Sound of Silence wouldn't have been written if it weren't for Dylan. But I left that feeling around The Graduate and Mrs Robinson. They weren't folky any more. [...] One of my deficiencies is my voice sounds sincere. I've tried to sound ironic. I don't. I can't. Dylan, everything he sings has two meanings. He's telling you the truth and making fun of you at the same time. I sound sincere every time."

Well, that's a pretty on-point self-assessment on Simon's part, but still, it'd be nice to see the apparent rift between these two healed. Perhaps this a problem best solved through song.