Dylan: I'd Rather Be Elvis

In his first television interview in 19 years, he says grandiose comparisons make him uncomfortable.

The folk-rock legend, 63, says the hero worship of the '60s generation often leaves him feeling like an imposter.

"It was like being in an Edgar Allen Poe story and you're just not that person everybody thinks you are, though they call you that all the time," he says, according to advance extracts from an interview to be broadcast tomorrow on the CBS network in the US.

" 'You're the prophet. You're the saviour.' I never wanted to be a prophet or a saviour," he said.

"Elvis maybe. I could see myself becoming him. But prophet? No."

Much of Dylan's discomfort comes from the mystique fans attach to his personality and his work.

"My stuff . . . (they) were songs. They weren't sermons," he said. "If you examine the songs I don't believe you're going to find anything in there that says that I'm a spokesman for anybody or anything really."

The interview came just weeks after the 1965 Dylan classic Like a Rolling Stone was voted the greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.

Elvis recorded A few songs by Bob Dylan: "Blowin' in the Wind", Don't Think Twice It's All Right", "I Shall Be Released" and " Tomorrow Is a Long Time".