What is Bob Dylan up to with this Instagram Post about Aaron Burr?

 

              Aaron Burr, Jr. John Vanderlyn, c.1803, Yale University Art Gallery. 

On September 15, 2025, Bob Dylan posted a video to his Instagram account that contained a first-person biographical account of Aaron Burr, Jr. The post is not a new song or a comment on current events, but rather a direct recitation of detailed historical events. The exact meaning of the post is, like the artist himself, open to interpretation.  Here is the post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOojlNEgls7/

Summary of the Instagram post

• The video consists of a block of text presented in the style of a journal entry or memoir.
• The text is written from the perspective of Aaron Burr, describing his family history, including his father, Aaron Burr Sr., who was the second President at The College of New Jersey and his mother's father, the famous Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards.
• It does not include any other commentary, music, or explanation from Dylan himself. 

Possible interpretations

As Dylan did not provide any context for the post, its meaning can only be speculated:

• A historical project: The post could be a piece of a larger historical or narrative project. Dylan is a lifelong student of American history and culture, and his work often draws on historical figures and events.  It is reminiscent of his song "Cross the Green Mountain" that reflects deep historical research into the battles and personalities of the Civil War and the period depicted in the film:  "Gods and Generals."  The Music video is a must see: https://youtu.be/Iw8YjVrRNRU?feature=shared.  There have also been a series of posts on Bob's instagram account that follow a similar pattern, which has also featured other historical figures like Andrew Jackson, Stephen Foster, Edgar Allan Poe, and Frank James.
• Lyrical inspiration: He may be hinting at a new song or album that incorporates the story of Aaron Burr, using the post to introduce the theme.  That would certainly be cool.
• Artistic diversion: The post could be an artistic exercise or a simple diversion for Dylan, who is known for his unconventional and sometimes cryptic social media presence.
• Thematic connection: A deeper thematic connection may be intended. Dylan may be drawing parallels between Burr, a brilliant and controversial figure, and the larger themes of legacy, power, and historical injustice that have been present in his own music.  Maybe he sees some parallel in the brilliant but tragically misunderstood "outlaw" figure of Aaron Burr and Dylan's own incredible story.  Burr was just one electorial vote shy of the presidency in 1800. He served as the third vice-president under Jefferson and was the sitting Vice President when he shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel. He was a senator from New York for six years 1791-1797.  He was the grandson of America's most famous theologian, Jonathan Edwards. He lost both of his remarkable parents when he was just two-years-old.  The orphans Aaron and Sally Burr were taken first to the household of Dr. William Shippen in Philadelphia until his famous grandfather and grandmother took up residence in Aaron's former home, the President's mansion in Princeton.

• His famous grandfather and grandmother took up residence in the President's home in January of 1758 and retrieved Burr and his sister. He was installed as the new President of the College of New Jersey the following month on February 16th, 1758, but Jonathan soon died of complications from a failed smallpox innoculation in March before their move from Stockbridge was completed. Burr's grandmother Sarah Pierrepont Edwards intended to take the two small orphans back to the Edward's home in Stockbridge, MA, but she contracted dysentery on the journey and she aslo died on October 2nd, 1758 (aged 48). The orphans were eventually provided with a home when they were cared for by their twenty-year old bachelor uncle, Timothy Edwards, who didn't marry until two years later on September 25, in 1760.
• Reference to Hamilton: The post coincides with a recent revival of interest in Aaron Burr due to the musical Hamilton. While Dylan's post is serious in tone, the timing could be a subtle nod to the cultural conversation surrounding the historical figure. 

What I find most interesting, as a guy working on a Biography of Aaron Burr's teacher John Witherspoon, is that Dylan demonstrates a deep familiarity with Aaron Burr, Sr. and his role as the President of the College of New Jersey.  Also he also gives us some reflection on Jonathan Edwards, and his role in the first great awakening, and author of the famous Sinners in the hand of an Angry God sermon.  He then goes into some detail about the mother of Aaron Burr, Jr., Esther Edwards Burr.   Dylan appears to have read The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757 which are letters written to Sally Prince, her friend in Boston.  The letters give a picture of their eighteenth-century evangelical sisterhood. 

In October 1754 Esther began a journal which she sent at intervals to her best friend Sally (Sarah) Prince of Boston in the form of numbered letters, and received similar missives from Sally. Prince's letters have perished, and Esther's break off early in September 1757, just a few days before the death of her husband, Aaron. Esther describes her son Aaron, Jr.:  He is a "little dirty Noisy Boy....very Sly and mischievious" and he is "very resolute and requires a good Governor to bring him to terms."

Her husband Aaron Sr. died later that month.  Then in February 1758 her father, Jonathan Edwards, was inaugurated president of the College to succeed Aaron Burr, Sr. but then he too died in March; Esther herself succumbed to a fever early in April of the same year as her father.  Bob Dylan has put together an accurate timeline of all this tragedy and shows its potential devastating impact on the life and later character of the infamous Aaron Burr.

This is a 1764 copper engraving by Philadelphia artist Henry Dawkins — copied from a drawing by William Tennent, a 1758 alumnus.  It shows Nassau Hall (at left) as it likely looked when the Aaron Burr, Sr. family was living in the Presdient house on the right. The building, Nassau Hall, as the largest stone structure in America at the time, was completed in 1756.  The house on the right is the President's house where the elder Burr family lived, moving in December, 1756. Jonathan and Sarah Edwards came to be installed as the new president after Aaron Burr, Sr. died. The younger Burr's mother, Esther died in April of 1758 less than a month after her father passed away from a failed smallpox inoculation.  Sarah Edwards traveled to Philadelphia to retrieve and care for her orphaned grandchildren Aaron and his sister Sally. Sarah Edwards died in October of 1758.

The journal of Esther and Sally is a rare self-revelation of a beautiful person. Bob Dylan seems to have read these letters.  Has Mick Jagger gotten into this yet?  Could Bruce Springstein give a good account of historical significance of The College of New Jersey in colonial America, even though it is in his native state?  What could Paul McCartney tell us about The Great Awakening and the eighteenth century evangelical sisterhood?

The artist has a good imagination which is revealed as he is accurately imagining what it would be like to live in early Colonial America.  He has some beautiful writing in here, for example, in the hot summer days, "your shirt clings to you like guilt."  "The wind took on that clean edge [in the fall] that told you to prepare."

Dylan has all the details right about Burr at the College of New Jersey, and Burr being a young prodigy coming to the college at the early age of 13 and his accelerated track to early graduation in 1772 at age 16.  It would have been interesting to hear more about his college days being one of the 22 graduates in 1772.  One in attendance along with him would have been the future president of the United States, James Madison who graduated in 1771.  Madison, like Burr, wisely spent an extra year with Dr. Witherspoon studying Hebrew, and other subjects to match his remarkable expertise in Latin.  In this way, they were both likely the very first American Graduates students.  Madison, like many of Witherspoon's students, went on to incredible future success as "The Father of the American Constitution" and he was Secretary of State under Jefferson for 8 years (1801-1809) before serving as President of the United States for 8 years (1809-1817).  Aaron Burr was Vice President under Jefferson during his first term (1801-1805), having tied with Jefferson in the electoral college, each receiving 73 electoral votes in the 1800 Presidental election. 

Dylan gives a good gritty account of what it was really like at Valley Forge.  As well as an unvarnished look at General Washington who never got along well with Aaron Burr.  And Dylan also describes Burr's rivalry with Alexander Hamilton very well.  "Civility yes, but war beneath the skin." .... "He sought legacy, I sought reality.  But in the end we both lost."

This is another interesting art form, coming from a guy who has released 40 influential albums, over 600 published songs, 230 paintings, according to collector and gallery sources tracking his official output.  There are his films and his best-selling books.  Chronicles received widespread critical acclaim and spent 19 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction books. Although Dylan later won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, this honor was awarded for his overall contribution to literature—especially his songwriting.  And lets not forget the metallurgy! 

What Dylan is doing in exploring this new art form, and what this context-less post means is anybody's guess.  Maybe at age 84, he is trying his hand at historical fiction in case he ever needs to pick up a side hussel to suplement his retirement should he ever decide to retire from his never-ending tour.

Doug

You can find the full written text to the Instagram Post at this link and scroll down.

Tell me what you think is going on with this Instagram Post in the comments.