Write about Wisconsin? Yes. Sing about Wisconsin? That’s not so clear. In one of his notebooks, in an entry dated November 20, 1961, Dylan scratched out the lyrics for a song that begins, “Wisconsin is the dairy state / I guess you all know well / I was in Wow-wow-toaster there / The truth to you I’ll tell.” This was, perhaps, not considered by members of the Nobel Prize committee before they offered him their award for literature in 2016. In case you’re confused, “Wow-wow-toaster” is a rendering of Wauwatosa. You may wonder what the song was called — so does everyone else. The top of the page is torn, so if Dylan ever had a title, he ripped it off. He had been in Madison earlier that year, and while the city “set his heart aglow” (according to the lyrics), his performances here didn’t exactly foreshadow his rise to fame. But it’s not clear that he ever recorded this song, or if he even set it to music — there doesn’t appear to be any scoring or notation. If you have an idea for a melody, give it a shot. But you’ll probably owe Dylan royalties.

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