Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report a stranger wandering around the neighbourhood.

Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. They were to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.

Two New Jersey police officers questioned Bob Dylan after residents of a neighbourhood called about a suspicious-looking man wandering their streets.Two New Jersey police officers questioned Bob Dylan after residents of a neighbourhood called about a suspicious-looking man wandering their streets. (Jeff Christensen/Associated Press)

A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley revealed Friday.

"I don't think she was familiar with his entire body of work," Woolley said.

The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident reported a man wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighbourhood several blocks from the oceanfront, looking at houses.

The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued:

"What is your name, sir?" the officer asked.

"Bob Dylan," Dylan said.

"OK, what are you doing here?" the officer asked.

"I'm on tour," the singer replied.

A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said.

The officers asked Dylan for identification.

The singer of such classics as Like a Rolling Stone and Blowin' in the Wind said that he didn't have any ID with him, that he was just walking around looking at houses to pass some time before the evening show.

The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. There, tour staff vouched for Dylan.

The officers thanked him for his co-operation.

"He couldn't have been any nicer to them," Woolley added.

It's not the first time the music icon has wandered around a city while on tour. He dropped by Neil Young’s childhood home in Winnipeg last November — and got a tour from the homeowner.