Bob Dylan
25 years ago the photographer Lyn Goldsmith brought out a book containing anecdotes about all the dozens and dozens of famous musicians she’d worked with. She wrote that when she met Bob Dylan in the 80s he was perfectly pleasant and even bought her a hat as a birthday present, but added that being around him felt odd. “Every few minutes he’d say or do something that made me think: Oh my God, it’s Bob Dylan.” Goldsmith also reveals that seeing Dylan with his obsessive fans makes her glad she’s not him. I don’t think I’d like to be Bob Dylan either – even when he was a young man in the swinging 60s – there’s somehow too much baggage and too much to live up to. Dylan famously described himself as being a simple song and dance man. George Harrison once introduced him on stage by saying he was, “A friend to us all”. 2020 saw the release of a new killer album and an announcement that he was selling the rights to all his songs. We decided the time was right for Le Document profile on Bob. Now read on ...
Dylan, whose real name is Robert Zimmerman, was born in 1941, his first musical heroes were Rock and Roll stars such as Buddy Holly and Little Richard. In 1960 the young Zimmerman got a job playing piano for Bobby Vee and a year later he earned 50 dollars playing harmonica for Harry Belafonte. In 1962 he changed his named to Bob Dylan and recorded a fantastic single called, Mixed Up Confusion.
For the rest of the 1960s Dylan would knock out classic song after classic song. And every other artist seemed to be a Dylan fan. A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall would be recorded by Bryan Ferry, Blowin’ In The Wind would be recorded by Stevie Wonder, Don’t Think Twice would be recorded by Peter Paul & Mary, If You Gotta Go, Go Now would be recorded by Manfred Mann, Wanted Man would be recorded by Johnny Cash, and Mr Tambourine Man would be recorded by The Byrds. And of course 5 star classic album followed 5 star classic album – all of those records like; Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde On Blonde are as good as the rock critics make out.
It was around this period that Dylan would meet Shirley Noznisky. Shirely was a model, she married a photographer called Hans Lownds and changed her first name to Sara. I would imagine various tracks on Blonde On Blonde such as I Want You and Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands were inspired by Sara Lownds. They got married in November 1965 and would have three children together. Sadly, their relationship became rocky as, for some reason Dylan fell apart. Factors that would have contributed to Dylan coming apart at the seams may have included working too hard, touring too much and drinking too much. The discovery his manager Albert Grossman had lost a lot of his money can’t have helped matters either. Sadly it’s believed Dylan was at times violent towards his wife and once broke her jaw.
Dylan’s album Desire featured a nasty song called Idiot Wind ( “You're an idiot babe/It’s a wonder that you still know how to breath”) but there was also a track called Sara (“I can still hear the sound of the Methodist bells / I had taken the cure and had just gotten through / staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel / writing “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you.”) Sara was impressed enough by this song to give the father of her children another chance she was by his side during his “rolling thunder” tour but by 1977 she decided she could take no more. She revealed she had to lock doors to protect herself from his outbursts and had become terrified of him. She was rumoured to have been awarded 36 million dollars (half his stash).
When I listen to the many records he released in the70s and 80s, in my opinion, there are probably as many duff songs as there are great ones and one or two albums are best avoided all together. Just as the 80s were drawing to a close, a wonderful thing happened, Dylan released the fantastic, Oh Mercy – an album as rich and rewarding as the masterpieces he gave us in the 60s. In 1997 he delighted fans once more with the L.P. Time Out Of Mind which some long time fans such as Elvis Costello believed was his best collection of songs yet.
Dylan’s Never Ending Tour may have been put on hold due to Covid-19 but I have a feeling we will see him onstage once more. Dylan really has given his life to Rock and Roll.
Part of what’s great about Dylan is his wit. I love this excerpt from an interview Dylan gave to Playboy Magazine in 1966 ...
Playboy Magazine: What made you decide to go the rock-‘n’-roll route?
Dylan: “Carelessness. I lost my one true love. I started drinking. The first thing I know, I’m in a card game. Then I’m in a crap game. I wake up in a pool hall. Then this big Mexican lady drags me off the table, takes me to Philadelphia. She leaves me alone in her house, and it burns down. I wind up in Phoenix. I get a job as a Chinaman. I start working in a dime store, and move in with a 13-year-old girl. Then this big Mexican lady from Philadelphia comes in and burns the house down. I go down to Dallas. I get a job as a “before” in a Charles Atlas “before and after” ad. I move in with a delivery boy who can cook fantastic chili and hot dogs. Then this 13-year-old girl from Phoenix comes and burns the house down. The delivery boy – he ain’t so mild: He gives her the knife, and the next thing I know I’m in Omaha. It’s so cold there, by this time I’m robbing my own bicycles and frying my own fish. I stumble onto some luck and get a job as a carburetor out at the hot-rod races every Thursday night. I move in with a high school teacher who also does a little plumbing on the side, who ain’t much to look at, but who’s built a special kind of refrigerator that can turn newspaper into lettuce. Everything’s going good until that delivery boy shows up and tries to knife me. Needless to say, he burned the house down, and I hit the road. The first guy that picked me up asked me if I wanted to be a star. What could I say?”
Playboy magazine: And that's how you became a rock ‘n’ roll singer?
Dylan: “No, that's how I got tuberculosis”
Because Le Document H.Q. is inhabited by Dylan fans we couldn't resist compiling our Top 30 Dylan tracks.
Happy listening.
