Anecdotal Memorabilia Homesick Blues Bob

Francoise Hardy, in a BBC Radio 4 documentary, dedicated to the spell she cast over every 60's UK grammar school lad sporting a PVC mac plus a pair of desert boots, revealed that when Dylan played the Paris Olympia for the first time, on his 25th birthday, May 24, 1966, he refused to come out for the second, electric, half, until she visited his dressing room. There, he serenaded her with Just Like a Woman and I Want You (how many times has he played the latter, live, incidentally?). Everyone booed, and whistled, until he finally came out with The Hawks. "he was not in a good condition", avers Francoise. Jagger, Lennon, McCartney, Ray Davies, Brian Jones and Dylan all tried, and failed, to have their wicked way with her. Her favourite personal recording is her latterday I'll Be Seeing You duet with Iggy Pop, "the sweetest bad boy I ever met".

pinhedz wrote:She said No? Such a sharp dresser as Bob?

There's another photo of them both, taken that night, with Johnny Hallyday. Perhaps The Gallic Elvis cramped Bob's every move. I prefer to think that Francoise kept him at arm's length, all by herself. And so, back to London, for Bob, and safe harbour within the ever-dependable, galleonesque sails of Dana Gillespie's heaving bosoms.

Bill Wyman, along with Keith and Brian, once observed Bob Dylan shoplift, in an NYC corner store. He was flabbergasted that one so famous (and wealthy) should pull such a risky stunt.

Strawberry Jam wrote:Yep. And if it hadn't been for Bob's lawyers from Hell, their next album would have been called "(Bob's Got) Sticky Fingers" and the world would have missed out on that famous zipper cover...

And, indeed, the awfully tasteful Spanish cover

Bob, in his birthday suit, out for a spot of late-night entente cordiale with Francoise, and a hard to shake off Johnny Hallyday (to his immediate left).



Having helped her pack for a short trip to London, Bob returns to the main focus of his interest in Francoise, namely, the fragile romanticism of her song-writing.



Bob is left with no other option than to spell it out for Johnny: "You can piss it off back to Les Halles for some French onion soup, sunshine. She's coming back to London with me, and that's it".

Certain castaways Desert Island Discs Dylan choices:

Monty Don (TV gardener)- Nobody 'Cept You
Martin Sheen (actor, US President) - Subterranean Homesick Blues, Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Jeremy Irons (actress)- Make Me Feel My Love, Don't Think Twice (on an earlier appearance)
David Cameron (PM, Flashman Extraordinaire)- Tangled Up in Blue
Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell (International sprinter, former Lib Dem leader)- Hey Mr. Tambourine Man
David Gilmour (former Pinky Keith Floydie)- Ballad in Plain D (ouch)
Rt Hon Robin Cook (politician, hobbit- deceased)- Hey Mr. Tambourine Man
Billy Connolly (lapsed comedian) - Highlands
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf (international peacekeeper) - Times They Are a-Changin'
John Mortimer (QC, writer) - Just Like a Woman
Brian Glover (actor, wrestler) - Like a Rolling Stone
Sir Edmund Hillary (mountaineer) - Blowin' in the Wind
Chris Bonington (mountaineer) - Don't Think Twice

^^

Cath Kidston (really crappy designer of pink flowery ironing board covers and out-moded articles like peg bags) picked I'll be your baby tonight

The Sydney Morning Herald greets Dylan, on his first trip to Australia, in April 1966:



It looks like an ant colony of John Cooper Clarkes, climbing out of a 1950's Festival of Britain vase.

Poor ol John Cooper Clarke, he has lived all his adult life as Blonde on Blonde Bobby.

Saying that I really like him, love his voice and poetry. I sat opposite him on a train from up north to London a few years back, and everytime the train stopped at a station he got out to have a fag. He knew exactly how many puffs he could have before the train pulled out again

I used to see quite a bit of Johnny Clarke in Manchest-ah, back in the post-punk day. I met him backstage at a subterranean small club gig, one time, where we chatted about Dylan. He let me record his set through the desk. It's JCC at his best, in 1981, pouring out all his classics, interspersed with jokes, and sardonic Mancunian interplay with a lively crowd. Great recording.

^^ I would have liked to have been there. John deserves his own thread, I will start one in the poetry section.