Bob Dylan was born in Hibbing, MN 70 years ago today. I’m listening right now to one of Jim’s favorite Dylan album’s “Blood on the Tracks,” specifically “Tangled Up in Blue,” Jim's favorite song on the album, and now one of mine.
Back in the day, Jim did a credible Dylan impersonation (how could he not with that big ole snozz, though he did have to pinch it shut tight to get just the right nasality) and was one of the first to help me understand Dylan was much, much more than just a poet who couldn't sing and wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Like a Rolling Stone.” Thank goodness.
To round up our month of Dylan, Amelia combed the archive to assemble this lovely assortment of Jim’s shots of Dylan from the earlier part of his career. All of these shots, except the one from the Johnny Cash Show in 1969, were taken before Dylan “locked up the brakes”on his Triumph 100 motorcycle and crashed in Woodstock in the summer of 1966. Dylan said the crash made him realize some things and he turned his back on the “leeches” in the music business and toward his family for the better part of eight years.
Jim always said that he felt Dylan really changed (not in all ways for the better) after that crash, that things seemed to get tangled up in Dylan’s mind. I know it left a bitter taste in Jim's mouth to lose the easy access to Dylan and the innocence of spirit he was so fortunate to capture. I’ve always wondered what if the access had not been cut off? What if Jim could have continued to document Dylan with that same trust? But enough with the sad “what ifs.”
Here’s to a simpler time, before things got so tangled up and to learning how to appreciate the knots when they do. Happy Birthday, Bob!
- Jim Marshall Photography LLC Newsroom blog
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