1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: Bob Dylan are insane. He was booed at the nineteen 3 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: sixty five Newport Folk Festival, but not for the reason 4 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: you've been led to believe. He traded in his status 5 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: as a folk music Jesus to become a rock and 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: rolled judas, alienating thousands of fans with ear splitting, confrontational music. 7 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: Many of those fans heckled him. One even tried to 8 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,479 Speaker 1: attack him on stage with a knife. He was in 9 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: a motorcycle accident that, depending on which paper you read 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,880 Speaker 1: left to me, either disfigured, paralyzed, or dead. This happened 11 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: at a time when he was making great music, music 12 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: that scandalized one genre while simultaneously revolutionizing another. Unlike that loop, 13 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: I played a few at the time of the show 14 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for 15 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: my melotron called Ticker Tape Toe Tapper MK two. I 16 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the rights 17 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: to Hanky Panky by Tommy James and the Shondells. And 18 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of horn 19 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: dog Voyeur cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was 20 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: the number one song in America on July twenty ninth, 21 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, and that was the day Bob Dylan 22 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: crashed his triumph on the back roads of Woodstock, New York, 23 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: an accident the change not just him but music forever. 24 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: On this episode, food Hated, Tackled, attacked, disgruntled fans, a 25 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: rock and roll Judas and Bob Dylan. I'm Jake Brennan. 26 00:01:52,240 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 2: And this is Disgraceland. 27 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: April nineteen sixty five, London, Twenty three year old Bob 28 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: Dylan stepped off the plane at Heathrow Airport, fully aware 29 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: that something was ending. He was over it. Greenwich Village, 30 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 1: McDougall Street, Dave Van Rock, The Clancy Brothers. Four years 31 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,959 Speaker 1: in the New York City folk trenches was four years 32 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: too long. Three decades later, he'd explained himself in a 33 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: song that earned him his one and only Academy award. 34 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 2: He used to care, but things have. 35 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: Changed right now, though in nineteen sixty five, he couldn't 36 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: set it any better than he'd did on the final 37 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,399 Speaker 1: track of the album he'd released one month prior. 38 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 2: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. 39 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: Bringing it all back Home may have been his fifth 40 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: studio album overall, but it was his first to feature 41 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 1: electric instrumentation, if only on side one. As soon as 42 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: that record hit the shelves, the writing was on the 43 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: wall that not everyone was willing to read it. Bob 44 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: Dylan stood there, one foot in the old and one 45 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: foot in the new. Imagine yourself in his shoes. You're 46 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: here in England to perform that the songs everyone wants 47 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: you to play aren't the songs you're interested in anymore. 48 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: Those songs are stuck in time, and you're an artist 49 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: for all time, because if it's not for all time, 50 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: it's not worth doing. Hey that's a pretty good line. 51 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: You stash it away in your mind to day out later. 52 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: Right now, you're busy thinking about all the new songs 53 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: you're writing. There's a typewriter in your room here at 54 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: the Savoy Hotel, and you put it to good use. 55 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: Soon the pages are as full of words as the 56 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,559 Speaker 1: ash trays full of half smoked cigarettes. But da Kennebecker's 57 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: handheld sixteen milimated camera is rolling non stop, documenting every keystroke. 58 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: It's suffocating and you got to get out, get some air. 59 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: So you hit the town, which means you hit the 60 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: media circuit, which means journalists. They ask you questions like 61 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: how do you write your songs? Why do you wear 62 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: your hair long? What do you do with all your money? 63 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: The last one's easy, beer skins and rabbit first, what 64 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: else do you do with money? You're attracted to smart 65 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: ass comebacks like that one, just like you're attracted to data. 66 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: Gillespian a reception in your honor. The appropriate thing to 67 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,239 Speaker 1: do is check out her die job. But her forty 68 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: four inch bus proves undeniable. She's got tits like mountains, 69 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 1: and this makes you start to laugh, which pissus stained 70 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: Gillespie off to no end. Says, she's got a starter 71 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: pistol in her room and she's not afraid to use it. 72 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: Maryanne Faithful isn't laughing though, not even at your jokes, 73 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: probably because Joe and Bias is standing right there and 74 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: she's the butt of most of them. The Beatles have 75 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: jokes for days, but back in your hotel room, they 76 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: just want to reminisce about that time you get them 77 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: all stoned for the first time. But all you really 78 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: want to do is talk to John alone. John is 79 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: far more interesting than Alan Price, who you ask why 80 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: the animals as he's playing the piano in the dressing room, 81 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: and it's an innocent question, but it gets under his 82 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,679 Speaker 1: skin and he slams the piano that down on the keys. 83 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: This he's not fucking talking about it, man, just like 84 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:10,840 Speaker 1: you're not talking about Donovan, even though everyone here wants 85 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: to know what you think of him. So you do 86 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: what comes natural. You mess with anyone who asks Donovan, 87 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: is that some kind of British food? You say this 88 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: because you got to maintain your cool. Cool as in 89 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 1: hip Bobby is the one punching the hip cards. That's 90 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: Bobby Newarth. 91 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 2: What would you call them? Exactly? Your Concieri? Or is 92 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 2: that Al Cooper? It doesn't matter. 93 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: All that matters is that Bobby has that style, that 94 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,479 Speaker 1: same one that uses from you each time you step 95 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:33,799 Speaker 1: out of the bathroom wired on amphetamy. He's so fucked 96 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: up the words don't come out right. But who are 97 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: you kidding? Everyone's fucked up here. The wine is spiked 98 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: with LSD for Christ's six. That shit sends you to 99 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: the hospital and leaves you wondering. The trip trip, as 100 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: in the acid Trip, hasn't dragging your ass from Sheffield 101 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: to Liverpool to Manchester. Well, how does it feel? It 102 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 1: feels like this twenty pages of vomit at least out. 103 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: You'll tell the press later when the song comes out, 104 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: even though the words have been coldalessened inside your head 105 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: for weeks and months. You're the conduit, the vessel flesh 106 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: and bone through which words flow. You don't really know 107 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: how happens. It just does, man, which is how you 108 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: find yourself at a piano writing a song about that 109 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: time you dress so fine through the bums of Diamond 110 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: you're prime, and you catch playing back home with the 111 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: State's jet lag more pills in red wine. You make 112 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:12,720 Speaker 1: your way in the Columbia studio at the New York City, 113 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 1: you leave your sunglasses on. You got to do that 114 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 1: at Bobby Neworth to revoke your hip card, and you 115 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: get a bunch of other casts laid down that song 116 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,280 Speaker 1: that you were working on earlier before you know it, 117 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: Like a rolling Stone is Everywhere your biggest hit to date. 118 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: At least five days before, you played Newport Folk Festival 119 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: for the third straight year Newport with the Diehards. Pretend 120 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 1: to be offended that you're not playing with Joan again. 121 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: This year that you're playing this Like a Rolling Stone 122 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: bullshit with the Butterfield Blues Band. But the focus of 123 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: all people should know that the times man, they are 124 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: a changing. Plus, the real reason they're upset at Newport 125 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: is because whoever's running the soundboard can't mix for shit, 126 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: and you sound awful. You heard that ray. The long 127 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: standing myth about Bob Dylan's appearance at the nineteen sixty 128 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: five Newport Folk Festival, a performance in which he went 129 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: electric and thus offended his coffee drinking, turtle neck wearing bass, 130 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 1: is simply not true. First of all, Dylan had already 131 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,679 Speaker 1: gone electric. His album Bringing It All Back Home, which 132 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: as I said earlier, featured one entire side with electric instrumentation, 133 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: was released four months prior. His latest single, the Very 134 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: Loud and Very Long Like a Rolling Stone, was currently 135 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: all over the charts. Bob Dylan was not booed at 136 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: Newport because he surprised everyone with a stratocaster instead of 137 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: an acoustic guitar. That's just bullshit rock and roll mythology. 138 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: Bob Dylan was booed because the sound system was not 139 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: equipped to handle electric instruments. All the crowd could hear 140 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: was noise. 141 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 2: Now. 142 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: Where Dylan really did get booed for the new music 143 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: he was playing was shortly after Newport, when he made 144 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: one of the single greatest hiring decisions in music history. 145 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: Levon and the Hawks were four Canadians, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, 146 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson, along with Arkansas native Levon 147 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: on drums. Before long they'd be reborn as the band 148 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: That's capital T, capital B, but at this moment they 149 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: were best known as the guys who played the club 150 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: circuit with that crazy motherfucker Ronnie Hawkins. Little did they 151 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: know that Bob Dylan was even crazier. Playing with Dylan 152 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: was like flying blind. Dylan didn't tell the voice shit 153 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: not how to play, not where to play, not what 154 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: to play. They had no clue because Dylan had no clue. 155 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 1: How could he. His only experience up till then was 156 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: strumming an autitude acoustic guitar. Dylan and the Hawks made 157 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: it up as they went along. In front of audience 158 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: is expecting to see Focusing or Bob Dylan. Instead, they 159 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: got their fucking wigs blown back by Dylan's contemptuous sneer 160 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: and Robbie Robertson switched Blee telecaster every night. The schedule 161 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: was grueling, so pills made it easier. Pills helped Dylan 162 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: forget how much he missed Sarah, the girl he'd been 163 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: seeing behind the back of Joe Bias, just like he 164 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 1: wants saw Joan behind the back of Susie. But he 165 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: was pretty sure Sarah was it the one pregnant with 166 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: his baby, and he really did love her. Unlike the 167 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: audiences on this tour. They used to love Bob Dylan. 168 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: Now they weren't sure anymore. Some didn't hold back their hatred, 169 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: hatred that Dylan learned to weaponize. 170 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 2: He wore it like a badge. This was Dylan's idea 171 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 2: to protest music. Now, this right here. 172 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: He told the Hawks to turn it up, way up, 173 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: and take all that hostility that the crowd was giving 174 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: them and throw it right back in their faces. The 175 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: guy is happily obliged all but Levan. Levan was struggling. 176 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: He couldn't find the pocket and the music. He couldn't 177 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: understand Dylan's weird fucking songs, and he'd never been brooded 178 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: so much in his. 179 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 2: Damn life, and he wanted out. 180 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: Maybe it was the thick skin Dylan that built up 181 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: from the thankless months on the road. Maybe it was 182 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,640 Speaker 1: the pills. Either way, he watched one of the greatest 183 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: drummers in the world walk away from him, and he thought, well, 184 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: fuck it, Levon, what are you going to do? Go 185 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: back to Arkansas and do what settle down. Bob Dylan, 186 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:15,680 Speaker 1: for one, was not settling down. Well technically he was, 187 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: but not in the sense that it meant that he 188 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: was giving up. In November of nineteen sixty five, he 189 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: took a day off from his whirlwind schedule and tied 190 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: the knot with Sarah Lowndes at a Long Island Registry office, 191 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: some three hours away from Woodstock, New York, where he 192 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: had recently bought his first house. Less than two months later, 193 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 1: their first son was born, his wife, his family, his 194 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: house out in the country. This life was now calling 195 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: to him. But first Bob Dylan had to go back 196 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,560 Speaker 1: to England and spread the news. Things had changed, and 197 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: this time he was bringing reinforcements. This time he was 198 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: bringing his band. 199 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 2: Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, told the drummer to lose 200 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:26,719 Speaker 2: the Nazi helmet. 201 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: Mickey Jones the guy sitting in for Levon Helm on 202 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: the European leg of Dylan's World Tour thought the helmet 203 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: was funny. He couldn't believe he could just walk into 204 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: a store here in London and buy one. But his 205 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: warped sense of humor didn't matter in this situation. When 206 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,599 Speaker 1: Albert Grossman told you to do something, you did it. 207 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:46,679 Speaker 1: Don't let the genteel gentleman's hat he was wearing fool you. 208 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: They called Grossman the bear, and for good reason. He 209 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 1: was either the teddy kind or the grizzly kind, depending 210 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: on who you were and what you represented. Right now, 211 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: Mickey Jones represented a potential prstnafoo, not to mention the 212 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: wrong kind of subversion of Dylan's hip image. Grossman was 213 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: doing his job, not that said job didn't entail a 214 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: certain amount of provocation. Grossman was every bit of an agitator, 215 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: is his biggest client, Bob Dylan. It was Grossman's idea 216 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: to hang that giant American flag as a backdrop behind 217 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,079 Speaker 1: the band at that show in Paris that really got 218 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 1: the French trialed up, annoyed them as much as Dylan 219 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: himself did. Tuning his guitar on stage for like twenty 220 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,079 Speaker 1: fucking minutes. Now, that was the right kind of subversion. 221 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: Dylan puncturing a hole in the first set of each 222 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,319 Speaker 1: evening show, the acoustic set, the kind of thing he 223 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: used to do and didn't want to do anymore. Now, 224 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: the second set, the electric set, That was an attack, 225 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: a total sonic attack, a truth attack is Dylan called 226 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: some of the songs he was writing now, songs like 227 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: Ballad of the Thin Man and Positively Fourth Street steady 228 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: hinded screeds about people who had a lot of nerve 229 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: to say he was their friend. He was certainly not 230 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: their friend, and neither was the music ear shattering music 231 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 1: he was making With the Hawks. Those guys had Dylan's 232 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: back every night at every show, shows that became increasingly 233 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: contentious as the tour rolled on. The Hawks had Dylan's 234 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: back just like Albert Grossman did. And Grossman didn't put 235 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,719 Speaker 1: on airs like the Beales manager Brian Epstein, nor did 236 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: he parade Dylan around like a monkey in a cage 237 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: as the Colonel did with Elvis. Though eventually Dylan would 238 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: sue Grossman over money honey, but I digress. At the time, 239 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: Grossman was Dylan's eyes and ears, the moat and drawbridge 240 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:39,199 Speaker 1: surrounding his impenetrable fortress of cool, and Grossman was the 241 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: only guy who wanted next to you. When the shit 242 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:49,959 Speaker 1: hit the fan, April nineteen sixty six, Melbourne. Just days earlier, 243 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,079 Speaker 1: the warring camps of Dylan fans nearly came to blows 244 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: in the audience. Now, Bob Dylan and the boys were 245 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,319 Speaker 1: simultaneously relishing in that memory and also trying to put 246 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: it behind them. 247 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 2: Don't look back and all that. 248 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: A big party helped a party with a huge chunk 249 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: of hashish at the center, which they were now picking 250 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: apart to light up and smoke. 251 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 2: The hash supply was spread out across a few hotel rooms. 252 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 2: So was the party. 253 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 1: Not just the band and crew, locals, women, One woman 254 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: in particularly that Dylan's tour manager had brought back after 255 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: the show the daughter of Melbourne's chief of police, and 256 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: that little fact was important, as was the presence of 257 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: all that hash, both things suddenly more important than anything else. 258 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: When the banging started on Dylan's hotel room door, Bob, 259 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: someone was. 260 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 2: Yelling, Bob, the cobs are here. They want to search 261 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 2: your room. Shit the drugs. That chick the police chef's daughter. 262 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 2: How old was she fuck? 263 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: Albert Grossman wasted no time, problem solver that he was. 264 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: He grabbed the big chunk of hashi. She placed it 265 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: on top of his head, underneath that gentleman's hat that 266 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: made him look less grisly teddy. The cops came bursting in. 267 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 1: Dylan put on that straight face, the one he put 268 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: on for reporters when he gave them absurd answers to 269 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: their dumb questions. The police never suspected that the rock 270 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: stars respectable manager was hiding a huge pile of drugs 271 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: under his lid. They were lucky, one less thing to 272 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: worry about. Grossmand knew that Dylan had plenty of other 273 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: shit to worry about, just like everyone was now worrying 274 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: about Bob. His weight was down, his color was sickly, 275 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: refusing to eat anything besides honey, lemon and tea, taking 276 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: more and more of those pills. Not Dexies or Bennies 277 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: like everyone else, but some bespoke variety pills that were 278 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: half uppers, half downers. According to Robbie Robertson, those pills 279 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: kept Dylan wired but mellowed out a constitutional balancing act 280 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: necessary when you're up on stage for the Hawks, practically 281 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 1: daring the audience to revolt, turning songs like One Too 282 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: Many Mornings from a restrained folk anthem into a barn 283 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: burning hell raiser, Mickey Jones hammering his drum kit into oblivion, 284 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: Rick Danko's hound Dog harmony so forceful the music revealed 285 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: half of every crowd to be sleeper agents, awakened by 286 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: the noise, so offended that they couldn't stop from heckling. 287 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: One girl even rushed the stage, approaching with anger and speed, 288 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: a knife clutched tight in her fist. She was on 289 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: the level, now, headed straightforward Dylan, ready to sink the 290 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: blade deep into him or whoever she thought this was 291 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: a trader and impostor Judas himself. A girl naturally was 292 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: stopped by security before she did any damage. And Judas, 293 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: of course, is the most infamous heckle of Bob Dylan's career. 294 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: Judas is what someone in the crowd called Dylan during 295 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: a show at the Manchester Free Hall on May seventeenth, 296 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, not at the Royal Albert Hall, which 297 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: was what was mistakenly written on the box containing the 298 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: tapes of that night's performance, tapes which quickly became one 299 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,679 Speaker 1: of the most bootlegged rock shows for decades. Not just 300 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 1: because Dylan yelled I don't believe you, You're a liar 301 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: at his heckler, and also not just because Dylan then 302 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: turned around to face the Hawks, instructing them to play 303 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 1: it fucking loud, but because the rendition of like a 304 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: rolling stone that immediately follows all this sounds like a 305 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: hammer of the fucking God's explosive, destructive, maximum rock and roll. 306 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: Dylan didn't shy away from the controversy. He created it, 307 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: and then he ran headfirst into it, despite being underweight, underfed, 308 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: and overdrugged. Unlike his pal Johnny Cash, who burst into 309 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: Dylan's hotel room looking for a place to hide. Johnny 310 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: was drunk and stoned and paranoid too that at any moment, 311 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: June Carter was going to appear and make him a 312 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: tone for his sins sins of the bottle, bottles of liquor, 313 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: and bottles of dexagery. Long before Johnny had Dylan on 314 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: his TV variety show, and before Dylan returned the favor 315 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: by having Johnny guest on his record Johnny Cash hid 316 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: out in the closet of Bob Dylan's hotel room, feeling 317 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: about a half past dead, hoping he wouldn't get all 318 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: the way there once his woman got her hands on him. 319 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: Dylan related to that about a half past dead feeling 320 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: just days later. It hit him after the final show 321 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: of the tour, this one actually at the Royal Albert Hall. 322 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: His body, the adrenaline, the pills, his cool, they had 323 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: gotten him this far, but now that it was all over, 324 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: his system shut down. He went full catatonic. Back at 325 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,480 Speaker 1: the hotel room, Grossman couldn't get him to talk. Robbie 326 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: drew him a bat. There was a knock at the 327 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: hotel room door. It was the Fab four, ready to 328 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: get all dizzy. Miss Lizzie. Dylan was already there wherever 329 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: there was. He dropped into a hot bath by his 330 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: manager and his guitar player, where he slowly sank down, 331 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 1: his ears plunging below the waterline, silencing the outside world. 332 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 1: The Scow's accents now giggling. 333 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:08,880 Speaker 2: For the next room. 334 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: The Hecklers judas the Hawks. He made his point, He 335 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,399 Speaker 1: spread the word, he played. 336 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 2: It fucking loud, and now it was time to be quiet. 337 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,679 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word word word. 338 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:39,159 Speaker 1: Stepping off the merry ground of confrontational world tour and 339 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: into a house nestled in quiet Woodstock, New York felt 340 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,199 Speaker 1: like stepping through the gates of Eden. Woodstock was a 341 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:47,439 Speaker 1: welcome reprieve from. 342 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 2: Life on the road. 343 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: It was where Bob Dylan went when he returned from 344 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: Europe to be with his wife Sarah, their newborn son, Jesse, 345 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: Sarah's four year old daughter Maria, whom Dylan was in 346 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: the process of adopting. In two docks, Buster and Hamlet. 347 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: There are eleven room parts and crafts house built around 348 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 1: the turn of the sentry, sat in the hills above town. 349 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 2: The locals called it Hi Loha. 350 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: But though rest and relaxation was on the docket for 351 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: the summer of sixty six, Bob Dylan couldn't help but 352 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,920 Speaker 1: think about what was coming down the pike. It didn't 353 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 1: help that Albert Grossman lived up the road and was 354 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: putting the finishing touches on an impending sixty four day 355 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: tour of the States. Dylan was also finding it hard 356 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,159 Speaker 1: to wean himself from the lifestyle he'd been living the 357 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,360 Speaker 1: last four months. By all accounts, he was still popping pills, 358 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,479 Speaker 1: and by his own personal recollection, he was staying up 359 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,439 Speaker 1: for three days straight at a time because even though 360 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 1: he wanted to chill, he had shit to do. 361 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 2: First. 362 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: He had edit all the footage Da Pennebaker had shopped 363 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,359 Speaker 1: during the first tour of England, the acoustic tour. The 364 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: ABC was planning to air the completed documentary. He was 365 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: breathing down his neck. 366 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 2: For a final cut. 367 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: He was also behind on approving the galleys for Ranch, 368 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:05,160 Speaker 1: his first book of prose poetry. Finally, most important of all, 369 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: Dylan was frantically putting the finishing touches on Blonde on Blonde, 370 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 1: his seventh studio album, which, much to Columbia Records is Dismay, 371 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: had already been delayed numerous times over from the start. 372 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: Blonde on Blonde was a grind sessions that started with 373 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: the Hawks in New York. The previous fall quickly came 374 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 1: to a halt when Dylan couldn't get the sound he 375 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: was looking for it. His producer, Bob Johnston, suggested he 376 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: try Nashville, where the session players were as serious as 377 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,679 Speaker 1: a goddamn heart attack. Dylan gave it a shot, but 378 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: he did it his way, which meant that bona fide 379 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: Nashville cats like Charlie McCoy and Pig Robbins stood around 380 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,479 Speaker 1: Columbia recording studios for hours with the dicks in their 381 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: hands while Dylan wrote and rewrote on the payroll and 382 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,680 Speaker 1: on hold. Nashville didn't operate this way, not then and 383 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: not now. Charlie McCoy and Pig Robins had never seen 384 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: anything like it. Waiting for ten hours at a time 385 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,880 Speaker 1: on the clock, mind you, before Bob Dylan summoned them 386 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 1: all back into the studio ready to cut a seven 387 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: or eleven minute song. It wasn't just unorthodox to these guys. 388 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:14,479 Speaker 1: It was complete insanity, and in its own way, Blonde 389 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 1: on Blonde did sound insane. As Dylan's frequent collaborator Al 390 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: Cooper famously put it, nobody has ever captured the sound 391 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: of three Am better than that album. Nobody, not even Sinatra, 392 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: gets it as good. And nobody was writing songs like 393 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 1: these at the time, Songs like Sad Eyed Lady of 394 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: the Lowlands, so dense, so impenetrable, yet so beautifully downcast, 395 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: and so long that it took up an entire side 396 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: of the record on its own, which is part. 397 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 2: Of the reason why. 398 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: When it was released on June twentieth, nineteen sixty six, 399 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: Blonde on Blonde was a two record set. The sound 400 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: of three Am was now on turntables and radios all 401 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: over the world. It was also Bob Dylan's permanent state 402 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:03,119 Speaker 1: of mind, or so it seemed anyway. Years later, Dylan 403 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: described that state of mind and that sound as that thin, 404 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: wild mercury sound, metallic and bright gold. But as far 405 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 1: back as nineteen sixty six, he'd already defined it, if 406 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: only in his head, thin wild, mercury, metallic and gold. 407 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,199 Speaker 1: It rattled inside his head as he remained awake all 408 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: through the day, and then all through the night, and 409 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: then the next day and the next night. Pennebaker's movie 410 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,400 Speaker 1: Fridge in the galleys of his book, hanging like albatrosses 411 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: around his neck, work pills stress, the lifestyle he should 412 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: have left behind in Europe, the lifestyle he wanted to 413 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: leave behind so he could focus on his family. But 414 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: it clung to him. It refused to let go. Thin, wild, 415 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: metallic and bright gold. July twenty ninth, nineteen sixty six, 416 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 1: Bob and Sarah Dylan at Albert Grossman's house, Blonde on 417 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,879 Speaker 1: Blonde barely cracking the top one hund on its album 418 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: chart debut. At least, that's what Grossman was going on about. 419 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,199 Speaker 1: Dylan didn't want to think about it, about any of it. 420 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: He just wanted to go home. Dylan on his Triumph 421 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: motorcycle and Sarah following behind him in their forward station wagon. 422 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,159 Speaker 1: He wanted to hear his Triumph engine, to feel the 423 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: wind blow through his thick, curly hair, that same feeling 424 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: he'd had in the bath to the back in the 425 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:29,119 Speaker 1: hotel room in London, blot everything else out outside. He 426 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: climbed on the Triumph's seat. His hands and feet moved instinctively, 427 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: carburetor clutch kickstarting. The Triumph, felched mightily and came to life, 428 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: rumbling beneath him, that thin, wild mercury sound easily blown 429 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 1: out of his head by a deep guttural idol. He 430 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: hit the gas and he took off down Street vill Road, 431 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: Sarah following close behind. He took a ride onto Glasgow Turnpike. 432 00:24:55,520 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: Sarah did too. The sun was bright, so bright, like 433 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,439 Speaker 1: he was driving straight into it. He thought about what 434 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: someone had told him years ago, maybe his mother, maybe not. 435 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,120 Speaker 1: Don't look directly into the sun or you'll go blind. 436 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: He knew this, Everyone knew this, but still they couldn't 437 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,880 Speaker 1: help it. He looked directly at the sun and suddenly 438 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: everything was bright white. He panicked, the Triumph swerved, he 439 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: hit the brake, the real lea locked up. The bikes gitted, rubber, 440 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: burning up the pavement, and now the bike was out 441 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: of his control, spinning, screeching, and Bob Dylan was tossed 442 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 1: into the middle of the road like a raghole. Dylan's 443 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: upcoming tour was immediately canceled. News of his motorcycle accident 444 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: trickled to the press. Time magazine reported that he had 445 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: not been wearing a helmet and as a result, had 446 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: suffered severe face and back cuts. The Daily News, on 447 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: the other hand, said that Dylan was so severely disfigured 448 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: that it was possible he'd never perform again. Others stories 449 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: followed he was getting plastic surgery, he was paralyzed. Albert 450 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: Grossman offered up very little information, not even to Dylan's parents, 451 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: who were in the dark for weeks following the incident, 452 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 1: and then Bob Dylan's father got a phone call, not 453 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: from Albert Grossman and not from his son. The call 454 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: was from a reporter asking if the family had details 455 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 1: on the funeral arrangement. Much to his father's shock, it 456 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: seemed that Bob Dylan was dead. In nineteen sixty six, 457 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,360 Speaker 1: news traveled very slowly. This is difficult to imagine now, 458 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,439 Speaker 1: given the twenty four to seven newsfeed dooms growing that 459 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: is central to our culture. Years ago, it could take weeks, 460 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 1: even months for news to be delivered. You got it 461 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: in a newspaper or on the evening news on television. 462 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: Most of the time, however, news came to you from 463 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,919 Speaker 1: someone else, person to person, and just like now in 464 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, back in nineteen sixty six, people were 465 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: often misinformed. Thus many people were left guessing about what 466 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: really happened. The day Bob Dylan crashed his motorcycle and 467 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: promptly disappeared from the public eye for months, reporters drove 468 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: up to Woodstock searching for Dylan's home. One reporter did 469 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: manage to find his way at a high Loha, only 470 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: to meet Sarah Dylan on the doorstep, who told him 471 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: to get lost or she called the cops. It wasn't 472 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: until May of nineteen sixty seven, almost one year after 473 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: the accident, that someone finally got through. This journalist was 474 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: luckier than the last guy who approached Dylan's house. He 475 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: was welcome not by Sarah's stern warning, but by Bob 476 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: Dylan himself was not dead after all. Though it seemed 477 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: he had changed, He looked different, he sounded different, and 478 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,919 Speaker 1: though he claimed to still be a conduit, a vessel 479 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: flesh and bone through which words flowed, he was refusing 480 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: to write down the songs collecting in his head, not until, 481 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,479 Speaker 1: as Dylan said, some people come forth and make up 482 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: for some of the things that have happened. That comment 483 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 1: was cryptic and strange, as strange as some of the 484 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: things now happening in total secrecy. Jam sessions in the 485 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: basement of a big pink house that Rick Danka was 486 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: renting in Woodstock, jam sessions that Dylan was taking part 487 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: in regularly with the Hawks, even leave on Helm now 488 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: back in the fold. The details surrounding the music they 489 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: were making were as sketchy as the details about Dylan's accident, 490 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: but the official story was this, Bob Dylan suffered serious 491 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: injuries and took time off to recover, but the facts 492 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: we are aware of now seemed to suggest something else. 493 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: Facts like these. Police were called to the scene of 494 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: the accident, no report was filed, no investigation, no lawsuits. 495 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: Albert Grossman's wife's recollection of that day is that after 496 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: Dylan and Sarah left her house, Dylan on his triumph 497 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: and Sarah following in the station wagon, they quickly returned, 498 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,600 Speaker 1: both of them now in the car, Dylan collapsed on 499 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: the Grossman's porch in pain, yes, but not hurt enough 500 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 1: to actually go to the hospital. Instead, he was taken 501 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: an hour southeast to the private home of doctor Ed Thaylor, 502 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: who watched over Dylan for approximately ten days. Taylor's wife 503 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 1: later said that Dylan never showed any actual signs of injury. 504 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: Journalist al Aronoit saw Dylan wearing a neck brace, but 505 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: said it looked like a prop. Al Cooper said, if 506 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: he'd had a serious accident, I would have known. 507 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 2: More at the time. 508 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: Hence the reason Dylan's family and other close friends were 509 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: not contacted. 510 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 2: Because Bob Dylan was not in a serious accident. 511 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: Did he get momentarily blinded by the sun and fall 512 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,520 Speaker 1: off his bike? Probably did it hurt, sure, but did 513 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,720 Speaker 1: it require at least a year to recover from hell? No, 514 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: This dramatic life and death story surrounding the motorcycle accident, 515 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: all the mystery and intrigue was purposely designed for one reason, 516 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,480 Speaker 1: to buy Bob Dylan some time time to kick his 517 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: addiction to pills, time to recover from his grueling tour. 518 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: It gave him a convenient excuse to further DeLay's book 519 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 1: in the Pennebaker documentary, not to mention making another record, 520 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: which Columbia Records had already been on his ass about. 521 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: Most of all, however, retreating from the spotlight kicking pills 522 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: it offered him incredible clarity on his life and career, 523 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: which brings us back to that cryptic thing he said 524 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: to a journalist in May of nineteen sixty seven that 525 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,480 Speaker 1: he wasn't making new music until some people come forth 526 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: and make up for some of the things that have happened. 527 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: Something was happening here, and Bob Dylan, unlike mister Jones, 528 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: knew exactly what it was. Businessman drinking your wine, plowmen 529 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,280 Speaker 1: digging your earth, your own manager, the moat and drawbridge 530 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: surrounding your fortress of cool taking way more money from 531 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: you than he deserved. Dylan was receiving one hundred percent 532 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: of his songwriting royalties, but he realized the money he 533 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: was making from publishing, and in the world of popular music, 534 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: publishing is where the real money is at. 535 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 2: That money was. 536 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: Being split fifty to fifty with Albert Grossman. To Albert Grossman, 537 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: it was just business. Bob Dylan, on the other hand, 538 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: was shocked by his own navete. Only now did he 539 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: understand nestled in the songs of his next studio album, 540 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: John Wesley Harding, or details about the riff beginning to 541 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: separate Dylan from his Grizzly Bear manager. The sound of 542 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: John Wesley Harding was scaled back from Dylan's last three albums, and, 543 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: just like the transformation of how he looked, his voice 544 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: sounded different. Despite that, John Wesley Harding was well received 545 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: when it was released in December of nineteen sixty seven. 546 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: Jimmy Hendricks, for one, loved it so much so that 547 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 1: his band The Experience, immediately got to work on recording 548 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 1: their own version of one of the album's standout tracks. 549 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 1: Not even a year later, Jimmy Hendricks's cover of All 550 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:25,480 Speaker 1: Along the Watchtower transformed Dylan's original into a sprawling, psychedelic 551 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:30,200 Speaker 1: rock masterpiece. Once Dylan heard Jimmy's version, that was it. 552 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: He never played it the way he originally wrote it 553 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 1: ever again, he only played it Jimmy's. 554 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 3: Way because things had changed. Bob Dylan had changed, and 555 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 3: he who is not busy changing, Well, he's a disgrace. 556 00:32:45,320 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 3: I'm Jake Brennan, and this this Disgraceland. 557 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 558 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be 559 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 560 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank 561 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. 562 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 2: We really appreciate it. 563 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,720 Speaker 1: And if not, you can become a member right now 564 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,239 Speaker 1: by going to disgracelampod dot com slash Membership. Members can 565 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 1: listen to every episode of disgracelan ad free, Plus you'll 566 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,480 Speaker 1: get one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted 567 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 1: bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access to merchandise 568 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 1: and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com slash Membership for details, 569 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 1: rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, 570 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube 571 00:33:58,520 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 1: dot com. 572 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 2: Slash at this great from pad Rock and ROLLA He's 573 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 2: a bad, bad man. H