Dylan revisited_SIDE A. Several little-known facts

Wsh_DEBATE_ Dylan revisited

SIDE A.  Several little-known facts about Bob Dylan

          By  J.  DEKL    Oct. 13, 2016    https://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/12385/bob-dylan-literature-nobel-prize-75

Early this morning, American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, marking the first time it's been awarded to someone who's primarily a musician.  the Swedish Academy cited the 75-year-old music icon for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

2. He introduced the Beatles to marijuana (or did he?).  As with many Dylan myths, this one is contested. According to Beatles biographer Bob Spitz, on Aug. 28, 1964, Dylan was introduced to the Beatles at the Delmonico Hotel in New York City. Believing the Englishmen sang “I get high” on “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (instead of “I can’t hide”), he offered Ringo a joint. Yadda yadda yadda, "Tomorrow Never Knows." Other accounts have the Fab Four trying jazz cigarettes during their German residency, four years earlier. 

15. He was a chess fanatic.  During his days in Greenwich Village, Dylan reportedly became enamoured with chess. InDylan: A Biography, Bob Spitz describes Dylan attempting to psyche out his opponent by talking during the game. Chess imagery also pops up throughout his songs, most famously in "The Times They are a-Changin," in which he sings, "Only a pawn in their game." Legend has it that Dylan’s manager paid Bobby Fisher to play a game with the music icon. 

34. He traded a Warhol for a couch. "I once traded an Andy Warhol 'Elvis Presley' painting for a sofa, which was a stupid thing to do,” he told mag SPIN in 1985. “I always wanted to tell Andy what a stupid thing I done, and if he had another painting he would give me, I'd never do it again."

35. He credits his motorcycle accident with saving his life. "In 1966 I had a motorcycle accident and ended up with several broken vertebrae and a concussion. That put me down for a while,” he told Spin in the same interview. “I couldn't go on doing what I had been. I was pretty wound up before that accident happened. It set me down so I could see things in a better perspective. I wasn't seeing anything in any kind of perspective. I probably would have died if I had kept on going the way I had been."

51. A future Pope tried to stop him from playing for a current Pope.  In 1997, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger failed to stop Dylan from performing for Pope John Paul II. That day, the future Pope Benedict discovered he may be a preacher with his spiritual pride but he still has to serve somebody.

11.  MUSIC. His first professional recording was as a harmonica player for Harry Belafonte and claimed he was an orphan to sign with Columbia Records. The title track to Belafonte’s 1962 album, Midnight Special, boasts the first ever professional recorded performance by the budding harmonica player. Dylan was only 20 when he first signed to Columbia Records, and was considered a minor at the time. To circumvent having his parents co-sign the contract, the young songwriter claimed he was an orphan. 

52. He recorded 'Rainy Day Women #12 & 35' in one take. Dylan was famous for recording songs in single takes, including this number 2 hit in the Nashville studio of Columbia Records IN 1966. The sobriety of all players still remains in question, though (1).  “Rainy Day Women” has a drunken, New Orleans party vibe, complete with trombone and tuba, and shouting revelers in the background (the musicians), with Dylan himself cracking up several times. Even his harmonica playing manages to sound inebriated.

- (1) https://americansongwriter.com/2009/04/the-30-greatest-bob-dylan-songs-18-rainy-day-women-12-35/

(2)  The Political World of Bob Dylan: Freedom and Justice, Power and Sin  - By J Taylor, C. Israelson