I'm sitting watching Don't look back on BBC4 and thinking about the Bob Dylan program No Direction Home which was on BBC2 over the last two nights. I still haven't watched it all but for what it's worth here are my thoughts on it.
A few years ago I read a book by Toby Litt called Beatnicks which starts with the story of how Bob Dylan died in a motorcycle accident just after recording Blonde on Blonde. If you didn't know any better you would have thought that was true after watching the documantary.
It clocks in at just under 4 hours and only covers the period up to the end of his 1966 UK tour. At the end there was a caption saying about the motorcycle accident and that was it.
The final minutes of the program show a very tired Dylan saying he wanted to go home and then show the Judas incident at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Curiously the incident wasn't discussed in the program although the earlier Newport incident was.
I got to thinking that maybe Bob did "die" on stage that night in Manchester and maybe it still hurts after all these years. The constant touring, being followed everywhere by cameras and the violent reactions of the crowds must have taken their toll. Dylan was never the same again and his music mellowed into a country style shortlt afterwards. Maybe Dylan the rock and roller died in England in 1966.
30/09/05 @ 21:09