Happy 75 to Bob Dylan!

Would anyone happen to know Dylan's hat size?

Keep Rollin' Bob!!!

The Bobcat can do little ewrong in my eyes. I "discovered" Dylan when I was sixteen. Our Headmaster, on the morning after John Major took the UK into the first Gulf War, read several verses from "With God on our Side", which got me hooked. As an angry, young punk I saw a lot in Dylan that chimed with where the Clash especially were coming from in many ways. (While they were more directly influernced by rockabilly -course, Dylan starte off with rock and roll - you only have to listen to a songl ike Train in Vain, Somebody got murdered, or LOsat in the Supermarket to begin to see the link.) I first saw Dylan in 1993, then again in 95, 97, 99ish, 2003.... I think I've seen him maybe eight or nine times over the years. Every chance I get now I'll go for it, as there might not be too many more left.

skydog757 said:

Bob's swagger, utter and complete confidence allow him to wear whatever he chooses without a trace of self consciousness. The guy always looks great because he knows he looks great.

Click to expand...

Viz this and the follow up comment, it does often seem that many great artists' extrovert behaviour is a sort of defence mechanism for something much more introverted within. Dylan, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix all fit that pattern. Joey Ramone was painfully shy. I think asense of inadequacy might be essential to the artistic temperament in terms of those who always strive to do more.

tropicalbob said:

It's really impossible to begin to assess how important and how much influence Dylan has had on this culture over the last fifty-some years. I don't think any artist has been covered by other musicians as extensively as he has, and, it's funny, but some of his songs didn't really hit me until I heard them done by other musicians. I'd always thought "Nashville Skyline" was just an okay album until I heard Elvis Costello's version of "I Threw It All Away." When I listened to Dylan's album again it was a different one than the one I heard when I was in high school. To me, that's what makes a great artist: the material seems to change with you and deepen as you get older.

Click to expand...

I always loved how open Dylan is to other reinterpretations of his work. He has in the past said of Hendrix in particular "What I didn't understand was not why he did these songs, but why he didn't do more of them. They were his songs." If you see Dylan live to this day, the arrangment of All Along the Watchtower he plays is much closer to Hendrix's than his own original recording.

The reason I asked about his hat size is because I was watching "Don't Look Back" the other night and thought I noticed, in several scenes, that Bob just might be a member of the biologically futuristic "Oz-Head" brigade to which I myself belong (Debbie Harry is a member). I was thinking of emailing the L.A. hatter that he used several times but figured I'd probably just get some sort of sniffy refusal. Somebody on this forum must have some ideas on this kind of detective work.

tropicalbob said:

The reason I asked about his hat size is because I was watching "Don't Look Back" the other night and thought I noticed, in several scenes, that Bob just might be a member of the biologically futuristic "Oz-Head" brigade to which I myself belong (Debbie Harry is a member). I was thinking of emailing the L.A. hatter that he used several times but figured I'd probably just get some sort of sniffy refusal. Somebody on this forum must have some ideas on this kind of detective work.

Click to expand...

I looked at archived versions of Baron's website, and he wasn't in Eddie Baron's little black book.

Edward said:

The Bobcat can do little ewrong in my eyes. I "discovered" Dylan when I was sixteen. Our Headmaster, on the morning after John Major took the UK into the first Gulf War, read several verses from "With God on our Side", which got me hooked. As an angry, young punk I saw a lot in Dylan that chimed with where the Clash especially were coming from in many ways. (While they were more directly influernced by rockabilly -course, Dylan starte off with rock and roll - you only have to listen to a songl ike Train in Vain, Somebody got murdered, or LOsat in the Supermarket to begin to see the link.) I first saw Dylan in 1993, then again in 95, 97, 99ish, 2003.... I think I've seen him maybe eight or nine times over the years. Every chance I get now I'll go for it, as there might not be too many more left


Viz this and the follow up comment, it does often seem that many great artists' extrovert behaviour is a sort of defence mechanism for something much more introverted within. Dylan, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix all fit that pattern. Joey Ramone was painfully shy. I think asense of inadequacy might be essential to the artistic temperament in terms of those who always strive to do more.



I always loved how open Dylan is to other reinterpretations of his work. He has in the past said of Hendrix in particular "What I didn't understand was not why he did these songs, but why he didn't do more of them. They were his songs." If you see Dylan live to this day, the arrangment of All Along the Watchtower he plays is much closer to Hendrix's than his own original recording.

Click to expand...

What struck me most when I first heard Dylan was his Country-Blues pickin' on songs like "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. The other night I couldn't help thinking that so many of the lyrics to the songs on his early albums could reflect things going on right now.

tropicalbob said:

The reason I asked about his hat size is because I was watching "Don't Look Back" the other night and thought I noticed, in several scenes, that Bob just might be a member of the biologically futuristic "Oz-Head" brigade to which I myself belong (Debbie Harry is a member). I was thinking of emailing the L.A. hatter that he used several times but figured I'd probably just get some sort of sniffy refusal. Somebody on this forum must have some ideas on this kind of detective work.

Click to expand...

You can try Batsakes in Cincinnati. Gus Miller told me that Dylan bought a bunch of hats from the shop when Dylan was performing in the area. I can't remember the details.

https://cityseeker.com/cincinnati/936222-batsakes-hat-shop

mayserwegener said:

You can try Batsakes in Cincinnati. Gus Miller told me that Dylan bought a bunch of hats from the shop when Dylan was performing in the area. I can't remember the details.

https://cityseeker.com/cincinnati/936222-batsakes-hat-shop

Click to expand...

Thanks very much. The quest goes on.

tropicalbob said:

What struck me most when I first heard Dylan was his Country-Blues pickin' on songs like "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. The other night I couldn't help thinking that so many of the lyrics to the songs on his early albums could reflect things going on right now.

Click to expand...

I'll never forget putting on Positively 4th Street not long after seeing an unpleasant ex socially; thel yrics were so fitting they gave me chills. Dylan is notihng if not a supreme master of observing the human condition, on all levels.

always loved how bowie described the gravitas you sometimes feel when listening to bob, here. and man, the Rolling Thunder Review? some great singing and playing right there.

BTW, a great exit line (depending on the audience) for pubs, over-long emails, etc. is "Well, I guess it's time for my boot-heels to be wanderin." Gravestone?