Sunday, March 6, 2011

Bob Dylan 'The Freewheelin'

My claim to liking Bob Dylan has always been my attraction to the cover of the album The Freewheelin', which portrays an attractive young couple taking a stroll.


There are a few tid bids to this cover that really got my heart beating a bit faster. First, Dylan was only 21 when this photo was taken, Suze Rotolo, the girl in the photo was only 19. Talk about young love.

Rotolo, whose page on Wikipedia describes her with the words:

Susan Elizabeth Rotolo (November 20, 1943 – February 25, 2011),[1] known as Suze Rotolo (pronounced /ˈsuːziː/, SOO-zee),[2] was an American artist, but is perhaps best known as Bob Dylan's girlfriend between 1961 and 1964 and a strong influence on his music. She is the woman walking with him on the cover of his albumThe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, a ground-breaking street image by the CBS studio photographer, Don Hunstein.

I'm not sure if I'd want people to best know me for being someone's girlfriend, even if it's Dylan. You'll notice Rotolo just died a week ago, this album cover got a great tiny feature in the National Post a couple of days ago.

She wrote a book called "A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties." I can't wait to get my paws into this one, all I can think about is Greenwich Village.

Rotolo was apparently the woman who inspired the tunes "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." Two tunes that have been touched by so many people years after its 1963 release. I won't even attempt to put any covers on here for you.

Apparently, they were trying to recreate this photo, but with woman in hand instead:








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