| 4th February 2008 06:23 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
The Sunday TimesFebruary 3, 2008
Bob Dylan’s muse freewheels out with love secrets
Bob Dylan's first love has written a book revealing the details of their love affair and the loss of Dylan's first child
John Harlow
FOR more than 40 years Suze Rotolo, the fresh young blonde cuddling Bob Dylan on the cover of his breakthrough album, has kept her silence on their turbulent affair.
But now the 64-year-old artist, who still lives in her native New York, is writing an autobiography, A Freewheelin’ Time, that is expected to reveal many of their secrets - including the loss of their unborn child.
Rotolo, who came from a sophisticated, liberal family, is widely regarded as Dylan’s first and most influential lover when the baby-faced country boy from Minnesota arrived in New York in early 1961. She introduced him to painters and poets and to politics, inspiring him to write songs such as Blowin’ in the Wind and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.
She was only 17 but had already organised political actions such as picketing Woolworths because it forced black and white people to eat apart.
In his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, published in 2005, Dylan, now 66, described her as “the most erotic thing I’d ever seen”. He wrote: “Meeting her was like stepping into the tales of 1001 Arabian Nights. She had a smile that could light up a street, a particular kind of voluptuousness, a Rodin sculpture come to life.” She introduced him to the works of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud and the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht - writers who helped him grow from folk singer into one of the most influential musicians of the era.
Their relationship was fraught, however. Weeks after meeting, they moved into a tiny flat in a poor area of Manhattan - much to the concern of Rotolo’s mother Mary who regarded Dylan as pretentious and nicknamed him “Twerp”.
As Dylan’s fame grew, Rotolo became an object of public curiosity, so much so that when the chance to spend seven months away from him in Perugia came up, she took it rather than, as she reportedly told friends, “retire from my own life to become just another string on his guitar”.
They got back together, shooting the iconic cover photograph for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan in February 1963. He had already started a series of other love affairs, including the one with his fellow musician Joan Baez.
It was in the last months of the affair, when they were arguing constantly, that Rotolo became pregnant. The exact circumstances of how she lost the child remain a mystery.
Last week Rolling Stone magazine claimed the book will say Rotolo had an abortion, a suggestion that she has never discussed as it was illegal at the time. Sources close to the publisher say she has not completed her manuscript but is expected to confirm that she “lost” the baby.
It would have been Dylan’s first child and he was said to have been distraught. He went on to have four children with his first wife, former model Sara Lownds, whose daughter Maria he also adopted, and another child with his second wife, singer Carolyn Dennis.
Howard Sounes, whose 2001 bestseller Down the Highway revealed Dylan’s second marriage, said he was amazed Rotolo is writing a book. “She refused to speak to me, very tersely, and tried to censor my book on even the small details like her married name,” he said.
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| 4th February 2008 11:24 PM |
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| andrews27 |
She still had more than a trace of her old allure in the Scorsese documentary... Can't say that for Anita Pallenberg.
[Edited by andrews27] |
| 5th February 2008 01:52 AM |
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| Child of the Moon |
Dude. Suze Rotolo was HOT. I would've done her in s second. No joking. Even to have just dated her, that would have been nice. |
| 5th February 2008 01:58 AM |
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| glencar |
Hot? |
| 5th February 2008 02:05 AM |
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| GotToRollMe |
Ah, Suze, how could ya. |
| 5th February 2008 11:18 AM |
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| Starbuck |
mark it down....TTM posts some relevant, interesting cut n paste....
stevie...you think she was hot???
oh well...she directly inspired the "cough" song! viva le suze!
http://folkfanlcb89.tripod.com/id46.html |
| 5th February 2008 11:23 AM |
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| gimmekeef |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Hot?
In a Babs kinda way? |
| 5th February 2008 11:24 AM |
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| PartyDoll MEG |
quote:
Starbuck wrote:
mark it down....TTM posts some relevant, interesting cut n paste....
stevie...you think she was hot???
oh well...she directly inspired the "cough" song! viva le suze!
http://folkfanlcb89.tripod.com/id46.html
Actually your link was more interesting, Beatle Boy!
Ya know I do love photos...
Hey by the way..how is the band? The boys still fighting? |
| 5th February 2008 11:31 AM |
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| Martha |
I'm ready to read what she has to say. Bet Bob isn't all too happy about this. But then, who knows. He might be totally fine at this point of the road. Life has a way of changing how you feel about things, if you hang around long enough. ;-) |
| 5th February 2008 02:57 PM |
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| Starbuck |
quote:
Hey by the way..how is the band? The boys still fighting?
meg!
we had to "cut george loose"...he and paul didn't see eye to eye, so paul decided he'd had enough and told me and ringo we could start something up with him if we wanted. both caused their share of the brouhaha, but paul is hardest to replace (we have several georges laying around)...i got on with them both....and dammit, meg, i have to rock n roll!
it was hard...breakups always are (see: joey, max), but we will be better because of it.
big gig coming up on feb 15...will new george learn his parts on time? can we get the honkies out on the dance floor for "i'm so tired"? will someone arrive late carrying a copy of "the catcher in the rye" and shoot me after the show???
stay tuned!
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| 5th February 2008 04:13 PM |
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| PartyDoll MEG |
So glad you got the georges and ringos and pauls all sorted. Get those people out there rockin' out, John Boy!!
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| 5th February 2008 06:10 PM |
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| Starbuck |
meg....
we will get them rocking. you should hear me belt out "money" or "rock n roll music".
feej's playing, meanwhile...let's just say it leaves much to be desired...
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| 5th February 2008 06:27 PM |
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| Bitch |
Her mother's nickname for Bob was TWERP!
That is hisTORical! |
| 5th February 2008 09:43 PM |
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| test |
I'd look at ancestry.com. But I also found this great business that makes journals for those trying to record their family’s stories... http://www.handhewn.co.nr/ |
