{"id":3701,"date":"2026-01-07T09:01:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=3701"},"modified":"2026-01-07T09:01:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:01:56","slug":"zimmys-gone-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2026\/01\/07\/zimmys-gone-crazy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cZimmy\u2019s Gone Crazy!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]
\t
\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tPresents<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cZimmy\u2019s Gone Crazy!\u201d<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u2026Or so reckoned Eric Clapton as he walked out on Desire, Bob Dylan<\/strong>\u2019s accidental masterpiece. And no wonder \u2013 given the wiped tapes and marital headaches, mobsters and jailbirds, Rolling Thunder and industrial catering. \u201cIt was a chaotic, crazy scene<\/strong>,\u201d<\/strong> discovers Michael Simmons<\/strong>.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/2K15H0W-scaled.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in concert during the Rolling Thunder Revue, at the Civic Center, Springfield, MA.” title_text=”Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in concert during the Rolling Thunder Revue, at the Civic Center, Springfield, MA. The Rolling Thunder Revue was a U.S. concert tour in late 1975 and early 1976, headed by Bob Dylan.”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in concert during the Rolling Thunder Revue, at the Civic Center, Springfield, MA.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

SCARLET RIVERA WAS A YOUNG classically trained violinist recently transplanted from Chicago. A striking brunette with waist-length hair and gigs with Ornette Coleman and a 15-piece Cuban band in Harlem, she was carrying her violin case and preparing to cross a street in Manhattan\u2019s East Village when serendipity struck.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cThis car pulled up and the driver asked, \u2018Do you play that thing?\u2019\u201d she tells MOJO. \u201cIf I had crossed the street seconds earlier, it never would\u2019ve happened. Bob\u2019s very intuitive about people and something made him stop. I realised it really was him and it was okay to jump in the car.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

And so, in the early summer of 1975, the fledgling musician found herself in the company of Bob Dylan, en route to his studio on Houston Street. With Dylan on guitar, then piano, they jammed on some new songs he had. But Bob didn\u2019t sing, he just played the changes. \u201cI was put on the spot to go into the most creative zone I could be in,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about thinking. I had to come up with the goods.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

They connected musically, but Rivera kept any excitement she may have felt to herself. \u201cPersonally I was a lone wolf, withdrawn and remote and not terribly social,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t play female games or scheme how I could sit next to him. He liked that. Those qualities were the reason it worked, equal to my musicianship. It led to a level of trust. As the day progressed, he started to smile.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

They finished up, but the night was young. \u201cHe said he had to see a friend of his play and would I like to go along to The Bottom Line?\u201d Dylan\u2019s friend was Muddy Waters. Muddy invited Bob up to play harp and after one song Dylan made an announcement: \u201cI\u2019d like to bring my violinist up.\u201d Waters\u2019 band made Scarlet feel welcome and Muddy gave her a solo.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The signature sound of Desire \u2013 destined to be Bob Dylan\u2019s 17th studio album and Byrds founder Roger McGuinn\u2019s \u201call-time favourite\u201d \u2013 had arrived, but Rivera didn\u2019t know it, and neither did Dylan. The singer had other things on his mind, including marriage problems and the first inklings of an under-the-radar concert tour that would become The Rolling Thunder Revue.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cA lot of Desire\u2019s success is accidental,\u201d confirms Rob Stoner, the man who would play bass on it, while Rivera remains \u201cin awe of how it fell together\u201d. A Dylan album unlike any other, described by key contributor Emmylou Harris as \u201cits own thing\u201d with \u201csomething rich and romantic and wild about it\u201d, it was not to every Dylan fan\u2019s taste on its eventual release in January 1976. But 50 years on its surging melodies, serving painterly evocations of mythic worlds and real-life tragedies, win out: proof that even when Dylan doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing or what he wants, he\u2019s capable of magic.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/Bob-Dylan-Desire-Sleeve.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Bob Dylan’s Desire album artwork” title_text=”Bob Dylan Desire Sleeve” align=”center”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

“Desire is its own thing, with something rich and romantic and wild about it.”<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Emmylou Harris<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

WHEN BOB DYLAN EMERGED FROM ROAD-RETIREMENT in 1974 for his first tour in eight years, fans rejoiced and the two-month trek with The Band was a popular success, preceded by the Planet Waves album and resulting in the live Before The Flood. What followed in \u201975 was more artistically monumental: the wrist-slashing masterpiece Blood On The Tracks and (at last) the release of The Basement Tapes, Dylan and The Band\u2019s \u201967 home recordings. But Dylan remained restless. In early 1975, shooting hoops with Roger McGuinn outside the Byrd\u2019s Malibu home, Dylan mentioned an idea that he\u2019d been toying with. \u201cI wanna do something,\u201d he said. \u201cKinda like a circus.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cHe spent years holed up in Woodstock raising a family,\u201d explains friend and writer Larry \u2018Ratso\u2019 Sloman of Bob\u2019s mid-\u201970s mindset. \u201cPerforming has always been his passion. But getting back on the road with The Band wasn\u2019t that satisfying. It was an alienating experience, going from stadium to stadium, not knowing what city they were in. He\u2019s always been connected to the street; there\u2019s a part of him that\u2019s a street guy. He told me about being in Corsica, sitting on the back of a truck, and he realised his destiny was to be back performing in front of people.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

By June of \u201975, Dylan had showed up in New York\u2019s Greenwich Village \u2013 the centre of his early ascendance \u2013 open and energetic, seeing old pals and making new ones. Word got out. \u201cGreenwich Village\u2019s time had passed by \u201975; culturally the action had shifted over to the East Village,\u201d says Sloman, referring to punk rock at CBGB and the avant-garde arts scene. \u201cWhen Dylan came back that summer, he infused a whole new breath into the area. He was hanging around in his old haunts.\u201d Running buddies included musician\/artist Bobby Neuwirth and theatre director\/psychologist\/lyricist Jacques Levy.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Levy had already co-written songs with Roger McGuinn for a never-produced musical based on Ibsen\u2019s Peer Gynt called Gene Tryp, from which came a flock of Byrds songs, notably Chestnut Mare. He lived on LaGuardia Place, around the corner from the Other End nightclub and bar, a hub for singer-songwriters on Bleecker Street. Dylan and Levy ran into each other on the street and Bob suggested they collaborate. Levy was game but expected nothing until his bell rang one day.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

They began writing together. Levy \u2013 who\u2019d directed the erotic musical Oh! Calcutta! \u2013 unleashed Dylan\u2019s theatrical inclination and worked with him to create songs that worked visually, even cinematically. Meanwhile, he met an artist friend of Dylan\u2019s named Claudia Carr; they would soon fall in love and eventually marry.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cJacques would tease him,\u201d explains Claudia Levy today. \u201cHe appreciated Bob and loved his work, but didn\u2019t venerate him. He\u2019d say things to Bob like, \u2018I hate that song of yours: \u201cLord, lord they shot George Jackson down\u201d,\u2019 and Bob would laugh.\u201d\u00a0 When work was done, they\u2019d head over to the Other End to drink and hang out.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Musician Steven Soles has been in the music racket since his teens and apprenticed with producer and songwriter Jeff Barry. Blessed with a set of mellifluous pipes, by June \u201975 Soles was an up-and-coming solo artist. \u201cI bumped into Bobby Neuwirth. He said, \u2018Next week I\u2019m playing the Other End,\u2019 and he asked me if I\u2019d play with him.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Neuwirth also enlisted bassist\/singer Rob Stoner and drummer\/pianist Howie Wyeth. Then there were a string of guests who\u2019d show up and play. \u201cThat was Neuwirth\u2019s idea,\u201d says Soles. \u201cHe\u2019d have a band of people who could sing their own songs and people could come sit in. Dylan was there.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

After one show, Soles, Neuwirth, Stoner, Levy and Dylan went over to painter Larry Poons\u2019 crib, joined by poet-turned-rocker Patti Smith and Texas musician T Bone Burnett. \u201cWe all played songs,\u201d says Soles. \u201cDylan played us a number of songs that \u2013 as it turned out \u2013 would appear on Desire. The idea for The Rolling Thunder Revue was hatched by the two Bobs during Neuwirth\u2019s little stint. This was spoken very clearly by Neuwirth to me.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

According to Soles, Dylan stayed up all night and the next morning went to visit boxer Rubin \u2018Hurricane\u2019 Carter in a New Jersey prison. Carter and another man named John Artis had been convicted of the 1966 murder of three patrons in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. Carter wrote a memoir called The Sixteenth Round and had begun to amass supporters who believed he and Artis were innocent. One sent Dylan the book. He was moved by it and resolved to help Carter, declaring that \u201c\u2026the man\u2019s philosophy and my philosophy were running down the same road.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-166912038-scaled.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Muhammad Ali holds telephone during hookup with the State Prison at Clinton for conversation with Rubin (Hurricane) Carter. Mrs. Carter (in white), daughter and others listened during benefit Rolling Thunder Revue Concert given by Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden.” title_text=”Rolling Thunder Revue Concert”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Muhammad Ali holds telephone during hookup with the State Prison at Clinton for a conversation with Rubin (Hurricane) Carter. Mrs. Carter (in white), daughter and others listened during benefit Rolling Thunder Revue Concert given by Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

AT THE OTHER END IN EARLY JULY, Dylan joined old pal Ramblin\u2019 Jack Elliott on-stage and jammed with Neuwirth and his growing guitar army, now expanded to include Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson and multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield. One night Patti Smith sat in and sang old folk songs.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

On July 14, the first recording session for the new Dylan\/Levy songs was held at Columbia Recording Studios, Studio E. Dylan wanted everything recorded live in the room \u2013 including the vocals. Don DeVito, a Columbia A&R man, by all accounts charming but inexperienced in production, was hired as producer. Engineer Don Meehan, who liked him nonetheless, maintains that DeVito was Columbia honcho Walter Yetnikoff\u2019s \u201cfair-haired boy\u201d. Musicians included ex-Traffic man Dave Mason and his band, plus Rivera, harmonica player Sugar Blue, Vincent Bell on bellzouki, Dom Cortese on accordion and three background singers. The session yielded repeated takes and false starts of two songs, but nothing that ended up on Desire. Afterwards, Dylan and Levy headed out for Bob\u2019s East Hampton, Long Island digs for more work. (The house was on Lily Pond Lane, which is name-checked on Desire\u2019s Sara.) Things were not going as well as they\u2019d hoped.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cIt was a chaotic, crazy scene,\u201d says Rob Stoner of the madhouse he entered on July 28, when called in by DeVito for the second session. \u201cIt was the most unconducive work conditions you can imagine.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Stoner \u2013 a bassist\u2019s bassist and a powerful singer and songwriter who had led legendary New York rockabilly band Rockin\u2019 Rob And The Rebels \u2013 had already jammed with Dylan at the Other End, so he\u2019d already had a taste. \u201cThe studio was full of well-known musicians and their hangers-on \u2013 everybody wants to hang out at a Dylan session,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey had a caterer with food set up in another studio, everybody smokin\u2019 and drinkin\u2019 and eatin\u2019. There was no way they were gonna get anything done and DeVito didn\u2019t put his foot down. They\u2019re goin\u2019 through take after take, which is not the way Dylan likes to record. He likes to make the first complete take the one.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

While the cast had changed from the first session, now over 20 musicians were playing at once including Emmylou Harris on background vocals, Eric Clapton on guitar and the nine-piece UK soul outfit Kokomo. \u201cZimmy\u2019s gone crazy,\u201d Clapton is said to have muttered. \u201cIt sounded like everybody was on top of each other,\u201d says engineer Meehan. \u201cIt was extremely hard to get any mix on it.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

But that wasn\u2019t his only challenge \u2013 there was Zimmy himself. \u201cDylan didn\u2019t want to overdub,\u201d says Meehan. \u201cI had to put up two mikes because his head would go side-to-side. I said, Bob, please \u2013 sing into the mike. Then I had to follow him around the studio, because he\u2019d just start singing anywhere he felt like it. He\u2019d stay in one place for a take, but then the next take he\u2019d be somewhere else and Emmylou would have to follow him. I had to get as much isolation as I possibly could with the band playing live.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Harris was acclimatising to Bob\u2019s habits as well. \u201cMy energy was focused on singing on songs I\u2019d never heard before. We had two microphones right together and the lyrics in front of us and I was waiting for direction. I had one eye on Dylan and one eye on the lyrics. He\u2019d start the song and kind of poke me a little bit and I realised I was supposed to sing. (Laughs) Nothing was ever worked out.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/bob-dylan-mozambique-cbs-8.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Bob Dylan’s Mozambique album artwork” title_text=”bob-dylan-mozambique-cbs-8″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

BY THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, July 29, Clapton was gone and the orchestra was pared down by half, but the sound remained overly busy and there were no usable takes. \u201cAt the end of the night, it was just me, DeVito, Meehan and Dylan,\u201d says Stoner. \u201cDeVito asked me flat out: \u2018What should we do?\u2019 I said the obvious: Let\u2019s come back tomorrow night with the smallest possible group \u2013 the very opposite of this \u2013 and see if you get the opposite result \u2013 namely, success.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Evidently Dylan appreciated Stoner\u2019s blunt appraisal of the ongoing catastrophe. \u201cBob took me up on my offer: \u2018OK, who should we get?\u2019 I said, Let\u2019s keep Scarlet, she\u2019s got something unusual.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Stoner also recommended drummer Howie Wyeth, who kept a crackling backbeat and was given to tasteful experimentation. Everyone loved Wyeth. \u201cThe personification of a laid-back, mellow musician,\u201d describes Ratso Sloman. \u201cHe made you feel good; unlike some musicians, he had no ego.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Stoner\u2019s suggestion was the charm. By the fourth session, on July 30, the band was Dylan, Harris, Rivera, Stoner and Wyeth. This spare combo highlighted everyone\u2019s strengths \u2013 Dylan\u2019s percussive acoustic guitar, Harris\u2019s angelic voice, Rivera\u2019s soaring gypsy fiddle, Stoner\u2019s agile, melodic bass, and Wyeth\u2019s in-the-pocket drums. Then there are Dylan\u2019s vocals, which may never have been better. He told Sloman that he\u2019d been listening to Oum Kalthoum, the Egyptian songbird whose ornamental, melismatic style presages Dylan\u2019s on Desire.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cI got into the flow of Dylan\u2019s phrasing,\u201d says Harris. \u201cHis singing, his phrasing, is extraordinary, not like anybody else\u2019s. It\u2019s so connected with the poetry of the lyrics.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

McGuinn concurs: \u201cPeople criticise Dylan for not being a good singer, mostly because of ignorance \u2013 they don\u2019t understand what he\u2019s doing. If you listen to One More Cup Of Coffee or Sara, listen to those grace notes, he sounds like a violin. They\u2019re in tune, they\u2019re on time, they have meaning and emotion.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

In that one night, they nailed four keepers of the nine that ended up on the album: Oh, Sister, One More Cup Of Coffee, Mozambique, and Joey \u2013 three more than in the previous three sessions. This quintet became the Desire template. Dylan\u2019s eccentricities had the odd effect of increasing the musicians\u2019 concentration and adding spontaneity.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cBob does not count tunes off,\u201d says Stoner. \u201cHe just starts playin\u2019. There\u2019s a couple tunes where the drums come in halfway through the first verse or are not in the first verse at all because Bob hadn\u2019t counted the tunes in and he caught the drummer by surprise. The entire first verse of Mozambique, there\u2019s no drums. Howie didn\u2019t want to interrupt the take. He\u2019d been asking technical questions like, \u2018Is this gonna be a fade? Do I count this in?\u2019 Bob gave him the look of death. I took Howie aside and said, Shut the fuck up. Don\u2019t ask him anything. Just play, motherfucker.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

But if Stoner knew when it was best to keep quiet, he also knew when to leap uninvited into a void. \u201cThe beginning of One More Cup Of Coffee \u2013 that wasn\u2019t arranged for me to do a bass solo. Scarlet wasn\u2019t ready. Bob starts strummin\u2019 his guitar \u2013 nothing\u2019s happening. Somebody better play something, so I start playin\u2019 a bass solo. Basically the run-throughs become the first takes.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The fifth and final (or so they thought) session was on July 31. \u201cFirst we listened to everything from the night before to make sure we weren\u2019t being delusional,\u201d Stoner continues. \u201cBob was pleased. Here we are, listening to what became Desire and realising that it was basically a jam by people who\u2019d never played this stuff before.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

That night yielded Isis and the uncharacteristically revealing Sara (\u201cStayin\u2019 up for days in the Chelsea Hotel\/Writin\u2019 Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands for you\u201d). For the latter, Sara Dylan was invited to the session and Bob literally sang it to her, apparently for the first time. No one there can recall any palpable reaction on her part.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The team was excited and relieved \u2013 except for Harris, who asked to fix perceived flubs. \u201cI got the chance to go back after hours and tried to improve some things and I realised it wasn\u2019t possible. It was part of something that happened at the moment and you just couldn\u2019t change it. It might have been more perfect, but it wasn\u2019t as good. So I just said, That\u2019s it. He knew what he was doing and this is how the baby came out. Honour the moment.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Stoner got an inkling of what was in the works at that last session. \u201cBob comes over to me and says, \u2018Hey man, you think you could do 30 minutes to open my show?\u2019 He knew I was a front man. I said, Yeah, sure. What d\u2019ya have in mind? He said, \u2018I\u2019m thinkin\u2019 about doing some gigs and I need an opening act.\u2019\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

“I\u2019m in the studio and I get a call from the producer saying, \u2018Ya gotta erase the tapes!\u2019”<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Don Meehan<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/71ssM5HS4nL._UF894_1000_QL80_.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Bob Dylan’s Hurricane album artwork” title_text=”71ssM5HS4nL._UF894_1000_QL80_”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

DYLAN WAS INVITED TO PERFORM on September 10 in Chicago at a public television tribute to his first producer, John Hammond, on a bill with The King Of Swing Benny Goodman and others. He assembled Rivera, Stoner and Wyeth. \u201cThere was no notice at all,\u201d says the violinist. \u201cI had no idea what a big deal it was gonna be. Once I did, it was terrifying. We rehearsed in the dressing room.\u201d In addition to Simple Twist Of Fate, they debuted Oh,
Sister and Hurricane.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

While everyone thought the next Bob Dylan album was in the can, someone realised that Dylan and Levy had made potentially libelous statements in Hurricane. Columbia\u2019s legal department freaked. \u201cOne night I\u2019m in the studio and I get a call from DeVito saying, \u2018Ya gotta erase the tapes [of Hurricane]!\u2019\u201d recalls Don Meehan, who was stunned. \u201cSo I did. I had to erase, cut up everything.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

So on October 24, the core group of Dylan, Rivera, Stoner and Wyeth marched back into the studio to re-do Hurricane, this time with Steven Soles on second acoustic and Luther Rix on congas. Emmylou Harris wasn\u2019t available, so Ronee Blakley, who\u2019d received smash reviews as a Loretta Lynn-like country singer in Robert Altman\u2019s Nashville, sang the harmony, joined by Soles and Stoner. It was a long session \u2013 10 takes \u2013 that resulted in Dylan wearily stalking out before dawn. Two takes were spliced together to produce the master.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Within days, rehearsals for what became The Rolling Thunder Revue were scheduled at SIR studios on West 52nd Street in New York. Invited were a combination of the Desire band and Neuwirth\u2019s Other Enders plus established stars: McGuinn, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Ramblin\u2019 Jack Elliott, Neuwirth, Blakley, Stoner, Rivera, Wyeth, Soles, T Bone, Ronson, Mansfield, Rix, Allen Ginsberg.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

A film crew would capture the proceedings, resulting in Dylan\u2019s tour movie-cum-passion play Renaldo And Clara. Jacques Levy stage-directed the show and he and Stoner brought cohesion to the staging and music. But as Soles points out, \u201cThe thing itself was the boss \u2013 you give in to the process.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

For a month and a half, the first leg of The Rolling Thunder Revue toured the North-east and Canada, showing up in towns at short notice, selling out reasonably-sized halls \u2013 the
antithesis of arena rock. Roger McGuinn: \u201cThere\u2019s always been a balance between art and commerce and the music business was getting commercial and not so artistic as it had been in the \u201960s. This was a reaction, trying to balance the scale back on the side of art.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The singers and band \u2013 dubbed Guam \u2013 were phenomenal, and Dylan \u2013 emerging from the creative crucible of Desire \u2013 was on fire. \u201cHe had such a big supporting cast, the pressure was off him having to be the star,\u201d says Ratso Sloman. \u201cOn the other hand, having all those people there was a goad, so that he would blow everybody away every night. When he\u2019s on, nobody\u2019s as good as Bob.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Dylan the ringmaster finally had his circus.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/2NG945A-scaled.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Richi Havens, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform the finale of the The Rolling Thunder Revue, a tour headed by Dylan, in Dec. 1975. ” title_text=”Musicians Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Richi Havens, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform the finale of the The Rolling Thunder Revue, a tour headed by Dylan, in Dec. 1975. (AP Photo)”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Richi Havens, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform the finale of the The Rolling Thunder Revue, a tour headed by Dylan, in Dec. 1975.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

HURRICANE WAS RELEASED AS A SINGLE in November, did so-so on the US and UK charts and yet contributed to the public\u2019s awareness of Rubin Carter\u2019s case. Desire hit the shops the following January and reached Number 1 on the US charts and Number 3 in the UK. It\u2019s an aptly-titled record that could easily have been called \u2018Passion\u2019. There are the odes to contemporary outlaws at war with society: Rubin Carter in Hurricane and Crazy Joe Gallo in Joey. Songs about obsessive love: Isis, Romance In Durango, One More Cup Of Coffee, Oh, Sister and Black Diamond Bay. And then there is Sara, the most blatantly autobiographical song in Dylan\u2019s canon. Even Mozambique\u2019s tourist brochure nostrums (\u201cIt\u2019s very nice to stay a week or two\u201d) add up to a terrific, hooky pop song.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Rob Stoner still praises the singularly strange sonic texture of the album: \u201cIt has none of the conventions of recordings of that day such as a lead guitar and standardised shit. Such is the method of Bob Dylan. That\u2019s why he\u2019s so unique \u2013 he changes the conventions. It\u2019s got this mysterious, smoky feel \u2013 a lot of it is Scarlet.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Despite misgivings at the time, Emmylou Harris has no regrets: \u201cI wish there was more of that stuff in music because as grateful as we are for the technology to do things we couldn\u2019t do early on, sometimes we get seduced trying to get things perfect when actually I don\u2019t think there is such a thing. Desire just has a feel to it. It\u2019s visual. Bob was like a painter who was throwing paint on a canvas, but he knew what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The Rolling Thunder Revue would roll on through May 1976. According to those who were there, Dylan seemed increasingly unhappy, despairing over the state of his marriage and wrapped up in the editing of Renaldo And Clara. But as the torrid, underrated live album Hard Rain from tour\u2019s end shows, he never lost the edge that drove him to make music like no one else.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Ratso Sloman, who wrote the definitive Rolling Thunder account On The Road With Bob Dylan, remembers a conversation he had with him.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cWhen the tour was over we were at the Other End where the whole thing started and Like A Rolling Stone came on the jukebox. I said to him, Hey man, you didn\u2019t even do your best song on this tour. \u201cAnd Bob said, \u2018Did I ever let you down on-stage?\u2019 And he never did.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

This article originally appeared in MOJO 227<\/em><\/p>\n

Images: Getty<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026Or so reckoned Eric Clapton as he walked out on Desire, Bob Dylan\u2019s accidental masterpiece. And no wonder \u2013 given the wiped tapes and marital headaches, mobsters and jailbirds, Rolling Thunder and industrial catering. \u201cIt was a chaotic, crazy scene,\u201d discovers Michael Simmons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mojo-presents"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"akindell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3701"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3716,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3701\/revisions\/3716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}