Bob Dylan: I Was There 1958-1969

by Neil Cossar

There's a lot in print about Bob Dylan but very little of it is from the fans-eye view of the people who saw and heard Dylan in his reputation-building first decade. From Hibbing to New York and then on to the world. Through the folk and electric years through to Woodstock, John Wesley Harding and the basement tapes. This book follows Dylan through those who knew, worked with and saw him. It offers a unique perspective on the man and the times.

400 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lighter reading for a heavy long haul I’m just about to take. ‘Bob Dylan - The Day I Was There’ - Neil Cossar. Fans, colleagues, friends and witnesses, share their experiences of something Bob related. What’s particularly striking already is the sheer audacity of his bullshit when he was a young man. He created whole myths about himself, some of which made it into his first Columbia publicity, and some of which left people feeling cheated and used. He’s created several different characters as “Bob Dylan” of course over his career - the Woody Guthrie jukebox hobo, the protesting polemicist, the wild haired amphetamine fuelled howling rolling stone, the country pastor and Woodstock father, the border town wanderer of Desire, and onto his current Zorro in a Nudie suit Sinatra pub warbler. Always shedding off one more layer of skin...keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within.