August 18, 2011
I’ve always loved the album cover of the Bob Dylan album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan."
It was released in 1963, but I didn’t buy it till I was in high school and was getting into Bob Dylan’s earlier albums. On the cover he’s walking in the middle of a street with his girlfriend at the time, Suze Rotolo. The two of them were living together at the time on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village and it was taken right outside of their apartment. I thought it might be fun tonight to go and try to recreate that photo (and yeah, I know it’s been done before). So that‘s exactly what I’m going to do.
*****UPDATE: A few people have emailed me and said they're having trouble leaving comments. If this happens to you, try quitting out of the browser and cleaning your cache. I don't know why this keeps happening, but I'm sorry if it happened to you and appreciate your patience!
Down into the subway we go for a trip to Greenwich Village.
Aaaaahhh!
And through the magic of the internet, here we are, watching some guy sprinting down the stairs and hog the entire stairwell for himself. Asshole.
Okay, let's make our way to 4th Street and see if we can recreate this album cover.
But first, how about a Mister Softee stop?
I got a combination vanilla/chocolate with chocolate sprinkles.
It was served up by this friendly fellow and it was delicious!
Okay, here's the street, W. 4th Street. Positively.
161 W. 4th Street, where Bob Dylan lived in 1963.
Here's the street. It looks different at night from the album cover. Okay, now to find a couple to pose here.
So far I've asked five different couples and I've gotten responses ranging from: "No thanks," "Not tonight," "We're in a hurry," and two who basically pretended like I didn't exist. It's a lot easier talking to people in bars than on the street I'm finding out.
I just had a couple tell me they don't believe in blogs. I don't really know what that means, but they walked away before we could debate the subject.
Okay, this is starting to get old and I've had two more couples totally ignore me after asking them to pose in the street for the photo. Only one thing can save me at this moment. Ladies and gentlemen, I present...
The Freewheelin' Gumby! And please appreciate the fact that I almost got run over by a cab while snapping this photo in the middle of the street. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Further reading: Rolling Stone, All Music, About.com and BBC (radio, Not Gene, Smoopy and Terry).
You Might Also Like: Hall of Fame, Hall of Shame and Hall of Blame.
Five Other New York Album Covers
Some Time In New York City—John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory Plus Invisible Strings. (Whew.)
Physical Graffiti—Led Zeppelin
New York New York—Frank Sinatra
Safe In New York—AC/DC
NYC—Brazilian Girls
31 Comments
Reader Comments (31)
Of all of Dylan's different phases and reiterations, I liked him best when he was Cate Blanchett.
Nice photo, Positively West 4th Damnit!
I ain't lookin' to compete with you
Beat or cheat or mistreat you
Simplify you, classify you
Deny, defy or crucify you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
What?! All of these people are fools. I would have helped you recreate it!!! Pfff... people!
Sigh...there's just no more fun and spontaneity left in the city...except for you and Gumby! I don't know whether to laugh or cry, so I'll do both.
You'd probably have better luck calling ol' Bob D up and asking him to re-pose for you. If he does, please call me so I can play the other half. :)
Why are ppl such debbie downers?........
You'd think one couple out of five would've posed for this classic fourth street photo, if they haven't done so already. Can't wait to huddle home fer teh cable newz, I guess. Hello..... impatient and indifferent people, you are living in a historical, legendary place that others, globally, dream about. If that's so much of an imposition upon you, here..... you can take up my space here on shit street and watch cable or walk to the corner bar like you usually do - and I can live on the lower east side. Least I'd appreciate it.......
People are always such dicks - you probably would have had more success if you told them that you'd give them a free cellphone app or something.
"they don't believe in blogs" - wow, I wish you could have gotten them to elaborate; pretty sure it would have yielded some unintended gold.
HAHAHA! Cate Blanchett! That's hilarious. Also, I never realized that Dylan wore mom jeans. Weird.
I have made 3 or 4 clever and borderline profound posts. A veritable feast of Oscar Wilde like witticisms. And they never, ever appear in the comments.
Watch, this will appear.
@Classie: Speak of the devil and he doth appear.
@csp: I never did see that movie, I need to put it in my Netflix queue! And as far as that Jesus Gumby linkage? Ha ha ha!
@Lindsay: People were really cranky with me last night, I may try it again next week.
@Goggla: If I hear from Bob D. you can have Suze's part of the picture for sure!
@lzzrdgrrl: You speak the truth! Thanks!
@JAZ: I asked them what they meant by that and they just kept on walking. A couple of yuppie/yunnies for sure!
@Biff: Dylan in mom jeans? No wonder they booed him at Newport!
@Classie: Sorry about the comments getting lost, it's been buggy today. I blame Bank of America!
But blogs believe in YOU! How rude. Tom and I would have totally posed for it!
Don't worry Marty, not everyone can believe in everything whether it exists or not.
That is awesome, Gumby!! Freewheelin Gumby!! Could have put mrs. Cardboardbox man in the pic as Gumy's GF.
Thats some funny shit right there, Marty.
Gumby's such a good guy - he puts those passer-by idiots to shame. Just take care of him, & make sure no-one takes advantage of his ingenue charm. There've been kidnapping threats already, haven't there?!!
Ok - if anyone with Internet Explorer 9 has problems w. comments, clicking on the little compatibility view button at the top of the screen should fix things. I tried clearing the cache etc & it made no difference.
refused post...
don't have time to repost...leave all w/:
The first draught serveth for health, the second for pleasure, the third for shame, and the fourth for madness.
~Anacharsis
rr
@Britta: Maybe when you and Tom are in town we'll do the picture!
@Global Warming: It's always a pleasure to hear from you, Mr. Gore!
@Clacky: Glad you got a kick out of it!
@onemorefoldedsunset: Gumby may get threats, but I'll protect him! And thanks for the comment tip. Also if you write a lengthy comment, you might want to copy the text so if it doesn't go through you can paste it in a new comment window.
@rr: Sorry your comment got eaten, but glad you made it back to leave that great quote!
Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty MAN!!!
My post didn't show up and it was really good! It said something about me knowing that Gumby would end up in the redo of the Dylan cover photo because Gumby is the spitting image of Bob Zimmerman and Ithought you might get a girl to pose with Gumby or you could have dressed in drag and had a bystander take a picture of you and Gomby. Unfortunately, it didn't post, so the whole wide worm missed out! (And yes, I meant to say WORM, Thankyou!)
Who the hell is Gomby, anyway? Oh, That was ME who typed that wrong. Sometimes I switch identities with you Party, and don't realize it. My shrink used to say "it is a geniune gesture of adoration for people I view in very high esteem." I say I'm just psychotic! I wonder what ever happened to my shrink?
Enjoy your evening, bro!
Party own wit yo bad sef!
Dannymanny
@Danny Maness: "I wonder what ever happened to my shrink?" Didn't you have him for dinner? With some fava beans and a nice Chianti?
Here's to hopefully ending on a high note.
@F. Mercury: Thanks for the link, Freddy. I appreciate it because I know you're under pressure.
That's crazy! I never heard the version with David Bowie. Mad props to Vanilla Ice.
Testing
SSSLLLTITITI!
@Hammer: That's MAD props!
@Al: You're a little testy today!
@Danny Maness: Nice Hannibal sound effect!
vanilla and chocolate swirl with choco sprinkles..my fave too!!Next time try at Ray's his tuxedo swirl dipped in chocolate sauce that hardens!!A classic.
@Melanie: I will definitely try that at Ray's, sounds delicious!
Britta is good at posing for photos, would be awesome if she ends up doing it. See I'm one of those people who would never agree to it because I hate having my photo taken. But I feel bad for sad little gumby, I would have posed with him.
@kari: Next time you're in town you can post with Gumby! And hopefully we can pull it off with Britta and Tom.
While I know you are a pro at this, you're going to need some pretty little gal like Lindsay to get strangers to do your bidding work with you on the street.
She'll charm them... :-)
@Shawn Chittle: True!