IT WAS 30 YEARS AGO TODAY . . .

The second edition of my critical study of Bob Dylan's work  -  the one with the original title and subtitle reversed, making it THE ART OF BOB DYLAN: Song & Dance Man, was published in the UK thirty years ago today. It came out in simultaneous hardback and paperback from Hamlyn. It was a revised and updated version of the first (1972) edition, but was mainly notable for the very generous number of photographs I was allowed to include, the great majority of which were integrated with the text. Many of the pictures were by Jim Marshall.

There was one giddy week, when Dylan was playing Earls Court that year, when the book filled the window of a W.H.Smith's store round a couple of corners from the venue. On the first night, I handed in an inscribed copy of the hardback to be given to Bob. Naturally I never heard back, though as with every other edition, his office had given me permission to quote copiously from his lyrics at a more or less nominal fee.

In North America, this 2nd edition was published by St.Martin's Press in 1982, also in simultaneous hardback and paperback.