Alternate "squeeze" shot!
Rock’s most iconic squeeze, Suze Rotolo, is dead at 67. What rock nerd hasn’t looked at the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and not wanted to be at least one of the two lovebirds pictured?
The young couple walked up and down Jones Street for a few minutes while Hunstein snapped shots. “Bob stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned into me,” Rotolo wrote in her 2009 book A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties. “We walked the length of Jones Street facing West Fourth with Bleecker Street at our backs. In some outtakes it’s obvious that we were freezing; certainly Bob was, in that thin jacket. But image was all. As for me, I was never asked to sign a release or paid anything. It never dawned on me to ask.”
I was sorry to see this over the weekend. I have not read her memoir, but I thought her contributions to the No Direction Home documentary were interesting–it was the first time she had talked about Dylan and that era publicly, as far as I know. Based on this and on Dylan’s own recollections in Chronicles, there can be little doubt that she had a huge impact on him and thus on the era.
Agreed. A dramatic film of her story would really refresh the whole rock biopic genre, as it could avoid the typical cliched story arc.
RIP — it’s nice she was able to revisit her past through her book and interviews over the past few years in a very classy way.
she seems like a right good gal, and it’s always a shame to see the passing of such folks.
but is anyone else a little skeeved by the acute interest in / fawning over someone who was, as the “rock squeeze” thread suggests, only notable for being by a notable person’s side?
i mean, i can see the chain of logic in my chum misterioso’s statement: “there can be little doubt that she had a huge impact on him and thus on the era.”
but really…is it like he wrote a song about her that changed human consciousness or something? or did she say something he thought profound, and then he put it in a song, which then changed human consciousness?
i’m not asking rhetorically because i think the answer is ‘no.’ i’m really asking. did he?
as an art historian, i have obvious reasons for asking, and few answers.
Well, based on Chronicles, it seems a good case can be made that she really pulled Dylan into the world of Village art and left-wing politics in a way that had a major impact on his work. Maybe he would have traveled the same route if he hadn’t known her: no way to know. Lord knows he eventually moved out of that world. But as to whether the work he created before he did–let’s say Freewheelin’ and Times They Are A-Changin’–“changed human consciousness,” I would tend to say that they did, to a greater degree than most records can lay claim to, anyway.
Anyway, I think she had more going on than the term “rock squeeze” would suggest.
thanks for the good answer, mis.
she’s notable for more than “being by his side.”
by my ‘skeeved out’ comment, i don’t meant to suggest that a life like hers isn’t interesting or worthy of examination. any life is interesting.
i guess i’m just a cynic…
if i had a compelling interest in what made dylan tick, i’m sure i’d want to know all about her and would be unconflicted in my pursuit of the info.
saturnismine, granted, I’m an incredibly cynical man at times, but I sincerely thank you for recognizing that! Thanks for keeping me company. Not to diminish ANYTHING she had going on in this world, but let’s start with two main facts: 1) she was hot, and 2) she was constantly fawning over our hero Bob Dylan. The whole “muse” thing cracks this cynic up. Dylan was gonna have his heart broken by someone, but he and he alone had the goods to write those songs. Whatever love he had for her and the other women in his life should not be overlooked because he wrote some killer songs after brekaing up with them. All that said, sincerely, RIP Suze and the cool stuff you helped introduce to young Bob.
mod, it’s an honor and a pleasure.
the more i read, the less i buy in.
so…she had “left wing parents,” huh? wow…*nobody* had *that* going on in the early 60s. is the suggestion that he wouldn’t have been left leaning if he hadn’t met her? i dunno…maybe dylan migrated to new york was in part because of the liberal politic there.
whatev….
I think the most important thing about Rotolo was that she left him, not for someone else but to go study art in Italy. She was not your typical squeeze. Of course Dylan got “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”, “One Too Many Mornings”, and “Boots of Spanish Leather” out of the experience. And she went on with her life.
Whoever inspired “Positively 4th Street” and “Like a Rolling Stone” deserve Prime Squeeze Consideration.
Now we’re getting into my half-baked theory (not without some evidence) that most of Blonde on Blonde is inspired by Marianne Faithfull.
So, I am open to suggestions. Please explain: what does the title Blonde on Blonde mean? I mean, in its context.
aren’t there liner notes to some re-issue somewhere that contain the secrets to this mystery?
seriously, though, i always heard it was a reference to Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg, both blondes…and…well…you know…sort of “on” each other.