THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,895) Bob Dylan — ““Gypsy Lou”
This rollicking folk song by Bob Dylan only exists as a publishing demo that was never taken up by other artists at the time (unlike so many other of his songs). Tony Attwood gives us the fascinating backstory and highlights its neglected role in Dylan’s artistic development:
Dylan’s interest in and involvement with the Beat Generation is well documented . . . . [His] use of the blues, folk, pop, and rock formats to take us to all sorts of new destinations combining new style, illicit drugs, the examination and re-examination of all types of religion, attacks on materialism, and an eternal concern with people… it is all the Beat Generation. And in among this all is that desire for bohemianism and spontaneity as ways of discovering new art forms. Ginsberg did it . . . Burroughs . . . Kerouac . . . and Dylan with… that’s the problem. Dylan, in the early stages, was not a Beat Poet, nor a Beat Musician. . . . He was in fact re-working the models of folk music and the blues. We find the occasional little experiment, like “Motorpsycho Nightmare” but the real leap comes with “Subterranean Homesick Blues” – Dylan’s first real Beat Poet piece. So what we have is Dylan interested in, perhaps fascinated by the Beat movement, friends with the leaders, but not artistically not really able to find his way in.
“Gypsy Lou” . .. is . . . the abbreviated story of Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb who together in New Orleans were at the heart of the local Beat community. It was written around 1961/2 . . . and recorded in August 1963 . . . . [I]t emerged before Dylan had any idea how to balance his interest in the Beat Generation and its poetry, with his own music, which was dominated by old English and American folk songs, and the blues of the 1920s. Gypsy Lou . . . was [The Outsider‘s] magazine’s typesetter, (and creator and retailer of hand-tinted French Quarter cityscapes and small paintings to tourists on Royal Street). The French Quarter of New Orleans was very much an artist, beat, creative, free spirit environment where social outcasts existed side by side with the genuinely talent artists – exactly the sort of place Dylan found exciting and intriguing in his early writing career. . . . Jon worked as a freelance writer and editor while together they ran the Loujon Press and . . . The Outsider[] for what they called “Bohemian fugitives”. . . . Gregory Corso and William Burroughs contributed to the magazine which . . . apart from having incredibly influential content . . . . ran 3000 copies of each edition (unheard of at the time) . . . . Jon and Gypsy Lou’s also moved into book publishing and had a hit with Charles Bukowski’s poetry: It Catches My Heart in Its Hands which made their name. They also published two books by Henry Miller . . . . It was at this time that Gypsy Lou gained her reputation. “Fiery” “flamboyant” and “jagged” were words used, but it was Jon . . . who bungled the robbery of a jewelry shop and served three years in prison . . . . [H]ere we have the bohemians, the eccentrics, the outsiders, the sort of people that Dylan came to write about later. . . . [o]nly it took Dylan a few years to find a way to express it. . . . [“Gypsy Lou”] is a sketch written out of frustration – frustration that Dylan has not yet found a way out of his dominant influences to become what he wanted to become (and of course ultimately did become) the first man to take the Beat Generation into its own unique form of music. . . . [T]hank goodness the Whitmark recordings exist . . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term Like Thisfamiliar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,200 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 