Bob Dylan Thomas
There’s a new book published on August 18th Co-written by Jeff Towns and KG Miles.
Bob Dylan & Dylan Thomas: The Two Dylans.
I caught up with, world renowned Dylan Thomas expert, Jeff Towns to find out more about the book.
Now Jeff is something of an English-born (Welsh adopted) cultural and literary icon around these parts, and much further afield, and although we’d been introduced in the past this was the first time we’d actually sat down in the same room. He’s a robust, healthy looking enthusiastic and animated companion who is more than happy to talk all things Dylan.
‘The first LP record I ever bought was Bob Dylan’s first LP. I was in my early teens in the early ’60s and I hung out with a group of boys a year above me in school who were deep into American blues and folk music, and spoke highly of Bob Dylan. The record was released in the US in March 1963 and in the UK a few months later. I played it endlessly and became obsessed with the raw angry power of the songs about death and dying. I bought his next six albums as they were released.’
The way that Jeff talks about his obsession with Bob Dylan is infectious and it spills over into the new book bringing to light the cultural crossover between the two Dylans.
But how did it all start?
‘By the time Blonde on Blonde came out in 1966, I was reading the early American Beat writers and had also discovered that Bob Dylan’s birth name was ‘Robert Zimmerman’, now changed to ‘Bob Dylan’ in homage to a Welsh poet – Dylan Thomas.’
Who was he?
‘I asked my Welsh mother who told me what she knew and mentioned a recent biography of the poet. I read Constantine Fitzgibbon’s ‘official’ biography straight through, and became obsessed with this wild boozy writer. From then on, the Two Dylans became a big part of my cultural life and when, in 1970, I settled in Swansea – Dylan Thomas’ home town – and opened a used bookstore, I called it DYLANS BOOKSTORE. It covered both bases.’
With tales featuring well known artists such as Patti Smith, Peter Blake, Charlie Chaplin, Johnnie Ray, Rimbaud, John Cale and more this book opens up a whole new world of connections. It’s a literary stroll through the many serendipitous synchronicities and the shared acquaintances and passions that exist between these two cultural giants. But how did they decide what went in and what was left out?
‘We heeded Bob’s advice to ‘take’, and use, what we ‘gathered from coincidence’
And you thought it was just a name they shared!
By Michael Kennedy
Bob Dylan & Dylan Thomas: The Two Dylans is published by McNidder & Grace
