Ongoing History of New Music

Ongoing History Daily: The Bowie-Dylan duet that almost happened.

All through his professional life, David Bowie was a big fan of Bob Dylan. In fact, there’s a song on Bowie’s 1971 album, Hunky Dory, entitled “Song for Bob Dylan. There was also a considerable amount of respect coming back from Dylan, too.

In fact, Bowie says he wrote a lot of things with Zimmy, and at one point, there were plans for the two of them to duet on an unnamed song.

“We got it in our heads that we could do a duet, like a [Simon and Garfunkel] thing,” says Bowie. It seemed to be a thing one evening, but the morning after, Dylan ghosted Bowie on the idea and it never happened.

You have to wonder what such a recording would have sounded like…

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39178 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “Ongoing History Daily: The Bowie-Dylan duet that almost happened.

  • Given the kind of life…
    Maybe Dylan went through some kind of life change that required his immediate attention.
    Maybe he got wasted and lost himself trying to repair whatever damage was unfortunately dropped on his life.

    Why does it have to be ghosting & negative?
    I bet Bowie of all people would understand.
    I bet no one ever recommended Dylan seek therapy.
    I feel they’re more the type to need mentoring than fixing. I think they’re just fine the way they were.
    But who am I to make such diagnoses? This isn’t a closed & controlled environment, and there has been no trust established.

    Oh well. They’re dead now.

    Reply

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