Bob Dylan's Big Freeze

BOB DYLAN'S BIG FREEZE (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 9th December 2020

Bob Harris tells the story of Bob Dylan's extraordinary two month stay in London during the freezing winter of 1962-3. We hear from the people who bumped into him and sent him on his way, from the folk clubs of Accrington to the tailors of Carnaby Street.

In the summer of 1962, Dylan had been spotted by BBC director Phillip Saville in a Greenwich Village basement and invited over to appear in Evan Jones's play, Madhouse On Castle Street. Receiving a fee of 500 guineas, Dylan duly flew to London to star alongside David Warner.

While he was in London, Dylan stayed with Martin Carthy, who remembers chopping up a piano for firewood during that long cold winter! While in London, Dylan became a regular figure on the burgeoning folk club circuit.

Eventually, under the pseudonym of Blind Boy Grunt, Dylan also cut an LP, recorded in the basement of Dobell's record shop on Charing Cross Road with the help of a crate of Guinness.

Dylan's eight week stay resulted in a burst of original songs (including Don't Think Twice It's Alright, Bob Dylan's Dream) which were heavily influenced by his exposure to traditional English folk.

First broadcast on Radio 2 in November 2008, and repeated to complement the 6 Music Michael Kiwanuka Artist Collection.

Bob Dylan - Handsome Molly [Compact Collect]
Bob Dylan - Sally Gal [Trade Mark Of Quality]
Bob Dylan - This Land Is Your Land [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - Blowin' In The Wind [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - I Was Young When I Left Home [Columbia]
Susan Maughan - Bobby's Girl
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Diamonds
Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right [Columbia]
Derek Lamb - Money Rolls In [Folkways]
Martin Carthy - Lord Franklin [Topic]
Bob Dylan - Dink's Song [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - Sally Gal [Trade Mark Of Quality]
Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan's Dream [CBS]
Jack Elliott - Ludlow Massacre [Prestige]
Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan's Dream [CBS]
Bob Dylan - Masters Of War [CBS]
Bob Dylan - Blowin' In The Wind (Live Appearance On The Madhouse On Castle Street, BBC TV, 1963)
Bob Dylan - Ballad Of The Gliding Swan (Live Appearance On The Madhouse On Castle Street, BBC TV, 1963) [Scorpio]
Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [Columbia]
Martin Carthy - Lord Franklin [Topic]
Martin Carthy - Scarborough Fair [Topic]
Bob Dylan - Girl From The North Country [CBS]
Bob Dylan - I Shall Be Free
Bob Dylan - Boots Of Spanish Leather [CBS]
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance [CBS]
Bob Dylan & Eric Von Schmidt & Richard Fariña - Xmas Island [Free Reed]
Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right [Columbia]
Bob Dylan - Blowin' In The Wind [Columbia]