Bob Dylan is on a lot of people’s minds these days thanks to the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown, which chronicles Dylan’s early rise in the folk music scene, up until he decided to “go electric” in 1965 (sadly it ends before we see him “go Christmas album” in 2009).
In light of all the recent Dylan chatter, retired talk show host/occasional jury candidate David Letterman took to YouTube to share his thoughts about the legendary musician. Specifically, Dave talked about the time that Bob tanked a performance on his show, possibly on purpose.
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In 1992, just a year before he hopped over to CBS, Letterman celebrated 10 years of NBC’s Late Night program with a lavish anniversary special held at Radio City Musical Hall. In addition to various clips and an appearance from Bill Murray, the event featured “special musical guest” Bob Dylan and an “all-star band.”
The “supergroup” included Paul Shaffer (naturally) as well as a chorus of famous female musicians like Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, and Mavis Staples. In the final minutes of the show, Dylan took the stage, and gave a performance of his hit song “Like a Rolling Stone” that Rolling Stone magazine called “a little awkward.”
Letterman suspects that Dylan’s lack of enthusiasm wasn’t just because he was sick to death of that particular song, he also wasn’t too happy about the gig.
After noting that Dylan’s vocals would cause one to think, “Oh I’d better have my hearing tested,” Letterman explained that the crappy rendition “was Bob sending us all a little message.” Why? Because he didn’t want to play with a band that night.
“Bob agreed to be on the show, but did not realize he would be accompanied by others,” Letterman recalled. “Bob was under the impression that it would be Bob and his guitar.”
That being said, Dylan was clearly a big fan of Letterman’s; Paul Shaffer has said that when he first met Dylan, the singer asked if he could meet Larry “Bud” Melman. And Dylan later performed on The Late Show during Letterman’s final week. Again, Bob wasn’t too happy. But his complaint was more understandable: the stage was covered with pieces of a giant cake that Bill Murray had jumped out of earlier in the same episode
Letterman revealed that when he thanked Bob Dylan for being on the show, he replied: “It’s an honor,” which Letterman clearly took to heart.
And while we’re on the subject of Dylan and Letterman, it’s worth noting that Dylan’s first ever appearance on Late Night was one of the greatest TV performances of his career.
Instead of just playing with his touring band at the time, Dylan invited a few young, unknown punk musicians that he had been jamming with in Malibu, seemingly just because they knew who Letterman was. And Dylan didn’t even tell them what songs they’d be playing until they took the stage. It was amazing.
Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that the floor was completely free of cake.