Dear Mr Zimmerman,


I was introduced to Bob Dylan when I clandestinely 're-appropriated' my fathers record collection into my own, admittedly dreadful, archives. The first time I heard the song 'Hurricane' I was damn near speechless. Now, I admire almost every aspect of him, I guess you could say that he is as close as I will ever come to having an idol. I had heard that Dylan's own idol was the folk-singer and travelling man Woody Guthrie and I happened to stumble upon his Autobiography entitled 'Bound for Glory' in my parents bookshelf. I found it to be a warm and funny telling of what was, in reality, a very tragic tale. It stayed with me and I thought about about Woody Guthrie and his life a great deal around that time.

A couple of months later I read Dylan's own autobiographical offering and was moved by the affection he felt for Guthrie. You see, Woody ended up in what was essentially an asylum and Dylan was one of the only people who went to visit him. This was a once great man reduced to languishing in pain and obscurity in a hospice bed. He eventually died on October 3rd, 1967 from complications related to Huntingdon's disease.

I heard whispers that Bob Dylan had bought a house in the Highlands of Scotland in 2006 and more importantly had been sighted in the area. Somehow I was going to make sure that Dylan's and my own life collided, at least in some small way. Being somewhat an artist himself, I decided that Bob might appreciate it if I sent him a drawing of the late, great Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie. I spoke to a contact up north, near where Dylan's house is, and managed to procure his actual address. The drawing, along with a short letter, is on it's way as you read this. I am not sure when he will get it as I am told that he rarely visits, but the thought of old Robert Zimmerman's keen grey eyes settling on my drawing makes me a very happy man indeed.

"Let me be known as just the man that told you something you already knew." ~ Woody Guthrie

3 comments:

Style Scanner said...

Mazel tov on your chutzpah Omar, genius! x

Zul said...

Richard Thaxton is going to make some enquiries about Bob Dylan in Ne........e

Zul said...

Richard Tahxton is going to make some enquiries to try and help make sure Bob Dylan gets your picture