Bob Dylan’s favourite song that mentions him
Over the last 60 years, Bob Dylan has been routinely name-checked in songs by his peers. Musical legends including Johnny Cash, John Lennon and David Bowie are among those who have referred to the freewheeling troubadour in their music. However, none of the above are Dylan’s favourite of the special sub-genre. Instead, that honour belongs to the late Rick Nelson.
Nelson, who passed away in 1985 aged 45, rose to fame as a teenager with his chart-topping debut album Ricky in 1957. For the next few years, the singer-songwriter was a constant presence in the hit parade, but his popularity dramatically dwindled after he rebranded himself from Ricky to Rick, alienating his teenage fanbase, who found new heroes to worship.
While it was career suicide, Nelson needed to make this change to stay true to himself. However, as a result, he was left in an unfortunate position. Bands like The Beatles had knocked him off his perch, but rather than attempting to copy their style, he pivoted into country rock and didn’t worry about the commercial ramifications.
However, in 1972, Nelson enjoyed a short-lived pop renaissance thanks to his track ‘Garden Party’, which was his barbed response to being booed by the crowd at the Rock and Roll Spectacular Volume VII concert at Madison Square Garden.
In the song, Nelson mentions Dylan and sings: “People came from miles around, Everyone was there, Yoko brought her walrus, There was magic in the air, And over in the corner, Much to my surprise, Mr Hughes hid in Dylan’s shoes, Wearing his disguise.”
During an interview with Bill Flanagan in 2017, Dylan returned the favour when he revealed his favourite song that mentions him is ‘Garden Party’. While this may seem an obscure choice considering he was mentioned in Lennon’s ‘Yer Blues’, anyone who has read Dylan’s memoir Chronicles: Volume One will be unsurprised by his answer.
In the book, Dylan devoted a whole passage to his love of Nelson and explained why he found the late musician to be such an extraordinary talent. “He sang his songs calm and steady like he was in the middle of a storm, men hurling past him. His voice was sort of mysterious and made you fall into a certain mood,” Dylan wrote.
He continued: “I’d always felt kin to him. In a few years’ time, he’d record some of my songs, make them sound like they were his own like he had written them himself. He eventually did write one himself and mentioned my name in it. The thing was that Ricky was still making records, and that’s what I wanted to do, too.”
Tragically, Nelson’s life and career were cut painfully short on New Year’s Eve in 1985 when his plane crashed on his way to a concert in Dallas due to mechanical issues with the vehicle. Only the two pilots survived, with all seven passengers passing away.
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