The London hotel room that gave Bob Dylan a masterpiece
Rock stars have a rather chequered relationship with hotel rooms, and that began back in the 1960s with the advent of rock anarchists like The Who and The Rolling Stones taking it upon themselves to demolish as many hotel rooms as humanly possible.
For folk devotee Bob Dylan, though, hotel rooms often provided songwriting inspiration rather than a desire to throw televisions out of windows.
Having spent the majority of his existence on the road, it is fair to say that Dylan has become well-acquainted with the motels and hotels of the world – some more illustrious than others. Even during his early days, though, a core part of Dylan’s discography was carved out in the bedrooms and lobbies of various hotels.
Seemingly, there was something about being on the move that sparked the songwriter’s creativity, and that nomadic outlook certainly bled through into his material, particularly during his 1960s emergence.
Ever since those early days, one city that has been very important to Bob Dylan is London. First visiting the English capital in late 1962, to take part in the BBC’s Madhouse on Castle Street, the songwriter would return to British shores on a multitude of occasions over the next few years. In doing so, he inspired the creation of one of the greatest music documentaries of all time in Don’t Look Back, and forged friendships with the likes of Donovan and The Beatles in the process.
Predominantly, though, London is an important city to Dylan simply for the volume and magnitude of material he created in the shadow of its perpetual drizzle. One of his ultimate masterpieces, in fact, was first created in the plush surroundings of The May Fair Hotel.
Back in 1962, Dylan had actually been kicked out of the May Fair during his first trip to London, after he refused to stop smoking or busking in the lobby of the rather monied hotel. Luckily, though, the hotel seemed to adopt a policy of forgive and forget when it came to the songwriter’s next stay in 1964.
It was during that stay that Dylan wrote the first draft of ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’, which would soon become one of his defining anthems. Reportedly, the first spark of inspiration for the song actually arrived in Italy, where the folk hero went in search of his partner Suze Rotolo, but it was in the May Fair that the bulk of the song was properly carved out – in fact, the original draft of the lyrics was scribbled on May Fair Hotel stationery.
What’s more, Dylan performed the song for the very first time at the Royal Festival Hall in London, only a few days after bashing out those original lyrics. Inevitably, then, the song was imbued with the spirit of his surroundings in London, along with his tumultuous relationship history with both Rotolo and Joan Baez, the latter of whom would soon record her own version of the song.
‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ was certainly not the only song Bob Dylan wrote in the confines of a smoke-filled hotel room, nor was it the only song he penned in the illustrious surroundings of England’s capital. However, the sheer power of the 1964 song is perhaps the greatest reflection of Dylan’s songwriting mastery at that time.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.