‘Bob Dylan’s Original Recipes And Cookbook’
By Larry Fyffe
(Interview conducted by Larry Fyffe)
Bob Dylan: While I’m listening to the steel rails hum
Got both my eyes tight shut
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it’s way into my gut
Untold: So that got you thinking about writing down your recipe for a batch of rice and beans?
Dylan: That’s right…..I’d come down with a case of the Workingman Blues ….
Don’t know what work even means
Untold: Why the instructions on how to cook a clean hot dog?
Dylan: I was On The Road Again ….
Well, I asked for something to eat
I’m hungry as a hog
So I get brown rice, seaweed
And a dirty hotdog
Untold: And the three pages on how to cut up and cook string beans?
Dylan: Yes, I recalled many years ago when I was Talkin’ World War III Blues …..
Well, I rung the fallout shelter bell
And I leaned my head and I gave a yell
“Give me a string bean, I’m a hungry man”
A shot gun fired, and away I ran
I don’t blame them too much though
They didn’t know me
Untold: What about those numbered, diagrammed instructions
on how to mash potatoes?
Dylan: You see, I’d forgotten how to ….way back when I was heading out for a ‘BYO’ Million Dollar Bash ….
Well, I looked at my watch
I looked at my wrist
Punched myself in my face
With my fist
I took my potatoes
Down to be mashed
Then I made it over to
That million dollar bash
Untold: I see a recipe here on page 312 for frying up a crepe suzette.
Tell our readers how you came up with that one, Bob.
Dylan: It was after an incident at a restaurant, I forget in what town, that this recipe revealed itself to me in my 115th Dream ….
The waitress he was handsome, and he wore a
powder blue cape
I order up some suzette; I said could you please make
that crepe
Just then the whole kitchen exploded from boiling fat
Food went flyin’ everywhere; I left without my hat
Untold: You have quite a discussion in your book on how to cook hard-boiled eggs.
Dylan: Well, to tell you the truth, I was in the Highlands ….
I’m in Boston town in some restaurant
I got no idea what I want
Or maybe I do, but I’m not really sure
She say, “You probably want hard-boiled eggs”
I said, “That’s right, bring me some”
She looks at me; says, “I’d bring you some
But we’re out of’em, you’ve picked the wrong place
to come”
Untold: And what’s the story on your special recipe for home made ice-cream?
Dylan: Well, you can bet your boots of Spanish leather that I’m gonna be better prepared the next time I have a Romance In Durango ….
Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun
Untold: I see you have quite a number of recipes for desserts in your book.
Dylan: Well, ya know Country Pie just tastes so good ….
Raspberry, strawberry, lemon, or lime
What do I care
Blueberry, apples, cherry, pumpkin, and plum
Call me for dinner
Honey, I’ll be there
Untold: Eh … thanks, Bob …. We’ll give out the address where our readers can order your cookbook and your etiquette book a bit… later.
Dylan: Thank you….thank you, thank you so very very much!
[End of interview]
What is on the site
1: Over 400 reviews of Dylan songs. There is an index to these in alphabetical order on the home page, and an index to the songs in the order they were written in the Chronology Pages..
2: The Chronology. We’ve taken all the songs we can find recordings of and put them in the order they were written (as far as possible) not in the order they appeared on albums. The chronology is more or less complete and is now linked to all the reviews on the site. We have also recently started to produce overviews of Dylan’s work year by year. The index to the chronologies is here.
3: Bob Dylan’s themes. We publish a wide range of articles about Bob Dylan and his compositions. There is an index here. A second index lists the articles under the poets and poetic themes cited – you can find that here.
4: The Discussion Group We now have a discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link
5: Bob Dylan’s creativity. We’re fascinated in taking the study of Dylan’s creative approach further. The index is in Dylan’s Creativity.
6: You might also like: A classification of Bob Dylan’s songs and partial Index to Dylan’s Best Opening Lines
And please do note The Bob Dylan Project, which lists every Dylan song in alphabetical order, and has links to licensed recordings and performances by Dylan and by other artists, is starting to link back to our reviews.
Larry! You forgot to ask Bob about the hog-eyed grease in the hog-eyed town. He could have thrown some light on “Ain’t talking’ that I happen to be working on. Can you give a call?
Bob said that he ain’t talkin’, but I did manage to get through to one of Aeneas’ cousins….he wants the shield back.
He once advertised in Reader´s Digest (Fast and easy meals) with the title:
Why don´t you smash your eggs and tomatoes in the kiiitchen?
and then this happened:
“Well, he threw a Reader’s Digest
At my head and I did run
I did a somersault
As I seen him get his gun
And crashed through the window
At a hundred miles an hour
And landed fully blast
In his garden flowers”
I have read it in “Motorpsycho Nightmare”
The first two lines are rumors in a dusty kitchen
Also: ‘Lawrence Ferlinghetti: From Mona Lisa’s Trial To The Reader’s Digest’