Monsters of Folk: Dylan, Simon Might Tour

Could Rhymin' Simon and Illin' Dylan be planning to hit the road together this summer? Although a spokesperson at Bob Dylan's management says nothing's written in stone ("The two of them are talking about it, but haven't had contracts drawn up yet,") a high-level source confirms that the bard will be touring with Paul Simon this summer.

This would be Simon's first tour since 1991, and it couldn't come at a more propitious time since the singer is still licking his wounds after his Broadway musical The Capeman failed so spectacularly last year.

Although the two have never performed together, no one in Dylan's inner circle is surprised about the possibility of a tour. Back in 1966, on "A Simple Desultory Philippic" from Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Simon ended the song with his own personal in-crowd message to the singer: "I dropped the harmonica, Albert." He was referring, of course, to Dylan's former manager and father figure, Albert Grossman. Dylan later recorded Paul Simon's "The Boxer" for 1970's Self-Portrait, and the two have maintained a three-decade long friendship.

Dylan and Simon are expected to share the stage during each other's sets, according the L.A. Times. No word yet on whether Art Garfunkel has been offered an opening slot.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter