It wasn’t The Day The Music Died, but it was The Day The Music Changed.
Fifty years ago today, Bob Dylan crashed his Triumph motorcycle in upstate New York. It’s a crash that’s still surrounded by questions — nobody but Dylan and maybe a few friends know why he crashed, or where, and nobody knows for sure what his injuries were.
All that’s known for sure is, he stopped touring for months, not even releasing an album until almost a year and a half later (1967’s John Wesley Harding). Dylan spent some of those months jamming with his Canadian buddies while he recovered, and when he made his public comeback years later, his singing had changed, causing speculation about neck injuries.
But, nobody knows for sure what happens, since there was no police report. It was, however, a crash that changed history — it changed Dylan’s career, and possibly even saved his life; there is speculation the accident saved him from drug addiction. Michael Hill has put together a good write-up to mark the anniversary. Since it’s Friday and you’re probably tired of building spreadsheets anyway, why don’t you head over to CTV and give it a read?
No, but changed his voice….