Suze Rotolo

I was saddened to hear of the premature death from Lung Cancer at the age of 67 of Suze Rotolo (1943-2011) in NYC. The principled daughter of two American Communists she inspired Bob Dylan’s radicalism and worked for Civil Rights during the period they were together. She appeared with him on the cover of his breakthrough album “Freewheelin' Bob Dylan” walking down a snowy Jones Street in Greenwich village and he wrote "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time." about her.


A CD of the music inspired by Greenwich Village featuring a picture of Washington Square Park with liner notes by Suze Rotolo

She was a 17-year-old art- and poetry-loving civil rights activist from Queens when she met the 20-year-old folk singer from Minnesota at an all-day folk concert at Riverside Church in Manhattan in the summer of 1961. "Right from the start, I couldn't take my eyes off her," Dylan wrote in "Chronicles: Volume One," his 2004 memoir. "She was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen." Dylan later wrote that meeting her "was like stepping into the tales of 1,001 Arabian nights", adding: "She had a smile that could light up a street full of people... a Rodin sculpture come to life."



After the sudden death of Rotolo's father in 1958, her mother took to drinking. The teenage Suze began to take Sunday trips to Washington Square in the Village, joining the folk musicians, poets and political activists who took on the establishment in verse and propaganda. At 17, she caught the subway from Queens to the Village for a final time, "without looking back".

While still in high school, Rotolo volunteered for the Congress of Racial Equality, marching on Washington for civil rights and desegregation. At the age of 20, she made national news when she and four other students stood up for the "free travel of free Americans" by, in defiance of the government travel ban, heading over to Cuba. The group spent two months touring factories and schools and met Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. It was an incredibly brave thing to do.



Rotolo later wrote that Dylan "made me think of Harpo Marx, impish and approachable, but there was something about him that broadcast an intensity that was not to be taken lightly." So began a four-year relationship that was immortalised on a wintery day in 1963 when photographer Don Hunstein captured the young couple walking down a snowy Greenwich Village street, Dylan's hands thrust in his pockets and Rotolo's hands wrapped snugly around his arm.

"It was freezing out," she recalled in a 2008 interview with the New York Times. "He wore a very thin jacket, because image was all. Our apartment was always cold, so I had a sweater on, plus I borrowed one of his big, bulky sweaters. On top of that I put a coat. So I felt like an Italian sausage."

The photo became the cover of Dylan's breakthrough second album, which includes the songs "Blowin' in the Wind," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and "Masters of War."


A Book Art piece by Suze Rotolo


Rotolo was born in Queens, N.Y., on Nov. 20, 1943, a so-called red-diaper baby whose parents were members of the American Communist Party. Her father died when she was a teenager, and she traded Queens for Greenwich Village after graduating from high school. She was working in the office of the Congress of Racial Equality — and had seen Dylan perform at a small club in the Village — when she met him at the folk festival. Rotolo, who moved into a tiny apartment on West Fourth Street in the Village with Dylan when she was 18, is credited with introducing him to modern art and poetry, avant-garde theatre and civil rights politics.


Suze Rotolo in 2007

She worked on the production staff at a local Greenwich Village theatre and when Dylan visited there to pick her up one day, he was introduced to the theatre work of Bertolt Brecht, the German poet, playwright and theatre director. In his memoir, Chronicles, Dylan recalled Brecht on Brecht, a musical revue he saw there. He said Brecht had an enormous impact on his development as an artist. "My little shack in the universe was about to expand into some glorious cathedral, at least in songwriting terms," Dylan wrote, describing his reaction to the music. "They were like folk songs in nature, but unlike folk songs, too, because they were sophisticated." Dylan was struck in particular by Pirate Jenny from The Threepenny Opera.

Rotolo married Italian Enzo Bartoccioli, a film editor who works for the United Nations, in 1970. Together they had one son, Luca, who is a guitarist in New York. In New York, Rotolo worked as an illustrator and painter, before concentrating on creating book art, making book-like objects which incorporated found art. Remaining politically active, Rotolo joined the street-theatre group Billionaires for Bush and protested at the 2004 Republican National Convention in Manhattan. Her friend and Village Voice critic Jim Hoberman wrote that she died in her New York apartment "and the arms of her husband of 40 years, Enzo Bartoccioli".

Rotolo appears in Martin Scorsese's film No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, a documentary focusing on Dylan's early career from 1961 to 1966. She was also interviewed nationally in 2008 by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air to promote her book, A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties.



Rotolo's book was published by Broadway Books on 13 May 2008. Rotolo recounted her attempts not to be overshadowed by her relationship with Dylan. She discussed her need to pursue her artistic creativity and to retain her political integrity, concluding: "The sixties were an era that spoke a language of inquiry and curiosity and rebelliousness against the stifling and repressive political and social culture of the decade that preceded it. The new generation causing all the fuss was not driven by the market: we had something to say, not something to sell."

Here is her website which features her artworks;

http://www.suzerotolo.com


Requiescat in pace.

Danny Boy

This is the unique Jackie Wilson with his unique version of "Danny Boy." My second favorite version (after Luke Kelly's) this cracks me up every time I hear it!



Danny Boy is one of over 100 songs composed to the same tune. The author was an English barrister, Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929), who was also a songwriter and radio entertainer. In 1910 he wrote the words and music for an unsuccessful song he called Danny Boy. In 1912 his sister-in-law in America sent him a tune called the Londonderry Air which he had never heard before. He immediately noticed that the melody was perfectly fitted to his Danny Boy lyrics, and published a revised version of the song in 1913. As far as is known, Weatherly never set foot in Ireland. His most commercially successful ballad was 'Roses of Picardy' which became one of the great popular songs of the Great War, and it made its writer a small fortune.


Fred Weatherly

"Danny Boy" was originally said to be intended as a message from a woman to a man, and Weatherly provided the alternative "Eily dear" for male singers in his 1918 authorised lyrics. However, the song is actually sung by men as much as, or possibly more than, women. The song has been interpreted by some listeners as a message from a parent to a son going off to war or leaving as part of the Irish Diaspora.



The song is widely considered an Irish anthem, although Weatherly was an Englishman. Nonetheless, "Danny Boy" is considered by many as the unofficial anthem of the Irish Diaspora. These were the days when emigrants were given a “wake” before they left as their family and friends never expected to see them again. Hence the poignancy of the final verse with the returned emigrant before his mother’s grave who implores the returning son to sing an Ave. The song requires a wide vocal range to carry it off and many don’t a fact noted in this wonderful piece by John Sheahan of the Dubliners made by his niece Shona McMillan.



LYRICS OF DANNY BOY (Note; There are numerous variations)

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the leaves are falling
T'is you, T'is you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
t'is I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And when ye come, and all the flow'rs are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
ye'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And oh, my grave shall warmer, sweeter be
For ye will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

Well, given these lyrics and the flow of drink in Irish Bars around the world (Same Ireland, different country!) sometimes folk get over sentimental when in their cups, a fact wonderfully parodied by none other than the Muppets!

Liam Clancy

Liam Clancy

Folk legend Liam Clancy died yesterday at the age of 74 after a long battle with a respiratory illness. The singer and musician, famously described by Bob Dylan as "the best ballad singer I'd ever heard in my life", was the last surviving member of the famous Clancy Brothers.





Dubbed Ireland's first pop stars, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem brought Irish folk songs to an international audience and influenced artists from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to the Pogues.

Farewell Ronnie Drew

Like many native Dubliners I am sadder this weekend as the world and Irish Folk music has lost the great Ronnie Drew, the legendary Irish folk singer and musician, who died at the age of 73. Drew, the founder of Irish folk group The Dubliners, had been battling cancer for some time. In a brief statement, his family confirmed he passed away at St Vincent's Private Hospital in Dublin on Saturday 16 August 2008.

Ronnie Drew was born in 1934 and reared in Dun Laoghaire on the coast of south County Dublin. At an early age he realised he was not cut out for a 'nine to five' job, especially of the a.m. variety and so in the mid-fifties he emigrated to Spain and lived there for three years. During his time in Spain he taught English, learned Spanish and studied the art of the Flamenco guitar. On his return to Dublin, Ronnie met the late John Molloy, a renowned actor, who invited him to perform in a show at Dublin's Gate theatre. Ronnie worked with John in various theatrical shows, singing, acting and playing guitar. It was at this stage Ronnie learned the discipline and art of stagecraft. In 1962 'The Dubliners' appeared from the back room of O'Donoghues Pub on Dublin's Baggot Street. Their style of music created quite a stir. In 1967 they released 'Seven Drunken Nights' entering the British Top Ten with an appearance on BBC's Top of the Pops. In 1995 they appeared once again on the show with Shane McGowan and the Pogues, with their single 'The Irish Rover'. The founding members of the Dubliners were Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, Ciaran Bourke and Barney McKenna and the group were the first to popularise Irish Folk music to a worldwide audience.




O'Donoghues Pub

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Brian Cowen said Drew had been an "iconic figure in Irish music" over five decades who would be remembered worldwide for his music. "I met him and admired his music, his unique singing voice was loved by so many people," he said. "Ronnie, whether as part of The Dubliners or during his solo career, will also be remembered for his promotion of Irish music both at home and around the world.

Drew underwent six months' treatment for throat cancer two years ago. His wife of more than 40 years, Deirdre, died last year. The couple lived in Greystones, Co Wicklow. Ronnie was a champion of traditional Irish music and, with The Dubliners; he re-energised and refreshed Ireland’s unique musical heritage

Con Kavanagh, barman at O'Donoghues, where The Dubliners started out, said everybody gathering at the pub this evening was talking about Drew. "When you mention Dublin, you mention Ronnie Drew - the two just went together," he said. "Everybody loved him." Irish President Mary McAleese said it was with great sadness that she learned of Drew's death. "Ronnie was a champion of traditional Irish music and, with The Dubliners, he re-energised and refreshed our unique musical heritage," she said.


During his career, Drew recorded with many artists, including Christy Moore, The Pogues, Antonio Breschi and Eleanor Shanley. Earlier this year, members of U2 joined fellow Irish musicians Sinead O'Connor, Shane MacGowan, Christy Moore and others to record a tribute song The Ballad of Ronnie Drew. All profits from the release of the single went to the Irish Cancer Society. At the time Bono said; "This is a big fight for him. But like any fighter, it's easier if there's a crowd cheering."

Drew founded the Ronnie Drew Group in 1962, which later came to be known as The Dubliners. The change of name came about due to Drew's unhappiness with the name, coinciding with the fact that Kelly was reading Dubliners by James Joyce at the time.(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/06/james-joyce-and-me.html)
The group included fellow Irish music legends Luke Kelly, Ciaran Bourke and Barney McKenna and they began by singing in O'Donoghues pub in Merrion Row in central Dublin. Kelly was known for singing their soulful ballads and Drew will be best remembered for his gravelly-voiced renditions of songs like Finnegan's Wake and Dicey Reilly.

The Dubliners lived around the city they had named themselves after and were local legends. They were famous (and notorious) for their drunken carousing and Ronnie used to tell the story against himself of bumping into two acquaintances in Lower Baggot Street and a consensus quickly emerged that they should retire to a local pub for a pint of the “Black Stuff.” However every time one of the company suggested the name of a pub at least one of them had been barred from it in the past for some misbehaviour. After exhausting the names of all the pubs in the area they could not find a pub where all of them would be welcome and eventually they decided to shake hands and go their separate ways! At one stage Ronnie lived in a house in the Dublin Mountains at Glencullen and reveled in the porch he had built constructed out of empty beer bottles!


Despite bumping into Ronnie a couple of times in Dublin I only ever heard the Dubliners in concert once and that was in the early 1990s at the Barbican Centre in London, England. This was when the group had some changes of membership and after Luke Kelly’s death. It was a couple of years before Ronnie left the group (in 1995) and truth to tell, whilst pleasant they were past their best with an air of contractual obligation about it all. A couple of weeks later in the same venue I heard De Dannan and Eleanor Shanley in concert and the difference was noticeable, De Dannan and Eleanor grabbed the audience and did not let go until the end of their set.

This made me all the sadder I had not caught the Dubliners live in their prime and with their original line up for in their prime they were a phenomenon which took the world by storm and ironically popularised Irish Folk music not just internationally but also in Ireland. When we think of Irish traditional music, we think of ballad groups. But prior to The Dubliners, there were no ballad groups. It took the international folk boom of the sixties, and the success of the Clancy’s and Tommy Makem in America, to legitimise Irish music to the Irish nation. A good buddy of mine, Liam Weldon who ran the wonderful music sessions in Tailor’s Hall in Dublin, used to always say “There is a big difference between people who sing folk songs and people who ARE folk singers.” The Dubliners and Ronnie Drew had Dublin and Irish Folk music in their hearts and, as we say in the auld town, they were the heart of the rawl!

Ar dheis Dé go raibh anam uasal, Ronnie Drew.




The Dubliners with Paddy Reilly at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin - Molly Malone




And here's Patrick Kavanagh's Raglan Road: An allegorical poem of unrequieted love. Luke Kelly sang the definitive version.