Bob Dylan’s Desire

All I needed at that time

There is nothing I can say about Bob Dylan that hasn’t already been said. But Dylan is always personal. He touches people in a thousand different ways, both individual and universal. Desire was not the first album of his that I possessed. I knew many of his folk style, protest songs as well as the first of his Judas-electric, such as Blonde on Blonde. I grew up with His Bobness though, I’m sure as with many, it was in a roundabout way. Thanks to bands like the The Byrds and their cover of an abridged Mr Tambourine Man, I first became acquainted with his songs through the radio, before I heard the strains of his inimitable voice singing classics such as Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

It was at the time of my first born. I was still waiting for mother and daughter to be discharged from hospital, when I took a break from visits to frequent my local record shop — a time when they still thrived. I knew I needed to buy a new Bob Dylan album — nothing else would do — to honour the occasion. I flicked through the album covers and there he was, his face in profile, wearing that hat. But the clincher was the name of the last track — Sara. It was the name we had just bequeathed to our daughter. I needed no further encouragement and left the shop with the vinyl tucked under my arm – facing outwards, of course.