This is an ode to the folk singer Bob Dylan. It includes the lyric: "Now hear this Robert Zimmerman, though I don't suppose we'll meet." Funnily enough, Bowie would go on to meet Dylan multiple times throughout the '70s and '80s, though Dylan was reportedly rude to Bowie and according to one biographer, Dylan told Bowie that he hated his Young Americans album!
David Bowie originally wrote "Song For Bob Dylan" for his school friend and King Bees bandmate George Underwood believing he could make his pal into a star. "David had written 'Bob Dylan' for me and I did a version in a studio," Underwood recalled to Uncut magazine. "It's like somebody doing a painting for you. It was a gift."
Bowie wrote this in 1971. It appears on his Hunky Dory album, which was recorded at Trident Studios, London in April of that year. Like the rest of the album, this song was produced by Ken Scott.
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