Dave Stewart was playing Dylan songs as a teen. Now he's made an album of them
He's also well-regarded for his production and writing with Mick Jagger, Tom Petty, Jon Bon Jovi and Ringo Starr, and for crafting the music for Broadway's 'Ghost the Musical' and 'The Time Traveller's Wife.'
But Stewart's 40-year friendship and collaborative relationship with Bob Dylan is a revelation for most.
Then again, this is the guy who, at 72, cheerfully reminds you that he's 'always working on about five different things at once. If you've got the greatest job in the world, why stop? It's not like I'm going to retire from having a good time.'
Stewart's affection for Dylan's lauded catalog is etched in his new 'Dave Does Dylan' album. Originally released in April exclusively for Record Store Day, the 14 tracks blend well-worn classics ('Lay, Lady, Lay,' 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door') with deep cuts ('To Ramona,' an album track on 1964's 'Another Side of Bob Dylan').
The Stewart-Dylan connection is perhaps deepest on 'Emotionally Yours,' a 1985 cut from Dylan's 'Empire Burlesque' album featuring a video shot by Stewart as Dylan wandered Camden High Street in North London.
The charmingly chatty Stewart spoke last spring, and hadn't yet seen 'A Complete Unknown,' the fictionalized take on a portion of Dylan's career. But he shares plenty about his time with the bard.
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Question: You've known Dylan since 1985, so is this an album you've wanted to do for a long time, but your schedule interfered?
Dave Stewart: Over the last year for fun I was putting my iPhone on a stick and singing a Dylan song (for social media). People were saying how much they loved them, so after doing about 24 videos, I thought, "Why not just do 14 songs that are exactly what you see on Instagram?" The iPhone was filming it and the mic was picking up what I was singing. I didn't think I was making an album, but I was!
You mention that Dylan's lyrics and melodies have kept you company through the best and worst of times. How did you determine which songs fall in those categories?
I could have made another album with all of the songs I left off. I was making it more for the people buying the vinyl album and how the songs flowed. When I was 15 I'd get into a folk club and sing "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and it would shock people because it was 1960s England and they were singing coal miner songs. Then I'd buy Dylan albums and lay on the floor stoned, listening to all four sides of "Blonde on Blonde."
And then years later you heard from the man himself.
I got a real shock in 1980something when the phone rang in the studio and the receptionist said, "Bob Dylan is on the phone." The minute he started speaking I knew it was real because it was impossible to imitate that voice. From then on we became friends.
The back cover of your album is a photo of you shooting Dylan for the 'Emotionally Yours' video. It seems as if you have an easy rapport with the notoriously shy guy.
When I'm with him, we just talk like two people talking. Bob talked in a '60 Minutes' interview that he knew something was different about him when he was a kid and then he realized it was a special thing. I know what he means when people ask me, "How did you write this or that song?" It's not that you don't want to explain, it's just some kind of feeling, and I understand that.
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Back to your previous life, do you think you and Eurythmics partner Annie Lennox will ever do anything together again?
We haven't toured since 1999, and we were offered touring. Annie says she can do some songs for other people (she performed for Joni Mitchell and Elton John at their respective Gershwin Prize for Popular Song concerts) but doesn't want to tour. Basically she's like, Eurythmics was then. But the songs live on, so I like playing Eurythmics songs. I think Annie is happy doing her own thing.
But you, of course, are always working on something.
I'm not a person who wants to control stuff. I like to relinquish control and let stuff happen. That could be chaotic to the people living it, but it's a fun thing that happens. When I look back at my life with things like the Traveling Wilburys recording in my back garden (Stewart lent George Harrison his California home and the supergroup with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Harrison was formed around his kitchen table), you have to let things just happen. It's a way of allowing your mind to actually be open to endless possibilities and not go bonkers.
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