Harry Belafonte and Bob Dylan

[New Haven]

The 1962 recording of "Midnight Special" by the Jamaican-American singer Harry Belafonte is notable for containing the very first official recording of Bob Dylan, who played harmonica. Belafonte told Mojo magazine July 2010 how it came about. He recalled: "It was supposed to be Sonny Terry, but he got grounded by a thunderstorm in Memphis and couldn't make the date. My guitarist Millard Thomas said, 'Well, there's this kid I see all the time down the village and he does that whole Sonny thing… he sleeps and dreams it.' So I said, 'We don't have a choice, I guess. Go find him.'
And this skinny kid appeared, and he had a paper sack with him full of harmonicas in different keys. I played the song for him and he pulled one out of the bag, dipped it in water and played it through a single take, and it was great. I loved it. I asked him if he wanted to try another take and he said, 'No.' He just headed for the door, and threw the harmonica into the trash can on his way out.
I remember thinking, Does he have that much disdain for what I'm doing? But I found out later that he bought his harps at the Woolworth drugstore. They were cheap ones, and once he'd gotten them wet and really played through them as hard as he did, they were finished. It wasn't until decades later, when he wrote his book (Chronicles), that I read what he really felt about me, and I tell you, I got very, very choked up. I had admired him all along, and no matter what he did or said, I was just a stone, stone fan."

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

1. Thanks for the education. nt