You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat

Here's the thing about Dylan and Edie Sedgwick. There is tons of debate exactly how involved they were and how much he wrote about her-- some people claim that "Like a Rolling Stone" recorded in 1965 at the height of Edie's fame is about Edie specifically the lines You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat/Who carried on his shoulder a siamese cat
Aint it hard when you discover that
He really wasnt where its at
After he took from you everything he could steal

which is supposed to refer to Andy Warhol and Edie's dissatisfaction with him for not making the feature film about her that he promised her or something like that. And supposedly Bob Dylan (or rather Bob Grossman his manager who promised to cut a single with Edie) tried to pull Edie away from the Factory or at least lots of lore has it  that Edie went from Andy Warhol to Bob Dylan, but the Bob that she most longed for in "Ciao! Manhattan" was Bob Neuwirth and I've always thought that Like a Rolling Stone grants a little too much insight into one's condition to really be about Edie--I think more likely it is inspired by Edie's predecessor "Baby Jane Holzer" who was smart enough to realize that Warhol wasn't "really where's it at" and she left the factory and went on to do lots of socialite things like raise money for charities and produce films etc--Edie wasn't the only debutante that fluttered through the Factory. If you've ever seen her on film she is captivating. You can't stop watching her. She is nothing like Paris Hilton and the sad part about all the international jet set today is that they aren't like the 60's there is no Warhol to harness all this energy and turn the whole scene into an "experimental jet set"--so instead we settle for boring celebutantes who drive the wrong way down highways (in the 60's everyone would have been in a limo) but the point is that Bob Dylan is widely amongst Edie supporters in part blamed for her demise--for everything from getting married when he was involved with her to getting Edie pregnant. Like I said lots of speculation about Dylan and Edie. Besides "Like a Rolling Stone" supposedly  "Blonde on Blonde"refers to Edie Sedgwick and Brian Jones who in 1966 were part of Dylan's "entourage" and "leopard skin pill box hat" is also supposedly referring to Edie. Hard to say it wouldn't be Jackie Kennedy at that point in time...Dylan is such a cultural blender that he also took from everything around him "everything he could steal" and it takes a great thief to call out another one. 

Comments

[anthony]

i loved this post! this was great to come home to and... dylan got her pregnant, really???!!! and i kinda think you're the dylan expert because i was trying to rectify the interchanging relationships in the movie... heath ledger marries sara, and then cate blanchett is single and denying a relationship with edie while finding her/himself chasing edie around the garden and ultimately, abusively dismissing her. i really didn't know that there were people who think he was her downfall. so this was the type of blog post that sends me looking for further information, and i bow to you!

and you're right, dylan is a culture blender and a thief and i'm going to throw this topic out for you: was madonna ultimately the next dylan...? in terms of taking from the culture and connecting to it enough to define an era by her presence and to have the ability to be tracked from decade to decade by who she was trying to be, who she was connected to romantically and professionally?

in the category of things i wished we'd experienced together: when i saw justin bond uncorked show at ars nova six years ago doing this hilarious but grueling set focusing on people he knew who were left outside of society by society... the show was mostly made up of songs by bambi lake and benjamin smoke, but he did do leopard-skin pillbox hat for edie, and a member of his band had a leopard skin pillbox hat and for some reason my memory swears it had belonged to jackie kennedy, but accounts online of freudian slippers shows say it was edie's hat... who knows who's hat it was? as kiki said, everything is true in a lie.