I read this almost 30 years ago. Like many people I got obsessed with it. I read it I think three times. A friend just sent me a biography of Joseph Mitchell who died in 1996. I looked for this book in my messy apartment with no luck. I bought a new copy today which I enjoyed doing. These are things he wrote in The New Yorker. He hung around unique people and places. Look him up online.
SINEAD O’CONNOR on Bob Dylan’s influence:
‘Idiot Wind’ is the song that made me finally decide I wanted to go into the music business.
One of the things I love about Bob is he doesn’t hide his ugly side. Most of us are so busy almost being our own agents, that we pretend we’re nice all the time. I found ‘Idiot Wind’ was a very brave song, because it showed his temper.
In the Ireland I grew up in, there was no place for anger, especially if you were a girl.
It made me think, okay, I’m so angry that I don’t really fit anywhere except the music business. ‘Idiot Wind’ taught me that in music you can say anything that’s forbidden outside of music, whether it’s “I hate you” or “I love you”.’
