I was saddened to hear today of the death of Suze Rotolo.
I've grown accustomed to seeing Bob looking grizzled and old ... but she seemed forever young.
Isn't she beautiful?
She once said that Bob's songs were like reading a diary. 'It brings it all back.
'And what's hard is that you remember being unsure of how life was going to go. His, mine, anybody's.
'So from the perspective of an older person looking back, you enjoy them, but also think of them as the pain of youth, the loneliness and struggle that youth is, or can be.'
I was 15 when I first listened to this album. And 21 when I saw Bob at Earl's Court. I held up burning matches (I don't think they'd invented disposable cigarette lighters!) as he sang Forever Young and I thought that my life was All Over.
Which, of course, it wasn't.
But seeing these pictures in today's papers still caused me a pang.
4 comments:
I was surprised her death wasn't more of a story here. Sigh, Bobby's nearly seventy and pretty soon Paul Simon will be able to sing 'How terribly strange to be seventy' for real. That's going to seem weird. Did you see the BBC4 programme Forever Young, about ageing rock stars keeping going? Interesting how different they all were and how some looked so much younger than others.
RIP, iconic Suze, forever on that cover.
I didn't see that programme, Callmemadam. (I never know whether I should just call you Madam!)
I guess if I mentioned Suze's name to my younger friends, they'd say Suze Who? But, like you say, iconic ...
A perfect lady, too, who never kissed and told.
I was surprised at how the news hit me. I am really sad about this person I never knew. That cover is so very special. As a young girl it felt like this is what love really was - walking along, arm in arm, laughing. When I wrote about the movie, Once, I used this cover in the post:
http://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-favorite-movie-of-past-summer.html
I hadn't even heard of that movie, Nan. I've just played the trailer and there's some wonderful shots of Dublin and what looks as if it might be Killiney. My mum would have loved it.
It's strange how sad you can feel about a stranger. I suppose it's our own mortality whacking us in the face!
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