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The "Blonde On Blonde" Missing Pictures

BOBOutside.JPG (50765 bytes)


Original 1966 LP 9-photo inside layout with Claudia Cardinale and unknown whisperer


Replacement 1968 LP 7-photo inside layout, same on the left but Claudia and the whisperer have gone from the right!

This page shows the pictures on the gatefold sleeve of the vinyl release of 1966’s Blonde On Blonde that have not made it into the regular CD insert (the artwork for the gold CD is different as shown below). If you know who any of these people are, please contact me or make a posting to rec.music.dylan. The inside layout was revised in the USA from 1968 onwards to remove the picture of Claudia Cardinale, but printings outside the USA preserved the original layout. The 2002 re-release of the US mono mix of Blonde On Blonde by Sundazed uses the 7-photo picture shown above, they have not managed to get permission to reproduce the original sleeve. For more details see International Mono Releases.

Thanks to Jerry Schatzberg, his assistant Tim White, and Rod MacBeath for their input to this page.


Bob And Who?

This photo remains on the sleeve, but who's the man with his back to the camera facing Bob? Jerry Schatzberg confirms it's Albert Grossman: "Albert Grossman is the figure with his back to the camera talking to Dylan".

This second picture appeared for years in the regular CD insert in a cropped form only, omitting Bob’s companion. Rod MacBeath, in his Telegraph 50 article, "Looking Up Dylan's Sleeves", identifies the person as Albert Grossman, but Jerry Schatzberg says: "The photograph that identifies Albert Grossman as the second figure, is incorrect, it is (Lady) Sandra Suffolk. She contacted me with the pretext of a photo shoot for Queen Magazine. She really wanted an interview with Dylan. I spoke to him and he agreed to meet with her if I would come along. I did, it was just the three of us."


Picture from the original LP sleeve, Lady Sandra Suffolk on right in shadow

Picture from the regular UK CD (before the SACD release)

Jerry Schatzberg

The pictures on the Blonde On Blonde sleeve (except one, see below) were taken by photographer Jerrold "Jerry" Schatzberg. This one is of himself.

Claudia Cardinale

This is a picture by Jerry Schatzberg not from the Blonde On Blonde photo shoot. Bob chose this from Jerry's portfolio. It was removed from 1968 onwards from US printings of the Blonde On Blonde sleeve for legal reasons, but was included in a now out-of-print French book of Jerry's photos by Michel Ciment called "Schatzberg de la Photo au Cinema".


Unknown Woman: Edie Sedgwick or Carole Adler?

This picture is still in the insert for the UK gold CD - however we still don't know for certain the identity of the woman whispering in Bob's ear. Rod MacBeath says in his article that she could be Edie Sedgwick, but apparently Edie was "rail-thin and a platinum blonde" (see her picture below), so this would appear not to be her. Anyone know who she is? One suggestion is Carole Adler (daughter of harmonica player Larry), who hung around with Bob at this time. Tim White thinks the picture was taken at a night club called Ondine (see Tim's comments below). Jerry Schatzberg confirms this, but doesn't know the whisperer.

Some interesting comments from Tim White: "My name is Tim White and I was working with Jerry Schatzberg when the shots of Dylan you are curious about were taken! I can confirm that the girl is definitely not Edie Sedgwick. We photographed her several times with Andy, she was definitely blond at the time. I remember that the guy you are concerned about [Albert Grossman - see above] was quite tall, if I'm right, had steel rimmed round glasses and may have been Bob's record producer. I think he would have been about 45-55, it was a long time back! Jerry was about 38 at the time, the studio was 1st. Floor, 333 Park Avenue South. I was also present when the cover was shot. I remember going to the location with Jerry in Bob's Mustang! I also did all Jerry's black and white printing. I remember printing the shot with the painting and the pliers and I pretty certainly made the print of the guy with his back to us. I suspect that the shot of Bob with the girl may have been taken by Jerry at Ondine which was a night club that Jerry owned but I cannot remember." Jerry confirms this, apart from the fact that his studio was on the 3rd floor, not the 1st. Thanks to Jerry Schatzberg and Tricia Jungwirth for information about Jerry's large-format limited edition book of Dylan photographs called "Thin Wild Mercury: Touching Dylan's Edge", published by Genesis Publications Ltd in 2006. The web-site shows page 66 of the book called "Bob Dylan party at Ondine", taken at the nightclub on 5 Oct 1965. This page shows a wider version of the picture from which the shot on the album was obviously cropped and some proof sheet frames. For more information see here:.


Two pictures of Edie Sedgwick with Andy Warhol.

Even if she isn't pictured on the sleeve, Edie Sedgwick, who became the girlfriend of Bob's pal Bob Neuwirth, was still a major inspiration for Blonde On Blonde - when she died Patti Smith, who was part of the same New York City mid-1960s scene, wrote an elegy for her saying as much (see below). As well as having possibly inspired Like A Rolling Stone (the story in the song is very much Edie's, and Andy Warhol was accused of being the diplomat in the chrome horse with the Siamese cat), allusions to Edie are said to be found in both Just Like A Woman and Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. See Mono 7" Singles: 1965 - Like A Rolling Stone for more information.

EDIE SEDGWICK (1943-1971)

I don't know how she did it. Fire
She was shaking all over. It took
her hours to put her make-up on.
But she did it. Even the false eye-lashes.
She ordered gin with triple
limes. Then a limosine. Everyone
knew she was the real heroine of
Blonde on Blonde.
oh it isn't fair
oh it isn't fair
how her ermine hair
turned men around
she was white on white
so blonde on blonde
and her long long legs
how I used to beg
to dance with her
but I never had
a chance with her
oh it isn't fair
how her ermine hair
used to swing so nice
used to cut the air

how all the men
used to dance with her
I never got a chance with her
though I really asked her
down deep
where you do
really dream
in the mind
reading love
I'd get
inside
her move
and we'd
turn around
and she'd
turn around
and turn the head
of everyone in town
her shaking shaking
glittering bones
second blonde child
after brian jones
oh it isn't fair

how I dreamed of her
and she slept
and she slept
forever
and I'll never dance
with her no never
she broke down
like a baby
like a baby girl
like a lady
with ermine hair
oh it isn't fair
and I'd like to see
her rise again
her white white bones
with baby brian jones
baby brian jones
like blushing
baby dolls

Patti Smith
Seventh Heaven (1972)
Telegraph Books, Boston, MA, USA

Visit the Edie Sedgwick Internet Site

9 Nov 2004: News in the UK press is that Sienna Miller (left) is set to star in a biography of Edie Sedgwick to be called "Factory Girl", due for release in mid-2005. The film, to be directed by George Hickenlooper, reportedly "revolves around an unconventional love triangle of sorts that developed between Edie Sedgwick, Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol". Bob Dylan's lawyers made moves to stop the project, and the Bob Dylan character (played by Haydn Christensen of "Star Wars" fame) was renamed Billy Quinn (as of course in Quinn The Eskimo...). The film was eventually released in 2007, with mention of Bob or use of Bob's music.

The picture on the right is from the cover of 1965's Bringing It All Back Home. The short-haired woman in the striped sweater giving Bob a head massage is sculptress Barbara Rubin, who introduced him to Andy Warhol and the Factory.


Bob Live

I'd previously thought all the pictures on the inner sleeve were taken by Jerry Schatzberg, but "Scott" informs me that this picture of Bob live in 1966 at bottom left was taken by Charlie Steiner, and Charlie himself confirms this.


Stuck Inside Of Mobile With "Thee"

The title of the song "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" was incorrectly printed on the first US printing of this album as "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The" (later replaced by "Memphis Blues Again"). When the album reached the UK, the typesetter realised this was a mistake and (obviously without checking it out) "corrected" it as shown below. The mistake is repeated on the record label. Thanks to Carsten Wohlfeld for pointing out that the "Millennium Edition" of Blonde On Blonde was issued in a double card CD sleeve reproducing the original UK artwork, and therefore repeated this mistake!


Inside of gatefold sleeve


Side 2 record label

Jason Spradlin has a copy of the US stereo album which has "Stuck Inside Of Memphis With The" on the record label but "Memphis Blues Again" on the inner sleeve - scans required.


Al and "Blonde On Blonde"

BlondeUK66.JPG (49791 bytes)
Part of the original UK LP sleeve

Shown left is part of the sleeve of the 1966 UK release of Blonde On Blonde. As can be seen the stereo version had the same sleeve as the mono version with a gold "Stereo" sticker. This picture is interesting in that the sleeve still has the price sticker - 59/5d. This was £2-19-5 in pre-decimal UK money or £2.97. My memory is that this was exactly £1 more than the price of a regular single LP...

One day in 1966 [probably late June], I left my university classes in Central Manchester to get the bus back to Rusholme where I was living (Rusholme is now known as the "Curry Mile", but there was not one Indian restaurant there then). On the way to the bus stop I passed a record shop and saw in the window a new album from Bob Dylan, Blonde On Blonde. I inspected my pocket - I had more than enough to buy the album, so I went in to buy it. To my great surprise, the assistant handed me a double album, the first I’d ever seen. And it was £1 more than the regular price. I inspected my pocket again - I had just enough to buy it, but not enough to buy the album and get the bus home. My choice was simple, buy the album and walk home, or leave it for another day and get the bus. I looked at the album again, I folded out the amazing gatefold sleeve with the full-length sideways picture of Bob... I walked home.

(The copy I bought then was the mono version, much sought-after today but sadly stolen in May 1968 - I replaced it with a stereo version of the double LP, which I still have.)


More "Flying Pig" Bob Dylan pages


The Missing Liner Notes from Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 3


Who really wrote "Blowin' In The Wind"?


Who really wrote "A Fool Such As I"?

Mr. D's Collection 2001
"Mr. D's Apocrypha"
(Columbia releases that aren't on Bob's regular albums)


Bob's Early "Field Recordings" 1961-87


Bob Dylan's Never-Ending Tour Official "Field Recordings"

Bob's Appearances on Compilations
Bob's Appearances on Compilations


Duets with Bob


Bob "On The Side"


My (Dylan-related) review of Stephen King's "Song of Susannah"


A Flying Pig production

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