Finally a breath of fresh words founded in hardcore, intelligent research.
AL KOOPER
AL KOOPER
More Al Kooper quotes
Every day from 10 to 6, we’d go in there and pretend that we were 13 year old girls and write these songs. That was the gig.
Al KooperAl Kooper At the end of the playback of the take of “Like A Rolling Stone”, or actually during the thing.
Al KooperAl Kooper Unlike so many Dylan-writer-wannabes and phony ‘encyclopedia’ compilers, Sean Wilentz makes me feel he was in the room when he chronicles events that I participated in.
Al KooperAl Kooper Musically Bob [Dylan] is a primitive. He’s not a Gershwin, or somebody that uses eloquent music terms.
Al KooperAl Kooper I believe Irving Berlin was there, and uh, and everything just centered around there.
Al KooperAl Kooper I don’t care, turn the organ up, and that’s really how I became an organ player.
Al KooperAl Kooper The very funny thing about “Like A Rolling Stone” is it was a six minute song, there was no music to read from. And there I was playing this unfamiliar instrument.
Al KooperAl Kooper The “Highway 61” album [of Bob Dylan] was produced by Bob Johnston if I’m not incorrect. And Bob Johnston was an entirely different producer than Tom Wilson.
Al KooperAl Kooper So I would come in on the upbeat of one. I would wait until the band played the chord, and then as quickly as I could come in play the chord.
Al KooperAl Kooper I mean just out and out crooks. And the next generation had a little more finesse. But I mean those first wave of people, you know, definitely would take all your money, no doubt about it.
Al KooperAl Kooper Mike Bloomfield sat down and started playing, and I went, whoa! Because I had never heard any white person play like that before.
Al KooperAl Kooper Producing Bob Dylan was pretty much a spectator sport.
Al KooperAl Kooper I think it was Columbia politics, Columbia Records politics that, that, Tom Wilson left [Bob Dylan] after “Like A Rolling Stone”.
Al KooperAl Kooper And a little slate that came out of the wall that you could actually write on. And a door that locked from the outside.
Al KooperAl Kooper Tom Wilson had produced jazz records and was a Harvard educated.
Al KooperAl Kooper The [Bob] Dylan sessions were very disorganized, to say the least. I mean, the “Like A Rolling Stone” session I was invited by the producer to watch.
Al KooperAl Kooper