At the end of the playback of the take of “Like A Rolling Stone”, or actually during the thing.
AL KOOPERAt the end of the playback of the take of “Like A Rolling Stone”, or actually during the thing.
AL KOOPERUnlike 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 KOOPEREvery 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 KOOPEREvery now and then we could steal somebody else’s stuff.
AL KOOPERSo 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 KOOPERThe “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 KOOPERI believe Irving Berlin was there, and uh, and everything just centered around there.
AL KOOPERYou couldn’t help being influenced by Dylan.
AL KOOPERIf you’d done a good job you’d just step back and let all these different chemistries interact and let it go.
AL KOOPERStill being ambitious to want to play on the record, I was a mediocre keyboard player. And uh, I seized the opportunity and played the organ.
AL KOOPERI liked being challenged by music. It’s good for me.
AL KOOPERI think it was Columbia politics, Columbia Records politics that, that, Tom Wilson left [Bob Dylan] after “Like A Rolling Stone”.
AL KOOPERAnd he was about my age, and he just, that finished off my guitar career, just like that, in one afternoon.
AL KOOPERI started in the music business I was first introduced to 1650 Broadway, uh, which was in reality where everything happened in the ’60s.
AL KOOPERMy influences were mostly gospel. So I was playing my twisted Jewish equivalent of gospel music over his twisted equivalent of rock and roll music. And it was a very excellent marriage.
AL KOOPERProducing Bob Dylan was pretty much a spectator sport.
AL KOOPER