The song Bob Dylan wrote about Alicia Keys

According to Clinton Heylin’s biography, Bob Dylan was something of a class clown in his youth and sought the attention of his fellow students, especially voluptuous females, through musical performance. Before his crucial infatuation with folk music, Dylan was a piano man and enjoyed playing on foot in the style of Little Richard. Eventually, Richard was eclipsed in Dylan’s mind by Woody Guthrie, who would guide his hand towards the guitar and harmonica.

Following his rise to global stardom, Dylan became less vocal about the artists he admired beyond his close collaborators. To him, there was likely no benefit to blowing wind toward the sales of his peers, many of whom were modelling their successful material on Dylan’s blueprints – The Beatles included.

However, in recent years, Dylan has opened up in several rare interviews to reveal his modern tastes. Most recently, in an interview with Wall Street Journal published in December 2020, Dylan revealed that he’s a fan of hip-hop acts Eminem and Wu-Tang Clan, as well as a healthy platter of rock groups, including Oasis, Metallica, Arctic Monkeys and Klaxons.

Indeed, it’s rather nice to hear Dylan sing the praises of his peers, and in 2006, he took that phrase literally. In ‘Thunder on the Mountain’, the first track on Dylan’s 2006 album Modern Times, the old folky gave a touching tribute to his fellow New York-based artist Alicia Keys.

In the second verse, Dylan sings: “I was thinkin’ ’bout Alicia Keys, couldn’t keep from crying/But she was born in Hell’s Kitchen, I was living down the line/I’m wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be/I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee”.

As Dylan revealed in a 2006 conversation with Rolling Stone, he had seen Keys perform at the Grammys in 2002 and was more than impressed. “I remember seeing her on the Grammys,” he said. “I think I was on the show with her; I didn’t meet her or anything. But I said to myself, ‘There’s nothing about that girl I don’t like.’”

Shortly thereafter, Keys relayed her reaction to The Mail on Sunday. “I was shocked when I heard about that,” she recalled. “I think somebody was talking about me to him, and I was in his subconscious mind. After he wrote that song, I started feeling like maybe we did meet – but I know we haven’t. I’m trying to think of a comeback line for one of my songs. The problem is nothing good rhymes with Dylan. And Zimmerman is worse.”

We’re still awaiting Keys’ response song, but for now, hear Bob Dylan’s ‘Thunder on the Mountain’.

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