How does it feel: Neil Young remembers throwing Bob Dylan off tour bus

Oh, also, Shakey loved A Complete Unknown. 

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  January 13, 2025 | 10:26pm
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How does it feel: Neil Young remembers throwing Bob Dylan off tour bus
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After nearly a month of waiting, Neil Young has finally posted a review of A Complete Unknown on his website, The Neil Young Archives. He liked the movie, but even more interestingly than the rare Shakey movie review, Young revealed that he once threw Bob Dylan off his tour bus because he “didn’t recognize him.”

“I love Bob Dylan and his music. Always have. He’s a great artist,” Young wrote. “Once he was on my bus and I didn’t recognize him and threw him off but that’s another story. This movie is a great tribute to his life and music. I think if you love Bob’s music you should see this great movie. I loved it.”

While we can assume that Young was charmed by Edward Norton’s heartbreaking portrayal of Pete Seeger, it’s overshadowed by this story of Young not recognizing Bob Dylan and throwing him off his bus. Sure, we can imagine one of Young’s people asking him to leave and Dylan, who never needs a reason to leave a party, disappearing into the clutches of New Jersey police. But surely someone on the bus heard Dylan speak, and how could you mistake that voice for anyone else? Yet, according to Young, he had him off anyway. Maybe Dylan was deep in an alter ego at the time and wearing his Masked & Anonymous gear.

To be clear, the guys aren’t enemies. On the Time Out Of Mind closer “Highlands,” Dylan sings, “Well, my heart’s in the Highlands. I can only get there one step at a time. I’m listening to Neil Young; I gotta turn up the sound.” In response, Young name-checked Dylan in two songs: Greendale’s “Bandit” and “Flags Of Freedom” off Living With War. “No one can touch you now. I can touch you now,” sings Young on “Bandit.” “You’re invisible. You’ve got too many secrets. Bob Dylan said that. Or something like that.”

Anyway, here are the two of them performing “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” in 2019.

 
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