Bob Dylan and Keith Richards Nearly Came to Blows, and Dylan Deserved It
In the 1960s, Bob Dylan was spending time with The Rolling Stones when he said something that infuriated Keith Richards. Dylan, like the Stones, was reaching new levels of success, and those who knew him said he didn’t handle fame well. Typically, people worried about disagreeing with Dylan, but Richards and his bandmate Brian Jones didn’t have this problem.
The ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ singer insulted The Rolling Stones
In 1966, Dylan hired Tom Keylock, a chauffeur who worked extensively with The Rolling Stones, to accompany him on tour. While in London, Dylan met the band at a popular nightclub.
“Dolly’s Club was like a meeting place for a lot of musicians at the time,” Keylock said in an interview. “That was the first time I remember the Stones meeting up with Bob Dylan. I was, in fact, minding Dylan on this tour, the one that was made into a documentary called Eat the Document. I was asked to do it while the Stones weren’t working.”
Dylan was in a bad mood, which he took out the band.
“Keith and Brian had already enjoyed a couple of tokes, two hits of Blue Cheer LSD and several cocktails while in their car,” Keylock said. “Another trip or two to Dolly’s bar and one to the gents, and Keith, in particular, was flying. Dylan didn’t seem to be in a friendly mood. He was talking to Keith, and he told him, ‘The Stones are no longer the best band in the world. The Hawks, my backing band, are better.’”
Bob Dylan and Keith Richards nearly got into a fistfight
Unfortunately for Dylan, neither Richards nor Jones was willing to listen to his insults.
“Brian and Keith got totally f***ed up, and Keith suddenly took offense at Dylan’s song ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and accused Dylan of taking the piss,” Keylock explained. “Dylan said, ‘I could have written ‘Satisfaction,’ but no way could you f***ers could have written ‘Mr. Tambourine Man.’ There was an exchange of ‘f*** yous’ between Keith and Dylan. Brian joined in and wanted to thump Dylan down, and the whole scene started to get ugly.”
Dylan wanted to leave, but Richards didn’t want to let him.
“Now, Dylan was totally uptight and wanted to leave and get back to the Mayfair Hotel where he was staying,” Keylock said. “He wasn’t in any fit state anyway. Not that he could punch his way out of a paper bag, he’s that small. Keith was saying, ‘Come on you, out of the way.’ And I told him, ‘Look, when I work for you, I do the same for you, but right now I’m looking after him. So if you want a fight, you’ll have to come through me.’ With that, I grabbed Dylan, pushed him into the car and took off back to the hotel, much to my relief.”
Richards and Jones chased after Dylan and Keylock in their car, but Keylock managed to get Dylan inside before anybody exchanged blows.
“I got to the hotel and got Dylan in just as I saw Brian trying to get the Rolls Royce up onto the pavement and through the revolving doors,” he said. “The Stones and Dylan have met many times throughout the years. Nobody seemed to remember the incident.”
Bob Dylan might have needed more people to react to him like Keith Richards did
While chasing Dylan through the streets of London might have been taking things a bit far, Dylan needed more people to push back against him. When he rose to fame, he often criticized other musicians, sometimes harshly.
Dylan told musician Phil Ochs, who idolized him, that he needed a new career path because of how badly music was going for him. He condescendingly told Dave Van Ronk, one of his mentors when he moved to New York, that he should switch genres if he ever wanted to make money. According to Van Ronk, people were often afraid of disagreeing with him.
“By that point,” Van Ronk said per the book The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait by Daniel Mark Epstein, “he had gotten used to everybody applauding any idea that came into his head.”
This was a defense mechanism for Dylan, but it was very hurtful to his targets. If more people stood up to him like Richards and Jones did, his behavior likely would have changed.
