Bob Dylan has long been considered one of the most iconic American singer-songwriters. Some of his more casual fans may not be aware, however, that a few of his popular tunes were actually co-written with the late Jacques Levy.
For instance, Levy and Dylan worked together for the beloved 1976 track, “Isis.” The nearly seven-minute-long tune is off Dylan’s 17th album, Desire, which features other Levy-co-written songs like “Hurricane,” “Mozambique,” “Oh, Sister,” “Romance in Durango,” and “Black Diamond Bay.”
Levy, who died in September 2004 at the age of 69, discussed his partnership with Dylan in a 2004 interview. He said he first interacted with Dylan in California “probably after a concert” while spending time with The Byrds‘ Roger McGuinn, whom he had also co-written songs for. He said that while he had believed Dylan didn’t know anything about him, the “Like a Rolling Stone” singer had seen a few of the theater performances he had directed.
He then said that “the second time [they] met was complete serendipity.” The theater director explained that he happened to walk by Dylan on the street. After having a conversation over drinks, they decided to write songs together.
“That’s how the two of us sort of connected. After we sat around and talked for a while and had a couple of drinks, I lived right nearby, and he came back up to my place. And that very night we wrote, I don’t know, I think it was ‘Isis.’ I’m not sure which one of them, I think, may have been ‘Isis,'” said Levy in the interview.
He also said he believed Dylan, now 85, was interested in his storytelling abilities in the songs he had written for McGuinn.
“Bob is not really that good at telling stories, you know, he doesn’t go from A to B to C to D. And he’s got a lot of good stuff in his songs, but they don’t usually add up to a story,” said Levy.