Bob Dylan

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The ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ hitmaker and Universal Music Group have been named defendants in a lawsuit launched by the wife of his late co-songwriter over alleged unpaid royalties.

Jan 22, 2021
AceShowbiz – Bob Dylan and Universal Music Group are being sued for $7.25 million (£5.3 million).
The legendary singer/songwriter sold the rights to his entire song catalogue – which includes tunes that span his 60-year career – to the label in December for over $300 million (£219 million), but Claudia Levy, the wife of the late Jacques Levy, has claimed her spouse’s estate have not received any money from the deal.
Levy – who died in 2004 – co-wrote seven of the nine songs on Dylan’s 1976 album “Desire”, and Claudia insisted in a claim made to Manhattan’s Supreme Court that his estate is owed 35 per cent “of any and all income earned by the compositions” including “35 per cent of the purchase price paid to the Dylan defendants.”
The suit highlighted the fact “Desire” topped the Billboard Pop Album chart for five weeks and the double platinum-selling record was ranked 174th on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Levy’s company and his wife asked for their “rightful share” of the sale to UMG around a week after it was completed last month (Dec20), but the “Like a Rolling Stone” hitmaker and his companies have refused to pay out, the court documents allege.

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And the court papers claimed the refusal followed a pattern of Dylan not giving Levy songwriting credit throughout the years, including in 2019’s Martin Scorsese film “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story”.
The suit said, “The Dylan defendants have engaged in a civilly wrong pattern and history of intentionally and maliciously ignoring and disregarding plaintiff’s rights, including those to income and any and all revenue generated by the compositions, including the subject buy-out of the catalogue sale.”
And Claudia’s lawyer, Richard Golub, told the New York Post newspaper, “There is a great creative history between Jacques and Bob.”
A lawyer acting on behalf of the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer insisted there was no money owed to the estate.
Orin Snyder said in a statement, “This lawsuit is a sad attempt to unfairly profit off of the recent catalog sale. The plaintiffs have been paid everything they are owed. We are confident that we will prevail. And when we do, we will hold plaintiffs and their counsel responsible for bringing this meritless case.”
A spokesperson for Universal Music Group declined to comment.

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The ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ hitmaker has announced release date for ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’, his first-ever studio album of original songs since 2012’s ‘Tempest.’
May 9, 2020
AceShowbiz – Bob Dylan has announced his first album of original songwriting in eight years.
“Rough and Rowdy Ways” will be released on June 19, 2020, following three albums of cover versions, reported The Guardian.
Two songs from the new album have been released in recent weeks. “Murder Most Foul”, his longest song ever at 17 minutes, a mystical reflection on the JFK assassination that also recalls decades of American pop culture, and “I Contain Multitudes”.
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On Friday, May 8, 2020, Dylan dropped a third song from the album, the guitar-heavy “False Prophet”.
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“I ain’t no false prophet,” Dylan riffs in his trademark growl. “I just know what I know.” As he quotes Martin Luther’s phrase “enemy of strife” and tells a “poor devil” to look up at a “city of God” before ending the song by singing, “I can’t remember when I was born/ and I forgot when I died.”
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The new album has ten tracks; on the CD version, the 17-minute-long “Murder Most Foul” gets its own disc.
Dylan’s last album of new songs was 2012’s “Tempest”, which he followed with three collections of standards: “Shadows in the Night”, “Fallen Angels”, and “Triplicate”.
“Rough and Rowdy Ways”, which takes inspiration from the 1929 Jimmie Rodgers classic “My Rough and Rowdy Ways”, will be his 39th studio album. The “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” singer released his self-titled debut album in 1962.
The 78-year-old was due to tour Japan in April, but was forced to cancel the concerts due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Surprising fans with the release of 17-minute-long ‘Murder Most Foul’, the ‘Hurricane’ singer introduced it as ‘an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting.’
Mar 27, 2020
AceShowbiz – Bob Dylan surprised fans by dropping his first new song in eight years on Thursday night, March 26, – the 17-minute-long “Murder Most Foul”.
The 78-year-old singer’s new track tells the story of the assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and includes lines such as, “They blew off his head while he was still in the car.”
Another, from Kennedy’s perspective, sees Dylan sing, “Riding in the backseat next to my wife / And it’s straight on into the afterlife / I’m leaning to the left I got my head in her lap.”
Speaking about the tune in a statement, Dylan said, “Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you.”
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It’s unclear exactly when “Murder Most Foul” was recorded, and a representative for the singer told Variety that no further information about the tune will be revealed.
The song, Dylan’s first original material since his album “Tempest” came out in 2012, has a running time of 16 minutes and 57 seconds – beating his previous record held by his 16-minute-and-31-second-long 1997 album tune “Highlands”.
After Dylan shared the new track on Twitter, his fans were quick to respond, with one referencing the coronavirus pandemic as they wrote, “Thank you Bob, your music has been getting us through these times.”
Another commented, “Very emotional song… The song was beautiful, music outstanding, lyrics deeply touching. Thank you for sharing.”

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