Positively Morrison Street: ‘The day I almost ran over Dylan in my van’
When Bob Dylan arrived to play at an Edinburgh cinema on May 20, 1966, many turned up just to vent their fury that their former hero was going electric and turning his back on his folk roots.
However, had it not been for the lightning-fast responses of one local van driver, the throngs of upset purists may not have had the opportunity to air their boos.
Shortly before the concert, which took place at the ABC Regal on Lothian Road, Edinburgh man Grant Clark was heading down nearby Morrison Street in his Bedford van when, suddenly, a fashionably attired, rakelike figure with distinctive curly locks appeared in the road.
Former engineer Mr Clark, 73, says his near-fatal encounter with Dylan, who turns 80 today, occurred roughly where the Jolly Botanist bar is today.
He said: “I nearly ran him down in Morrison Street in my Bedford van. It happened just outside what used to be the Spider's Web.
"He stepped off the pavement looking the wrong way. I swerved and braked. He turned round and looked terrified.”
A keen musician, Mr Clark recognised the face but was sadly unable to stop to share a moment with the American legend.
He continued: "When I saw it was Bob Dylan, being as how I was in traffic, I just continued.
"Hewasonhiswaytodoa concert at the old Regal.
"Maybe that's where he got the inspiration for "Knockin’ on Heaven's Door.”
Dylan’s first visit to Morrison Street was an eventful one then – and not least due to the near-miss.
Jim Finnie says the Blowin’ in the Wind singer ventured into his father’s newsagent on the street – to indulge in his love of comic books.
Mr Finnie’s father, however, was not familiar with the star, and instead suggested that Dylan could do with a wash.
He says: “Dad had a newsagent's shop at the foot of Morrison Street at Haymarket.
"Without saying much, Dylan bought 12/6d worth of kids' comics, which astounded my dad, and took his leave.
"You have to understand that my dad thought that any bloke with hair longer than a short back and sides was a hippy and belonged to the unwashed.
"A customer, still dazed to have been in the presence of greatness, said to my dad: ‘Do you know who that was?’, to which my dad replied: ‘I don’t care who he was – he needs a bath!”
Already an established international folk act by 1966, the times were a-changin’ for Dylan as he sought a fresh musical direction.
Debuting his new electric sound, Dylan was routinely booed and heckled during the UK leg of his world tour.
Initially, audiences in Scotland appeared to be a little more receptive – particularly in Glasgow, where it’s said fans of Dylan’s plugged-in efforts outnumbered the detractors.
But in the capital, his musical change of heart held noticeably less appeal and some of the ABC audience attempted to drown out the sound of the band by playing harmonica – the instrument once synonymous with their hero.
Renowned photographer Barry Feinstein joined Dylan in Edinburgh and captured the image of the star walking along Princes Street in his pinstriped trousers and trademark shades.