Did Bob Dylan Really Crash or Just Burn Out?

With the release of James Mangold’s new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, it’s as good a time as any to revisit the Dylan Motorcycle Crash Mystery. Said movie doesn’t shed any light on this enduring question, nor does it need to. The movie focuses on how Dylan became famous and explores the genesis of his mythology in introducing a new generation to an important American artist. The movie’s events end a year before Dylan’s accident on July 29, 1966, in upstate New York. But in the final scene, Dylan, played by Timothée Chalamet, speeds off into the sunset, alluding to the famous upcoming accident on his 1964 Triumph T100, a 500cc variant of the larger 650cc Bonneville.

Dylan really did love motorcycles. His father rode one and later gave (or let Bob purchase) a Harley-Davidson WL 45 when he was a teenager. Reportedly, he later owned or rode a bobbed Knucklehead. Like most of us, Dylan certainly enjoyed the status bikes gave him, but it was a sincere love by all accounts.

So what really happened, accident-wise? Dylan himself might answer, “What did you want to happen?” Dylan is famous for half-truths, outright lies, and great stories. He usually admitted the truth, but seldom offered it up freely. Dylan’s fame is pretty simple. He likely has a near-perfect memory for music, allowing him to borrow, adapt, or just steal anything he heard once or twice. And he loved making up life stories for fans hungry for “the truth.” He’s not all that complicated or mysterious. He had innate musical ability, a knack for mythmaking, and a sliding scale for historical accuracy.

Related: This Is Why You Have to See The Bikeriders Film 2024

The chain of events started with a trip to his manager Albert Grossman’s place in Bearsville, New York, to pick up the bike. Then he crashed close to Woodstock, New York, the site of the famous music festival three years later. In 1967 Dylan claimed, “The back wheel locked up, I think. I lost control, swerving from left to right. Next thing I know I was in someplace I never heard of—Middletown, I think—with my face cut up so I got some scars and my neck busted up pretty good.”

Grossman’s wife Sally had a different take on his accident. She said he had bad eyesight and worse riding skills. He just lost his balance and had an embarrassing get-off. Regardless, he decided against going to a nearby hospital or filing a police report and instead got a ride to a doctor an hour away.

He reportedly suffered several cracked vertebrae, facial lacerations, and a concussion. Or some combination thereof. He eventually recovered from his severe (or minor) crash, letting the mystery remain as a convenient rationale for an extended sabbatical. He’d just recorded five albums in two years. He was using a variety of drugs to maintain his work schedule. The accident got him out of 60 upcoming concerts and a record deal renegotiation. Nobody likes crashing, but it comes with a certain cachet. You’ve just cheated death. Take a load off and relax for a bit. In 2004′s autobiography, Chronicles, Dylan admits, “I had been in a motorcycle accident and I’d been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race.”

In between public sightings in a neck brace and reports of experimental ultrasound therapy, he took the next nine months off. And he recorded a lot of music with his old backing band, The Hawks, who later became The Band. Out of this period came over a hundred demos, many of which were sold to artists like the Byrds, Manfred Mann, and Julie Driscoll. After single-handedly birthing a cottage industry of bootleg recordings, these songs were released in 1975 as the legendary Basement Tapes. By then he’d already returned to touring in early 1974. The Basement Tapes marked a significant evolution in his songwriting. Holed up in Woodstock, and without public obligations, Dylan and The Band created a freewheeling sound of a different sort. Shorter, with less urban sensibilities and lacking any protest statements, they explored themes of nihilism, absurdist humor, and a traditional yearning for salvation.

Whether it was the brush with mortality or just taking a break, he used the time well. A review of 1969′s Nashville Skyline in Variety suggested, “Somehow he has managed to add an octave to his range.” Beside Nashville Skyline, he also released John Wesley Harding and Planet Waves to name a few. And apparently he kept riding motorcycles after the accident.

Oddly enough, Dylan once claimed he shares a spiritual bond with another Robert, Robert “Bob” Zimmerman who was the president of the Hell’s Angels chapter in San Bernardino, California. Bob Zimmerman died in a motorcycle accident in 1961, though Dylan incorrectly cited it as happening in 1964. In an interview with Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone magazine, Dylan claimed (unconvincingly) that it presaged his own 1966 accident and “transfigured” him into the person he is today. Famous Hell’s Angel member Sonny Barger’s well-known autobiography apparently sparked this revelation. You can’t make this stuff up. But Bob Dylan can.

Opinions vary on Dylan’s accident, his music, and his artistic importance to America. But there’s no denying the man’s storytelling abilities. His riding skills? That’s another story.