Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., June 02, 2009 Sivan 10, 5769 | | Israel Time: 18:56 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 19:03 20/05/2009
Bob Dylan poem 'written' at Jewish camp wasn't actually his
By Reuters
Tags: Bob Dylan, Music, Israel News 

A "poem" purportedly written by a teenage Bob Dylan and up for auction at Christie's is actually a song written by the late Canadian country singer Hank Snow, the auction house said on Wednesday.

Christie's announced on Tuesday the sale of the hand-written poem believed to have been written in 1957 when Dylan was 16 and away at Jewish camp.

But Christie's failed to detect that the words, with a few minor variations, matched those of a song previously recorded by Snow, who died in 1999 at age 85.
Advertisement

Reuters discovered the lyrics matched the Snow song when alerted by a reader. Reuters then informed the auction house.

"Additional information has come to our attention about the handwritten poem submitted by Bob Dylan to his camp newspaper, written when he was 16, entitled 'Little Buddy.' The words are in fact a revised version of lyrics of a Hank Snow song," Christie's said in a statement.

"This still remains among the earliest known handwritten lyrics of Bob Dylan and Christie's is pleased to offer them in our Pop Culture auction on June 23."

The manuscript had been expected to fetch $10,000 to $15,000.

Christie's said Dylan, still using his given name Robert Zimmerman, signed the piece Bobby Zimmerman and submitted it to the Herzl Camp newspaper. The editor of the paper kept it for more than 50 years and recently donated it to Herzl Camp, a Jewish camp in Wisconsin, Christie's said.

Written in blue ink on both sides of a single sheet of paper, it reads in part, "But I'll meet my precious buddy up in the sky/ By a tiny narrow grave/ Where the willows sadly wave." Those words and others match the Snow song.

The Hank Snow Country Music Centre lists the "Little Buddy" lyrics and music as by Snow but does not provide a year. According to amazon.com, the song appeared on a compilation record "The Yodelling Ranger," a box set of songs from 1936 to 1947. The fan site rocky-52.net says it was released in November 1948 as a 78 on RCA Victor.

Dylan's management office had no immediate comment.

Born Clarence Eugene Snow in Nova Scotia in 1914, Snow quit school at 12 to work as a cabin boy on fishing schooners, according to the web site of The Hank Snow Country Music Centre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

With that early income, he bought his first guitar and entertained crew and friends before getting his own radio show with a Halifax, Nova Scotia radio station in 1933.

There he changed his name to "Hank, The Yodelling Ranger" and played county fairs and local radio stations throughout Canada in the 30s and 40s.

Dylan, who was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941, grew up in Minnesota and was known to be an eager young fan of many types of music including country. He went on to become a folk and rock legend and one of the greatest popular song-writers of all time.
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Obama's chutzpah
That Barack Obama. He just entered the White House and already has something to say.
Hungary's war on Jews
Hungarian police newsletter tells 'homeland lovers' that anti-Semitism is a natural right.
  1.   Everyone screws up sometimes. Zimmerman`s still great. 21:40  |  Lou Medel 20/05/09
  2.   bob dylan is not bob dylan. 00:58  |  billy jack 21/05/09
  3.   a long-forgotten truth 01:43  |  Frankie Lee 21/05/09
  4.   Bobby Zimmerman, that little devil 03:24  |  Raoul Fenderson 22/05/09
  5.   Depends what you mean by "writing"! 15:55  |  Irishman in Paris 01/06/09
  6.   Non-story 21:51  |  Colin Wright 01/06/09
  7.   So what? 03:33  |  utagawa 02/06/09
  8.   The title was the give away 06:42  |  JW 02/06/09
  9.   Dylan and Dr.Saga 17:42  |  Tomasz 02/06/09
Special Offers
Advertisement
hotel Jerusalem
David Citadel Hotel, come stay at the finest of Jerusalem hotels.
ISRAEL ARMY SURPLUS STORE
IDF insignia,Uniforms, Paladium Boots Watches, Israel Army T-shirts & Collectibles
Dead Sea Skin Care
Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
 Haaretz Hot Topics
The Pope in the Holy Land
Durban II conference
Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
Israel vs. Hamas
Air strike in Sudan
More Headlines
18:02 Obama dispatches envoy to Israel to discuss settlements
17:24 Russia FM: We'll demand Iran nuclear program stays civilian
18:53 Likud minister: Free terrorists to secure Shalit's release
18:05 GM as parable, and Israel's sudden choice: Obama or Kahane
17:28 Gunman kills Arab, wounds Jew in Jerusalem shootings
16:55 Israel's Bar Refaeli poses naked for Esquire cover
18:55 Report: 70% of Arab communities in North do not have bomb shelters
20:58 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
17:22 Shi'ite politician challenging Hezbollah in Lebanon
18:38 Preparations for Obama visit in full force in Egypt
17:38 Obama: U.S. will be 'honest' with Israel on settlements
18:04 Jewish ghetto survivors from Holocaust win German pensions
18:43 Sirens sound across Israel in state's largest civilian drill
17:03 Entertainer Dudu Topaz admits orchestrating attacks on TV execs
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Israel 2009 election results | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved