Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

Bicentennial hats here!

Bicentennial hats.

Excuse me, do you feel patriotic?

Patriotic is... is not the real feeling that I have right now.

People like bicentennial hats, I sell 'em bicentennial hats.

Uh-huh.

Ladies and gentlemen, of this beautiful day

and this bicentennial day, right here, downtown in New York City,

ladies and gentlemen.

Joseph Hurdley Jr., songwriter of New York City.

Otherwise, Uncle Sam is going to sing

one of his versions of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Ladies and gentlemen, "The Star-Spangled Banner" with new music.

Words by Francis Scott Key and music by Joseph Hurdley Jr.,

dedicated to the future of America, God save the republic.

Are you ready, maestro?

No maestros? I'll sing it myself.

It's one dollar.

Get your copies here.

I've got four versions of...

We're gathered in this historic house

for the celebration of the 200th anniversary

of the United States,

but I refer to the words that were spoken

by those who at the time of the Declaration of Independence

thought of the mission of America,

what America could mean to the world.

And one of them said that we act not just for ourselves,

but for all mankind.

Saigon had fallen.

People had seemed to, uh, lost their sense of,

uh, conviction for...

for just about anything.

Lot of arguments about why...

America was chased out of Vietnam...

in such a humiliating way.

Two people tried to shoot the president in one month.

Let us set for our goal in 1976

to move forward in the realm of the American spirit.

That the opportunity that everybody in this room has had...

is something that is a realizable dream

that can be achieved

for anyone who has the good fortune to be born in this country,

or anyone who has the good fortune to come to this country.

The idea was to put a tour up,

combination of different acts on the same stage

for a variety of, uh, musical styles.

I wouldn't say it was a, uh, traditional revue,

but it was in the, uh, traditional... um...

form of, uh, of a revue.

That's all clumsy bullshit.

- Okay. - Y'know.

- So what... - I'm trying to get to the...

To the core thing.

To the core of what this Rolling Thunder thing is all about,

and I don't have a clue,

because it's not... It's about nothing.

It's a... It's just something that happened 40 years ago.

And that's the truth of it.

- Why don't we go down that road? - Okay, we can.

Let's go.

All right, let's go.

I don't remember a thing about Rolling Thunder.

- Okay. - I mean, it... it happened

so long ago, I wasn't even born, you know?

Uh, I... So, what do you wanna know?

Is that Bob Dylan? That is Bob Dylan!

Life isn't about finding yourself...

or finding anything. Life is about creating yourself.

- Playing tonight? - And creating things.

And I want to introduce another fine...

entertainer here at Folk City,

so everybody...

Summer, 1975.

It was a very odd scene in New York.

Unusual. Sort of. The folk era had died out. Or did it?

Joan Baez

and her friend Bob Dylan!

Let's have a nice hand for Joan Baez...

Rumor came around that the inspired Dylan was back,

gathering all... all his forces.

Woo!

And pretty soon, they were all jamming together

as if they were young musicians having fun,

actually in direct contact with each other.

Lord...

Excuse me, please!

We're really running short of time. I wanna introduce...

Miss Patti Smith and Eric Anderson.

Let's have a nice hand.

Let's hear it! Get up here!

There was a...

There was an archer...

There was an archer who was in love with his sister.

So, the archer looked at his sister

and he said,

"All the madness between me and you is real private."

But the sister was too scared, so the sister...

the sister put down her cigarette and she married the sultan.

So the archer became a... the archer for the king.

So, it was the wedding night, and the sultan and the sister

were gonna get married.

And so...

the archer went out the door, and he had on his armor,

and he was going. There was all, like...

You know how like the gran... ground was in 16th-century Japan?

It was black and green like a chessboard.

So the archer was walking on the black part of the chessboard,

and he looked at the black part of the chessboard,

and it looked like the back of his sister's hair.

And so...

You know how it is.

Yeah.

Anyway, it looked... Oh, what a mess.

Looked like the back of his sister's hair,

and so he couldn't advance and be the king's archer no more,

because he looked over at the palace, and over at the palace,

he saw his sister undressing

for the sultan.

So the prince took off a... took off all his armor,

and he started walking toward the palace.

He started walking in another direction,

started walking in another dimension,

started walking in another dimension.

He moved in another dimension.

October, November, uh...

Dylan might have some idea to do something.

Sort of like a... con man,

carny medicine show of old,

where you just get in a bus and go from town...

or a carriage, and go from town to town.

It's like Dylan is taking us out to try and give us each... He's presenting us.

I mean, that's his conception. I mean, it hasn't been made overt.

His idea is, uh...

to show how beautiful he is...

by showing how beautiful we are...

by showing how beautiful...

the ensemble is.

So, it's to show the actual community.

Which is way... the way... the way life is, the way that life of poets is.

- Do you wanna hear more or...? - Yeah.

I got this big audition.

There was this party at Allen Ginsberg's apartment.

And that's where you met Dylan?

Uh, yes.