Met enige verwondering beschrijft ze na 45 jaar die tijd in Greenwich Village. “We had something to say, not something to sell”. Dylan kwam via haar direct in aanraking met de burgerrechtenbeweging, haar ouders waren communist, maar ook met de poëzie van Rimbaud. Ze inspireerde hem niet alleen, maar hij was ook afhankelijk van haar mening over zijn songs.

 

Ze is altijd zelfstandig, kritisch en zelfbewust, kunstzinnig en warm gebleven.

 

En inderdaad, een half jaar alleen naar Italië geweest. Waar ze o.a. Françoise Gilot’s “Life with Picasso” las. “It made me think of Bob - Even though Picasso was a much older man than Bob and had experienced a lot more, their personalities were so similar, it was astounding. Picasso did as he pleased, not worrying about the consequences for the people around him or the effect his actions had on them. He took no responsibility, clarified nothing, came to no decisions and did nothing that would have made it possible or easier for the various women he was involved with to leave him and get on with their lives - I was floored. The same feeling kicked in that I had felt in New York; that men could always have it both ways. They were born in a society that gave them permission to do as they pleased. Women on the other hand, were sidelined.”

 

Dylan stuurde haar smartelijke brieven (“Written by a young writer on the rise who is in love” schrijft ze verontschuldigend), en zong over haar in ‘Bob Dylans Blues’, ‘Down The Highway’, “I’m in the mood for you” (“which is for you but I don’t mention your name… I wrote a song about that statue we saw in Washington of Thomas Jefferson-you’re in it.”).

“I tried to figure out this guy who was calling me to come home to him writing letters full of love; yet when I was with him, he seemed to take my presence for granted. I was expected just to be there by his side as he went about his business.”