Remember When Bob Dylan Extensively Utilized a Co-Writer on a Classic Album in 1976?

Bob Dylan with a co-writer? Music fans everywhere, especially those who had followed Dylan’s career, must have reacted with incredulity to the name Jacques Levy plastered all over the credits of Dylan’s 1976 album, Desire.

But they likely put aside their concerns once they heard the album. The rich collection of story songs proved that Dylan clearly received a boost from what Levy brought to the table.

A Surprise Collaborator

With the 1975 album Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan regained much of the mojo that many fans felt he’d been lacking for the previous decade. Moreover, he had re-entered the public sphere via a highly successful mega-tour with his buddies in The Band in 1974.

As such, it seemed odd that Dylan would go to the seemingly drastic lengths of working with a co-writer for the bulk (seven out of nine tracks) of the following album. In keeping with Dylan’s m.o., the decision to work with Jacques Levy was more a spur-of-the-moment thing than some kind of premeditated plan.

Dylan just happened to cross paths with Levy on the street one day in 1975. The two had known each other for some time by then. Bob asked if Levy might want to hear some songs he had started, which led to them collaborating. Who exactly was this guy who earned such a hallowed role in Dylan’s career?

Jacques Jumps Aboard

Levy started his professional career as a clinical psychologist. But after going through the schooling necessary to legally practice in that field, Levy had a change of heart and followed his love for theater. That eventually took him to New York, where he scored success as a director of some underground hits.

Along the way, Levy connected with Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. The pair wrote songs together for a musical that never happened, songs that McGuinn later recorded both with his band and as a solo act. These were the songs that Dylan admired that convinced him that Levy might be a good collaborator.

Trading ideas back and forth, the two men composed the song “Isis”, a fantastical, allegorical tale that seemed to equate Dylan’s marriage to a magical but doomed quest. That set them off and running. Soon, they had composed enough material that Dylan could begin the recording process.

A Winning Combination of Talents

Levy’s theatrical background proved just right for the involved story songs that Dylan concocted. You can hear his influence in the cinematic touches of “Hurricane”, the foreshadowing evident in “Romance In Durango”, and the twist ending of “Black Diamond Bay”. Every one of the songs is like a mini-movie.

Levy was also instrumental in helping Dylan put together the Rolling Thunder tour that followed up Desire. The album was a big success. Perhaps the experience convinced Dylan that co-writing wasn’t so bad. He’d go on to collaborate with writers like Robert Hunter, Carol Bayer Sager, and Sam Shepard in the years to come.

In the meantime, Jacques Levy went back to the theater world, scoring more success in that idiom over the years. Still, many will always identify him as the surprise collaborator who brought out an exciting new side of Bob Dylan.

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