Paul Simonon has spoken about recording with Bob Dylan.
Interviewed by Rolling Stone about the forthcoming Clash box set, the bassist also discussed his work on Dylan’s 1988 album, Down In The Groove.
“Bob used to come to a lot of Clash shows, so I met him prior to that situation,” explained Simonon. “I actually arrived in Los Angeles with a friend of mine named Nigel Dixon, who was in a rockabilly band. We both left to live in El Paso and form a new band together. We bought two old motorcycles and we journeyed to Los Angeles and met up with Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols. After a couple of days Steve said to me, ‘Paul, they need a bass player and it’s for Bob Dylan. Do you fancy coming along?'”
“I went along and met Bob and we started to record,” continued Simonon. “It was quite difficult in some ways. We’d do three songs, and by the third song I’d just about remember how the songs went before we started recording them. But instead of recording them we went on with another three songs, and then another three songs and then another three songs. So after about 12 songs he said, ‘Let’s start from the beginning.’ And my memory of the first song was so vague. It was a difficult one, but it was enjoyable, and it was nice to see Bob and it was really nice to part of something unique and special.”
You can read Rolling Stone’s full interview with Simonon here.