It’s one of the most recognizable (and romantic) album covers of all time—
photographed in February 1963 on tiny Jones Street, around the corner from Dylan’s $60 a month studio at 161 West Fourth Street.
And no one had any idea that the image chosen as the cover shot for Dylan’s second album would become so iconic.
“The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan cover photograph came about rather casually; it certainly wasn’t planned or produced in any way,” recalls Dylan’s girlfriend Suze Rotolo (that’s her, clutching Dylan’s arm) in her 2009 book A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties.
“Bob stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned into me. We walked the length of Jones Street facing West Fourth with Bleecker Street at our backs.” This is the same view, on a February day almost 50 years later.
“The snow on the streets was slushy and filthy from the traffic. Don [Hunstein; a staff photographer at Columbia Records] kept clicking away. . . . In some of the outtakes it’s obvious that by then we were freezing; certainly Bob was, in that thin jacket. But image was all.
“As for me, I was never given a release to sign or paid anything. It never dawned on me to ask.”
Tags: 1960s New York City, A Freewheelin' Time, Bob Dylan Bleecker Street, Bob Dylan in New York City, folk music in the 1960s, iconic rock music covers, Jones Street West Village, Suze Rotolo, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan cover
Ephemeral New York 
February 14, 2011 at 6:25 pm |
[…] the cover shot on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan [Ephemeral […]
February 14, 2011 at 9:34 pm |
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by FCPkeystrokes, koci. koci said: [from zlwise] Shooting Bob Dylan album art on Jones Street « Ephemeral New York: http://bit.ly/gNvoiy […]
February 15, 2011 at 7:23 am |
No wonder I could never place where exactly on 4th Street this shot was from. It was looking south from 4th Street on Jones St. Bob & Suzi block the view of Bleecker. The Slaughtered Lamb Pub helps me identify the location. Thanks for clearing up a long time mystery for me.
February 15, 2011 at 4:18 pm |
copied from a photo of james dean.
February 15, 2011 at 5:38 pm |
Just because they are both walking down empty streets doesn’t mean that there was any influence by the Dean photos. Don probably never saw them. Don often had his subjects walk in the middle of streets when it was possible. Most of this photo shoot took place in Dylan’s apartment and after exhausting all the possibilities there, Don decided to go out on the street, just as dusk was falling, Many great photos with and without Suze came out of the first part of this shoot, and some can be found on Don’s web site, Don@donhunstein.com.
February 15, 2011 at 7:43 pm
DeeAnne, I think you mean http://www.donhunstein.com. What you provided is an email address, not a web site address.
In any case, the web site is broken. The thumbnail images on the front page all lead to empty pages with no photos. You need a new web developer.
February 15, 2011 at 4:22 pm |
please see: http://www.jamesdean.com/about/photos/walking.html
February 15, 2011 at 5:46 pm |
I saw those photos and I still say it was entirely coincidental that they are similar. Dean is solo and it is obviously warm and you don’t get any of the atmosphere of the Village from the locale that was chosen. Maybe Dylan was imitating Dean, but I doubt it. What they both say is that a young man is setting off down the road into an unknown future.
February 16, 2011 at 4:37 am |
I’ve seen this photo hundreds of times, but until now I could never put my finger on Dylan’s demeanor in this shot. Now it all makes sense– he’s FREEZING, of course!
February 16, 2011 at 4:48 am |
Right, he’s only leaning into her to warm up!
February 16, 2011 at 10:27 pm |
Don Hunstein’s website is currently under reconstruction. It should be ready to view soon. It will contain many other Dylan photos from his early years.
February 17, 2011 at 4:44 pm |
the out takes from the shoot help confirm the location
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/simon_coconino/4357349866/in/photostream/]
February 28, 2011 at 4:17 pm |
[…] […]
March 2, 2011 at 3:18 am |
Sadly, today’s NY Times reports that Suze Rotolo has just passed away at age 67. Gone too soon.
April 30, 2011 at 11:27 pm |
[…] New York locations for the cover art on The Doors’ Strange Days and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan have gotten plenty of […]
June 7, 2011 at 6:47 pm |
I just had a post about this the other day. Such a great album. A family member found a MINT copy of the vinyl in a thrift shop for $3.00. I was extatic. The next day, before she dropped it off to me, she left it in her car on top of a box in the sun. It warped. Pretty crushed. Regardless, for the price, and the condition prior to the incident, it was an AMAZING find. It still plays, I just have to leave the cover up. Great article!
January 24, 2012 at 4:36 am |
[…] Since Jones Street was right around the corner from where they live, we had to shoot a rendition of the classic Bob Dylan album cover shot in 1963. Check it out here. […]
January 30, 2012 at 7:32 pm |
[…] Since Jones Street was right around the corner from where they live, we had to shoot a rendition of the classic Bob Dylan album cover shot in 1963. Check it out here. […]
July 24, 2013 at 3:00 pm |
[…] Street was featured on the album cover of Bob Dylan’s […]
November 3, 2014 at 2:13 pm |
[…] Jones Street is one-block longer than Jones Street but Jones Street has the claim to fame of being featured on the album cover of Bob Dylan’s […]
February 1, 2016 at 9:10 am |
[…] Rock albums shot on New York streets must have been a thing in the 1960s and 1970s—like these here. Maybe it all started with The Freewheeling Bob Dylan on Jones Street? […]