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Bob Dylan’s collaborators have long recalled stories of him writing down song lyrics on any piece of paper lying around: Paper bags, receipts, cocktail napkins, etc. When an idea strikes, he jots it down on whatever’s at hand. And, given how much of his life he spends on the road, whatever’s at hand is often hotel stationary. When an old lyric draft surfaces—usually via either the Dylan Archives (their book was a goldmine) or an auction—odds are decent it’ll written be on hotel stationary. The New York Times noted as much in a 2016 article exploring the archives: “The range of hotel stationery suggests an obsessive self-editor in constant motion.”
So I decided to create a World Tour Guide exploring the locales where Dylan has written songs—based entirely on hotel stationary. Asking questions like: Where did he stay, when was he there, what songs did he write, and, most importantly (debatable), how does the stationary look?
I found 13 different hotel-stationary lyrics to explore. Today, the first part of our tour travels to hotels across North America. In a few days, the second part will venture out into the rest of the world.
A few notes and caveats before we begin our journey:
He’s written a lot of other stuff on hotel stationary too: Setlists, letters, doodles (some fun ones here). But I’m focusing only on song lyrics.
It’s even more specific than that, actually. I’m focusing on song lyrics written when he’s actively working on the new song. As opposed to, say, his recent art series Mondo Scripto where he transcribes decades-old lyrics, though some of those are on hotel stationary too.
Lastly, for this travel guide to work, I need to be able to pin down the specific hotel. There are a couple drafts where the stationary only says a chain name like Marriott, without specifying which Marriott. I skipped those. They could be anywhere.
Okay, let’s begin. Hopefully this guide can be expanded one day with more released publicly—I know many more such drafts lurk in the archives—but here are the ones we can look at right now. Get your passports renewed. It’s time to hit the road.
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