Fifteen guitars, four days of recording, and a backwards solo that no one else could dream up. Steve Vai set out to create something wild for his song “Desert Diamond,” orchestrating a solo section unlike anything heard before. After hours of work and effort Steve Vai went home, and Bob Dylan took over his track in a hilarious moment of pure comedy.
Dylan, who loved using slap echo on his tracks, didn’t realise that Steve Vai had been recording his backwards guitar orchestra in the same studio. When Steve Vai came back the next day to continue his work, he found out that Bob Dylan had recorded over his orchestra on the same recording. Vai laughed about how when he flipped the record (to make the backwards orchestra right), he also flipped Bob Dylan’s voice to what Vai said sounded like a “munchkin Bob Dylan”.
Steve Vai tells a hilarious Bob Dylan story!
Fans could not stop laughing at Vai’s retelling. Many called it one of the funniest behind-the-scenes stories they had ever heard, proof that even legends like Dylan and Vai can end up tangled in the unexpected.
Dylan’s influence has spread across the world in surprising ways, but his true genius lies in how he has written songs that have reshaped American music. From drawing on folk tradition to inventing fresh approaches to lyrics, Dylan has evolved with the need of the time. He was a mastermind who found a way to reshape every song and tune he sampled or drew inspiration from. His songs have survived a lifetime because of the meticulous care that went into their composition.
The greatest songwriting process of all time
Dylan’s career unfolded in three bold stages: reimagining folk songs in his early years, shifting to his electric “long piece of vomit” style in the 1960s, and later crafting over 100 songs in The Basement Tapes sessions. Fans see his Nobel Prize in Literature as proof of a writer who never stopped breaking new ground, calling him “the poet of America.”
Bob Dylan has always been more than a singer. He is a poet, a storyteller, and a restless creator who turned folk traditions into something timeless. His words shaped generations and still inspire new voices today. Follow Bob Dylan on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The next song might be exactly what you need.