Waiting for
a thorough article about David Blue to appear, I have put together this little
mosaic of quotes about him. I hope that somebody out there will help
me flesh it out with newspaper
clippings, memories and opinions.
Born Stuart David Cohen, 18 Feb.1941, Pawtucket RI.
Joined the
US Navy in 1958, but soon went to New York and became part of the Greenwich
Village folk scene. Initially he wanted to work as an actor but, influenced by
Phil Ochs and
Bob Dylan, he started putting his poetry
to music. Soon he was performing his songs on the coffehouse
circuit:
"I recall hearing him perform under the name David Cohen at the
Interlude in Kew Gardens, Queens, NY, around 1963 or 1964. That's about the
same time Pat Sky and
Michael Cooney were hanging out
there. So was Al Kuda, later known as Al
Kooper when he backed up Dylan or when he played with Blood, Sweat, and
Tears. David's best song was then and still is "I Like to Sleep Late in the
Morning."
(Steve Suffet in an e-mail to rec.music.folk)
"At the beginning, no one in the "in'' crowd liked David, except for
Phil Ochs. Phil thought he was a tremendous performer and songwriter. Later on,
people started coming around to his music. David's music was all romantic.
Phil's was all political. In fact, David. Phil and Dylan were an interesting
threesome when it came to writing about women. David would write about women
who most people didn't know - the exotics; Dylan wrote about the universals;
and Phil didn't write about them at all …"
Marc Elliot
(quoted in “Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music
Scene.”by Robbie Wolliver ( St. Martin's Press, 1986)
David’s first appearance on record was on the Elektra LP
“The Singer / Songwriter Project” where he
performed three songs under the name David Cohen. Around the same time he
appeared as one of the
Broadside
Singers on "Broadside Ballads, Vol.3"
“David Cohen originally hails from Rhode Island, but has
travelled this country many times. These days, he commutes between New York and
Boston. His most important influence, musically, has been
Luke Faust, an
outstanding although little-known interpreter of traditional music.”
Josh Dunson in the original liner notes to “The Singer /
Songwriter Project”.
"David was a talented, tortured soul. Like other poets of the time,
he had the misfortune of being viewed with suspicion by those who thought Dylan
was the fountainhead of all deep lyric of the period. David always said he was
a poet, not a singer. His first albums for Elektra were produced by Gorson, who
couldn't, and engineered by Bill Szymczyk, who couldn't yet. At least Szymczyk
learned while he earned, and had become proficient by the time he worked on
Jim
& Jean's first album. Anyway, I have always appreciated David's work,
even "Justine" and "The Gasman......". I agree that "I Like To Sleep Late in
The Morning" was/is a classic, but my favorite was always "The Grand Hotel",
especially as covered by Jim and Jean Glover. It became obvious that the life
of S. David Cohen, was spiraling out of control when it was announced that he
was the new head of promotion for Asylum Records. Not long after, he was gone."
Bill Ashford in an e-mail to rec. music. folk
In December of '65, I went to a concert at Carnegie Hall in New
York called "Sing Out! for Peace," sponsored in part (if my memory serves) by
the folk song magazine Sing Out! This wasn't long after Dylan went electric and
the repercussions were still being felt. The show cost a dollar and went on all
night. Every folksinger at the time was there and those who weren't (Joan Baez,
Jack Elliott for instance) sent telegrams of support. One after another, they
followed each other on stage for one song. It was the one time I saw Mimi &
Richard Farina. I was 14, and sitting with friends in one of Carnegie's many
balconies, probably the highest one. Somewhere around 3 or 4 in the morning, a
guy comes out on stage with a harmonica holder around his neck, wearing a suede
jacket and blue jeans (which was how Dylan dressed in concert during the folkie
days) with very long curly hair. The audience let out a collective gasp, even
though serious Dylan fans knew he didn't dress like that any more. Dylan's name
was not among the telegraphs of support announcements. Could it be? The singer
moved towards the microphone. "My name is David Blue," he said.
Peter Stone
Brown in an e-mail to the web-master
“I remember seeing David at the Gaslight on Macdougal in
1964-5. He had his problems with Dylan. Bob treated him very poorly. He was not
as approachable as the other guys ( Ochs,
Gil Turner,
Freddy Neil,
Happy and
Artie ). One was almost afraid of
him.”
The signature “Bruce” in an e-mail to rec. music.
folk
Although I had heard some of his earlier recordings, I first saw
David Blue play in approx. 1966-1967 when he was performing with a band he
called "David Blue and The American Patrol". I saw him playing primarily at The
Bitter End but they were also playing in various clubs around Greenwich
Village. The American Patrol's sound was a bit tougher than Blue's solo Elektra
album and we all thought they was very, very good at that time. He had some
talented musicians playing with him, esp.
the guitarist, although I can't
remember his name. Unfortunately the American Patrol project was short lived. I
don't believe they ever recorded but I would love to
be wrong about that.
Kenny Schachat in an e-mail to the webmaster
Davids first album was released under the name
“David Blue”; a nick-name given him by Bob Dylan. This record was
musically very influenced by Dylan’s “Bringin’ it all back
home”.
David’s next album, "These 23
Days in September", shows him emerging as a distinctive voice. The Dylan
influence is gone, replaced by an understated style all his own. Commercially
neither this album or the follow-up, “Me”, issued under his real
name, was a success, but they are both low-key masterpieces of the
singer/songwriter genre.
Above: Promo material
from Asylum.
In 1970 David Blue got a contract with Asylum records and
issued what many people regard as his masterpiece:
"Stories", a collection of bleak, introspective vignettes.
"Nice Baby & the Angel" was another, more
upbeat, masterpiece. It was followed by two, more uneven, albums:
“Comin’ Back for More” and
“Cupid’s Arrow”.
David
Blue also took part in Bob Dylan's “The Rolling Thunder Review”:
“David Blue keeps showing up at different places on the tour.
He flies in from his own tour schedule in the South whenever he gets a break.
Blue gangster suit, bleary eyed, hoarse throat, wrinkled scarf, he always gives
he impression he's trying to repair his health but never quite gets on top. He
runs a stream of words at us over breakfast. "Yeah, the groupies always get
heavier at it than you. They cop your style then turn it around on you. Hey,
you know Dylan's wife Sara is gonna show up in Niagara. You wanna see a heavy
chick? Just wait until her and Joni Mitchell get around each other. You'll get
some shit on camera then, I can guarantee it. Sara's a very regal, powerful
chick, and Joni's gettin' into her empress bag now. I mean Joni's a real queen
now. She's really gettin' up there. You just wait until they get in front of
the camera." It turns out they never will. At least not when I was around. At
one point there was talk of them doing some kind of Greek Siren scene with the
men groveling at their feet, but that never panned out. Somewhere along the
line they turned into hookers in front of the camera, along with Joan Baez. I
don't know how that happened."
Sam Shepard in: Rolling Thunder Logbook
(NY: Viking Press, 1977)
Above: Eric
Andersen (left) & David 1967.
"
Joni Mitchell had taken care of
David for years. She told me once that she was going over her books, and there
were more checks made out to David than there were to the phone company. Once
he called her because he was desperate for money, he was being thrown out of
his apartment. So she got the money to him. The next day, just by chance, she
runs into David on the street in the Village and he's standing there with two
dozen roses. He had taken the money and bought the roses for his new
girlfriend. Joni understandably flipped out and David typically remarked back
to her, "Come on, Joni, why do you have to be such a bitch?"
Eric Andersen (quoted in
“Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene.”by
Robbie Wolliver ( St. Martin's Press, 1986)
In the late seventies David Blue
recorded an unissued album for Warner Brothers and concentrated on his acting
and writing career:
“I got to know David Blue
(real name: S. David Cohen) when he spent a year or so living in Montreal in
the late-1970s. He came here to play the "Leonard" character in a stage show
based on excerpts from the songs, poetry and novels of
Leonard Cohen. David was in awe
of Leonard and, I believe, they were friends. They were not related. David
always struck me as being quite bitter that he had not achieved the fame of
some of his friends and acquaintances like Dylan, Cohen, Joni Mitchell,
etc.”
Mike Regenstreif in an e-mail to rec.music.folk
David Blue was working on another
album when he died of heart attack while jogging in Washington Square Park on
December 2, 1982.