Dylan’s ex-love and lyrical muse dies

SUZE ROTOLO, an artist in Manhattan’s bohemian Greenwich Village and Bob Dylan’s girlfriend and lyrical muse, has died at 67, it was announced yesterday.

Rotolo, who remained an activist throughout her life, can be seen walking arm in arm with the singer on the cover of the 60s classic The Freewheelin Bob Dylan. She was just 17 when Dylan became smitten.

“Right from the start I couldn’t take my eyes off her,” Dylan wrote in his autobiography. “She was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen. She was fair skinned and golden haired, full-blood Italian. The air was suddenly filled with banana leaves. We started talking and my head started to spin.

“Cupid’s arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart and the weight of it dragged me overboard.”

Rotolo, whose relationship with the singer lasted only a few years, died of lung cancer in New York City on Friday, her agent, Sarah Lazin, said.

“The fact is that from early on, Suze’s left-wing politics had an impact on Dylan’s early writing,” said Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis.

“There’s no question that she became both an abstract muse and a very practical one. He has said that he would run songs past her.”

DeCurtis believes their relationship waned when she became overwhelmed by the worldwide fame that cascaded down on Dylan as an icon of his era.

“While she always maintained great respect for Dylan, I think she felt a little bit entrapped by that,” he said. He noted that in later years she used her husband’s surname.

Rotolo is also believed to be the subject of a number of legendary Dylan songs, including Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Boots Of Spanish Leather and Tomorrow Is A Long Time.