Bob Neuwirth
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? -- "Mercedes Benz" (1971) by Janis Joplin |
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Robert Neuwirth (1939 – 2022) was an American folk music singer, songwriter, record producer, and visual artist, best known for co-writing "Mercedes Benz" (1971).
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Biography
A mainstay of the early 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk scene, he subsequently became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan alongside whom he appears in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Dont Look Back and Dylan's own self-referential romantic fantasy/tour film Renaldo and Clara. The lower half of him appears behind Dylan in Daniel Kramer's front cover photo for the album Highway 61 Revisited. Neuwirth assembled the backing band for Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue. With Janis Joplin and poet Michael McClure, he co-wrote the song "Mercedes Benz". He also introduced Kris Kristofferson to Janis Joplin, who would have a major (posthumous) hit single with Kristofferson's song "Me and Bobby McGee" (which Neuwirth first played for Joplin.)
Colin Irwin writes:Painter, road manager, sidekick, confidante, henchman, poet, underground cult hero, womanizer, party organizer, self-appointed king of cool, and baiter-in-chief of Baez, Donovan, and any other unfortunate who wound up in the line of fire of his sledgehammer jibes, Neuwirth went on to become a film-maker and a credible singer-songwriter in his own right, co-writing the wonderful 'Mercedes Benz' with his friend Janis Joplin.
Discography
Solo
- 1974: Bob Neuwirth (Asylum)
- 1988: Back to the Front (Gold Castle)
- 1990: 99 Monkeys (Gold Castle)
- 1996: Look Up (Watermelon)
- 1999: Havana Midnight (Dreamsville Records)
With John Cale
- 1994: Last Day on Earth (MCA)
Other contributions
- The Band of Blacky Ranchette – Still Lookin' Good to Me (Thrill Jockey, 2003)
- Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo – "Rosalie" (Independent release, 2004)
- Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys – Various Artists, 2006
- The Kropotkins – Portents of Love, producer, 2015
- Vince Bell – Ojo, producer, 2018
Bibliography
- Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years, by Eric von Schmidt and Jim Rooney Template:ISBN
