‘Bob Dylan is my father’ - and why Sam Sussman is convinced it’s true.

‘Bob Dylan is my father’ - and why Sam Sussman is convinced it’s true.

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold November 5, 2025 Duration: 27:02

Sam Sussman’s mother Fran had a year-long love affair with Dylan when he was working on Blood on the Tracks – she’s mentioned in Tangled Up In Blue – and they met again in 1990. What she told him about that relationship is mapped out in the book he’s just written, Boy From the North Country, along with the firm belief that he’s Dylan’s son. Imagine how that must feel. This extraordinary conversation takes a number of turns and these are among them …

 

… Norman Raeben’s art class where Dylan was trying break his creative block and met the 20-year old Fran Sussman  

 

… details of their 12-month affair and how it ended: “he gave me love songs but not love”

 

… the verses of Tangled Up In Blue that relate to Fran and the philosophy, art and poetry woven into his songs at the time

 

… Dylan’s other women in 1974

 

… being told by a teacher that he looked like Dylan and how he’s played up that connection ever since

 

… how it feels to think you might have numerous Dylan siblings - and how many there might be(!)

 

… the kind of people Sam meets in his book-signing queues

 

... and why his mother wouldn’t confirm who his father was.

 

Order copies of Boy From The North Country here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/boy-from-the-north-country/sam-sussman/9781804711286


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
Podcast Episodes
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