50 years later, Dylan’s motorcycle crash remains mysterious

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 1968 file photo, Bob Dylan, center, performs with drummer Levon Helm, left, Rick Danko, second left, and Robbie Robertson of The Band at Carnegie Hall in New York, in Dylan's first public appearance after his 1966 motorcycle accident. Dylan's tumble from his Triumph 50 years ago, was the most analyzed motorcycle crash in pop-culture history, but for all its importance, details surrounding the crash remain foggy. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this Jan. 20, 1968 file photo, Bob Dylan, center, performs with drummer Levon Helm, left, Rick Danko, second left, and Robbie Robertson of The Band at Carnegie Hall in New York, in Dylan's first public appearance after his 1966 motorcycle accident. Dylan's tumble from his Triumph 50 years ago, was the most analyzed motorcycle crash in pop-culture history, but for all its importance, details surrounding the crash remain foggy. (AP Photo, File)

By Associated Press July 28, 2016 1 min read

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. (AP) – Bob Dylan tumbled from a Triumph motorcycle on a sunny Friday morning in Woodstock 50 years ago: July 29, 1966. The banged-up singer holed up in the mountains of upstate New York for months afterward, dramatically altering the rocket ride of his career.

It’s the most analyzed motorcycle crash in pop-culture history, but details have been as hard to pin down as the meaning of a Dylan lyric. Biographers, reporters and Dylanologists digging into the ’60s period when the singer lived in this arts colony with his young family have uncovered sometimes contradictory information.

Dylan over the years has indicated that he broke a vertebra and was concussed. But without a police report, there is no official record of the crash.