Suze Rotolo: Bob Dylan's Girlfriend Dies at 67

by Jordan Yerman | February 28, 2011 at 11:35 am

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Suze Rotolo, Bob Dylan's 1960s Muse, Dies from Lung Cancer

Susan "Suze" Rotolo, who captured the heart and imagination of Bob Dylan during the early 1960s, has died on February 24 at age 67 from lung cancer. Bob Dylan described Suze Rotolo, who appears on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. as "the most erotic thing [he had] ever seen". For her part, Suze Rotolo, who was 17 they met, described Bob Dylan as "charming in a scraggly way", which is still accurate today.

Suze Rotolo (pronounced "Suzie") and Bob Dylan were together for four years, and lived in a Greenwich Village walkup. Her passion for the civil rights movement had a profound effect on Bob Dylan, but eventually Suze Rotolo grew tired of just being "Bob Dylan's girlfriend". Rotolo moved to Italy to study, prompting Bob Dylan to write "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright", which was compellingly covered by punk godfather Mike Ness on Cheating at Solitaire. Rotolo became pregnant by Dylan, but had an abortion.

Suze Rotolo: Not Just a Muse

Indeed, Suze Rotolo would take issue with this very headline, and had written A Freewheelin' Time to get out from under Dylan's shadow and show herself as more than just an object.

Up until her death, Suze Rotolo taught at the Parsons School of Design. She is survived by husband Enzo Bartoccioli and son Luca.