We’ve all seen the video of Bob Dylan standing behind the Savoy Hotel dropping cards to "Subterranean Homesick Blues". In ‘Don’t Look Back’ you’ve seen him take apart Donovan while holding court in his suite at the Savoy. This is the Savoy.
Opened in 1889, it was built by impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, producer of Gilbert and Sullivan, and has always enjoyed a reputation as one of the most prestigious hotels in London. Famous guests include The Beatles, U2, Led Zeppelin, Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Lillie Langtry, Charlie Chaplin, Ivor Novello, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, The Who, Richard Harris, Julie Andrews, Shirley Bassey, Jimi Hendrix, and Marilyn Monroe. It’s currently closed for a £100million refurbishment.
In the accompanying video of His Bobness in his hotel suite, the woman who stands up at 5 seconds is Anthea Joseph, who gave Dylan his first residencey in London. She ran the Troubadour in Earls Court and in her words, saw a pair of interesting looking boots descending the stairs and when the rest of him came into view, thought, ‘Hmmmmmm, what have we here?!?’
Savoy Hotel, 91 The Strand, London, WC2R 0EU
Map Location
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What's it cost for a nights stay there?
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If walls could talk.....
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Is "Savoy Truffle" by The Beatles a refference to this Savoy?
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LOVE that place man.......nice!
here's a question. it ain't the Savoy, but what's the rock 'n roll hotel in Manchester that i stayed in a bunch of times when playing the Apollo? it was a classic joint where we'd always run into other bands. before i had a flat in LA i loved staying at the Hollywood Roosevelt for the same reason. it was network central, but for some reason wasn't full of fans.
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Earls Court... Savoy... are you trying to make me "homesick" for my home away from home ?!? ;)
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Dave - We spent our last wedding anniversary there so we could see all the original design before it got removed in the renovation. The room was over $350.
BM - The walls are sworn to secrecy.
Contra - Savoy Truffle is the name of a chocolate. As is everything else the possibly lazy songsmith lists in that song.
Robin - I shall nvestigate.
Lizzie - heck yes, ma'am! Whatever it takes to get you back here.
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any pictures of the inside, I would love to see what the rooms look like
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Believe it or not, I have a Savoy rock and roll story. When Mrs. Ivylander and I jumped the broomstick in '84, I was working for a travel magazine. We planned to honeymoon in London, and as a wedding present my boss arranged for us to have lunch at the Savoy's River Room with the hotel's PR doyenne. After lunch she took us up onto the hotel's roof, with gorgeous, sweeping views of both sides of the Thames. It was a clear and glorious day, and I wanted to take some pictures. Sadly, though, I'd left my camera in the PR woman's office, so we had to go back to retrieve it.
At the top floor we caught the elevator - mirrored from floor to ceiling, and the size of a mid-sized walk-in closet. One floor down it stopped, the doors opened, and in got Mick Jagger, with a young woman who was clearly his minder (as opposed to the future not-Mrs. Jagger). Because Mrs. I. were New Yorkers, who know how to respect a celebrity's space - and also because we were starry-eyed honsymooners besotted with each other - we gave Mr. Jagger his privacy. In fact, we didn't even acknowledge his presence, as difficult as that was in an elevator that held maybe 12 people at most. We maintained our conversation with the PR lady as if we had just been joined by a tourist or a shoe salesman.
Though we thought we were doing him a favor, it was clear to us, as he noticed him in the walls' reflection, that he did not regard it as such. He kept stealing nervous glances at us. The look on his face clearly said, "Don't they recognize me? Don't they know who I am?" He began to fidget. And, ugly though this may be, in some perverse way we saw that we had some power that we could exercise over Mr. Under My Thumb - the power to withhold recognition - and we enjoyed exercising it. Finally, the elevator opened on his floor, and he jumped out of the elevator as if expelled from a cannon.
I swear this story is true,
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Rawk - Try the website. Can't say what's there now, but before the renovation it had lots of room photos. The best bit were the buttons by the door and the lights outside it (no longer working) to call the maid or the guy to clean your shoes. Generally, there was lots of chrome and wood.
Bill - That is great! In my one experience with Mr. Pleased-to-meet-you and from what others have said, he is an attention-needy guy. Lucky you to go behind the scenes.
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Man great jagger story!
100 million pound renovation! Do you know how many TV's Keith Moon would have to throw out the window to spend that kind of money!
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The front of it is much more impressive than the back behind Dylan.
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Now that's an interesting point. I thought I'd found the street where he did the video, which is the back of the hotel. It's pretty nice, as the back of buildings go. But when I checked against the video, he shot it somewhere else. But it is fascinating how many older buildings seem to have a great front and an ordinary back.