Bob Dylan 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' — Savoy Steps, London

On 8 May 1965, in a dead-end alleyway behind the Savoy Hotel in London, Bob Dylan filmed the clip that is widely regarded as one of the first music videos in history — and arguably the most influential. Standing at the foot of Savoy Steps, a narrow passage off Savoy Hill near the Thames Embankment, Dylan drops a series of handwritten cue cards bearing key words from the lyrics of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" while Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth converse in the background.

The clip was filmed by documentary maker D.A. Pennebaker as the opening sequence of Don't Look Back, his record of Dylan's 1965 UK tour. The production was not without difficulty. An initial attempt in the garden behind the Savoy Hotel was abandoned. A second try on the hotel's rooftop failed due to high winds. The alleyway proved the happy compromise — sheltered enough to work, visually striking, and just chaotic enough to fit the song's frantic energy.

The cue cards, which deliberately play with and misquote the lyrics, were written collaboratively by Dylan, Neuwirth, Ginsberg, and Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson. The final clip runs barely two minutes and is a single, unedited shot.

The Savoy Steps alley remains largely unchanged today, tucked between the Savoy Hotel and the buildings of Savoy Hill near the river. It has attracted considerable fan pilgrimage and appears on London rock heritage tours. The clip's direct influence on the subsequent history of the music video — from the Beastie Boys to INXS to R.E.M. to countless others who adopted the cue-card format — is difficult to overstate. Dylan, by most accounts, had no idea he was inventing a new form; he thought he was making a promotional film.