Thanks, I may go for that.
Just as hint, what are the “walk-on parts for everybody from Bob Dylan and the Band to Lee Michaels’ cheetahs?”
Of course when you write about Van Morrison’s creative process in 1972, Bob Dylan and the Band show up there somewhere. About Lee Michaels, that is an organist who worked on shaping “Jackie Wilson Said” about who is dryly remarked after summarizing his professional merits:
“…Michaels also kept a pair of cheetahs. After a close encounter petting the unpredictable animals in their cage - which might have risked bringing the story of St. Dominic’s Preview to a rather abrupt close - the three men repaired to Lee Michaels’ 8-track studio.”
That’s all about cheetahs in the book. The rest is more about the music ;-).
My first thoughts were Hootie and the Blowfish’s I Only Want To Be With You, in which Mr. Hootie sings of Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue, and The Replacements’ tribute to Alex Chilton.
If all it takes is a reference, there’s a Kenny Chesney tune, Don’t Happen Twice, where he and his girl sang Bobby McGee on the hood of his car.
Back in the early 90s, we listened to everything Jeb Loy Nichols recorded with his Reggae/Dub/Alt-Americana band Fellow Travelers. And we’d fantasize about finding all the songs/artists that he referenced. But we never had the time, because every other tune would have his sister dancing to Gershwin’s “Summertime” and a Bobby Womack song; or his wife sleeping in the passenger seat as they drove some country road “listening to Bill Monroe, Charlie Rich and Ralph Stanley.”