"'Billy Quinn'... has Dylan's mannerisms and sports a checked scarf like the one Dylan sports on the cover of his classic 'Blonde on Blonde'..."

More on Bob Dylan's legal efforts to block the movie "Factory Girl," which depicts a character who seems to be Bob Dylan and implies that he drove Edie Sedgwick to suicide. A couple of days ago, I wrote that it was "rather absurd that a public figure like Bob Dylan even cares that a fictional composite character is based in part on him." But if the character looks just like the "Blonde on Blonde" Dylan and is named Quinn -- a clear invocation of a Bob Dylan song -- then the claim that it's a composite character doesn't mean much. And the fact that the movie does depict Bob Dylan will be something that will attract attention to a movie about a woman most people don't know or care about.

Hey, would you be more or less likely to commit suicide if the songs "Just Like a Woman" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" were written about you? I'd be cheered up no end... even if the relationship was horrible.

Well, you look so pretty in it
Honey, can I jump on it sometime?
Yes, I just wanna see
If it's really that expensive kind
You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances
On a bottle of wine
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

That's kind of been my favorite Bob Dylan song for more than two decades. It's surely my favorite Bob Dylan simile. I know when I think about balance, that's the image in my head.