Page "Marc Bolan" Paragraph 5

After changing his name again to Marc Bolan ( via Mark Bowland ) while with Decca Records he released his first single " The Wizard ".

According to Danny Baker speaking on QI Series G, episode 15 on BBC television, Bolan is a contraction of Bob Dylan.

In 1965 Bolan turned up at Simon Napier-Bell's front door with his guitar and proclaimed that he was going to be a big star and he needed someone to make all of the arrangements.

Napier-Bell invited Bolan in and listened to his songs.

A recording session was immediately booked and the songs were recorded but not released.

One song, ' You scare me to death ' was used in a toothpaste advertisement.

The songs resurfaced in 1982 on the album ' You scare me to death ' with other songs, Mustang Ford, Sally was an angel and Hippy Gumbo among others.

Napier Bell managed The Yardbirds and John's Children and was going to slot Bolan into The Yardbirds but settled for John's Children instead because of Bolan's writing ability, in early 1967.

The band achieved some success as a live act but sold few records.

A John's Children single written by Marc Bolan called " Desdemona " was banned by the BBC for its line " lift up your skirt and fly.

" His tenure with the band was brief.

Bolan claimed to have spent time with a wizard in Paris who gave him secret knowledge and could levitate.

The time spent with him was often alluded to but remained " mythical "; in reality the wizard was probably U. S. actor Riggs O ' Hara with whom Bolan made a trip to Paris in 1965.

His song-writing took off and he began writing many of the neo-romantic songs that would appear on his first albums with Tyrannosaurus Rex.