Tag Archives: 1965

Audio: The Second Session for Bob Dylan’s ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ — Jan. 14, 1965

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On January 14, 1965, Bob Dylan returned to Columbia’s Studio A in New York for his second day of sessions for Bringing It All back Home.

Unlike the previous session, this time, Dylan and producer Tom Wilson had assembled a group of musicians to record with Dylan.

On hand were Al Gorgoni (guitar), Kenneth Rankin (guitar), Bruce Langhorne (guitar), Joseph Macho Jr. (bass), William E. Lee (bass), Bobby Gregg (drums), Paul Griffin (piano), John Sebastian (bass) and John Boone (bass).

As photographer Daniel Kramer recalled in his book, “Bob Dylan: A Portrait of the Artist’s Early Years,” “Between takes, Dylan would work individually with the musicians until he was satisfied with what was happening. He was patient with them and they were patient with him. His method of working, the certainty of what he wanted kept things moving. He would listen to the playbacks in the control booth, discuss what was happening with Tom Wilson, and move on to the next number. If he tried something that didn’t go well, he would put if off for another session. In this way, he never bogged down — he just kept on going.”

Eight songs were recorded that day. Five of them — “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Outlaw Blues,” “She Belongs To Me,” and “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” — were used on Bringing It All Back Home. A version of “I’ll Keep It With Mine” was eventually released on Biograph.

While Dylan’s previous albums are amazing — I’ve been listening to them for decades — it was with Bringing It All Back Home that Dylan made his (post-success) move into making what Greil Marcus called “noisy rock ‘n’ roll songs” at the same time his songwriting and lyrics took yet another leap forward. In retrospect, it is incredible that Dylan could record all of the tracks for Bringing It All back Home in two sessions — this one and another on the following day.

In his book, “Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan At The Crossroads,” Marcus summed up side one of Bringing It All Back Home. “It [‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’] was followed on the album by ‘She Belongs To Me,’ ‘Maggie’s Farm,’ ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit,’ ‘Outlaw Blues,’ ‘On the Road Again’ and ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream,’ most of them scratchy, clanging, written with flair, sung with glee, Dylan and his backing musicians in moments thrilled at their own new clatter.”

If you have not read Marcus’ book, I suggest you do. Among the many amazing passages are six pages devoted to “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.”

Marcus says of the song: “It is a protest song about a country that is ridiculous before it is anything else. It is, among other things, a rewrite of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel, ‘Invisible Man,’ a comic version of the story Dylan would tell a few months later in ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ and a picture of a life that hasn’t changed — a common, modern story that doesn’t make any more or less sense than it did when it was first told.”

What would be even more mind-blowing than Dylan’s accomplishments with Bringing It All Back Home, during the next seven months he would record both Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde and do significant touring.

And so, in a little over seven months — just 25 actual days in the studio — Bob Dylan recorded three of the greatest albums.

(Check out my other posts on the Bringing It All Back Home sessions: January 13, 1965 and January 15, 1965.)

Below are some of the outtakes from the January 14 session, along with the tracks that ended up on Bringing It All Back Home:

“Love Minus Zero/No Limit” (outtake):

Love Minus Zero/No Limits #1 (Mono Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Love Minus Zero/No Limit” (official release, Bringing It All Back Home):

Love Minus Zero/No Limit by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” (official release, Bringing It All Back Home):

Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Outlaw Blues” (official release, Bringing It All Back Home):

Outlaw Blues by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“She Belongs To Me (outtake):

She Belongs To Me #1 (Mono Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“She Belongs To Me” (official release, Bringing It All Back Home):

She Belongs to Me by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” (official release, Bringing It All Back Home):

Bob Dylan's 115th Dream by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“On The Road Again” (official release, Bringing It All Back Home):

On the Road Again by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“I’ll Keep It With Mine” (eventually released on Biograph):

I'll Keep It With Mine [#] by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“I’ll Keep It With Mine” (instrumental):

I'll Keep It With Mine #2 (Instrumental – Stereo Acetate Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

If you liked this post, check out my previous post on the first Bringing It All Back Home sessions here.

Here’s some info about the session from www.bjorner.com:

Studio A
Columbia Recording Studios
New York City, New York
January 14, 1965

The 2nd Bringing It All Back Home recording session, produced by Tom Wilson.

1. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
2. Love Minus Zero/No Limit — used on Bringing It All Back Home .
3. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
4. Subterranean Homesick Blues
5. Subterranean Homesick Blues
6. Subterranean Homesick Blues — used on Bringing It All Back Home .
7. Outlaw Blues
8. Outlaw Blues
9. Outlaw Blues
10. Outlaw Blues — used on Bringing It All Back Home .
11. She Belongs To Me
12. She Belongs To Me — used on Bringing It All Back Home .
13. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream — intro used on Bringing It All Back Home .
14. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream — used on Bringing It All Back Home .
15. On The Road Again
16. On The Road Again
17. On The Road Again
18. On The Road Again
19. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
20. I’ll Keep It With Mine — used on Biograph.
21. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
22. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream
23. She Belongs To Me
24. Subterranean Homesick Blues

1-18 Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica, vocal), Al Gorgoni (guitar), Kenneth Rankin (guitar), Bruce Langhorne (guitar), Joseph Macho
Jr. (bass), William E. Lee (bass), Bobby Gregg (drums),
Paul Griffin (piano).

19-24 Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica, vocal), John Hammond Jr. (guitar), Bruce Langhorne (guitar), John Sebastian (bass), John
Boone (bass).

There’s more into here.

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Audio: Bob Dylan’s First Session For ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ Begins Inauspiciously — Jan. 13, 1965

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On January 13, 1965, Bob Dylan entered Studio A, the Columbia studio that he favored, and during a three-hour session with Tom Wilson producing, recorded 14 songs.

This session, the first of three for an album, Bringing It All Back Home, that would be his transitional move toward rock music, was business as usual. On that day Dylan recorded alone, accompanying himself, as he had done for his previous albums, on guitar and piano and harmonica. There are wonderful takes that were recorded that day, but clearly Dylan was ready to try something new, and he did during the sessions that followed.

From Wikipedia:

The first session, held on January 13, 1965 in Columbia’s Studio A in New York, was recorded solo, with Dylan playing piano or acoustic guitar. Ten complete songs and several song sketches were produced, nearly all of which were discarded.

None of the versions recorded that day were used on Bringing It All Back Home, and only five of them have thus far been officially released.

“I’ll Keep It With Mine” was included on Biograph, and “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “Farewell Angelina” are on The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3. One of the “Outlaw Blues” takes was released as an iTunes exclusive in 2005.”California” is on 2009’s NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack – Vol. 2.

(Check out my other posts on the Bringing It All Back Home sessions: January 14, 1965 and January 15, 1965.)

“I’ll Keep It With Mine” (with Dylan and producer Ton Wilson talking before Dylan plays the song):

I'll Keep It With Mine #1 (Mono Mix with Intro) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”(outtake):

It's All Over Now Baby Blue #1 (Mono Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Subterranean Homesick Blues #10” (outtake):

Subterranean Homesick Blues #1 (Mono Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Farewell Angelina” (outtake):

Farewell Angelina (Mono Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“You Don’t Have To Do That” (fragment):

Tou Don't Have To Do That (Mono Mix) by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“Outlaw Blues” (outtake):

Outlaw Blues by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

“California” (outtake, early version of “Outlaw Blues”):

California by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark

Here’s some info about the session from www.bjorner.com.

If you liked this post, check on the one I did on the second Bringing It All Back Home session here.

Writer Michael Krogsgaard got access to Sony Records’ archives in New York and has published detailed information online.

Here’s his information about the January 13, 1965 session:

Studio A
Columbia Recording Studio
New York City, New York
January 13, 1965, 7-10 pm

Produced by Tom Wilson.
Engineers: Hallie and Catero.

1. Love Minus Zero/No Limit CO85270 Take 1b
2. Love Minus Zero/No Limit Take 2C

3. I’ll Keep It With Mine CO85271 Take 1C

4. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue CO85272 Take 1C

5. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream CO85273 Take 1b
6. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream Take 2C

7. She Belongs To Me CO85274 Take 1C

8. Subterranean Homesick Blues CO85275 Take 1C

9. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence CO85276 Take 1C

10. On The Road Again CO85277 Take 1C

11. Farewell Angelina CO85278 Take 1C

12. If You Gotta Go, Go Now CO85279 Take 1C
13. If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Addition) Take 1

14. Bending Down On My Stomick Lookin’ West CO85280 Take 1C

15. Love Minus Zero/No Limit CO85270 Take 3C

16. She Belongs To Me CO85274 Take 2C

17. Outlaw Blues CO85281 Take 1b
18. Outlaw Blues Take 2C
1 and 2 “Dime Store” on recording sheet.
3 “Bank Account Blues” on recording sheet.
5-6 “B. Dylan’s Later Dream” on recording sheet.
7 “Worse Than Money” on recording sheet.
8 “Subterranean Homesick Blues #10” on recording sheet.
9 “Barbwire” on recording sheet, corrected on the tape box to “Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence”. On the copyright card listed as “Outlaw Blues”.
11 “Alcatraz To The 5th Power” on recording sheet.
12 and 13 “You Gotta Go” on recording sheet.
17 and 18 “Tune X” on recording sheet, corrected to “Key To The Highway” on one tape box and to “Outlaw Blues” on another. This CO number is not listed in the contract cards.
3 released on Biograph.
8 and 11 released on The Bootleg Series.

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Was The Guy Who Bought the Strat Bob Dylan Played at Newport Taken for a Ride?

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Dylan playing a Fender Jazzmaster at Forest Hills Stadium.

When I read that someone paid $985,000 for the Fender Stratocaster that Bob Dylan played at the Newport Folk Festival, at first it kinda made sense.

Obviously that was a historic event, a turning point in Dylan’s career, one that resulted in some of the best rock music of all time and which had a profound impact on rock ‘n’ roll, and on the world at large.

But then I began to reconsider. Why is that guitar worth that kind of money? Well, you could say, because someone was willing to pay it. And I would disagree.

I think this is an example of the Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome. Or a fetishism that mythologies objects, giving them undeserving power and value.

A million dollars? Really?

The guitar that sold at auction for nearly a million dollars, and which Dylan supposedly played at Newport, is a 1964 Stratocaster, so Dylan could only have owned it for at most a year and a half.

Dylan’s lawyer, Orin Snyder, recently denied it was the guitar played at Newport.

“Bob has possession of the electric guitar he played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965,” Snyder said in a statement he provided Rolling Stone. “He did own several other Stratocaster guitars that were stolen from him around that time, as were some handwritten lyrics.”

However vintage-instrument expert Andy Babiuk told Rolling Stone he’s confident it’s the guitar. He was convinced after PBS asked him to compare it to close-up color photos from Newport. “The more I looked, the more they matched,” Babiuk told Rolling Stone. “The rosewood fingerboard has distinct lighter strips. Wood grain is like a fingerprint. I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s the guitar — my credibility is on the line here.”

Babiuk has previously authenticated numerous guitars including a John Lennon Gretsch 6120 that’s been on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and a Bob Dylan Hummingbird used by Dylan at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.

So let’s assume the Strat sold at auction was the guitar played at Newport. It turns out that Dylan had a bunch of electric guitars he used at the time. There are pictures of Dylan playing a Fender Jazzmaster, both in the studio and on stage. In Bob Spitz’s book “Dylan An Autobiography,” he describes Dylan walking into Columbia Studio A on June 15, 1965 and plugging in a Fender Telecaster for a run through of “Like A Rolling Stone” before recording began.

So we can safely say that Dylan had at least six electric guitars he was using at the time of the Newport gig. There’s a reason Dylan had so many Fender guitars. Columbia Records owned Fender at that time, and so Dylan would have had easy access to the company’s guitars, and the company was surely happy to have their guitars associated with Dylan.

What can make a guitar really valuable? Well, if a musician uses it to compose songs that become classics. The guitar Neil Young used to write “Heart of Gold,” for instance, would be of some value, but if Neil Young had one acoustic guitar that he used from say 1964 through 1974 to write all his songs, that guitar would really be worth a lot. Neil Young himself might feel that particular guitar was key to his songwriting.

Some musicians customize their guitar, or buy a vintage guitar that’s been played for years and has a unique sound that they can’t get from just any guitar. Neil Young, for example, feels that way about Old Black, a 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop that he’s had seriously customized.

But of course that isn’t the case with the off-the-shelf, year-and-a-half old Strat Dylan played that night.

Does the fact that Dylan played a Strat at Newport really mean anything? He could have easily played the Jazzmaster or a Telecaster instead, as he did at Forest Hills Stadium two and a half months later. Would those guitars be worth a million?

It would seem that simply because that was the guitar Dylan happened to play that historic night, it’s worth a fortune, and not because the guitar added anything to the performance. Well then what of the black boots Dylan wore? Or his black leather jacket? How about his shirt? A million dollars?

It’s not the guitar Dylan happened to play that matters, it’s that Bob Dylan turned his back on the rigid rules mandated by the folk music establishment and made a big statement by going electric and playing rock ‘n’ roll. It’s all about Bob Dylan, not whatever guitar he happened to play. In fact, he could have played any electric guitar.

According to Rolling Stone, Dawn Peterson, who is apparently the one who put the guitar up for auction, got it from her father, Victor Quinto, a private pilot who worked for Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, in the mid-1960s.

“After one flight, my father saw there were three guitars left on the plane,” she told Rolling Stone. “He contacted the company a few times about picking the guitars up, but nobody ever got back to him.”

It would seem, then, that those guitars were not that important. Dylan had lots of guitars. He clearly wasn’t attached to that guitar. It wasn’t a special guitar. He didn’t need that guitar to write great songs, or perform onstage. It was just a guitar he’d gotten the year before that he happened to play during his first electric gig.

Is it worth a million dollars?

As has been said before, there’s a sucker born every day.

“Like A Rolling Stone” at Newport Folk Festival, 1965:


Bob Dylan – Like a Rolling Stone (Live… by toma-uno

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