Remember back when you first wanted to become a rock critic? Or perhaps first started reading rock reviews. Those are the days of The Flowers Lied, my new rock ‘n’ roll coming-of-age novel.
Writerman, the narrator, is a rock critic wannabe obsessed with music – favorites include Captain Beefheart, the Blue Oyster Cult, the 13th Floor Elevators, John Coltrane, Pearls Before Swine, Slim Harpo, Neil Young, Sam Rivers the New York Dolls and, of course, Bob Dylan.
If you grew up in the ‘60s or ‘70s, or ever wondered what it was really like to be a teenager back then, I think you’ll dig this novel.
Witness Writerman fighting his record buying addition at Odyssey Records as store owner Lucky Larry guzzles Green Death and applies the “upsell”, attending a Neil Young concert in 1973 and confronting Neil backstage, pursuing the Visions of Johanna chick of this dreams and ending up naked at the top of a Ferris wheel, alone with his best friend’s girl.
What the critics say about my novels:
“If Lester Bangs had ever published a novel it might have read like this frothing debut…” – Rolling Stone
“Radioactive as Godzilla!” – Richard Meltzer
“Kerouac in the 21st Century.” – Dennis McNally
“Penned in a staccato amphetamine grammar…” – Simon Warner
“Holden Caulfield meets Lord Buckley?” – Paul Krassner
Down the Rabbit Hole with Bob Dylan in the Mid-Sixties
By Michael Goldberg
The mysteries of the ’65/’66 recordings revealed (maybe)
How deep can you go into a song? As Greil Marcus’ two recent books, “The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll in Ten Songs” and “Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations,” reveal, there’s no limit. Alice falling down the rabbit hole to discover a subterranean landscape dotted with surreal characters such as the “mad” Hatter, the White Rabbit and a hookah smoking caterpillar, has nothing on Marcus, who takes a song as deceptively simple as Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s 1928 recording “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” and finds lost continents in its strange lyrics.
It’s no coincidence that Marcus is obsessed with Bob Dylan, the master of bottomless songs; Marcus has written entire books delving into what he hears in Dylan’s recordings. He’s been digging Dylan even longer than I have, and I’ve been in the Dylan Zone for 50 years.
I read “Three Songs…” just prior to the arrival of the Collector’s Edition of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12, a pricey ($599) 18 CD set that contains “every note recorded during the 1965-1966 sessions,” according to a Sony press release, as well as a CD of recordings made in hotel rooms while Dylan was touring during those years that include some wonderful, apparently never completed Dylan originals. Now if only they’d released all the live recordings, but perhaps that’s in the works, hint, hint…
Just so you understand, 18 CDs translates to over 18 hours of music. Close to a full day and night’s worth of Bob Dylan recording the albums that set a new standard for what rock ‘n’ roll records could be, and to this day influence musicians the world over. Many of the songs on those albums are deep. They are songs with trap doors and secret passages, songs that confound, defy, deny, and mystify.
Here was an opportunity to explore not only the depth of the songs recorded during the sessions that produced Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, but a rare look at the creative process of an artist at the top of his game: Bob Dylan attempting many takes of some songs, radically changing his approach from take to take in some cases while making minor changes in others. Dylan cracking jokes and cracking up.
“Like a Rolling Stone” Turned My World Upside Down
I’d just turned 12 the first time I heard Bob Dylan. His voice from the car radio singing his Top Ten hit as my mom drove me somewhere in the summer of ’65. I had been listening to rock music – including songs by The Beatles and the Stones and the Beach Boys and the Lovin’ Spoonful and The Byrds – for a year or so. This was different. This was “Like a Rolling Stone.” This was the ecstatic transmuted into a six minute, thirteen second recording.
That song changed me. There was rebellious fury in Dylan’s voice, in how he sang his Beat lyrics about class privilege and the fall from grace, in how he sang a song that managed to say what it took F. Scott Fitzgerald a whole novel, “The Beautiful and the Damned,” to say. But though I related to the lyrics, what slayed me was the music. And more. Dylan’s voice and the sound of that record made me know one didn’t have to go along with the rules society imposed, that there was another way to live. That it was possible to be fully alive, and not sleepwalk through life.
Or as Dylan sang, “It’s life, and life only.”
So for me, perhaps the pièce de résistance here are the complete studio recordings of “Like a Rolling Stone,” all 20 of them. As it turns out you can also get them on the much less expensive 6 CD Deluxe Edition; for many that will be the way to go. And let me be clear here: the 18 CD set is only for the total obsessives, the immoderates, of which I am one.
Listening chronologically to all the takes of “Like a Rolling Stone” provides a kind of fly on the wall view of how Dylan and a crew of extremely talented musicians – on the first day the song is attempted: Michael Bloomfield on guitar, Al Gorgoni on guitar, Paul Griffin on organ, Frank Owens on piano, Joseph Macho Jr. on bass and Bobby Gregg on drums; and on the second day: Bloomfield, Griffin on piano, Macho Jr., Gregg and the addition of Al Kooper on organ and Bruce Langhorne on tambourine – succeed against all odds in recording one of the great rock ‘n’ roll records.
In the epitaph to his 2005 book, “Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads,” Greil Marcus describes in detail what happened during the “Like a Rolling Stone” sessions based on listening carefully to the session tapes. When I read his book in 2011, I wanted so bad to hear what Marcus had described. His writing made me feel as close to being there in the studio as I imagined one could ever get.
I was wrong. Miracle of miracles! Now we can actually listen for ourselves, we can get even closer, we can listen in on a historic moment in rock history, when everything fell apart, then came together for those six minutes, 13 seconds – musicians, producer, singer, words, melody – and fell apart all over again.
As Marcus has written, and as is clear when you listen, nothing was going right. When they start in on the song at Columbia Studio A in New York, near the end of a long session on June 15, 1965 that has already found these musicians cutting ten takes of “Phantom Engineer” (the song that was retitled “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”), and seven takes of “Sitting On a Barbed Wire Fence,” Dylan admits, “My voice is gone.”
Soon they pack it in, only to pick up where they left off the next day, which is to say, during the first few takes the song remains out of reach. It doesn’t have a hook to pull you in from the first notes, Michael Bloomfield hasn’t found the guitar riffs the song needs, Al Kooper is searching for what to play on organ, and Dylan hasn’t found the right tempo or pacing, nor settled on how he should sing his bitter words.
As I listened, first to the January 15 recordings, then the first few takes cut the next day, lost in the moments of those takes, despite knowing that Dylan and the band had eventually pulled it off, I started to have my doubts. It was as if they’d taken a wrong turn and were miles from the song. And then, amazingly, with the fourth take they hit pay dirt. Only they weren’t sure, and recorded ten more takes, once again losing their way.
More from the upcoming Bob Dylan set, The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The BootlegSeries Vol. 12. I’ve been listening to an advance and although I haven’t yet gotten through all the music, what I have heard is amazing.
Here is a version of “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” The footage is fascinating; this version of the song is excellent.
Enjoy!
Here’s the same video on YouTube incase the previous from Vevo doesn’t play:
And here’s the version released on “Bringing It All Back Home.”
Come November 6 the latest in Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series sets, The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Volume 12 , will be released.
Today we get a taste with this previously unreleased version of “Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence,” a track cut in 1965. The song never made an official Dylan album until 1991, when a different version was included on the first Bootleg Series set.
This is quite awesome. Dig the great Michael Bloomfield on lead guitar.
Bob Dylan in the studio with the great blues guitarist Michael Bloomfield during the recording of Highway 61 Revisited.
Official info from Bob Dylan’s website:
The 18CD Collector’s Edition of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 is limited to a worldwide pressing of only 5,000 copies, and includes every note recorded during the 1965-1966 sessions, every alternate take and alternate lyric. All previously unreleased recordings have been mixed, utilizing the original studio tracking tapes as the source, eliminating unwanted 1960s-era studio processing and artifice.
The 18CD edition includes Dylan’s original nine mono 45 RPM singles released during the time period, packaged in newly created picture sleeves featuring global images from the era. The limited edition includes rare hotel room recordings from the Savoy Hotel in London (May 4, 1965), the North British Station Hotel in Glasgow (May 13, 1966) and a Denver, Colorado hotel (March 12, 1966) as well as a strip of original film cels from “Don’t Look Back.”
The price? $599.99
Track Listing
Disc 1
1. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Breakdown.
2. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 2 (1/13/1965) Complete.
3. I’ll Keep It With Mine – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Released on Biograph, 1985.
4. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005.
5. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Fragment. Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
6. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Take 2 (1/13/1965) Complete.
7. She Belongs To Me – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Complete.
8. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991.
9. Outlaw Blues – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Complete.
10. On The Road Again – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Complete.
11. Farewell Angelina – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Released on Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991.
12. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Complete.
13. You Don’t Have to Do That – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Incomplete.
14. California – Take 1 (1/13/1965) Complete.
15. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 3 remake (1/13/1965) Complete.
16. She Belongs To Me – Take 2 remake (1/13/1965) Complete.
17. Outlaw Blues – Take 1 remake (1/13/1965) False start.
18. Outlaw Blues – Take 2 remake (1/13/1965) Complete.
19. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 1 remake (1/14/1965) Complete.
20. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 2 remake (1/14/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
21. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – (1/14/1965) Insert.
22. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Take 1 remake (1/14/1965) Complete.
23. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Take 2 remake (1/14/1965) False start.
24. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Take 3 remake (1/14/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
25. Outlaw Blues – Take 1 remake (1/14/1965) False start.
26. Outlaw Blues – Take 2 remake (1/14/1965) Fragment/breakdown.
27. Outlaw Blues – Take 3 remake (1/14/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
Disc 2
1. She Belongs To Me – Take 1 remake (1/14/1965) Complete.
2. She Belongs To Me – Take 2 remake (1/14/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
3. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Take 1 (1/14/1965) False start.
4. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Take 2 (1/14/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
5. On The Road Again – Take 1 (1/14/1965) False start.
6. On The Road Again – Take 2 (1/14/1965) Complete.
7. On The Road Again – Take 3 (1/14/1965) False start.
8. On The Road Again – Take 4 (1/14/1965) Complete.
9. Maggie’s Farm – Take 1 (1/15/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
10. On The Road Again – Take 1 remake (1/15/1965) Complete.
11. On The Road Again – Takes 2-6 remake (1/15/1965) False starts/complete.
12. On The Road Again – Take 7 remake (1/15/1965) Complete.
13. On The Road Again – Takes 8-9 remake (1/15/1965) False starts.
14. On The Road Again – Take 11 remake (1/15/1965) False start.
15. On The Road Again – Take 12 remake (1/15/1965) False start.
16. On The Road Again – Take 13 remake (1/15/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
17. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – Take 1 (1/15/1965) False start.
18. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – Take 2 (1/15/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
19. Gates Of Eden – Take 1 (1/15/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
20. Mr. Tambourine Man – Takes 1-2 (1/15/1965) False starts.
21. Mr. Tambourine Man – Take 3 (1/15/1965) Breakdown.
22. Mr. Tambourine Man – Takes 4-5 (1/15/1965) Breakdown.
23. Mr. Tambourine Man – Take 6 (1/15/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
24. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – Take 1 remake (1/15/1965) Released on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965.
Disc 3
1. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 1 (1/15/1965) Complete.
2. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 2 (1/15/1965) Complete.
3. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 3 (1/15/1965) Complete.
4. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 4 (1/15/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991.
5. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 1 (6/15/1965) Complete.
6. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Takes 2-3 (6/15/1965) Fragments.
7. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 4 (6/15/1965) Breakdown.
8. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Takes 5 (6/15/1965) False start.
9. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Takes 6 (6/15/1965) Breakdown.
10. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 7 (6/15/1965) Insert.
11. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 8 (6/15/1965) Complete.
12. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 9 (6/15/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005.
13. Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence – Take 1 (6/15/1965) Rehearsal and breakdown.
14. Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence – Take 2 (6/15/1965) Complete.
15. Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence – Take 3 (6/15/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991.
16. Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence – Take 2 (6/15/1965) Edited version. Complete.
17. It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 1 remake (6/15/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991.
18. Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence – Takes 4-5 (6/15/1965) False starts.
19. Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence – Take 6 (6/15/1965) Complete.
20. Like A Rolling Stone – Takes 1-3 (6/15/1965) Rehearsal.
21. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 4 (6/15/1965) Rehearsal. Partially released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3, 1991.
22. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 5 (6/15/1965) Breakdown.
Disc 4
1. Like A Rolling Stone – Rehearsal remake (6/16/1965) Rehearsal.
2. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 1 remake (6/16/1965) Rehearsal.
3. Like A Rolling Stone – Takes 2-3 remake (6/16/1965) False starts.
4. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 4 remake (6/16/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
5. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 5 remake (6/16/1965) Rehearsal.
6. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 6 remake (6/16/1965) False start.
7. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 8 remake (6/16/1965) Breakdown.
8. Like A Rolling Stone – Takes 9-10 remake (6/16/1965) False starts.
9. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 11 remake (6/16/1965) Complete.
10. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 12 remake (6/16/1965) False start.
11. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 13 remake (6/16/1965) Breakdown.
12. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 14 remake (6/16/1965) False start.
13. Like A Rolling Stone – Take 15 remake (6/16/1965) Breakdown.
14. Like A Rolling Stone – (6/16/1965) Master take, guitar.
15. Like A Rolling Stone – (6/16/1965) Master take, vocals, guitar (BD).
16. Like A Rolling Stone – (6/16/1965) Master take, piano, bass.
17. Like A Rolling Stone – (6/16/1965) Master take, drums, organ.
Disc 5
1. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 1 (7/29/1965) Breakdown.
2. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 2 (7/29/1965) False start.
3. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 3 (7/29/1965) Incomplete.
4. Tombstone Blues – Take 1 (7/29/1965) Complete.
5. Tombstone Blues – Takes 2-3 (7/29/1965) False starts.
6. Tombstone Blues – Take 4 (7/29/1965) Complete.
7. Tombstone Blues – Takes 5-7 (7/29/1965) False starts, rehearsal.
8. Tombstone Blues – Take 9 (7/29/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005.
9. Tombstone Blues – Take 10 (7/29/1965) False start.
10. Tombstone Blues – Take 11 (7/29/1965) Breakdown.
11. Tombstone Blues – Take 12 (7/29/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
12. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 1 (7/29/1965) Complete.
13. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 2 (7/29/1965) False start.
14. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 3 (7/29/1965) Complete.
15. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry – Take 4 (7/29/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
16. Positively 4th Street – Takes 1-3 (7/29/1965) False starts.
17. Positively 4th Street – Take 4 (7/29/1965) Complete.
18. Positively 4th Street – Take 5 (7/29/1965) Complete.
19. Positively 4th Street – Take 6 (7/29/1965) Breakdown.
20. Positively 4th Street – Take 7 (7/29/1965) Breakdown.
21. Positively 4th Street – Take 8 (7/29/1965) Breakdown.
22. Positively 4th Street – Take 10 (7/29/1965) Breakdown.
23. Positively 4th Street – Take 12 (7/29/1965) Released as a single, 1965.
Disc 6
1. Desolation Row – Take 1 (7/29/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7, 2005.
2. From A Buick 6 – Take 1 (7/30/1965) False start.
3. From A Buick 6 – Take 2 (7/30/1965) False start.
4. From A Buick 6 – Take 4 (7/30/1965) Accidentally released on the first pressing of Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
5. From A Buick 6 – Take 5 (7/30/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
6. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Takes 1-4 (7/30/1965) False starts.
7. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 1 (7/30/1965) Complete.
8. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 2 (7/30/1965) False start.
9. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 3 (7/30/1965) Complete.
10. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 4 (7/30/1965) False start.
11. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 5 (7/30/1965) Complete.
12. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 6 (7/30/1965) Rehearsal/false start.
13. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 7 (7/30/1965) False start.
14. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 8 (7/30/1965) False start.
15. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Takes 10-11 (7/30/1965) False starts.
16. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 12 (7/30/1965) Complete.
17. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 14 (7/30/1965) Breakdown.
18. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 15 (7/30/1965) Breakdown.
19. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 17 (7/30/1965) Accidentally Released as B-side of first pressing of Positively 4th Street single.
20. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 1 (8/02/1965) False start.
21. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 2 (8/02/1965) False start.
22. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 3 (8/02/1965) Complete.
23. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 4 (8/02/1965) False start.
24. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 5 (8/02/1965) Complete.
25. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 5 (mis-slate) (8/02/1965) Complete.
26. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 6 (8/02/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005.
27. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 7 (8/02/1965) False start.
28. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 8 (8/02/1965) False start.
29. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 9 (8/02/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
Disc 7
1. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 1 (8/02/1965) Breakdown.
2. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 3 (8/02/1965) Complete.
3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 4 (8/02/1965) Rehearsal.
4. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 5 (8/02/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7, 2005.
5. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Takes 9-10 (8/02/1965) Breakdown.
6. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Takes 11-12 (8/02/1965) False starts.
7. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 13 (8/02/1965) Complete.
8. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Takes 14-15 (8/02/1965) False starts.
9. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 16 (8/02/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
10. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 1 (8/02/1965) Rehearsal.
11. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 2 (8/02/1965) Complete.
12. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 3 (8/02/1965) False start.
13. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 4 (8/02/1965) False start.
14. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 5 (8/02/1965) Complete.
15. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 6 (8/02/1965) Complete.
16. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 7 (8/02/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
17. Ballad Of A Thin Man – Take 1 (8/02/1965) False start.
18. Ballad Of A Thin Man – Take 2 (8/02/1965) Breakdown.
19. Ballad Of A Thin Man – Take 3 (8/02/1965) Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
20. Ballad Of A Thin Man – Take 4 (8/02/1965) Insert.
Disc 8
1. Desolation Row – Takes 1-2 remake (8/02/1965) False start/breakdown.
2. Desolation Row – Take 3 remake (8/02/1965) Breakdown.
3. Desolation Row – Take 4 remake (8/02/1965) False start.
4. Desolation Row – Take 5 remake (8/02/1965) Complete.
5. Tombstone Blues – Take 1 (8/03/1965) Complete. Vocal overdub.
6. Tombstone Blues – Take 2 (8/03/1965) Complete. Vocal overdub.
7. Tombstone Blues – Take 3 (8/03/1965) Complete. Vocal overdub.
8. Desolation Row – Take 1 (8/04/1965) Rehearsal.
9. Desolation Row – Take 2 (8/04/1965) Rehearsal.
10. Desolation Row – Take 1 (8/04/1965) Complete (with insert).
11. Desolation Row – Take 5 (8/04/1965) Complete master without acoustic guitar overdub. Released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
12. Desolation Row – Take 6 (8/04/1965) Guitar overdub.
13. Desolation Row – Take 7 (8/04/1965) Guitar overdub
14. Tombstone Blues – Take 1 (8/04/1965) Harmonica overdub.
15. Medicine Sunday – Take 1 (10/05/1965) Incomplete.
16. Medicine Sunday – Take 2 (10/05/1965) Incomplete.
17. Jet Pilot – Take 1 (10/05/1965) Released on Biograph, 1985.
18. I Wanna Be Your Lover – (10/05/1965) Rehearsal.
19. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 1 (10/05/1965) Fragment.
20. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 2 (10/05/1965) Fragment.
Disc 9
1. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 1 (10/05/1965) Fragment.
2. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 1 Edit 1 (10/05/1965) Complete.
3. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 1 Edit 2 (10/05/1965) Complete.
4. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 2 (10/05/1965) Complete.
5. I Wanna Be Your Lover – (10/05/1965) Rehearsal.
6. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 3 10/05/1965) Complete.
7. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 4 (10/05/1965) Complete.
8. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 5 (10/05/1965) Complete
9. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 6 (10/05/1965) Complete.
10. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 6 (mis-slate) (10/05/1965) Released on Biograph, 1985.
11. Instrumental – Take 1 (10/05/1965) Fragment.
12. Instrumental – Take 2 (10/05/1965) Complete.
13. Visions Of Johanna – Take 1 (11/30/1965) Rehearsal.
14. Visions Of Johanna – Take 2 (11/30/1965) Rehearsal.
15. Visions Of Johanna – Take 3 (11/30/1965) Rehearsal.
16. Visions Of Johanna – Take 4 (11/30/1965) Complete.
17. Visions Of Johanna – Take 5 (11/30/1965) Complete.
18. Visions Of Johanna – Take 6 (11/30/1965) Rehearsal.
19. Visions Of Johanna – Take 7 (11/30/1965) Complete.
20. Visions Of Johanna – Take 8 (11/30/1965) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol.7, 2005.
Disc 10
1. Visions Of Johanna – Takes 9-12 (11/30/1965) False starts.
2. Visions Of Johanna – Take 13 (11/30/1965) Breakdown.
3. Visions Of Johanna – Take 14 (11/30/1965) Complete.
4. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 1 (11/30/1965) False start.
5. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 2 (11/30/1965) False start, rehearsal.
6. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 3 (11/30/1965) False start.
7. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 4 (11/30/1965) False start, rehearsal.
8. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 6 (11/30/1965) Complete.
9. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 7 (11/30/1965) Breakdown.
10. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 8 (11/30/1965) Complete.
11. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 9 (11/30/1965) False start.
12. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – Take 10 (11/30/1965) Released as a single in October, 1965.
13. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 1 (1/21/1966) Breakdown.
14. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 2 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
15. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 3 (1/21/1966) Breakdown.
16. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 4 (1/21/1966) Incomplete.
17. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 5 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
18. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 6 (1/21/1966) Complete.
19. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 7 (1/21/1966) False start.
20. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 8 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
21. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 9 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
22. She’s Your Lover Now – Takes 10-11 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
23. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 12 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
24. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 13 (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
Disc 11
1. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 14 (1/21/1966) Breakdown.
2. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 15 (1/21/1966) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991.
3. She’s Your Lover Now – (1/21/1966) Rehearsal.
4. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 16 (1/21/1966) Complete.
5. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 1 (1/25/1966) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005.
6. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 2 (1/25/1966) Complete.
7. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 1 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
8. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 2 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
9. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 3 (1/25/1966) Fragment.
10. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 4 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
11. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 5 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
12. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Takes 6-8 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
13. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 9 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
14. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Takes 10-14 (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
15. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 15 (1/25/1966) Complete.
16. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Takes 16-17 (1/25/1966) False starts.
17. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 18 (1/25/1966) Complete.
18. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – (1/25/1966) Rehearsal.
19. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 19 (1/25/1966) Complete.
20. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Takes 21-22 (1/25/1966) Breakdown.
Disc 12
1. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 23 (1/25/1966) Complete.
2. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – Take 24 (1/25/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
3. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – (1/25/1966) Master take, guitar (BD) and organ.
4. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – (1/25/1966) Master take, vocal.
5. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – (1/25/1966) Master take, piano and drums.
6. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) – (1/25/1966) Master take, guitar and bass.
7. Lunatic Princess – Take 1 (1/27/1966) Incomplete.
8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Takes 1-2 (1/27/1966) False start, incomplete.
9. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – (1/27/1966) Insert.
10. I’ll Keep It With Mine – (no date listed) Rehearsal. Partially released on The Bootleg Series, Vol.1-3, 1991.
11. Fourth Time Around – Take 1 (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
12. Fourth Time Around – Take 2 (2/14/1966) Breakdown.
13. Fourth Time Around – Takes 3-4 (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
14. Fourth Time Around – Take 5 (2/14/1966) Complete.
15. Fourth Time Around – Takes 6-7 (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
16. Fourth Time Around – Take 8 (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
17. Fourth Time Around – Takes 9-10 (2/14/1966) False starts.
Disc 13
1. Fourth Time Around – Take 11 (2/14/1966) Complete.
2. Fourth Time Around – Takes 12-13 (2/14/1966) False starts.
3. Fourth Time Around – Takes 14-16 (2/14/1966) False starts.
4. Fourth Time Around – Takes 17-18 (2/14/1966) False starts.
5. Fourth Time Around – Take 19 (2/14/1966) Breakdown.
6. Fourth Time Around – Take 19 again (2/14/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
7. Visions Of Johanna – Take 1 (2/14/1966) False start.
8. Visions Of Johanna – Take 2 (2/14/1966) Breakdown.
9. Visions Of Johanna – Take 3 (2/14/1966) False start.
10. Visions Of Johanna – Take 4 (2/14/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
11. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Takes 1-2 (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
12. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 3 (2/14/1966) Complete.
13. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Takes 4-5 (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
14. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 6 (2/14/1966) Breakdown.
15. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 6 again (2/14/1966) Rehearsal.
16. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 8 (2/14/1966) Complete.
17. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 9 (2/14/1966) Breakdown.
18. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 10 (2/14/1966) False start.
19. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 11 (2/14/1966) Breakdown.
20. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 12 (2/14/1966) False start.
21. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 13 (2/14/1966) Complete.
22. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 1 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
23. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 2 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
24. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 3 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
25. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 4 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
26. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 5 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
27. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Takes 6-7 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
28. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 8 (2/15/1966) Rehearsal.
29. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 8 again (2/15/1966) Complete.
30. I’ll Keep It With Mine (instrumental) – Take 9 (2/15/1966) Complete.
Disc 14
1. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands – Take 1 (2/16/1966) Complete.
2. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands – Take 2 (2/16/1966) Rehearsal.
3. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands – Take 3 (2/16/1966) Complete.
4. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands – Take 4 (2/16/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
5. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 1 (2/17/1966) Rehearsal.
6. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – (2/17/1966) Rehearsal.
7. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 1 (2/17/1966) Breakdown.
8. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Takes 2-3 (2/17/1966) Rehearsal.
9. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 4 (2/17/1966) Breakdown.
10. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 4 (mis-slate) (2/17/1966) False start.
11. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 5 (2/17/1966) Released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005.
12. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Takes 6-8 (2/17/1966) False starts.
13. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 9 (2/17/1966) Breakdown.
14. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 10 (2/17/1966) False start.
15. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Takes 11-12 (2/17/1966) Breakdown.
16. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 13 (2/17/1966) Breakdown.
Disc 15
1. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 14 (2/17/1966) Complete.
2. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Take 15 (2/17/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
3. Absolutely Sweet Marie – (3/07/1966) Rehearsal.
4. Absolutely Sweet Marie – Take 1 (3/07/1966) Complete.
5. Absolutely Sweet Marie – Take 2 (3/07/1966) False start.
6. Absolutely Sweet Marie – Take 3 (3/07/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
7. Absolutely Sweet Marie – (3/07/1966) Insert.
8. Just Like A Woman – Take 1 (3/08/1966) Complete.
9. Just Like A Woman – Take 2 (3/08/1966) Complete.
10. Just Like A Woman – Take 3 (3/08/1966) Complete.
11. Just Like A Woman – Take 4 (3/08/1966) Complete.
12. Pledging My Time – Take 1 (3/08/1966) Breakdown.
13. Pledging My Time – (3/08/1966) Rehearsal.
14. Pledging My Time – Take 2 (3/08/1966) False start.
15. Pledging My Time – Take 3 (3/08/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
16. Just Like A Woman – Take 5 (3/08/1966) False start.
17. Just Like A Woman – Take 6 (3/08/1966) Breakdown.
Disc 16
1. Just Like A Woman – Take 8 (3/08/1966) Complete.
2. Just Like A Woman – Takes 9-10 (3/08/1966) False start, breakdown.
3. Just Like A Woman – Takes 11-12 (3/08/1966) Rehearsal.
4. Just Like A Woman – Take 13 (3/08/1966) Breakdown.
5. Just Like A Woman – Takes 14-15 (3/08/1966) Rehearsal.
6. Just Like A Woman – Take 16 (3/08/1966) Complete.
7. Just Like A Woman – Take 17 (3/08/1966) Breakdown.
8. Just Like A Woman – Take 18 (3/08/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
9. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 1 (3/09/1966) Complete.
10. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 2 (3/09/1966) Rehearsal.
11. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 3 (3/09/1966) Rehearsal.
12. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 4 (3/09/1966) Rehearsal.
13. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 5 (3/09/1966) Breakdown.
14. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 6 (3/09/1966) Released on Blonde on Blonde, 1966.
15. Temporary Like Achilles – Take 1 (3/09/1966) Complete.
16. Temporary Like Achilles – Take 2 (3/09/1966) False start
17. Temporary Like Achilles – Take 3 (3/09/1966) Complete.
18. Temporary Like Achilles – Take 4 (3/09/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
19. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 – (3/10/1966) Rehearsal.
20. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 – Take 1 (3/10/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
Disc 17
1. Obviously Five Believers – Take 1 (3/10/1966) False start.
2. Obviously Five Believers – Take 2 (3/10/1966) Breakdown.
3. Obviously Five Believers – Take 3 (3/10/1966) Complete.
4. Obviously Five Believers – Take 4 (3/10/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
5. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 1 (3/10/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
6. I Want You – (3/10/1966) Rehearsal.
7. I Want You – Take 1 (3/10/1966) Complete.
8. I Want You – Take 2 (3/10/1966) Breakdown.
9. I Want You – Take 3 (3/10/1966) Rehearsal, false start.
10. I Want You – Take 4 (3/10/1966) Complete.
11. I Want You – Take 5 (3/10/1966) Released on Blonde On Blonde, 1966.
12. I Want You – Take 5b (3/10/1966) Insert, guitar overdub.
Disc 18
1. Remember Me – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
2. More And More – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
3. Blues Stay Away From Me – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
4. Weary Blues From Waitin’ – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
5. Lost Highway – (5/04/65) Savoy Hotel, London.
6. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
7. Young But Daily Growing – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
8. Wild Mountain Thyme – (5/04/1965) Savoy Hotel, London.
9. I Can’t Leave Her Behind [1] – (5/13/1966) North British Station Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.
10. I Can’t Leave Her Behind [2] – (5/13/1966) North British Station Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.
11. On A Rainy Afternoon – (5/13/1966) North British Station Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.
12. If I Was A King [1] – (5/13/1966) North British Station Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.
13. If I Was A King [2] – (5/13/1966) North British Station Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.
14. What Kind Of Friend Is This – (5/13/1966) North British Station Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.
15. Positively Van Gogh [1] – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
16. Positively Van Gogh [2] – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
17. Positively Van Gogh [3] – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
18. Don’t Tell Him, Tell Me – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
19. If You Want My Love – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
20. Just Like A Woman – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
21. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands – (3/12/1966) Denver, Colorado Hotel Room.
Previously three full songs – “Things Have Changed,” “Workingman’s Blues #2” and “Stay With Me” – plus some of “She Belongs To Me,” all from Bob Dylan’s show at the Bayou Music Center in Houston, Texas on May 5, 2015, were posted at YouTube.
A few hours ago another song, “Blowin’ In The Wind,” from that show went online.
Here it is:
“Blowin’ In The Wind”:
If you missed the others, here they are:
“Things Have Changed” and some of “She Belongs To Me”:
Beginning in 1975, Bob Dylan and a superstar troupe of folk and rock musicians hit the road as the Rolling Thunder Review. As the tour progressed a camera crew filmed some of the concerts as well as fictional scenarios that Dylan dreamed up, and real off-stage events.
One of my favorite performances from the tour (included in “Renaldo & Clara”) is the Dylan and Joan Baez version of Johnny Ace’s 1954 R&B hit, “Never Let Me Go” (written by Joseph Scott).
Video clip from “Renaldo & Clara”:
Full song:
“Never Let Me Go”:
Another version from the Rolling Thunder Review tour:
