While the official version of “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?” was released on December 21, 1965, a different version was mistakenly released as the A-side of what was supposed to be the “Positively Fourth Street” single three months earlier on September 7, 1065.

As a kid I heard “Positively Fourth Street” on the radio, loved it and went to the record store down the hill from where I lived and bought a copy.

I was surprised to discover a different song on the A-side but it was just as great as “Positively Fourth Street.”

Lucky me.

Michael Bloomfield and Al Kooper both play on this version, which according to Clinton Heylin, was recorded on July 30, 1965 at Columbia’s Studio A in New York:

Here it is as well in better fidelity:

Forty-nine years ago, on December 21, 1965, the official version recorded with the Hawks on October 4, 1965, was released.

Check out the lyrics,which are amazing, here.
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]