Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs – Every Song Vol.1: January 1961-March 1962

 

Bob Dylan arrived in New York on Tuesday, 24 January 1961 – still 4 months shy of his 20^th birthday.  Although he had dabbled in songwriting prior to that time, there was nothing of significance that would result in a future bootleg, recorded demo or an official release.

 

In fact, it would take well into 1962 and many an hour, day, week and month of scrawling ideas and lyrics into notebooks for Dylan to accumulate even a dozen songs that he would feel worthy of playing in the local coffee houses or committing to tape. Further, it would be deeper into 1962 before a Dylan song would be accompanied by an original Dylan tune.

 

This first article in the ‘Every Song’ series will track, in chronological order, the songs that Dylan wrote between January 1961 (his arrival in New York City) and March 1962 (the release of his debut Bob Dylan album) ….and, in keeping with the overarching ‘Dylan Covers’ concept, every Dylan composition that has been professionally covered will be showcased by an appropriate cover.

 

 

Track 1 – Song To Woody

 

The catalyst for Dylan’s first song begins in Minneapolis around September 1960 when he is introduced to the recordings of Woody Guthrie as well as Woody’s autobiography Bound For Glory.  When Dylan arrives in New York in late January 1961, one of the first things he is totally committed to tick off his ‘to do’ list is to visit his newly discovered idol in Greystone Hospital, New Jersey.

 

The Dylan biographers are fairly agreed that Dylan did make his way the 40 miles from Greenwich Village to Greystone Hospital to meet Woody within days of arriving in New York.  Dylan subsequently visited Woody at the hospital on several occasions as well as joining in on the ‘Sunday get togethers’ at the home of Bob & Sid Gleason in East Orange (about 18 miles from Greenwich Village).  {Note: Between May 1959 – May 1961, the Gleason’s had permission from the Greystone Hospital to take Woody to their home on Sundays, provided he was back at night for his medication.} Despite being a complete unknown and rank outsider, Dylan’s first attendance at the Gleason’s was within a week of arriving in New York – Sunday 29 January 1961 – and on that occasion, he was in the company of Woody, Cisco Houston, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Will Geert (to name but a few).

 

There is general consensus that Dylan had written ‘Song To Woody’, based on the tune of Woody’s own ‘1913 Massacre’, and had sung the song to Woody by no later than mid-February 1961 – probably at the second or third Gleason ‘get together’ that Bob had attended (i.e. 5^th or 12^th February 1961).

 

The Gleason’s were given a handwritten copy of ‘Song To Woody’ with the inscription: written by Bob Dylan in Mills Bar on Bleeker Street in New York City on the 14^th day of February for Woody Guthrie.  It is most likely that Dylan was deliberate in the inscription to protect his copyright in the song.

 

Dylan had written his first song, ‘Song To Woody’, before he turned 19yrs 9mths.  He would record the song in Columbia Studios some nine months later (20 November 1961) and it would feature as the penultimate track on his debut 19 March 1962 Bob Dylan album.

 

‘Song To Woody’ has been covered by 14 artists. I have selected a cover by Stan Ridgway (ex-lead singer of US band Wall Of Voodoo 1977-83). Stan released his cover in 2011, almost 50 years after Dylan’s original.

 

 

 

 

Track 2 – Talkin’ New York

 

The only other original song on Dylan’s debut album is ‘Talkin’ New York’ – a song that captures Dylan’s early days in a bitterly cold New York, trying to get heard in the Greenwich Village coffee house scene.

 

Between mid-May and mid-September 1961, Dylan had used the 10 West 28^th Street, NY home of Eve & Mac McKenzie as his ‘primary’ residence.  Based on the recollections and writings of Peter McKenzie (Eve & Mac’s teenage son) and supported by images of Dylan’s handwritten lyrics, it seems likely that Dylan wrote ‘Talkin’ New York’ during the early part of this ‘residency’. Dylan also recorded this song in Columbia Studios on 20 November 1961 and it was released as track 2 on his March 1962 Bob Dylan album.

 

The other ‘Guthrie-style talking blues’ song to flow from Dylan’s pen during this period is:

 

 

Track 3 – Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues

 

This song was based on newspaper coverage of a true story in the New York Herald Tribune on 19 June 1961.  The song was first recorded by Dylan during a live performance at The Gaslight Café on 6 September 1961. Dylan subsequently recorded an official demo for Leeds Music on 2 February 1962 and a Columbia Studio version on 25 April 1962.  The song, however, remained unreleased until it was issued on the March 1991 The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 triple box set.

 

While there have been no covers of either of these two ‘talkin’ blues’ songs, there is a hybrid cover by US singer Steven Keene – a cover that cleverly & humorously combines bits of ‘Talkin’ New York’ and ‘Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues’ along with a few other Dylan ‘in-jokes’. Keene’s cover song, released on his 1990 Keene On Dylan tribute album, is titled: ‘Talkin’ Bob Dylan Imitators Contest Massacre, Disaster, Paranoid Blues’.

 

 

 

 

Track 4 – Man On The Street

 

This song was also inspired by newspaper coverage of a true event.

 

Based on an image of Dylan’s lyrics in Peter McKenzie’s book Bob Dylan: On A Couch & Fifty Cents A Day and the first recording of the song (Gaslight Café, 6 September 1961), it would be reasonable to conclude that Dylan had written his fourth ‘official’ song, using the two-chord tune to ‘Death Of John Doe’ by the time he had reached 20yrs, 3mths (i.e. late August 1961).

 

Interestingly, the song began life as ‘The Old Man’ – and it had that title when it was recorded at the Gaslight Café by Dave Van Ronk and his wife Terri Thal (Dylan’s part-time defacto manager). The recording, along with five other songs performed by Dylan on the night, was aimed at garnering interest in Dylan’s talent from record company representatives.

 

Dylan later changed the song title to ‘Man On The Street’, when he recorded a studio version at Columbia Studios on 22 November 1961, as a possible inclusion on his debut album. However, the song remained an unreleased outtake that was eventually issued on the March 1991 The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 triple box set.

 

The SecondHandSongs website records that the only cover of ‘Man On The Street’ dates from 2003 by German singer Michel Montecrossa. It is interesting to note that Michel has self-recorded and released over 200 Dylan cover songs (i.e. more than anyone else in the world).

 

However, a scan of Dave Van Ronk’s officially released albums reveals that he has recorded a 1966 studio version and a 1996 ‘live’ version of ‘The Old Man’ – both credited to Bob Dylan. The live version, recorded by the 60 year-old Van Ronk at Sir George William University, Montreal includes a spoken introduction ‘…this song I learnt from Bob Dylan…’ before he segues into ‘The Old Man’ (aka ‘Man On The Street’).

 

 

 

 

~~~~Interlude~~~~~

 

 

Dylan’s recording career gained serious momentum from late September 1961. A positive write up by New York Times columnist Robert Shelton on 29 September and being noticed by Columbia Records producer John Hammond during a Carolyn Hester recording session at Columbia Studios on the same day, led to Dylan being offered a standard recording contract with Columbia Records.

 

In anticipation of recording at Columbia Studios, Izzy Young (owner of The Folklore Center) had arranged for Dylan’s first ticketed solo concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall on 4 November 1961. The 14-song set list included all four of the aforementioned original songs. When Dylan entered Columbia Studios on 20 & 22 November 1961 to record his debut album, he included three of his original songs – ‘Talkin’ New York’, ‘Song To Woody’ and ‘Man On The Street’.

 

The grooves on Dylan’s March 1962 Bob Dylan album make clear that only two original songs finally made it onto the album – ‘Talking New York’ and ‘Song To Woody’.

 

 

Track 5 – Hard Times In New York Town

 

On 23 November 1961, the day after the second Columba Studio recording session, Dylan arrived at the McKenzie’s residence for Thanksgiving Dinner, along with his girlfriend Suze Rotolo and a number of other guests. It should be noted that Dylan had vacated the McKenzie residence around mid-September to acquire living arrangements that better suited his lifestyle and personal circumstances.

 

It so happened that Peter McKenzie had acquired a state-of-the-art portable tape recorder. It is from Peter’s recording of Dylan’s impromptu performance on 23 November 1961 (the day before Dylan turned 20yrs,6mths) that Dylan’s latest original song – ‘Hard Times In New York Town’ – is revealed.

 

Dylan recorded a version of this song, which is based on the tune ‘Down On Penny’s Farm’, as a Leeds Music Demo on 2 February 1962 and this remained unreleased until it appeared at track 2 on the October 2010 The Bootleg Series, Volume 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964.

 

There are no known covers of this song, however, I find a certain charm to Dylan’s lyrics and delivery…and so, for those who have not heard this song before, here’s the original ‘Hard Times In New York Town’.

 

 

 

 

Track 6 – I Was Young When I Left Home

 

In mid-December 1961, Dylan made his second 1200-mile journey back to Minneapolis to catch up with family and friends. With a growing reputation and the availability of high-quality portable recording equipment, it was inevitable that various impromptu Dylan performances would be captured on home recordings.

 

And so it came to be that three days before Christmas 1961, when Dylan was edging towards 20yrs 7mths, that his latest original song was recorded, nestled snugly among a 26 song performance at (depending on the biography or reference tome) either David Whitaker’s home; or Bonnie Beecher’s apartment at the Minnesota Hotel.  The song, based on the tune of ‘900 Miles’, was titled ‘I Was Young When I Left Home’ and this ‘home’ recording remains the only original version of this song.

 

For those unfamiliar with the 1961 ‘home’ recording, it would have been a welcome surprise to receive the song on a bonus disc with the limited edition 2001 Love & Theft album. The song was also included on the August 2005 The Bootleg Series Volume 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack.

 

Despite its ‘limited’ exposure, the song has been covered by eight artists – although none prior to May 2008. The song was covered by Timothée Chalamet on the recently released A Complete Unknown movie and album soundtrack.

 

The following cover of ‘I Was Young When I Left Home’ is by Anohni (formerly Antony of Antony and the Johnsons). The cover was included on a 2009 charity album titled Dark Was The Night, and dedicated to raising funds and awareness of HIV and AIDS.

 

 

 

 

~~~~~Another Interlude~~~~~

 

 

On returning from Minneapolis around new year 1962, Dylan settled into his West 4^th Street apartment with his 18 year-old girlfriend Suze Rotolo. Certain forces helped create the environment where Dylan would seriously commit to his apprenticeship as a songwriter. Here is my take:

 

• The partial success of Dylan’s earlier attempts at songwriting gave him the confidence to pursue the art of songwriting as a ‘job’ and not just a hobby;
• With his debut album set to be released in mid-March 1962 and a standard Columbia Records contract requiring a further album within the next year, he had the opportunity and enough corporate support to pursue the singer/songwriter genre;
• Dylan was always on the look-out for songs to sing; but he became frustrated with what was being offered. As he stated in 1984: ‘…I had to write what I wanted to sing ‘cause no-one else was writing what I wanted to sing. I couldn’t find it anywhere. If I could I would have never started writing.’;
• Broadside magazine, created by Pete Seeger in early 1962, was aimed directly at new and emerging topical songwriters like Dylan. First published in late February 1962, Dylan became the magazines most frequent contributor;
• John Hammond, in an attempt to enhance Dylan’s financial situation, had negotiated a music publishing deal with Leeds Music. Accordingly, Dylan needed to provide content (i.e. original songs) to generate additional income; and
• With the support of those around him (especially Suze Rotolo & Pete Seeger) Dylan was being invited to perform at protest style events & rallies. Dylan well knew that a new song with contemporary lyrics would resonate with the masses and further enhance his reputation.

 

 

In early February 1962, Dylan emerged from a mid-winter New York hibernation with four newly inked songs – each one deliberately targeting a different musical genre as Dylan tried to find his own identity beyond the Woody Guthrie mask he had curated during 1961.  He walked into Leeds Music and recorded the four new songs along with ‘Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues’, ‘Man On The Street’ and ‘Hard Times In New York Town’.

 

The four new songs were:

 

Track 7 – Poor Boy Blues

 

This blues-based song can be viewed as Dylan simply exploring the genre with a set of unspectacular scene setting images.

 

Apart from the Leeds Music demo, there is no other occasion that Dylan performed or recorded the song. The demo was officially released at track 3 on the October 2010 The Bootleg Series, Volume 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964.

 

There are no known covers of ‘Poor Boy Blues’.

 

 

Track 8 – Ballad For A Friend

 

This song captures the loss of a home town friend, killed in a road accident. Whether it is a true story and whether Dylan heard about it when he was back in Minneapolis a month earlier – who knows? Some commentators regard this song as Dylan’s first masterpiece – I am yet to be convinced.

 

As with ‘Poor Boy Blues’ above, the Leeds Music demo remains the only occasion that Dylan performed or recorded the song. The demo was officially released at track 4 on the October 2010 The Bootleg Series, Volume 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964.

 

There is only one known cover version of ’Ballad For A Friend’ – recorded by Garth Anderson, a musician and singer from Dylan’s home town of Duluth, Minnesota. The cover is included on a self-released recording and given its ‘amateur’ status will not be included in this article.

 

 

Track 9 – Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie

 

In this song, Dylan takes on the Scottish ballad tradition – using the template of ‘Brennan On The Moor’.  Unashamedly, the tune is kept intact and the lead actor in Dylan’s song remains ‘Willie’ – although the original ‘Willie Brennan’, an Irish highwayman, becomes ‘Willie O’Conley’, an American gambler.

 

In addition to the Leeds Music demo in early February, Dylan also recorded the song on the first occasion that he entered Columbia Studios to begin recording songs for his 2^nd studio album (i.e. 24 April 1962) . However, given the quality of songs soon to flow from Dylan’s pen, ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie’ was dropped from his repertoire. The first official release of the song happened on the March 1991 The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 triple box set.

 

There have only been 3 known covers of ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie’. In an interesting twist, one of those covers is by The Clancy Brothers on their 1995 album Older But No Wiser. This is interesting because it would have been The Clancy Brothers’ 1961 version of ‘’Brennan On The Moor’ that Dylan was familiar with when he wrote ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie’ in February 1962.

 

For this article, I will showcase the first known cover of ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie’ – performed by Townes Van Zandt on his 1992 Roadsongs album and titled ‘Little Willie The Gambler’.

 

 

 

 

Track 10 – Standing On A Highway

 

This Dylan song has its origins, musically & lyrically, firmly in the style of Robert Johnson’s 1930’s ‘Crossroads’.

 

The only recording of ‘Standing On The Highway’ was to be found on a Leeds Music demo tape until it appeared as track 7 on the October 2010 The Bootleg Series, Volume 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964.

 

There have only been two known covers of ‘Standing On A Highway’.  My preferred cover is by Louder Than Milk – a six piece, Boston-based band that blends roots folk, country, rock & blues.  Their version appears on the 2018 Dylanology (A Low Budget Tribute To The Songs Of Bob Dylan).

 

 

 

 

~~~~~A Final Interlude~~~~~

 

 

By the end of January 1962, Dylan had spent 2 months sharing his life 24/7 with Suze Rotolo. Despite having just turned 18 (to Dylan being 20yrs,8mths), Rotolo had been exposed to and immersed in a strong left-wing political agenda. For example, for over 12 months, Rotolo had been assisting in various campaign activities for the Congress Of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.). While it is impossible to know the degree of influence Rotolo had on Dylan’s political/social/racial disposition, it is clear that from late January 1962 onwards, Dylan revealed a critical shift towards writing contemporary protest songs.  In fact, three of the final four songs written by Dylan prior to the release of his debut album in mid-March 1962 give the first glimpse of ‘Bob Dylan – protest songwriter’.

 

 

Track 11 —The Death Of Emmitt Till

 

On 1 February 1962, Izzy Young (owner of The Folklore Center in Greenwich Village and behind-the-scenes supporter of Dylan since his January 1961 arrival in NY) recalls Dylan paying him a visit and letting him know that he had just written a song called ‘The Death Of Emmitt Till’ especially for the C.O.R.E. Benefit concert on 23 February.  Using a tune he had ‘borrowed’ from fellow folksinger Len Chandler, the song recounts the events of the actual murder of Emmitt (a 14 year-old black boy) at the hands of two white men and how an all-white jury had found the white men innocent.

 

While there is no known recording of the song from the C.O.R.E. benefit concert, the song did become a regular feature of Dylan repertoire for the following six months, including: The Broadside Show: WBAI-FM Radio (May 62); Finjan Club, Montreal concert (July 6); Columbia Studios (9 July 1962); and Witmark & Sons demos (July 1962).

 

The song was eventually dropped from inclusion on Dylan’s 2^nd studio album and remained unreleased and forgotten until it appeared at track 13 on the October 2010 The Bootleg Series, Volume 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964.

 

Although SecondHandSongs does not list any known covers of the song, a search via You Tube has uncovered a very compelling cover of ‘The Death Of Emmitt Till’ by US jazz bass musician Ben Williams on his 2020 I Am A Man album.

 

 

 

 

 

Track 12 – Talkin’ John Birch Society Paranoid Blues

 

By mid-February 1962, Dylan had written his third ‘talkin’ blues’ songs. With its wry humour and scathing portrayal of the anti-Communist movement, ‘Talkin’ John Birch Society Paranoid Blues’ was ideal for Broadside magazine and appeared in its first edition, published in late February 1962.  It proved quite popular with Pete Seeger, who had been the driving force behind setting up Broadside magazine and was himself interrogated in 1955 by the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’.

 

The song became a favourite of Dylan’s and remained in his repertoire until late 1964.  He recorded the song in Columbia Studios on 24 November 1962 for possible inclusion on his 2^nd studio album but it failed to make the cut, possibly as a result of potential legal issues (refer below re Ed Sullivan Show). The first official release of the song happened on the March 1991 The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 triple box set.

 

It is well documented that Dylan had been scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on 27 May 1963. Although Dylan had written some more significant songs, including the soon to be released ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, he decided that he would perform ‘Talkin’ John Birch Society Paranoid Blues’. Hours before the show, Dylan was informed that he could not perform the song as it potentially libeled members of the Birch organization. Dylan refused to perform at all, despite the enormous national exposure that the Ed Sullivan Show would have provided to his career at that time.

 

Given all the controversy, paranoia and publicity surrounding ‘Talkin’ John Birch Society Paranoid Blues’, it is perhaps even more surprising that there have been no covers of the song.

 

 

Track 13 – Ballad Of Donald White

 

On 12 February 1962, Dylan and Suze Rotolo were watching a TV program titled ‘A Volcano Named White’, about an imprisoned troubled black juvenile named Donald White. During the program Dylan went off into a corner of the room, began writing and returned with a new song titled ‘Ballad Of Donald White’. In that unique Dylan way, he concluded the song by asking whether Donald was ‘an enemy or victim of society?’.

 

Four days later, on 16 February 1962, Dylan was at the apartment of Cynthia Gooding, being interviewed for her ‘Folksingers Choice’ radio program on WBAI-FM.  During the interview, Dylan recorded five songs – four traditional songs plus his newly penned ‘Ballad Of Donald White’.

 

The only time Dylan recorded a studio version of the song was for Broadside Ballads under the guise of Blind Boy Grunt (a pseudonym used to avoid contractual issues with Columbia Records), and as such the song does not appear on any ‘official’ Dylan albums including the Bootleg Series.

 

It is not surprising then that there have been no covers of this song other than as one of the 200+ Dylan cover songs recorded by German singer Michel Montecrossa. For reasons that will become quite obvious by the time you finish listening to this cover version, this is likely to be the one and only time I showcase Michel in my ‘Dylan covers’ series.

 

 

 

 

Track 14 – Let Me Die In My Footsteps

 

Written by late February 1962 and published in the April 1962 edition of Broadside magazine, ‘I Will Not Go Down Under The Ground’ was the third protest-style song written by Dylan and the last of fourteen original songs to be written before his debut Bob Dylan album was released on 19 March 1962.

 

The song reflects upon recent newspaper reports on the exponential growth in construction of underground fallout shelters. Dylan’s developing skill as a lyricist and critical observer of the human condition is best portrayed in the line “‘stead of learnin’ to live they are learnin’ to die’’…..and Dylan’s new found voice as a protest singer is declared in the lines “I have read all their statements and I’ve not said a word/But now Lawd God, let my poor voice be heard’.

 

By 25 April 1962, Dylan was recording the song (now re-titled ‘Let Me Die In My Footsteps’) at Columbia Studios for inclusion on his 2^nd studio album.  However, as was the case with most songs from this period, it was replaced on the album (as well as Dylan’s repertoire) by newer, better songs and left to collect dust until released on the March 1991 The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 triple box set.

 

Of the eleven covers of this song, nine would be recorded/released between 1999 – 2020, and mostly on self-release albums.  The preferred cover for this article was recorded around the time the song was written & published in Broadside magazine. Fellow folk singer, Happy Traum, recorded ‘I Will Not Go Under The Ground’ (aka ‘Let Me Die In My Footsteps’) for the Broadside Ballads Vol. 1 album in January 1963, accompanied by Blind Boy Grunt (aka Bob Dylan) on guitar and backing vocals.

 

 

 

 

Special note: Verse 2, line 2 of this song reads: ‘The meaning of life has been lost in the wind’. Less than 2 months after penning those words, Dylan would write a song that includes the line: ‘The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind’.

 

 

Concluding remarks

 

In March 1962, Bob Dylan (the album) hit the shelves of record stores across the USA and beyond.  The album featured 11 songs but only 2 were originals (‘Song To Woody’ and ‘Talkin’ New York’). It has been estimated that the album cost Columbia Records just over $US400 to make but with less than 5000 albums sold worldwide in its first year, it was viewed as a break-even venture at best.

 

Dylan had arrived in New York in late January 1961 as a 19 year-old complete unknown. Fourteen months later, still two months shy of his 21^st birthday, Dylan had released his debut album and accumulated a portfolio of 14 original songs. Perhaps more importantly, he had attracted a powerful network of friends and supporters (Pete Seeger, Robert Shelton, John Hammond, Dave Van Ronk, Izzy Young, Gil Turner, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Big Joe Williams, Mike Porco) and he had attracted the attention of the influential entrepreneur & client manager Albert Grossman.

 

Whichever way the historical record is cut, it would be fair to say that inside the New York modern music landscape of the pre-Beatles early 1960’s, Dylan had shifted from being a ‘complete unknown’ to being a ‘somewhat known’. This was an important momentum shift that would allow ‘Bob Dylan – songwriter’ to launch upon the modern music scene in ways that would reinvent and reinvigorate the very concept of the role, the purpose, the possibilities of modern song and its songwriters.

 

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read Here.

 

 

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