Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs ~ Every Song Vol. 9: February to August 1965 plus ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ album

 

When we left the ‘Every Song Vol. 8’ article (published on this site on 3 March 2026), Dylan’s anthology stood at 94 songs and the master tapes for his 5^th studio album Bringing It All Back Home had been compiled. In keeping with the methodology used from the beginning of this series of articles, each Dylan song will be numbered consecutively, based on when the song was first made public (i.e. in concert or in studio recording sessions).

 

This article picks up at the beginning of February 1965 and weaves in, out, around and through Dylan’s constantly evolving life, times and songwriting output up to August 1965. Despite this period only covering seven months, the multiple events that unfold are substantial.

 

Early on, we revisit a largely overlooked series of joint Dylan/Baez concerts; midstream, we partake in ‘Dylanmania’ UK style; and we conclude by revisiting the making of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and the recording of Dylan’s 6^th studio album Highway 61 Revisited ~ which will be re-created in full, in cover song style.

 

1965 is shaping up to be the year when Dylan finally becomes a ’COMPLETE KNOWN’ ~ in the UK, the USA and increasingly across the globe.

 

 

Introducing Bobby Neuwirth (road manager +)

 

From early 1965, Bobby Neuwirth began to play an increasingly important role in Dylan’s close-knit entourage ~ a role that helped transform Dylan’s image from a Greenwich Village acoustic-guitar folksinger to a cosmopolitan, electrified hip rock star.

 

Neuwirth is also responsible for aiding and abetting Dylan as he adds an extra layer of edginess and attitude to his personality and masters the art of the ‘put-down’ ~ face-to-face and in song.

 

Neuwirth and Dylan first brushed shoulders at the Indian Neck Folk Festival in Branford, Connecticut in early May 1961. Inevitably, the two of them would get together and the history books show that Neuwirth officially joined Dylan’s ‘team’ in San Francisco in late January 1964 when Dylan was concluding his cross USA road trip, with Victor Maymudes in the ‘road manager’ role.

 

By early 1965, Neuwirth has taken over the ‘road manager’ role to add to his ‘chief sidekick/right hand man’ duties and this remained the status quo within Dylan’s entourage throughout 1965.

 

 

February

 

With winter beginning to thaw, Dylan eased back into the ‘performing’ part of his career with a series of small hall concerts: Springfield Municipal Auditorium, MA on 29 January, before three February concerts on: 10^th ~ College Avenue Gymnasium, New Brunswick, NJ; 12^th ~ Troy Armory, Troy, NY; and 14^th ~ Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, MA. The set list comprised: four songs from Freewheelin’; three songs from The Times They Are A-Changin’; two songs from Another Side; three studio outtakes; and five songs from the upcoming Bringing It All Back Home.

 

Les Crane Show interview

 

Dylan’s only other commitment during the month was on the 17^th  with an appearance on the Les Crane Show at WABC TV Studios, New York. Somewhat surprisingly, this happened to be Dylan’s first appearance on a New York-based TV show and equally surprisingly, Dylan opened up with the ‘live’ debut of ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ ~ a song that would not be released for another month and was thus totally alien to the audience (in the studio and watching in lounge rooms across NYC).

 

The appearance concluded with a live performance of ‘It’s All Right Ma, (I’m Only Bleeding)’ ~ another song from his upcoming album. The intervening 15-minute interview and song selection clearly signal that Dylan had shed his protest folk singer image once and for all and was now steadfastly stamping out a new image that owed a debt to no-one and to no known musical genre.

 

At the time, Les Crane was touted as the ‘bad boy’ of late night talk shows and pitted against the ‘goody two shoes’ of Johnny Carson. It was no surprise then that the first TV appearance of the ‘bad boy’ Rolling Stones was on the Les Crane Show in June 1964….and, of course, Dylan’s newly sculptured ‘bad boy’ image was also the right fit for Les in February 1965.

 

Several asides:

 

• In 1966, Les married the third of his (eventual) five wives ~ Tina Louise (aka Ginger Grant) of Gilligan Island fame; and

• outside the USA, Les is probably best known for his recording of the spoken word song ‘Desiderata’, which peaked at #8 on the US Billboard charts and won a Grammy for ‘Best Spoken Word Album’. Not to be outdone, ‘Desiderata’ peaked at #4 on the Australian singles chart in December 1971.

 

 

March

 

For reasons best known to Dylan and his manager (Albert Grossman), and Joan Baez and her manager (Manny Greenhill), and skimmed over in the various Dylan biographies, a series of joint Dylan/Baez concerts were organised throughout March and April. To emphasise an apparent lack of interest in these joint concerts by researchers and biographers, there are only scant, vague, incomplete or blank data records on the set lists performed by Dylan and Baez, in solo and/or in duet.

 

With regard to why these joint concerts were even scheduled in the first place, my best guess would be in three-parts:

 

• it would allow Dylan exposure to larger concert venues (e.g. 10,000 seat Convention Hall in Philadelphia) in preparation for his ten day/seven city England tour in May;

• Dylan would continue to leverage off Baez’s reputation outside north-eastern US States and California (e.g. North Carolina, Oregon and Washington) in order to get exposure to new audiences and potential fans within the US; and

• it would fill in time and generate income prior to Dylan’s England tour.

 

It is probably worth noting that booking major concert venues in major cities within the US would require significant pre-planning ~ and thus it is likely that the joint concert idea germinated around September 1964, at a time when Dylan and Baez were on friendlier terms and Dylan was still weighing up his long-term romantic/marriage options.

 

However, the evidence suggests that by late December 1964, cracks were beginning to be exposed in the Dylan/Baez relationship ~ most likely fuelled by:

 

• the changes Dylan was going through to create the atmosphere and music that would fuel his multi-dimensional lyrics versus the static nature of Baez’s traditional folksong repertoire (i.e. still singing ‘We Shall Overcome’/’Mary Hamilton’ with a few Dylan protest/anti-love songs thrown in to make her sound contemporary);

• the shift in ‘star power’ between Dylan and Baez with Dylan’s star in the ascendancy and Baez’s star beginning to plateau and wane;

• a fundamental ideological divide between Dylan and Baez on the nature and power of the ‘artist’ to make for a better world. Baez remained a firm believer that ‘song’ could bring people together and empower them to become agents of change, whereas Dylan believed that no song or singer could make one iota of difference to how the world worked, including on the burning issue of ‘civil rights’.

 

Nevertheless, the joint concert tour unfolded to plan. Fortunately, Daniel Kramer (who began chronicling Dylan’s career in black & white photos in August 1964) was still engaged and he magnificently captured Dylan and Baez on and off the stage during this period. The photos have been reproduced in his book Bob Dylan ~ A Year And A Day. The March component of the joint tour comprised:

 

• 5^th – Philadelphia Convention Hall, PA (seating capacity 10,000);

• 6^th – New Haven Arena, New Haven, CT (seating capacity 7,000)

 

Kramer magnificently captures Dylan performing in a single spotlight and Baez seated on stage, head bowed, almost prayer-like;

 

• 17^th and 18^th – Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, PA (seating capacity 3,700); and

• 19^th – Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, NC (seating capacity 8,300).

 

For the remainder of March, Dylan and Baez performed solo concerts in different cities, with Dylan’s itinerary as follows:

 

• 20^th – Bailey Hall, Ithaca, NY (seating capacity 1,300);

• 21^st – Capital Theatre, Ottawa, Canada (seating capacity 2,600);

• 27^th – Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, CA (seating capacity 3,000);

• 28^th – Berkeley Community Centre, Berkeley, CA (seating capacity 3,500).

 

Meanwhile, on the 22^nd, Bringing It All Back Home was officially released ~ full details of the recording sessions for this album and a re-creation of the entire album in cover song style can be found in the previous ‘Every Song Vol. 8’ article.

 

On the 26^th, while in the vicinity of Los Angeles, Dylan briefly joined the newly renamed The Byrds on stage during their official debut at Ciro’s Le Disc Nightclub on the Sunset Strip. The Byrds set list did not include ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, which was a short two weeks away from being released.

 

Meanwhile, in England, concert goers and the media were getting excited about Dylan’s upcoming May concert tour. Fuelled by headlines such as: ‘BEATLES SAY – DYLAN SHOWS THE WAY’ (Melody Maker, 9 January 1965), concert ticket sales were said to be ‘selling like gold dust’.

 

Feeding off Dylan’s increasing reputation in England, Columbia Records released ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’ as a single on March 8^th and, by the end of the month, the song had peaked at #9 on the UK singles chart. For the record, the song was originally recorded by Dylan some seventeen months previously (i.e. October 1963) and had never been released as a single in the US or elsewhere.

 

 

April

 

Dylan and Baez continued to perform, but in solo concerts in different places. Once again, Dylan’s itinerary follows:

 

• 3^rd – Berkeley Community Centre, Berkeley, CA;

• 9^th – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, Canada (seating capacity 2,750) ~ from the set list, it is clear that Dylan did a test run of the intended England tour set list, broken into an opening set of seven songs and a second set of eight songs.

 

The joint Dylan/Baez concert bandwagon concluded with two performances:

 

• 23^rd – Public Auditorium, Portland, OR; and finally,

• 24^th – Seattle Centre, Seattle, WA ~ this would prove to be the final time that Dylan and Baez shared a stage until 8 December 1975 at Madison Square Garden as part of the 1975/76 Rolling Thunder Revue series of concerts.

 

While there is no definitive record of what Dylan did during the break between these April concert commitments, it is most likely that he was re-organising his domestic arrangements. Up to now, Dylan was living at a private residence on Albert Grossman’s ‘Bearsville’ property at Woodstock, NY as well as spending time in room 221 at the Chelsea Hotel, NYC to be close to Sara Lownds.

 

However, within days of returning to the USA from his England tour, Dylan and Sara were living in Dylan’s newly acquired home ‘Hi Lo Ha’ in Byrdcliffe, about a mile from both the centre of Woodstock and Grossman’s property. It seems quite clear that before Dylan embarked on his England tour he had decided with whom he would share his future and where they would call ‘home’.

 

Important announcement:

 

12 April 1965 ~ The Byrds release their cover of Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’

 

The back story of how this all came to be follows……

 

Dylan wrote ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, the 69^th song in his anthology, between mid February – April 1964. It is most likely that Dylan’s experience of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras on 11 February 1964, during his cross-USA road trip, was the inspiration for the song.

 

Around the same time, on the US West Coast, Jim (Roger) McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby had formed a folk trio named The Jet Set. Under the management of Jim Dickson, the trio began to hone a style of music that blended Beatles’ pop with Dylan-style folk.

 

On 23 June 1964, during recording sessions for the Another Side Of Bob Dylan album, Dylan attempted a studio recording of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott singing harmony. The version was considered unsuitable and the song was shelved for another time.

 

In August 1964, Dickson acquired an acetate disc of Dylan’s unreleased ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ from Jack Mass, who was responsible for promoting Witmark & Sons’ music catalogue. Although The Jet Set were initially unimpressed by the song, they persevered and after changing the time signature from 2/4 to 4/4 and giving the song a Beatlesque electric rock makeover, they began to feel the potential of the folk rock sound.

 

By early October 1964, The Jet Set became known as the Beefeaters and released their first single ‘Please Let Me Love You’, however it failed to chart. By late November 1964, the Beefeaters had changed their band name to The Byrds and signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. The band now included Michael Clarke (drums) and Chris Hillman (bass).

 

On 6 December 1964, in between performing a series of solo concerts on the West Coast, Dylan was invited by Dickson to World Pacific Studios to hear The Byrds’ draft outtake of a folk rock version of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. It is claimed that Dylan was enthusiastic by what he heard, commenting ‘Wow, man! You can dance to that!’. This outtake was eventually released on The Byrds’ 1969 Preflyte album.

 

On 15 January 1965, Dylan entered Columbia Studios in New York City to record his 5min:32sec four-verse master take of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, accompanied only by Bruce Langhorne’s gentle lead guitar.

 

On 20 January 1965, The Byrds entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record their 2min:18sec one-verse/two-chorus master take of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. The decision to significantly shorten the song was made by Dickson to cater to radio station reluctance to play songs that exceeded 2min:30sec.

 

Columbia Records (Hollywood) producer, Terry Melcher, expressed a lack of confidence in the musicianship of The Byrds at this stage of their career ~ as a consequence, the master take of The Byrds’ ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ was performed by McGuinn on 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, along with Wrecking Crew members Hal Blaine (drums), Jerry Cole and Bill Pitman (guitar) and Larry Knechtel (bass). Over the backing track, McGuinn provided lead vocal with Clark and Crosby on harmony. {Note: The Wrecking Crew were an elite ensemble of Los Angeles session musicians}.

 

On 22 March 1965, Dylan released his version of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ as the opening track on side 2 (the acoustic side) of his Bringing It All Back Home album.

 

On 12 April 1965, The Byrds released their radio friendly, folk-rock version of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ as a single.

 

 

 

 

The Byrds single was an international success, peaking at #1 in the US on 26 June 1965 and making it the first Dylan song to reach #1 on any pop music chart. The song also peaked at #1 in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa; #2 in Canada; and #4 in Australia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

On 26 April, two days after the final Dylan/Baez joint concert in Seattle, Dylan arrived at Heathrow Airport, London to begin his seven city/eight concert tour of England. Along for the ride were Albert Grossman (manager), Bobby Neuwirth (road manager), Tom Wilson (CBS producer), Joan Baez, Sally Grossman, Allen Ginsberg (guests).

 

 

Introducing D.A. Pennebaker – Don’t Look Back documentary

 

The entire England concert tour could have simply been a set of places and dates in Dylan’s biography, except that Grossman had invited noted documentary maker D.A. Pennebaker to capture the action up close and personal, with most of the action taking place off stage. The commentary that follows, up to 10 May 1965, is largely drawn from that documentary footage.

 

26^th: Heathrow Airport arrival scene ~ Dylan is asked by a fan why he has become so big since he was last in England and Dylan’s honest response is ‘I have absolutely no idea, I didn’t even know about it’.

 

{Dylan previously visited England between 13-20 May 1964; but only performed a single concert on 17 May at the Royal Festival Hall. At the time of this mini-tour, Dylan’s Freewheelin’ album (released May 1963) was about to enter the top 20 of the UK album charts. This mini-tour is covered briefly in my ‘Every Song Vol. 7’article.}

 

As if to set an immediate benchmark on the relative status of Dylan and Baez in England at this time, a photographer takes several photo’s of Baez and then asks for her name ~ when she replies ‘Joan Baez’ and then spells out ‘B A E Z’ as he writes in into a notebook, he then says ‘struth, I didn’t recognise you, sorry’.

 

The front page newspaper headline on the morning of the 27^th reads: ‘He’s the symbol of a restless age – Fantastic Bob Dylan breezes in’.

 

30^th: Sheffield, Sheffield City Hall (seating capacity 2,700)

 

Dylan settled comfortably and professionally into his solo performance, opening with ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’, his current top 10 hit on the UK charts. The remaining fourteen songs, which would remain unaltered during this English tour, were drawn from:

 

• Freewheelin’ (2 songs) – ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’, ‘Talkin’ World War III Blues’;

• The Times They Are A-Changin’ (2 songs) – ‘With God On Our Side’, ‘The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll’;

• Another Side (3 songs) – ‘To Ramona’, ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’, ‘All I Really Want To Do’; and

• Bringing It All Back Home (6 songs plus an outtake) – ‘Gates Of Eden’, ‘’It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’, ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, ‘She Belongs To Me’, ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’, ‘If You Gotta Go, Go Now’.

 

The most notable newspaper comments flowing from this opening concert are:

 

• ‘It is not so much singing as sermonising…’; and

• ‘’The times they are a-changin’’ sings Dylan; they are when a poet and not a pop singer fills a hall’.

 

 

May

 

Five weeks after being released (22 March), the Bringing It All Back Home album entered the US Billboard top 200 chart (1 May) and would remain on the charts for the next forty-three weeks.

 

Meanwhile, back in England, Dylan’s concert tour rolled on:

 

 

1^st: Liverpool, Odean Theatre

 

Dylan walks onto the stage, receives applause, and begins playing ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’. Behind the curtains, the stage hands are furiously trying to get the mic plugged in and it is not until Dylan gets into verse three and sings ‘...block up the halls’ that sound is achieved and the audience responds with applause.

 

2^nd: Leicester, De Montfort Hall (seating capacity 2,000)

 

Despite its modest seating capacity, it is claimed that during the 1960’s, only The Beatles and Dylan performed to sold out audiences.

 

Back at their hotel accommodation, Pennebaker’s camera captures Dylan typing away, while Baez is singing ‘Percy’s Song’ followed by the opening verses to the 95^th song in Dylan’s anthology: ‘Love Is Just A Four Letter Word’.

 

Baez asks Dylan: ‘Have you got any more (verses) Bobby?. Dylan replies ‘No, I didn’t finish it’. Baez then says: ‘If you finish it, I’ll sing it’. Dylan (rubbing his eyes): ‘I can’t finish it’. So Baez took the song as her own. What became of this song will be revealed in the next article in this series ~ ‘Every Song Vol. 10 ~ Outtakes 1964-65’.

 

Later on in this scene, Dylan takes the guitar and plays Hank Williams’ ‘Lost Highway’, which coincidentally begins with the following lyric: ‘I’m a rolling stone, all alone and lost’.

 

During this brief break between concerts, Dylan is seen spending time at his portable typewriter ~ typing what?, is not clear ~ but we do know that Dylan emerged from the England tour with what he called ‘ten pages of vomit’ which he eventually transformed into ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.

 

In an outtake from the documentary that occurred in his hotel room during this time, Dylan is playing the guitar and singing songs reminiscent of those he played in the early days of his arrival in New York City (i.e. circa early 1961). Baez is sitting next to him and joins in on harmony; and the warmth and chemistry between them is clearly genuine, contrary to the views expressed that Baez felt like an outsider from the start of the tour.

 

A subsequent short scenario from this same setting has Dylan, Neuwirth and Baez alone in Dylan’s room at the end of the day. Neuwirth jokingly tells Baez, who is about to head out and go to bed: ‘you fagged out even before you thought you fagged out’. Baez then gives Dylan, who continues typing at his portable typewriter, a kiss on the head and exits the room. Much has been made of this scene ~ the final humiliation of Baez ~ but the footage gives lie to such commentary.

 

5^th: Birmingham, Birmingham Town Hall (seating capacity, 1,100)

 

While in Birmingham, Dylan linked up with blues musician John Mayall and began showing an interest in electric guitars on display in a shop window. In the music domain, Melody Maker headlines with ‘Dylan Digs Donovan!’ and the ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ single peaks in the top 10 on the UK charts.

 

6^th: Newcastle, Newcastle City Hall (seating capacity 2,100)

 

Immediately prior to Dylan walking onto the Newcastle City Hall stage, Dylan, Neuwirth, Baez and Tom Wilson (Dylan’s CBS record producer) are seen clowning around and enjoying each others company in the ‘green room’.

 

Nevertheless, from this moment on, Baez absented herself from the tour. She had hoped that Dylan would invite her to join him on stage at some point during the tour, but she came to realise that Dylan would be sharing his stage with no-one.

 

The following morning, the tour party (minus Baez) travel from Newcastle to Manchester via rail. It would be fair to say that after ten days, six cities and five solo concerts, Dylan is beginning to look very weary.

 

7^th: Manchester, Free Trade Hall (seating capacity 2,500)

 

The concert footage shows Dylan engaging in friendly banter with a member of the audience. One year and ten days later, Dylan would return to this venue, where he would be booed and called ‘Judas!’.

 

Meanwhile, back at the hotel after the concert, Donovan and Dylan (plus numerous others) are crammed into a room. Donovan offers up ‘To Sing For You’ and Dylan responds with ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’.

 

To compare Donovan and Dylan at this point in time, especially for those who wish to disparage the former:

 

Donovan (born 10 May 1946) is three days shy of his nineteen birthday and his first studio album ~ What’s Been Did And What’s Been Hid ~ is due for release in seven days’ time (i.e. 14 May). The album would eventually peak at #3 UK, #4 Finland, #23 US. The lead single from the album ‘Catch The Wind’ was released in February 1965 and peaked at #5 Australia and UK, #9 Ireland, #10 Canada, #17 Finland, #22 US. In less than six months, Donovan had become a household name throughout the United Kingdom and was making ripples on the music scene internationally.

 

Dylan (born 24 May 1941) is approaching his twenty-fourth birthday and his fifth studio album ~ Bringing It All Back Home ~ was released on 22 March 1965. Dylan’s debut album Bob Dylan was released in March 1962, a couple of months before Dylan’s twenty-first birthday. It initially sold a measly 5000 copies, was barely a ‘break-even’ venture and didn’t come close to impacting the US album charts. It would take Dylan several years to gain the widespread recognition that Donovan achieved in less than six months.

 

8^th: London

 

As if to best characterise ‘Dylanmania’ in England at this time, on May 8^th 1965, Dylan’s debut March 1962 Bob Dylan album (refer paltry US sales, commercial and chart impact above), peaked at an astonishing #13 on the UK charts.

 

9^th & 10^th: Royal Albert Hall (5,200 seats)

 

Interestingly, at various locations on tour, including the ‘green room’ at Royal Albert Hall, Dylan is filmed playing certain chord patterns on a piano. It would seem that as well as typing pages of words that would be sculpted into ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, the musical motif for the song was also being formed while on tour.

 

Prior to the first Royal Albert Hall concert, Dylan is being interviewed by a Times Magazine correspondent. Dylan reiterates in the strongest possible terms that he is NOT a folksinger and Dylan’s strongest anti-media attack attitude kicks in. No more messing around; he seems to be tired of the entire press interview routine. Interviewer: “Do you care about what you sing?” Dylan: ‘You’ve gotta lot of nerve to ask me a question like that? You ask the Beatles that?’.

 

As an aside, Dylan uses those exact word ~ ‘you’ve gotta a lotta nerve’ as the opening line to ‘Positively 4^th Street’, a song he would write in the coming months and record in late July.

 

Among the sold out Royal Albert Hall concert audience are Donovan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann. During the concert Dylan sang his talking blues song ‘Talkin’ World War III Blues’ ~ along the way he seamlessly inserted a visual phrase from another talking blues song ‘Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues’ ~ ‘I looked in the closet; there was Donovan’.

 

The Pennebaker ‘Don’t Look Back’ documentary ends with Dylan, Grossman and Neuwirth in the back of a vehicle heading back from the Royal Albert Hall concert to the Savoy Hotel. Dylan comments: ‘God damn, I feel like I’ve been in some sort of thing, right. Something special about that’. Perhaps it was having rock royalty in the audience listening to his songs in real time, perhaps the magnificence of the Royal Albert Hall, perhaps the way Dylan was able to nuance his songs for an admiring sold out London audience, perhaps some sense of ‘self-actualisation’. Dylan certainly completed the concert leg of his English tour on a high note.

 

The final scenario, still in the back of the vehicle, has Grossman letting Dylan know that some elements of the English media have a new term for him – ‘anarchist’, because Dylan doesn’t offer up any solutions. Dylan’s grinning response: ‘You’re kidding, give the anarchist a cigarette’.

 

While staying at the Savoy Hotel but without the documentary cameras filming, Dylan held court with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones ~ apparently, each group vying for his attention with their latest musical offerings. On one of these evenings, John Lennon hosted Dylan for dinner at his Weybridge, Surrey home. Of the evening, Lennon is quoted: ’We played a few records and talked….We swapped addresses and said we’d exchange ideas for songs, but it never happened’.

 

The curious case of Ben Carruthers

 

Carruthers was a US actor who played roles in movies such as Shadows (1959), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and The Universal Soldier (1971). To supplement his income, Carruthers was also Albert Grossman’s secretary during 1964.

 

In May 1964, Carruthers was invited to join Grossman, Dylan and Maymudes on the mini-tour to England, where Dylan performed a single concert at Festival Hall on 17 May. Following the concert, it was Carruthers who travelled with Dylan to France and accompanied him while he wandered the night streets of Paris. The scenes from these wandering are captured in several poems that graced the jacket notes for Another Side Of Bob Dylan – titled ‘Some Other Kinds Of Songs’.

 

Also at this time, Carruthers used his ‘actor’ contacts to introduce Dylan to the emerging model and actress Nico.

 

Carruthers gained permission to use the words of the fourth poem from the Another Side Of Bob Dylan jacket notes. In May 1965, Ben Carruthers & The Deep recorded a single titled ‘Jack O’Diamonds’ on the Parlophone label. This song is the first song in Dylan’s anthology to be co-written: lyrics by Dylan/music by Carruthers. The song also became the 96^th song in Dylan’s anthology. This song will be further explored in the next article in this series ~ ‘Every Song Vol. 10 ~ Outtakes 1964-65’.

 

 

12^th: Levi Recording Studios, London

 

With concert commitments fulfilled, Dylan and his US-based producer Tom Wilson were keen to trial working with a professional English blues band in a studio setting. And so it came to be that John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, which included a 20 year-old Eric Clapton (fresh from his stint with the Yardbirds), were invited to join Dylan and Wilson in Levi Studios.

 

A partial recording of the studio session follows, but overall, the trial session failed miserably:

 

 

 

Here is how John Mayall recalls the events on 12 May:

 

‘Dylan was totally unprepared, spending more time drinking Beaujolais and chatting up folk singer Nadia Cattouse than rehearsing the musicians. Eventually, attempts were made to record ‘If You Gotta Go, Go Now’, all to no avail. Tempers became frayed. Hughie Flint asked Dylan, “You haven’t worked much with bands, have you?” Shortly after, the session was abandoned and Dylan and his producer Tom Wilson left’.

 

‘Drinking white rum in a Portugal bar’ and aftermath

 

Following this aborted recording session, Dylan spent around ten days on holiday in Portugal. It seems, that apart from a line of lyric from his 1976 song ‘Sara’, there are scant details on what Dylan did while on holidays or where he actually holidayed except that Sara Lownds (who had only recently flown in from the USA) was his companion during this period. Dylan and Sara returned to London on 23 May.

 

The original plan was for Dylan to record two six-song segments for BBC TV on the 24^th and fly back to New York the following day.

 

Unfortunately, Dylan’s 24^th birthday (24 May 1965) did not go as planned. Once again, as recalled by John Mayall:

 

‘With a guest audience of 800 in the BBC television studio waiting for his appearance, Dylan was not fit to appear, as he was suffering from a viral infection picked up during a brief holiday in Portugal’.

 

On Tuesday, 25 May 1965, Dylan’s publicist, Ken Pitt, said, “He (Dylan) was due to go home today but has been confined to bed for at least five days under doctor’s orders”. 

 

Dylan suffered a turn for the worse and an Wednesday, 26 May, he was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. On Friday, 28 May, Pitt told a London evening paper: “Bob picked up a bug while holidaying in Portugal last week and it’s hit him hard. He will be in hospital for a few days yet”.

 

During the final days of May, Dylan was bedridden and in recovery mode.

 

 

Dylanmania (UK style) captured in two paragraphs

 

On 9 May, while Dylan was performing at the Royal Festival Hall to a sold out audience, every one of Dylan’s first five studio albums (originally released between March 1962 – March 1965) was ranked in the UK top 20 ~ Freewheelin’ #2; The Times They Are A-Changin’ #4; Another Side #12; Bob Dylan #13; and Bringing It All Back Home #19.

 

By 23 May, Bringing It All Back Home had rocketed to #1 with Freewheelin’ at #3, and The Beatles For Sale sandwiched in between at #2. Although Another Side had exited the top 20, The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Bob Dylan were holding onto #9 and #16 respectively.

 

 

Baez returns to London

 

The Dylan effect also impacted Baez’s commercial fortunes ~ with her Joan Baez In Concert Volume 2 (1963) and Joan Baez 5 (1964) albums both entering the UK top 20 chart in mid May, despite Baez not performing or appearing in the UK, other than as a temporary hanger-on in Dylan’s entourage.

 

Baez had been absent from the touring entourage since 6 May and had most likely been visiting her mum, who now resided in France. She returned to London towards the end of May and hoped to touch base with Dylan.

 

The story goes that she was aware that Dylan was suffering from food poisoning and was recovering at the Savoy Hotel. She approached his hotel suite, bearing a gift (a tailored shirt ~ perhaps a belated birthday present). She knocked on his hotel suite door only for the mysterious dark haired Sara Lownds to answer and advise Baez that Dylan was not seeing anyone. It is claimed that Baez finally realised that her two year romance with Dylan was well and truly over.

 

In Appendix 1, the Dylan-Baez affair will be given a final review.

 

 

June

 

‘I’d taken the cure and had just gotten through’

 

By Tuesday, 1^st June, Dylan was fit enough to record the two six-song shows at the BBC Television Theatre on Shepherds Bush Green.

 

DISC WEEKLY carried this report on the proceedings: ‘There was an audience of 300; Dylan did ‘Maggie’s Farm’ at the rehearsal; he came out just after 8.00PM for the actual recording; a young man in a super-smart corduroy jacket then came out to assist with the set-up (cue cards and so on); there were five monitor screens visible; there was a 15-minute break between the two programmes; there was a filmed insert of a fairground scene shown in the middle of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’; at the end, Dylan crouched down to watch the credits roll on one of the monitors’.

 

This BBC studio performance was subsequently broadcast in two parts:

 

• part one on 19 June: ‘Ballad Of Hollis Brown’, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, ‘Gates Of Eden’; ‘If You Gotta Go, Go Now’, ‘The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll’, and ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’; and

• part two on 26 June: ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’, ‘One Too Many Mornings’, ‘Boots Of Spanish Leather’, ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’, ‘She Belongs To Me’ and ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’.

 

While some audio has been available, it seems that the video has been lost. The performance reveals the new Dylan – dominated by songs from his Bringing It All Back Home album. Dylan earned £1250 for each broadcast, less Grossman’s generous management fee ~ aspects of Grossman’s fee negotiation process were included in the Don’t Look Back documentary.

 

 

Back in the USA

 

On 2 June, Dylan and entourage, including Sara but minus Baez, returned to the US.

 

Despite the undisputed success of the English tour, and the intense satisfaction Dylan felt on concluding the concert side of the tour, deep down inside, he had had enough of playing his repertoire alone on stage: just him, guitar, harmonica, spotlight and an audience in silence taking in every word, every nuance. The process had become too routine; the audience response had become too predictable. Dylan had been doing his one man show, albeit with different masks and songs, since 4 November 1961 in the Carnegie Chapter Hall, New York City.

 

Added to this, the off stage action of the English tour proved to be a disaster. Dylan’s attempt to work with a professional band in a studio session failed without even getting to first base, his interactions with the media progressively deteriorated into farce, his late tour illness and hospitalisation would have been a wake up call about human frailty and mortality. It is not clear how Dylan’s relentless pursuit of sex, drugs and a rock’n’roll image combined with an emerging sense that Sara was pregnant and bearing his child would impact on his roller coaster life.

 

Maybe the time had come to move on to something different. Dylan claims that on returning from England, he was ready to give it all up. As he pondered what he now wanted to be and to do, he vented his frustrations in what he described as ‘ten pages of vile and vomit’ that he ultimately condensed into a ¾ time waltz with 4 verses and a chorus.

 

Around 12 June, Dylan (who was still keen on creating a new sound to wrap around his lyrics) invited Chicago-based blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield (i.e. the US equivalent to the UK’s John Mayall) to his new home in Woodstock, where Sara was now comfortably ensconced. Bloomfield and Dylan spent a couple of days going over new songs that Dylan had been writing for his next album, including ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and eventually Dylan liked what he heard.

 

And, so it came to be that within two weeks of returning from his England tour, Dylan booked CBS recording studios for two days and assembled a cohort of trusted, high quality session musicians.

 

 

Recording of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ at Columbia Recording Studio, NYC

 

15 June 2:30 – 6:30pm

 

Dylan was joined by Tom Wilson (producer), Robert Gregg (drums), Joe Macho (bass), Al Gorgoni (guitar) and Frank Owens (keyboards). These four musician had worked with Dylan in January 1965 during the recording of the Bringing It All Back Home album. Added to this mix was Mike Bloomfield (guitar) ~ who was specifically selected by Dylan.

 

During this particular recording session, which could best be regarded as a rehearsal opportunity, the musical ensemble warmed up with multiple attempts at two songs ~ ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’ (the 97^th song in Dylan’s anthology) and ‘Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence’ (an outtake from Bringing It All Back Home). Nothing eventuated of these recordings.

 

The latter part of the session was devoted to ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ ~ the 98^th song in Dylan’s anthology. Five attempts were made to make musical sense of this song, with Dylan leading somewhat mechanically on piano and Frank Owens on organ. By the end of the ‘jam session’ (to use Bloomfield’s term), there was little to show. The following alternate take from this ‘rehearsal’ session was included on the March 1991 The Bootleg Series Vol1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 boxset.

 

 

 

 

16 June 2:30 – 5:30pm

 

The same ensemble of musicians attended this second session. As history records it, Al Kooper (a complete unknown 21 year-old guitarist) was invited by Wilson to attend the studio as an observer only.

 

As for the song, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ ~ it was like some form of metamorphosis took place overnight. My preferred theory is that Bloomfield did some serious work on Dylan. First, he convinced Dylan that ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ was a 4/4 rock song (not a 3/4 waltz) and that Dylan should come off the piano and play guitar instead. The piano part should be played by a professional (i.e. Frank Owens).

 

When Owens moved to the piano, Kooper saw an opportunity to slide into the now empty organ chair, even though he had never played organ before. While most critics laud Kooper’s fairly basic but serendipitous organ contribution, the highest praise (in my opinion) must go to Owens’ energy laden melodic piano playing. The first take at this second session is most revealing:

 

 

 

The master version of the song, which ended up being the fourth of fifteen takes during this session, would become the opening track to Highway 61 Revisited album and the single would eventually peak at #2 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. We will revisit this song when we showcase the Highway 61 Revisited album in cover song style later in this article.

 

Despite the recording session notching another ’high water mark’ in Dylan’s career, for reasons still not clear, this session proved to be the final contribution that Tom Wilson would make as Dylan’s record producer. After a little more than two years (April 1963 – June 1965) and four albums as Dylan’s producer, perhaps it was simply time for Dylan to move onto someone different.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

With no other commitments, Dylan spent the rest of the month in songwriting mode. This new ‘all-electric’ Dylan still had a good number of songs to write, including the title track, before he could confidently re-enter Columbia Studios in late July/early August to record the balance of his 6^th studio album.

 

Meanwhile on the UK charts, Dylan’s latest single ‘Maggie’s Farm’ peaked at #22.

 

Not to be outdone, The Byrds cover of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ hit #1 on the US Billboard Top 100 on 26 June.

 

 

July

 

Dylan had given himself most of July to continue with his songwriting responsibilities as well as contemplate the nature of his third appearance on the Newport Folk Festival stage.

 

20^th: ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ was released as a single and despite it’s six-minute length, it would shortly smash through industry norms by unapologetically being played in full.

 

22-25^th: Newport Folk Festival (gets electric shock therapy)

 

Dylan’s first appearance at the Newport Folk Festival (July 1963) culminated in being crowned the new King Of Folk and ‘spokeman for a generation’, following his acclaimed solo and duet (with Baez) performances.

 

At the July 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan was the headline act. However, Dylan’s abandonment of ‘protest’ and ‘finger-pointing’ songs and a lacklustre (alcohol/drug impaired) solo performance, left some folk purists disappointed by the direction Dylan was taking.

 

Dylan returned to the July 1965 Newport Folk Festival some four months after the release of his hybrid electric/acoustic Bringing It All Back Home album. He was a very different singer/songwriter to the ones who had graced the Festival in 1963 and 1964.

 

24^th: as was customary at Newport, Dylan conducted a Saturday afternoon ‘contemporary song workshop’. This comprised of five songs which Dylan performed solo with acoustic guitar. The songs were: ‘All I Really Want To Do’; ‘Tombstone Blues’ (debut of 99^th song in Dylan’s anthology); ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’; ‘If You Gotta Go, Go Now’; and ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’.

 

(Over in the UK, The Byrds version of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ hit the #1 spot on the singles chart).

 

25^th: Unbeknownst to the anticipating audience and the Festival organisers, Dylan had decided to go ‘100% electric’ following the successful recording of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, which despite being released in the past few days had not yet hit the radio waves.

 

Along with Dylan stepping on stage and ‘plugging in’, were members of the Butterfield Blues Band: Michael Bloomfield (electric guitar), Barry Goldberg (keyboards), Jerome Arnold (bass) and Sam Lay (drums) as well as Al Kooper (organ).

 

Dylan’s first ever electric set comprised the live concert debut of three songs: ‘Maggie’s Farm’, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’

 

For at least the third documented time in Dylan’s career, he was booed by the audience. There are numerous reasons given for this crowd reaction including: his abandonment of singing ‘folk-style’ songs with acoustic guitar; and the distorted sound emanating from the speakers resulting in the words to the songs being impossible to understand.

 

Despite, or because of, the boo’s, Dylan returned to the stage alone, with acoustic guitar in hand, and performed ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ and ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’.

 

Dylan did not return to the Newport Folk Festival stage for another thirty-seven years (i.e. 2002).

 

The question remains whether Dylan should have performed, as he did, at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. For quite a while and especially during his recent English tour, Dylan was forcefully adamant that he was NOT a folksinger. He was something else, perhaps undefinable but tending towards a fusion of rock and blues.

 

Having forsaken the ‘folk movement’, then Dylan should have respectfully declined the invitation to perform his non-folk music at what is and has been a ‘folk festival’. The fact that he decided to take on the folk music establishment, no doubt with the full support of Albert Grossman, is certainly newsworthy and indicative of the ‘noise’ that Dylan (and Grossman) liked to perpetuate to advance Dylan’s career and financial value. For every die-hard folkie that Dylan lost, he gained multiple new anti-establishment, blues, rock and inquisitively intrigued followers.

 

For the record, Dylan and the backing band’s performance of ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’ on 25 July 1965 follows:

 

 

 

Note: Joan Baez not only opened the Newport Folk Festival, performing a three song set at 8:00pm on Thursday 22 July, she was also part of the multi-performer encore that closed the Festival with ‘Down By The Riverside’ in the late afternoon of Sunday 25 July.

 

Unlike the 1963 and 1964 Festivals, Dylan and Baez seemed to deliberately avoid each other and most definitely did not duet on stage ~ reinforcing the divide that now operated between them.

 

Curiously, Baez’s Thursday evening opening set featured two Dylan cover songs: ‘Farewell Angelina’ and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ ~ this is most telling, as in 1963 and 1964 she duetted with Dylan on ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right’ and ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ respectively. Both those songs strongly suggested the demise of Dylan’s relationship to his former girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. Baez’s 1965 song choices, ‘Farewell Angelina’ and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’, equally strongly suggest she is lamenting the demise of her own relationship to Dylan.

 

Another note: Performing on the Thursday night opening program was a young, emerging Scottish folk singer named Donovan ~ and ~ performing on the Sunday afternoon closing program was an unknown 27 year old Canadian, who was yet to release a studio album, named Gordon Lightfoot.

 

Final note: The Newport Folk Festival owes its formation and early survival to a small number of entrepreneurs and folk icons, notably George Wein, Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Oscar Brand and (perhaps unsurprisingly) Albert Grossman. The following artists, all managed by Grossman, performed at Newport in 1965: Peter, Paul & Mary; Butterfield Blues Band; Hamilton Camp; Ian & Sylvia; Gordon Lightfoot; The Jim Kweskin Jug Band; Odetta; and of course, Bob Dylan.

 

 

Recording sessions for Highway 61 Revisited

 

29 July

 

Dylan, perhaps carrying a professional scar from his recent Newport experience/experiment, entered Columbia Recording Studios, New York with determination and ten freshly composed songs. Along for the journey were the musicians who had helped craft ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ some six weeks earlier, including Al Kooper, although there were minor changes of musicians during the course of the recording sessions due to conflicting obligations.

 

The biggest change to the interpersonal dynamic within the studio was the elevation of Bob Johnston to the role of producer. This would, in fact, be Johnston’s first time in the record producer seat for a major label.

 

10:00am – 1:00pm

 

Dylan, along with Robert Gregg (drums), Joseph Macho jr. (bass), Paul Griffin (piano), Al Kooper (organ) and Mike Bloomfield (guitar), worked on multiple takes of ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry’ and ‘Tombstone Blues’ ~ both songs having been debuted at the Newport Folk Festival. The last take of each song (i.e. take seven and take eleven respectively) became the masters for the studio album.

 

 

2:30 – 6:00pm

 

Dylan introduced a new composition ~ ‘Positively 4^th Street’ ~ which holds the honour of being the 100^th song in his anthology. The tenth take during this session was deemed to be the master take and was released as a single on 7 September 1965, rather than being included on the studio album. This song will be revisited in the next ‘Every Song Vol. 10: Outtakes 1964-65’ article.

 

 

30^th: 2:30 – 5:30pm & 7:00 – 10.00pm

 

Dylan and musicians re-assembled in the studio and on the fourth take managed to record a master version of ‘From A Buick 6’ ~ the 101^st song in Dylan’s anthology.

 

Despite attempting twenty-one takes of ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’ ~ the 102^nd song in Dylan’s anthology ~ the results were deemed unsuitable. This song would eventually be recorded in late 1965 and released as a single and will be revisited in the next ‘Every Song Vol. 10: Outtakes 1964-65’ article.

 

 

August

 

Following a break for the weekend, Dylan and the musicians re-assembled in the studio on Monday 2^nd between 8:00 – 11:00pm, with the recording session then stretching from midnight – 3:00am on Tuesday 3^rd.

 

During these late night sessions, master takes were made of four compositions that would feature on the studio album:

 

• ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ ~ the title track of the album and 103^rd song in Dylan’s anthology, mastered after ten takes;

• ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’ ~ the 104^th song in Dylan’s anthology. Perhaps the most difficult song to capture, it took sixteen takes before Dylan was satisfied;

• ‘Queen Jane Approximately’ ~ the 105^th song in Dylan’s anthology, mastered in seven takes; and

• ‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’ – the 106^th song in Dylan’s anthology. Dylan takes charge of the piano on this track and the song came together in only four takes.

 

Dylan concluded the session with five takes of Desolation Row’ ~ an 11-minute epic and the 107^th song in Dylan’s anthology, however failed to get what he was looking for and at 3:00am called it a night.

 

 

4^th: 1:00 – 4:00pm

 

Dylan returned to the studio with acoustic guitar in hand to give ‘Desolation Row’ another shot. The only musical accompaniment was provided by Russ Savakus (bass) and Charlie McCoy (acoustic guitar). Nashville-based McCoy just happened to be visiting New York and producer Johnston invited him to provide an improvised acoustic part, which proved to be an inspired decision. After a further seven takes, the master version of the song was captured.

 

Dylan and Johnston exited Columbia Recording Studios to the warmth of a late-summer New York afternoon. I suspect both men were more than satisfied with what had transpired in the past week and with the nine songs that would make up Highway 61 Revisited ‘in the can’.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

For Dylan, the rest of August was devoted to preparing for the next new iteration of ‘Dylan’ ~ getting a band together, deciding on and mastering the set list for a hybrid acoustic/electrified stadium assault across the US. We will pick up on this major transition to the Dylan ‘live’ act in ‘Every Song Vol. 11: August 1965 – March 1966’.

 

Meanwhile, back in the UK, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ peaked in late August at #4 on the UK singles chart.

 

 

Fast forward to 30 August 1965

 

Dylan’s 6^th studio album Highway 61 Revisited was officially released on 30 August 1965 ~ less than four weeks after all nine tracks for the album had been completed and mastered and only five months since the release of his groundbreaking electric/acoustic Bringing It All Back Home.

 

Photographer Daniel Kramer was once again used to frame the album cover ~ depicting Dylan, wearing a triumph motorcycle t-shirt under a blue and purple silk shirt, sitting on the stoop of Grossman’s Gramercy Park apartment. The lower half of road manager Neuwirth, holding a camera, is visible behind Dylan.

 

The album titles derives from the major highway that connects Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, Minnesota to the southern cities of St Louis, Memphis and New Orleans which are famed for their musical heritage and bear witness to the musical atmosphere that Dylan was endeavouring to capture.

 

The time has now come to re-create Highway 61 Revisited in cover song style. In doing so, I have tended to showcase cover songs that interpret the songs in intriguing ways, rather than rote copies of the originals.

 

 

Side 1

 

‘Like A Rolling Stone’

 

‘Like A Rolling Stone’ was recorded in mid-June and released as a single on 20 July, before the remaining eight song on the album were recorded (or in some cases) even written.

 

The success of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ was influential in changing the music business convention regarding the length of singles, whereby they were restricted to less than three minutes. In the words of Rolling Stone magazine, which partly took its name from the song: ‘No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time’.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from Major Harris ~ an R&B singer who was a member of the Delfonics between 1970-1975. Prior to joining the group, Major released a solo single of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ (1969):

 

 

 

 

‘Like A Rolling Stone’ has been covered by 201 artists and is ranked as Dylan’s 5^th most covered song.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Cher, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The 4 Seasons, The Turtles, Johnny Winter, John Mellencamp, The Rolling Stones, Green Day, Drive-By Truckers.

 

Australian artists who have covered this song are: Brewster Brothers, Matt & Jess.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed a staggering 2075 occasions ~ making it his 3rd most performed song. The song debuted at the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965 and its last outing was at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, Ireland on 14 July 2019.

 

Trivia: It is perhaps no surprise to know that The Rolling Stones have performed ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ in concert on over 175 occasions ~ which is more than any other artist except Dylan.

 

 

‘Tombstone Blues’

 

This song was first premiered by Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival on 24 July and was recorded for the album on 29 July. The studio recording showcases the inspired guitar of Mike Bloomfield. On the song’s wikipedia page, the song is classified as ‘garage rock’.

 

The chosen cover for the is article is courtesy of Lars Larholm and Blyga Läppar, a Swedish rock music duo who released an eight track Dylan tribute album in 1987 ~ with all songs (unfortunately) sung in Swedish. Many years later, the duo discovered the lost tapes of a ‘live’ Dylan tribute concert they performed in 1986 in Gothenburg. The lost tapes were released in 2020 and comprise six Dylan covers sung in Swedish and (fortunately) fourteen Dylan covers, including ‘Tombstone Blues’, sung in English:

 

 

 

 

‘Tombstone Blues’ has been covered by 27 artists, although it took over twenty-five years (i.e. until 1991) for the first English-sung cover to be released, albeit by an Italian banjo band.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Sheryl Crow, Richie Havens.

 

No Australian artist has covered this song.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on 180 occasions ~ placing it just outside his 100^th most performed song. The song debuted at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium, NYC on 28 August 1965 and its final outing was at Portland Memorial Coliseum on 14 October 2006.

 

 

‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’

 

Dylan’s first attempt to record this song took place in the Columbia Recording studio on 15 June. This suggests that the song may well have been written by Dylan before he headed off on his English tour. The album version, recorded on 29 July, reveals a slower beat than on the mid-June session.

 

The chosen cover for this song in a live version by Leon Russell, from his 1971 Leon Russell And The Shelter People album:

 

 

 

‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’ has been covered by 83 artists and is ranked as Dylan’s 27^th most covered song.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Al Kooper/Stephen Stills, Leon Russell, Marianne Faithfull, Little Feat, Toto, Phoebe Snow, Fairport Convention, Grateful Dead, Lucinda Williams, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

 

Australasian artists who have covered this song are: Kokomo (NZ), Brewster Brothers, Andrew Morris, Chris Wilson.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on 248 occasions ~ making it his 83^rd most performed song. The song debuted the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965. The song was performed during the 2025 Outlaw Music Festival, with its most recent performance in Los Angeles on 16 May 2025.

 

Trivia: Little Feat are an American rock band that had minor chart success in Australia in the mid-late 1970’s. Between 1999–2009, the band performed ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’ on 418 occasions, which is 170 more times than Dylan did over his entire career.

 

Extra trivia: Steely Dan borrowed a line for the song to title their 1972 debut album Can’t Buy A Thrill.

 

 ‘From A Buick 6′

 

Dylan recorded this song, based partially on Sleepy John Estes’ 1930 ‘Milk Cow Blues’, on 30 July. As well as appearing on the studio album, the song was included on the ‘b’ side of the ‘Positively 4^th Street’ single released on 7 September 1965.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from US-based Jimmy Vivino & The Black Italians, off their 2013 13 Live album:

 

 

 

 

 

‘From A Buick 6’ has been covered by 24 artists.

 

The only major artist to have covered this song is Johnny Winter.

 

Australian artists who have covered this song are: Died Pretty, Crashland, Peter Wells.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has only been performed twice ~ debuting at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium, NYC on 28 August 1965 and having its final outing a week late at Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles on 3 September 1965. Clearly Dylan was not enamoured by this recent addition to his anthology.

 

Trivia: Australian band Died Pretty have performed ‘From A Buick 6’ on five occasions (which happens to be three more that Dylan). Their five performances have been in five different countries: USA, England, Netherland, Italy and France.

 

 

‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’

 

The only song on the album to feature Dylan on piano. Given all the angst Dylan felt about the media during his English tour, there is little doubt that these lyrics were fresh when Dylan entered the studio in late July.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from Netherlands-based Golden Earring, off their 1995 Love Sweat album:

 

 

 

 

(Note: Golden Earring will be well known for their 1973 single ‘Radar Love’)

 

‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’ has been covered by 48 artists and is ranked as Dylan’s 45^th most covered song.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Golden Earring, Grateful Dead, Kula Shaker.

 

Australian artists who have covered this song are: The Sports, The Whitlams, Simone Penkethman.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on an impressive 1359 occasions ~ making it his 6^th most performed song. The song debuted at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium, NYC on 28 August 1965. The song was performed throughout the 2024 Outlaw Music Festival, with its final performance in New York on 17 September 2024.

 

 

Side 2

 

‘Queen Jane Approximately’

 

There has been speculation that ‘Queen Jane Approximately’ was written about Joan Baez (perhaps suggesting the alternate title ‘Queen Joan Precisely’). However, caution always needs to be exercised when trying to attribute any Dylan song to any one individual.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from Australia’s own Emma Swift, off her 2020 Blonde On The Tracks album:

 

 

 

 

‘Queen Jane Approximately’ has been covered by 26 artists.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: The 4 Seasons, Grateful Dead, Lucinda Williams.

 

Australasian artists who have covered this song are: Diesel, Emma Swift, Kokomo (NZ)

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on 76 occasions. In stark contrast to other songs on the album, the song didn’t debut until twenty-two years after the release of the album (i.e. 4 July 1987) at Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA. Its most recent performance was in Rome, Italy on 6 November 2013.

 

Trivia: This song, more than any other Dylan song, appears to have a strong association with the Grateful Dead ‘brand’. Bands with members from Grateful Dead or Grateful Dead tribute bands have performed ‘Queen Jane Approximately’ in concert a total of 520 times as follows:

 

Grateful Dead (124 times); Ratdog (113); Dark Star Orchestra (92); Forgotten Space (35); Playing Dead (30); Bob Weir & Wolf Bros. (26); Bearly Dead (12); Zach Nugent’s Dead Set (10); Shakedown Citi (9); Garcia Borthday Band (8); Dupree’s Dead Band (7); Half Step (7); Grateful Shred (5); Bob Dylan & Grateful Dead (5); Deadicated (5); Bob Weir (4); Dead & Company (4); DeadEye (4); Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (4); Deadstein (3); Phil Lesh & Friends (3); Workingman’s Dead (3); Dead Set (2); The Dead (2); Grateful (1); Mystic Dead (1); Steely Dead (1).

 

 

‘Highway 61 Revisited’

 

The album title track was recorded on 2 August and is (perhaps) best distinguished from every other Dylan song by the one and only occasion where Dylan uses an acme siren to intro, middle and exit the song.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from X ~ an LA punk band comprising Dave Alvin, Exene Cervenka, John Doe and Tony Gilkyson ~ via a bonus track from their re-issued 2002 See How We Are album:

 

 

 

 

‘Highway 61 Revisited’ has been covered by 48 artists and is ranked as Dylan’s 47^th most covered song.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Johnny Winter, PJ Harvey, Joan Osborne.

 

Australasian artists who have covered this song are: Sacred Cowboys, Scattered Aces, Masters Apprentices, Kokomo (NZ).

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on a staggering 2092 occasions ~ making it his 2^nd most performed song. The song debuted at Back Bay Theatre, Boston, MA on 29 October 1965; with a second outing at the Isle Of Wight on 31 August 1969. It was not until the mid/late 80’s that the song became embedded into the set list. The song has been performed throughout the 2025 Outlaw Music Festival and its most recent performance at Farm Aid, held in Minneapolis, MN on 20 September 2025.

 

Trivia: Johnny Winter was the first artist to do a recorded cover of this song ~ and one could argue that his version was the iconic cover. Johnny’s love for the song extended into the live performance arena where, between 1969 – 2014, he performed the song on over 320 occasions. His final performance occurred at Weisen, Austria in 12 July 2014 ~ four days before he died in Zurich from emphysema and pneumonia, aged 70.

 

 

‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’

 

At seventeen takes, this song proved the most elusive to capture ~ but slowly and surely, moving several musicians in and out of the studio and one or two onto different instruments, the master take was completed around 11:00pm on 2 August.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from the US ‘high priestess of soul’ Nina Simone, off her 1969 To Love Somebody album:

 

 

 

 

‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’ has been covered by 59 artists and is ranked as Dylan’s 37^th most covered song.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Gordon Lightfoot, Judy Collins, Nina Simone, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Bryan Ferry.

 

The only Australian artist who has covered this song is Wendy Saddington & The Copperwire.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on 265 occasions ~ making it his 87^th most performed song. The song debuted at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium, NYC on 28 August 1965. The song’s penultimate performance was in Vienna in 2019 before its final performance at the Nampa leg of the Outlaw Music Festival on 20 May 2025.

 

Trivia: So who is Tom Thumb? Well, apparently, at his April 1966 Sydney concert, Dylan is claimed to have said:

 

‘…this painter, he’s a quite older fellow, he comes from Juarez…. He’s very well-known painter in the area there and we all call him Tom Thumb and when Tom Thumb was going through his blue period, this is one of the most important times of his whole life and he’s going to sell many paintings from his blue period and this is all about Tom Thumb and his early days and so we name this Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.’

 

And that is all I have to say about that.

 

 

‘Desolation Row’

 

The is the final song on the album and also the final song to be recorded. It is also the only song on the album to be played in unplugged, acoustic style although the initial (unsatisfactory) takes on the previous evening included an electric bass and electric guitar. At 11min:21sec, this proved to be Dylan’s longest song to date, surpassing ‘Ballad In Plain D’ by 3min:05sec and ‘It’s Alright Ma, (I’m Only Bleeding)’ by 3min:52sec.

 

The chosen cover for this song comes from Welsh folk noir trio, Songdog ~ via a contribution they made to the 2005 Highway 61 Revisited Revisited Dylan tribute compilation album, issued by the UK-based Uncut Magazine label:

 

 

 

 

‘Desolation Row’ has been covered by 33 artists and is ranked as Dylan’s 63^rd most covered song.

 

Major artists who have covered the song include: Grateful Dead, My Chemical Romance, Cat Power.

 

The only Australian artist who has covered this song is Luke Escombe.

 

In terms of Dylan concerts, it has been performed on 737 occasions ~ making it his 24^th most performed song. The song debuted at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium, NYC on 28 August 1965. The song has featured during the 2024/25 Rough & Rowdy Ways world tour with its final outing in Dublin on 25 November 2025.

 

Trivia: In 2009, My Chemical Romance did a cover of ‘Desolation Row’ for the film Watchmen. Their cover peaked on various alternative national singles charts: UK Rock & Metal #1; US Alternative Airplay #20; Mexico Airplay #22; Canada Rock #47; and Japan Hot 100 #52. No doubt the My Chemical Romance cover will feature in a future Dylan covers article.

 

 

Album Evaluation:

 

Within five weeks of release (i.e. early October), the album entered the Billboard top 200 chart, peaking at #3 by early November. The album remained in the charts for a substantial 47 weeks.

 

In the UK, the album peaked at #4 during October, but lasted only 15 weeks in the charts.

 

Elsewhere, the album peaked at #28 in Germany and #35 in France (but nowhere else), reflecting the continuing limited international impact Dylan had on the ‘album market’ at this time.

 

The lead single, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, managed to break into the top 10 in the US, UK, Netherlands, Ireland and Australia.

 

Highway 61 Revisited has consistently rated strongly in Rolling Stone Magazine’s ‘The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time’; Colin Larkin’s ‘All Time Top 1000 Albums’; and Robert Dimery’s ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’.

 

 

Final comments:

 

A matter of three years earlier (August 1962) Dylan may well have been ‘scrounging for his next meal’. Fortunately, Albert Grossman gave Dylan the security he needed to stop scrounging and to sharpen his songwriting talents. Dylan’s anthology, as we conclude this article, stands at an impressive 107 songs.

 

By August 1965, Grossman has been repaid multiple times for his initial act of faith in Dylan’s talents. Dylan, now rolling in wealth from copyright royalties (courtesy of Peter Paul & Mary, The Byrds, and many others), performance income and top 10 album sales (courtesy of the Dylanmania English style) can now share Forrest Gump’s noted saying, ‘That’s good! One less thing.’

 

As we turn our lens to future articles in the ‘Every Song’ series, we will explore Dylan’s life in the ultra fast lane of world-wide acclaim and stadium sized electrified concerts on the one hand and Sara’s growing baby bump on the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Appendix 1:

 

The Baez/Dylan affair revisited

 

By 1962, the twenty-one year old Joan Baez was an internationally known singer of traditional folk songs and had gained the reputation, at least within the USA, of ‘Queen Of Folk’. She had released three albums ~ Joan Baez, Joan Baez Vol.2 and Joan Baez In Concert that peaked on the US album charts at #20, #21 and #10 respectively. On 23 November 1962, a painting of Baez featured on the cover of Time Magazine with an accompanying article placing Baez at the centre of the burgeoning folk music scene.

 

Despite residing in the San Francisco region, Baez would regularly travel to New York for concert performances and to record her early studio albums. During such visits she would frequent the usual ‘folkie’ venues, including around Greenwich Village.

 

Although Baez and Dylan may have momentarily been in the same New York venue at the same time during 1962, the divide (geographic, reputational, economic) between the ‘queen of folk’ Baez and the ‘complete unknown’ Dylan would have been so vast that any connection between them would have been most unlikely despite what the latter-day screenwriters might wish to portray.

 

However, everything changed when Baez’s manager (Manny Greenhill) played acetates of Dylan’s upcoming Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album plus a live 12 April 1963 New York Town Hall recording of ‘With God On Our Side’ to her in late April 1963. Greenhill had conveniently acquired the acetates from Dylan’s manager (Albert Grossman), with both entrepreneurs wise enough to see the enormous value and appeal of combining the talents of Baez and Dylan.

 

Baez admits that she became immediately enamoured by Dylan’s songwriting and when the opportunity came for Dylan to make his first professional visit to the West Coast in May 1963 to perform at the inaugural Monterey Folk Festival, she made sure that she was well versed in Dylan’s anthology.

 

It is most likely that Dylan and Baez were ‘formally’ introduced to each other via their respective managers, and Dylan stayed with Baez in her Carmel residence in the lead up to the Monterey Folk Festival as well as a few days after. It was in her residence that they practised duetting on ‘With God On Our Side’, and agreed to perform that song together at the festival.

 

The inaugural Monterey Folk Festival ran from Friday to Sunday 17-19 May 1963. It was organised by Barry Olivier, who owned the Barrel Folk Music Centre and had created and produced the bespoke Berkeley Folk Festival since 1958. Barry was also responsible for producing Baez’s Northern California concerts. As such, Baez was the headline act for the Monterey festival.

 

Dylan performed four songs on Saturday 18 May and was introduced to the audience by Baez with:’ A young man you’re going to hear more of, Bob Dylan’. The fourth song in Dylan’s set was a duet with Baez on ’With God On Our Side’.

 

It is clear that as well as being enamoured by Dylan’s songwriting, Baez had become enamoured by Dylan. As for Dylan, he seemed to be receptive to the advances of attractive females and no doubt enjoyed Baez’s company during his one week ‘sleep over’.

 

Whether Dylan mentioned his New York girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, to Baez is questionable; however, the release of his Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album on 27 May 1963 would have certainly raised Baez’s eyebrows. The album cover features Dylan and Rotolo, arm in arm, on a snow covered New York street.

 

The next occasion that Dylan and Baez crossed paths was at the Newport Folk Festival between 26–28 July 1963. This event would also mark the moment when Dylan, Baez and Rotolo were sharing the same space and time. During her five-song solo set, Baez included Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’. With Rotolo in the audience, Baez introduced the song with: ‘This next song is a Bobby Dylan song. The only thing he’s protesting in this song is probably a love affair that’s lasted too long’. Clearly this was aimed at Rotolo (who was becoming increasingly aware of rumours of a Dylan/Baez affair), and was a particularly nasty act on Baez’s behalf. 

 

By early September 1963, Rotolo had tired of Dylan’s two-timing with Baez ~ which had included Dylan joining Baez on a mid-August mini-tour and culminated in the late August ‘March On Washington’, where Dylan and Baez duetted on ‘When The Ship Comes In’. Rotolo permanently vacated the apartment she had shared with Dylan for the past 20 months. In effect, the Dylan/Rotolo relationship lasted just on two years, although Dylan relentlessly sought to win back Rotolo’s favour ~ only conceding defeat in February 1964.

 

Meanwhile, Dylan and Baez would spend time together whenever their schedules allowed, although such opportunities were sporadic and short-lived. However, by the time the Newport Folk Festival rolled around in July 1964, it seemed that Dylan and Baez were able to spend more quality time together, although it is also clear that Dylan was secretly spending more time with a new love interest (Sara Lownds).

 

From October 1964 onwards, Dylan and Baez began sharing the stage more often and in early 1965 they conducted a series of joint Dylan/Baez concerts. To those on the ‘outside’, it seemed as though their relationship, both on and off-stage was reaching an inevitable fairy tale conclusion.

 

Daniel Kramer’s photo’s of Dylan and Baez clowning around and having fun off stage during their March-April joint concert US tour also suggests a couple with compatible senses of humour and enjoying each other company.

 

However, as canvassed earlier in this article, fundamental cracks were being exposed in the Dylan/Baez relationship, mainly centred on Dylan’s significant shift away from folk song and a view that basically ‘we shall not overcome, any day’ by the force of song or singer.

 

At least several weeks prior to arriving in England for a career defining series of concerts, Dylan realised that he no longer needed Baez to promote his career. Dylan also concluded that where Baez was ‘at’ and where he was ‘heading’ were incompatible. Dylan was also leaning heavily towards a new woman in his life (Sara Lownds).

 

Baez, on the other hand, believed that she had been invited to join the Dylan entourage to England and that Dylan would invite her onstage at various points to:

 

• introduce her to English audiences; and

• respectfully ‘pay her back’ for her kind gesture of introducing Dylan to her audience from as far back as May 1962 in Monterey, when he was a complete unknown.

 

And, so it came to pass, that the Seattle concert on 24 April 1965 would be the last time that Dylan shared a stage with Baez, until December 1975. It also signalled the end of any romantic or life-long relationship that Baez may have contemplated.

 

It remains unclear whether Baez was invited and then uninvited to join Dylan’s entourage to England ~ either way, Baez came along to England – ever hopeful that Dylan would do right by her ~ only to be internally humiliated during what became a DYLAN ONLY English tour.

 

Dylan’s relationship with Baez, like his relationship with Rotolo, lasted barely two years (May 1963 – April 1965), although there were plenty of months where they were separated by the 3000 miles between New York City and Carmel, CA. From a myriad of writings, it is clear that Baez had fallen deeply in love with Dylan but she was reluctant to commit to marriage ~ and probably for good reason.

 

For Dylan, it is hard to say categorically, but his two-timing (initially on Rotolo and later with Sara) and his treatment of Baez once he no longer needed her to open doors to bigger stages, suggests that he viewed her as a convenient lover that could be discarded once his own star was shining brighter than hers….that shift in ‘star status’ was most obvious once Dylan landed at Heathrow Airport, London on 30 April 1965.

 

 

Epilogue

 

On 5 June 1965, after Dylan had belatedly returned to the US from his England tour, Baez was invited to perform an eighteen song set before a live audience, which included her mother, at BBC Television Theatre in Shepherds Bush, London. It would be fair to say that Baez cut a fragile figure despite her technically competent performance.

 

The set included three Dylan covers ~ ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’, ‘With God On Our Side’ and ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ ~ the three songs that Baez and Dylan had duetted on most often during their ‘affair’. Curiously, Baez dedicated ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ to ‘all the married people in the audience and all the people bout to get married‘ and added ‘I guess I’m anti-marriage’. She performs this song as if singing it directly to Dylan:

 

 

 

 

The eighteen song performance was broadcast on the BBC in two episodes on 5 and 12 June 1965.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read HERE.

 

 

Read more stories from Almanac Music  HERE

 

If you would like to receive the Almanac Music and Poetry newsletter we will add you to the list. Please email us: [email protected]

 

To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au  home page click HERE

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.

Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE