Forty-one years ago, Bob Dylan and The Band opened their historic 1974 tour with “Hero Blues,” an unreleased Dylan song that he recorded in 1962 during The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan sessions but left off the album.
The show took place at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois.
Here are versions recorded during The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan sessions:
Take one:
Take two:
Tale four:
Lyrics:
Yes, the gal I got
I swear she’s the screaming end
She wants me to be a hero
So she can tell all her friends
Well, she begged, she cried
She pleaded with me all last night
Well, she begged, she cried
She pleaded with me all last night
She wants me to go out
And find somebody to fight
She reads too many books
She got new movies inside her head
She reads too many books
She got movies inside her head
She wants me to walk out running
She wants me to crawl back dead
You need a different kinda man, babe
One that can grab and hold your heart
Need a different kind of man, babe
One that can hold and grab your heart
You need a different kind of man, babe
You need Napoleon Boneeparte
Well, when I’m dead
No more good times will I crave
When I’m dead
No more good times will I crave
You can stand and shout hero
All over my lonesome grave
Forty years ago, on December 30, 1974, Bob Dylan finished recording Blood On The Tracks at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis; on that day he rerecorded three songs for the album.
He had recorded a version of the entire album in New York, but after he played the album for his brother David Zimmerman, decided to recut some of it in Minneapolis with his brother producing.
“I had the acetate,” Dylan said later, after the album was released. “I hadn’t listened to it for a couple of months. The record still hadn’t come out, and I put it on. I just didn’t… I thought the songs could have sounded differently, better. So I went in and re-recorded them.”
The musicians he used in Minneapolis: Greg Inhofer (keyboards), Bill Berg (drums) and Chris Weber (guitar, 12-string guitar), Bill Peterson (bass), Peter Ostroushko (mandolin) and Kevin Odegard (guitar).
That day Dylan tried one more time to nail “Tangled Up In Blue,” “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” and “If You See Her, Say Hello.”
Clearly he was pleased with the outcome, as those were the takes that ended up on the album.
(According to Clinton Heylin, Dylan may have recorded “Meet Me In The Morning” that day too, although Michael Krogsgaard, who was given access to the recording sheets of the sessions, didn’t find that song listed.)
According to Wikipedia, Dylan told Mary Travers in a radio interview in April 1975: “A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I mean… people enjoying that type of pain, you know?”
Dylan once said that “Tangled Up In Blue” took ten years to live and two years to write.
Dyaln also said of “Tangled Up In Blue”: “What’s different about it is that there’s a code in the lyrics, and there’s also no sense of time. I was trying to make it like a painting where you can see the different parts but then you also see the whole of it… the characters change from the first person to the third person, and you’re never quite sure if the third person is talking or the first person is talking. But if you look at the whole thing it doesn’t really matter.”
“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts,” official version:
“If You See Her, Say Hello,” official version:
Outtakes
“Tangled Up In Blue”:
“Tangled Up In Blue”:
“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts”:
“If You See Her Say Hello”:
Check out my post on “If You See Her, Say Hello” here.
“Meet Me In The Morning,” alternate take, recorded September 19, 1974 according to Harold Lepidus at the Bob Dylan Examiner site. (This version was officially released in 2012 as the B side of the “Duquesne Whistle” single):
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[I recently published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
In 2012, in order to protect the copyrights on a bunch of Bob Dylan recordings that have not been officially released, Sony released a very limited edition of a multi-disk set called The 50th Anniversary Collection: The Copyright Extension Collection, Volume 1.
Among the gems on the album are many outtakes and alternate takes of songs recorded for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
I previously posted clips from the set here and here and here.
Today I’ve got still more.
Enjoy while you can.
Bob Dylan – Corrina, Corrina (Freewheelin’ Alternate Take 1962 – Take 3):
Bob Dylan – That’s Alright Mama (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 3):
Bob Dylan – That’s Alright Mama (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 5):
Bob Dylan – Milk Cow’s Calf’s Blues (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 1):
Bob Dylan – Milk Cow’s Calf’s Blues (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 3):
Bob Dylan – Sally Gal (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 2):
Bob Dylan – Sally Gal (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 3):
Bob Dylan – Sally Gal (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 4):
Bob Dylan – Hero Blues (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 1):
Bob Dylan – Hero Blues (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 2):
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
In 2012, in order to protect the copyrights on a bunch of Bob Dylan recordings that have not been officially released, Sony released a very limited edition of a multi-disk set called The 50th Anniversary Collection: The Copyright Extension Collection, Volume 1.
Among the gems on the album are many outtakes and alternate takes of songs recorded for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
I previously posted clips from the set here and here.
Today I’ve got more.
Enjoy while you can.
Bob Dylan – Goin’ Down To New Orleans (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 2):
Bob Dylan – Corrina, Corrina (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Acoustic Take 1):
Bob Dylan – Babe, I’m In The Mood For You (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 2):
Bob Dylan – Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 3):
Bob Dylan – Blowin’ In The Wind (Freewheelin’ Alternate Take 1962 – Take 2):
Bob Dylan – Wichita (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 1):
Bob Dylan – Rocks And Gravel (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 2):
Bob Dylan – I Shall Be Free (Freewheelin’ Alternate Take 1962 – Take 3):
Bob Dylan – Corrina, Corrina (Freewheelin’ Alternate Take 1962 – Take 2):
Bob Dylan – Whatcha Gonna Do (Freewheelin’ Outtake 1962 – Take 1):
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
Bob Dylan’s fourth album, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, was released 50 years ago, on August 8, 1964.
The album was recorded during one session, on July 9, 1964, in Columbia Studio A in New York with Tom Wilson producing.
Four songs that were recorded during the session were not included on the album. All were eventually released with the exception of “Denise.”
Here are the outtakes.
Enjoy.
“Denise” and “New Orleans Rag”:
“California”:
“Mama, You Been On On My Mind”:
“Mr. Tambourine Man” (Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is on the track):
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.
Or watch an arty video with audio of me reading from the novel here.
Of just buy the damn thing:
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Fifty-one years ago, on May 27, 1963, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, an album that Dylan had worked on, on and off, for over a year, was released.
The recording of the album began on April 24, 1962 and ended on April 24, 1963. There were sessions on eight different days at Columbia Studio A in New York. At least 36 songs were recorded.
Thirteen songs made it onto the album.
Here are some of the outtakes that I like along with some faves from the official release:
“Masters of War” (album version):
“Milk Cow Blues”:
“Hero Blues”:
“Girl From the North Country” (album version):
“Rocks and Gravel”:
“Corrina, Corrina” & “Whatcha Gonna Do” Plus from The Times They Are A-Changin’ sessions, “Eternal Circle” & “Restless Farewell”:
“(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle”:
“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (album version):
“Baby Please Don’t Go”:
“Let Me Die In My Footsteps”:
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Outtake from the photo session for the album cover.
Fifty-two years ago, on April 24, 1962, Bob Dylan entered Columbia Studio A in New York and began recording his second album, the album that would become The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
That day he recorded versions of “I’m Going to New Orleans,” “Sally Gal,” “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie,” Corrina, Corrina,” “The Death of Emmett Till,” “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” and “(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle” according to Clinton Heylin’s “Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions [1960 – 1994].”
Here are versions of the songs he cut that day. Some may have been cut at later sessions as in some cases he recorded the same song at more than one session.
“I’m Going to New Orleans”:
“Sally Gal”:
“Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie”:
“Corrina, Corrina”:
“The Death Of Emmett Till” (Studio Outtake):
“Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” (From withdrawn version of the LP):
“(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle”:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
