FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
William Burroughs kept a photo album illustrating his writings; so did Dylan. “I have photographs of ‘Gates of Eden’ and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.’ I saw them after I wrote the songs. People send me a lot of things and a lot of the things are pictures, so other people must have that idea too. I gotta admit, maybe I wouldn’t have chosen them, but I can see what it is about the pictures.” 20
Covers
Arlo Guthrie covered “Gates of Eden” on Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys in 1973. Dylan and Neil Young did the same on the 1992 album San Francisco Bay Blues, Bryan Ferry on the 2007 album Dylanesque, and Ralph McTell on 2008’s Gates of Eden.
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Bob Dylan / 7:31
Musician
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: January 15, 1965
Technical Team
Producer: Tom Wilson
Sound Engineers: Roy Halee and Pete Dauria
Genesis and Lyrics
With “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” written in the summer of 1964, Bob Dylan came back to the protest songs of his early career. Accompanied only by his folk-blues guitar, the singer and poet severely criticizes the hypocrisy and commercialism of a society led by a “junk elite.” On the literary side, there is a connection to Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl,” a liberating cry, in which the writer of the Beat generation denounced the obscenity of modern civilization. “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is Dylan’s indictment of false prophets and manipulators. The lyrics follow, with a few nuanced differences, the apocalyptic description of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” released on the album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. The opening line of the first verse (“Darkness at the break of noon / Shadows even the silver spoon”) refers to Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler’s book on the great Stalinist purges of the 1930s, which expresses disillusionment with communism.
“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is a decidedly pessimistic song. Even though freedom of thought seems well established in the West, it is still subject to some restrictions. Paraphrasing Ecclesiastes (“Teachers teach that knowledge waits / Can lead to hundred-dollar plates”), Dylan denounces precisely those who have established rules for the purpose of personal gain: “As human gods aim for their mark / Make everything from toy guns that spark / To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark”; “Preachers preach of evil fates / Teachers teach that knowledge waits / Can lead to hundred-dollar plates / Goodness hides behind its gates”; “Advertising signs they con / You into thinking you’re the one / That can do what’s never been done / That can win what’s never been won”; and “Old lady judges watch people in pairs / Limited in sex, they dare / To push fake morals, insult and stare.” This song is one of Dylan’s favorites. He performed it more than seven hundred times in concert. He also told Jon Pareles of the New York Times on September 28, 1997, “Stuff like, ‘It’s Alright, Ma,’ just the alliteration in that blows me away. And I can also look back and know where I was tricky and where I was really saying something that just happened to have a spark of poetry to it.”45
Production
After “Gates of Eden,” Dylan comes back with a great guitar part in “It’s Alright, Ma” in open tuning in D. The riffs are certainly similar to those used by the Everly Brothers in “Wake Up Little Susie” (1957) and infused with a Delta blues color, giving an authentic feel to the song. The sound is impeccable, and Bob commits virtually no technical fault except the confused chords in the first four lines of the last stanza (at about 6:48). Fortunately, he catches himself at the last second and concludes the song skillfully. Bob demonstrates his impressive abilities in the studio, because it takes strong nerves to perform a seven-minute-long song, the longest one on the album, in front of a microphone. Initially there was no insert, but there is a change in the sound just after the intro at 0:12, which could indicate an insert at that location. Harmony, melody, the moral tone and slightly reverberating voice: all demand close listening. Bob provided two short harmonica parts, the shortest to date, but they are absolutely essential. “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is a masterpiece, and the interpretation is close to perfection. After one false start, just one take was needed.
Bob Dylan has often performed “It’s Alright, Ma” since the fall of 1964. There are several live versions: a concert at New York’s Philharmonic Hall on October 31, 1964 (on The Bootleg Series Volume 6, 2004), a concert in Los Angeles on February 14, 1974 (on Before the Flood, 1974), At Budokan (1978), and the ceremony celebrating Dylan’s thirty years as a songwriter (Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, 1993).
COVERS
“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” was recorded by Roger McGuinn (Easy Rider soundtrack, 1969), the Byrds (bonus track on Untitled, 1970), Billy Preston (Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music, 1973), and Terence Trent D’Arby Greatest Hits, 2002).
Dylan was probably inspired by one of his own songs. The famous line “He not busy being born is busy dying” certainly had its origin in “Let Me Die in My Footsteps,” recorded in 1962: “Stead of learnin’ to live they are learnin’ to die.”
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” contains the line “But even the president of the United States / Sometimes must have to stand naked.” This had a particular resonance when Bob Dylan performed it on his 1974 tour, months after Richard Nixon resigned as president of the United States as a result of the Watergate scandal. Two years later, Jimmy Carter, future president of the United States, mentioned a line taken from “It’s Alright, Ma” in his speech at the Democratic National Convention: “That he not busy being born is busy dying.”
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Bob Dylan / 4:15
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Joseph Macho Jr.: bass (?)
William E. Lee: bass (?)
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: January 15, 1965
Technical Team
Producer: Tom Wilson
Sound Engineers: Roy Halee and Pete Dauria
Genesis and Lyrics
Who is “Baby Blue” to whom Bob Dylan sings farewell? Some say it is Joan Baez, who was getting more and more involved in political causes and in whom Dylan was no longer interested. Others say David Blue, a singer-songwriter friend from Dylan’s early days in Greenwich Village. Another possibility is the folksinger with blue eyes, Paul Clayton, with whom Dylan went on the road across America during February 1964. Dylan was not thinking of a particular person when he wrote the text of the song, but simply of “Baby Blue,” as recorded by rock ’n’ roll pioneer, Gene Vincent. “I had carried that song around in my head for a long time,” said Dylan, “and I remember that when I was writing it, I’d remembered a Gene Vincent song… Of course, I was singing about a different Baby Blue.”12 There are references in this “Baby Blue” to everyone and everything to which Dylan offered thanks: the folk scene, the dreams of utopia, and the intellectual self-satisfaction of Dylan’s early years. The principal character of this lament of “no return” is an orphan “Crying like a fire in the sun,” to whom we say, “Forget the dead you’ve left, they will not follow you.” Although the lyrics bear the strong influence of the symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is still a song about the pain one must go through to gain knowledge. This is a farewell song to close the album, as was the case for The Times They Are A-Changin’ (“Restless Farewell”) and Another Side of Bob Dylan (“It Ain’t Me, Babe”).
Production
Dylan recorded an acoustic version of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” on January 13, 1965, and, according to some unverified sources, also on the following day with an electric band. On January 15, 1965, Bob, on acoustic guitar accompan
ied by a bassist, recorded the final version in one take. Who is the bassist? Probably Joseph Macho Jr., because the accompaniment was played on the electric bass. William E. Lee, the other possibility, played contrabass. However, by listening to the phrasing and melodic playing, especially in the upper register, perhaps a guitarist actually provided the instrumental part. Possibly John Sebastian, who had provided some bass parts on January 13? Or maybe even Al Gorgoni or Kenny Rankin? In any case, the accompaniment, even if it is not free Musicians Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica of some approximations, provides real harmonic support to Bob, who plays an excellent acoustic part and harmonica in E, both plaintive and delicate.
“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” was the last song recorded and selected, as well as the last track on Bringing It All Back Home. (The final song recorded, but not selected for the album, was “If You Gotta Go, Go Now.”)
Dylan performed the song in public for the first time for The Les Crane Show, a WABC Studios program in New York, on February 17, 1965. Since then, he has played the song more than five hundred times. He performed it for the British folksinger Donovan during the UK tour featured in Dont Look Back. There is an excellent version dating from his concert on May 16, 1966, in Manchester, England, which is included on The Bootleg Series Volume 4: Live 1966: The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert, released in 1998. Another excellent live version from the Rolling Thunder Revue is included on The Bootleg Series Volume 5: Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue (2002).
COVERS
The group Them (with the singer Van Morrison) recorded a version of this song during the sessions for the album Them Again, released in the UK in January 1966. Three years later, the Byrds recorded the tune for the album Ballad of Easy Rider. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” has been covered by many other artists, including Joan Baez (Farewell, Angelina, 1965), Marianne Faithfull (It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, 2000), Bonnie Raitt (Steal This Movie soundtrack, 2000), Echo & the Bunnymen (Crystal Days, 2001), Bryan Ferry (Frantic, 2002), Joni Mitchell (The Complete Geffen Recordings, 2003), and Jerry Garcia (Plays Dylan, 2005).
Bringing It All Back Home Outtakes
“Farewell, Angelina” and “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” were recorded during the first sessions for Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. They did not make the final cut, and were subsequently released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3: Rare & Unreleased, 1961–1991. Nevertheless, both tunes were sung to acclaim by Joan Baez and the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention.
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
Bob Dylan / 2:54
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Bruce Langhorne: guitar; Al Gorgoni: guitar; Kenny Akin: guitar; Paul Griffin: electric piano (?); Frank Owens: electric piano (?); Joseph Macho Jr.: bass; William E. Lee: bass (?); Bobby Gregg: drums, tambourine (?); Unknown: backing vocals / Recording Studio: Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: January 15, 1965 / Producer: Tom Wilson / Sound Engineers: Roy Halee and Pete Dauria / Set Box: The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3: Rare & Unreleased, 1961–1991 (CD 2) / Release Date: March 26, 1991
“If you got to go, it’s all right… or else you gotta stay all night” is the message of this song. We cannot be more direct: “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” is to Dylan what “Let’s Spend the Night Together” was for the Rolling Stones in 1967. It is also a way for the songwriter to hide his double image as a protest singer and a tormented poet.
Bob Dylan performed this song on acoustic guitar a dozen times between his concert at Symphony Hall in Boston on October 24, 1964, and at the Royal Albert Hall in London on May 9, 1965. He probably used the melody to provide some needed relief between two other serious and long compositions, “Gates of Eden” and “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).” The song was recorded four months before his concert in London. On January 13, Dylan recorded it solo in one take. He recorded it again accompanied by a band on January 15. It was the last song worked on for the album and was done in four takes.
The list of musicians differs among the sources. Dylan was probably accompanied by four guitarists, including Bruce Langhorne. For the first time on the album, there is an electric piano (Wurlitzer and Hohner Pianet) played by Paul Griffin or Frank Owens. Finally, the rhythm part was provided by Bobby Gregg and a priori by Joseph Macho Jr. It is, as always, effective. But the recording was not complete, since on May 21 producer Tom Wilson brought several unidentified musicians to overdub backing vocals to support the chorus. Seven takes were made. It is also quite possible that Bob recorded his harmonica part, which sounds too strangely clean to have been recorded live with the band.
Even though “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” was recorded during the sessions for the album Bringing It All Back Home, it was not included on the LP. However, the song was released as a single in the Netherlands in 1967 with “To Ramona” on the B-side. This is the same version found on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3, released in 1991. Long before being released on the bootleg series, this song was covered by the British bands Liverpool Five in July 1965 and Manfred Mann two months later. This later version reached number 2 on the UK charts. Johnny Hallyday’s version is called “Maintenant ou jamais” (“Now or Never”).
Farewell, Angelina
Bob Dylan / 5:27
Musician: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica / Recording Studio: Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: January 13, 1965 / Producer: Tom Wilson / Sound Engineers: Roy Halee and Fred Catero / Set Box: The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3: Rare & Unreleased, 1961–1991 (CD 2) / Release Date: March 26, 1991
“I Rode Out One Morning” is the model for “Farewell, Angelina.” Dylan recorded it for Eve and Mac MacKenzie on April 19, 1963, but it remained a draft.
According to some sources, Bob Dylan wrote “Farewell, Angelina” in 1964 for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan. But John Bauldie, the author of the booklet for the boxed set The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3, claims that the song dates from early 1965.
“Farewell, Angelina” marks a step forward in Dylan’s writing style. If he sings of the coming birth of a new world from the ashes of the old one—a subject common to many of his songs, such as “When the Ship Comes In” and “Desolation Row”—his poetic approach is here both symbolist and surrealist. “The jacks and the queens / Have forsaked the courtyard / Fifty-two gypsies / Now file past the guards.” He gives listeners the impression of a dying world through the resonance of the lyrics, and by the sadness of his monotonous voice singing about the solitude of the central character and the broken heart of the narrator who leaves to fulfill his duty. As Jim Beviglia noted, “The sky over the world of popular song was certainly on fire, and Bob Dylan was the one holding the torch.”58
Bob Dylan recorded “Farewell, Angelina” on January 13, 1965, during the first session for his album Bringing It All Back Home, under the working title “Alcatraz to the 5th Power.” If the tune was not selected for the album, it was simply because the songwriter had given it to Joan Baez, who named her 1965 album Farewell, Angelina. Dylan’s interpretation is a model of its kind: a few chords on acoustic guitar and his voice in multiple variations, intensely emotional. However, at 4:32, he hits the strings of his Gibson Nick Lucas and the last verse seems to be from a different take, even though the session register mentions only a single take. The sound is not the same. Obviously there was a problem in the recording.
Even if Bob Dylan never performed “Farewell, Angelina” onstage, the melody has inspired many others, including Joan Baez, Jeff Buckley, French singer Hugues Aufray, and Greek singer Nana Mouskouri. Pierre Delanoë’s adaptation was translated into French under the title “Adieu Angelina.” All these versions have a common point, the deletion of verse six: “The camouflaged parrot, he flutters from fear / When something he doesn’t know about suddenly appears / What cannot be imitated perfect must die / Farewell Angelina, the sky is flooding over and I must go where it is dry.”
COVER
The British band Fairport Convention re
corded a surprising version of “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” for their 1969 album Unhalfbricking, sung entirely in French and retitled “Si Tu Dois Partir, Va-t-en.” The song was released as a single in July 1969, reaching number 21 and staying on the UK charts for nine weeks. The French trio Bijou covered this version in 1977.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
“Farewell, Angelina” was inspired by the melody “Farewell to Tarwathie,” a Scottish sailors’ song written in the 1850s by George Scroggie from the Aberdeen region. Scroggie himself was influenced by the traditional song “The Wagoner’s Lad,” which was interpreted by Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and the Kingston Trio long before Dylan included the melody on the setlist for his Never Ending Tour between 1988 and 1991.
Highway 61
Revisited
Like A Rolling Stone
Tombstone Blues
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
From A Buick 6
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Queen Jane Approximately
Highway 61 Revisited
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Desolation Row
OUTTAKE
Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence
OUTTAKES SELECTED AS SINGLES
Bob Dylan All the Songs Page 23
