Freewheelin’ in it’s released form is essentially a “best of” from one of the most creative years in Dylan’s life. The lag between sessions resulted in an album whose sound metamorphosed at least twice.
~Clinton Heylin (BD – The Recording Sessions)
Dylan nailed 3 master versions for “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” @ this important recording session.
Continue reading December 6: The 7th Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan recording session in 1962
I married Isis on the fifth day of May
But I could not hold on to her very long
So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away
For the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong
~Bob Dylan (Isis)Dylan gives one of the finest shows of his career, as well as the longest of the 1975 concerts. A 23-song set (the opening Rolling Thunder show had just 16 Dylan songs) includes a six-song Dylan/Baez set and a three-song solo spot.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Continue reading December 4: Bob Dylan plays Forum de Montréal in 1975 (videos)
Another fine show, which is filmed for Renaldo and Clara, although none of the footage is used. The set includes a rare solo performance of “Mr. Tambourine
Man.”
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995
Continue reading December 2: Bob Dylan @ Toronto, Ontario, Canada – 1975
The evening show is at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. In a terrific 22- song set, Dylan does a three-song solo spot that includes the first 197 5 version of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” Dylan’s mother, Beatty, joins her son on stage for the encore.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995
Continue reading December 1: Bob Dylan @ Toronto, Ontario, Canada – 1975
JW: John Wesley Harding – why did you call the album that?
BD: We… I called it that because I had that song John Wesley Harding. It didn’t mean anything to me. I called it that, Jann, ‘cause I had the song John Wesley Harding, which started out to be a long ballad. I was gonna write a ballad on… Like maybe one of those old cowboy… You know, a real long ballad. But in the middle of the second verse, I got
tired. I had a tune, and I didn’t want to waste the tune, it was a nice little melody, so I just wrote a quick third verse, and I recorded that. But it was a silly little song….
~Bob Dylan to Jann Wenner November 29, 1969
This quiet masterpiece, which manages to sound both authoritative and tentative (a mix that gave it a highly contemporary feel), is neither a rock nor a folk album—and certainly isn’t folk-rock. It isn’t categorisable at all.
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
47 years ago Bob Dylan entered Columbia Studio A, Nashville Tennessee tempting his third (and final) recording session for “John Wesley Harding”.