“I never wanted to write topical songs,…. Have you heard my last two records, Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61? It’s all there. That’s the real Dylan.”
~Bob Dylan (to Frances Taylor – Aug 1965)
“If you had to sum up Highway 61 Revisited in a single sentence, suffice it to say that it is the album that invented attitude and raised it to an art form. Just take a look at the cover. Nobody from Johnny Rotten to Eminem has done it better to this day.
~Nigel Williamson (The Rough Guide To Bob Dylan)
Studio A Columbia Recording Studios New York City, New York 4 August 1965 The 6th & last Highway 61 Revisited session, produced by Bob Johnston
Overdub session with Bob Dylan (guitar) and Charlie McCoy (guitar, bass).
One final session was held on August 4, again at Studio A. Most of the session was devoted to completing “Desolation Row”. Johnston has related that Nashville musician Charlie McCoy was visiting New York, and he invited McCoy to play guitar at the session. According to some sources, seven takes of “Desolation Row” were recorded, and takes six and seven were spliced together for the master recording.
Nashville sessions musician Charlie McCoy’s chance visit to New York resulted in the guitar flourishes accompanying “Desolation Row”, the last track on the album.
~Wikipedia
Songs:
Desolation Row
Desolation Row
Desolation Row
Desolation Row
Desolation Row
Desolation Row
6 and 7 edited into one track and released 30 August 1965
They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark
She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones
’Twas then he felt alone and wished that he’d gone straight
And watched out for a simple twist of fate
Palacio De Los Deportes Madrid, Spain 15 June 1989
Musicians:
Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
G. E. Smith (guitar)
Tony Garnier (bass)
Christopher Parker (drums)
They walked along by the old canal
A little confused, I remember well
And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burnin’ bright
He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train
Moving with a simple twist of fate
A saxophone someplace far off played
As she was walkin’ by the arcade
As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin’ up,
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
And forgot about a simple twist of fate
He woke up, the room was bare
He didn’t see her anywhere
He told himself he didn’t care, pushed the window open wide
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate
He hears the ticking of the clocks
And walks along with a parrot that talks
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailors all come in
Maybe she’ll pick him out again, how long must he wait
Once more for a simple twist of fate
People tell me it’s a sin
To know and feel too much within
I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring
She was born in spring, but I was born too late
Blame it on a simple twist of fate
The result is a sound and a set of songs unlike anything Dylan or anyone else has ever done before…. The lyrics of “Sara” and “Abandoned Love” (and, for that matter, of “Isis” and “Hurricane”) could not be more perfect, but overall the triumph of Desire is musical
~Paul Williams (BD performing artist 1974-86)
Recorded in the summer lull before the first Rolling Thunder tour and released soon after it, the stand-out tracks are ‘Isis’, ‘Romance in Durango’ and ‘Black Diamond Bay’, but ‘Hurricane’, ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ and ‘Oh Sister’ are breathing down their necks.
~Michael Gray (BD Encyclopedia)
Studio E Columbia Recording Studios New York City, New York 30 July 1975 4th Desire session, produced by Don DeVito
On the night of July 30, 1975, Dylan returned to Studio E with a smaller group of musicians, including Stoner, Rivera, Harris, and drummer Howie Wyeth (a friend of Stoner’s who was hired by Dylan on Stoner’s suggestion). For the most part, this group of musicians formed the core of the Rolling Thunder Revue. The difference became apparent early on in the session, when a usable take of “Isis” was recorded on the first try. Both Dylan and Stoner were pleased with the session, and Stoner suggests that the more intimate sound was much closer to the sound of the completed album.Five of the nine songs from Desire were recorded at that session, as well as a slow version of “Isis,” the original master take of “Hurricane”, the single-only release “Rita Mae,” and a successful take of “Golden Loom” that was later released in 1991. Of the participating musicians, only Emmylou Harris was dissatisfied with the results. It would also be her last session, as she had prior commitments with her own career.~Wikipedia
Songs:
Golden Loom
Golden Loom released 26 March 1991 – The Bootleg Series (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991, Volume 3
–
Golden Loom
Golden Loom
Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
released 16 January 1976 – Desire
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Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Isis (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Isis (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Rita May (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
released 16 January 1976 – Desire
–
One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
Black Diamond Bay (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Black Diamond Bay (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Black Diamond Bay (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Black Diamond Bay (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
released 16 January 1976 – Desire
–
Black Diamond Bay (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Mozambique (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Mozambique (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Mozambique (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Mozambique (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
released 16 January 1976 – Desire
–
Hurricane (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Rita May (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Rita May (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
Rita May (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
released 30 November 1976 – Single
Joey* (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
released 16 January 1976 – Desire
–
Joey (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
*overdubbed 11 August: Vincent Bell (guitar & mandolin), Dom Cortese (accordion)
Recorded 8 pm – 8 am
Musicians:
Bob Dylan (guitar, vocal)
Emmylou Harris (vocal)
Scarlet Rivera (violin)
Mel Collins (tenor saxophone)
Sheena Seidenberg (tambourine & congas)
Rob Stoner (bass)
Howie Wyeth (drums)
Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton & Emmylou Harris – 28 July 1975 recording session
Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying, “This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem”
I traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
Columbia, Maryland Merriweather Post Pavilion July 23, 2013
Musicians:
Bob Dylan – center stage with harp
Tony Garnier – standup bass
George Recile – drums
Stu Kimball – rhythm guitar
Colin Linden – lead guitar
Donnie Herron – banjo
Well, I heard that hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear that undertaker’s bell
Nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
There’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There’s a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
Well, God is in His heaven
And we all want what’s His
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I’m gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
