Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
~Bob Dylan (The Times They Are A-Changin’)

“Another thing about Times They Are A-Changin’ – I wanted to say in it that if you have something that you don’t want to lose, and people threaten you, you are not really free.”
~Bob Dylan (to Ray Coleman, May 1965)

51 years ago Dylan did his 5th recording session for “The Time They are A-Changin’” 

Some background info from Wikipedia:

The Times They Are a-Changin’ is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in January 1964 by Columbia Records.

Produced by Tom Wilson, it is the singer-songwriter’s first collection to feature only original compositions. The album consists mostly of stark, sparsely-arranged story songs concerning issues such as racism, poverty, and social change. The title track is one of Dylan’s most famous; many felt that it captured the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the 1960s.

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Another session was held the following day, October 24. Master takes of “The Times They Are a-Changin'” and “One Too Many Mornings” were recorded and later included in the final album sequence. A master take for “Lay Down Your Weary Tune” was also recorded, but ultimately left out of the final album; it was eventually released on Biograph. Two more outtakes, “Eternal Circle” and “Suze (The Cough Song)”, were later issued on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991.

Albums involved:

ALBUM	Release date	CODE
The Times They Are A-Changin’	1964-01-13	TTTAA
Biograph	1985-11-07	BIO
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991	1991-03-26	TBS1-3

 

Studio A
Columbia Recording Studio
New York City, New York
October 24, 1963, 10-1 pm

Produced by Tom Wilson.
Engineers: Knuerr and Dauria.

Songs:

1. Eternal Circle – TBS1-3
   A song about Song, “Eternal Circle” shows a structural sophistication absent from his contemporary displays of tub-thumping topicality. In it the singer ostensibly describes the experience of singing a song, all the while wondering about its effect on one audience member, who “called with her eyes / to the tune I’s a-playin’.” The “circle” in the title is clearly the circle of song, Dylan beginning with, “I sang the song slowly,” and ending with, “I began the next song.” Poet James Reeves called it The Everlasting Circle (1960) in his second anthology of English folk songs. Adding resonance, Dylan copped aspects of the melody from “Song
   -Clinton Heylin (Revolution in the Air)
   Spotify:
   
   youtube:
   
2. Eternal Circle
3. Eternal Circle
4. Eternal Circle
5. One Too Many Mornings
6. One Too Many Mornings
7. One Too Many Mornings
8. The Times They Are A-Changin’ – TTTAA
   The first time a lot of pop fans noticed Dylan was when the ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’’ came out as a single in 1964. To pop-trained ears, it was a laughable record. The singer had a voice that
   made Johnny Duncan and the Blue Grass Boys  sound like Mario Lanza—and plainly, he hadn’t even the most elementary sense of timing. He brought in the second syllable of that title word ‘Changin’’ far too soon: at a quite ridiculous point. What was the record company playing at? Just because Bob Dylan was the writer of an interesting song called ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ didn’t mean he could expect to start singing all his other songs himself . . . To others, the striking thing was that here was someone who wasn’t just pop-singing, but truly communicating.
   ~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
   vimeo:
   
   spotify:
   
9. Percy’s Song
10. Percy’s Song
11. Percy’s Song
12. Lay Down Your Weary Tune – BIO
    ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’ is perhaps Dylan’s first acid song: his first concentrated attempt, at any rate, to give a hint of the unfiltered world, and a supremely successful creation. STEVEN GOLDBERG refers in an article to Dylan’s having ‘heard the universal melody’. Nothing could better substantiate the spirit of such a claim than ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’—one of Dylan’s very greatest and most haunting creations.
    ~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
13. One Too Many Mornings
14. One Too Many Mornings
15. One Too Many Mornings – TTTAA
    “One Too Many Mornings,” a love song and clearly one of Dylan’s favorites (it shows up again and again, in many different forms, in live performances through the years), is transitional in terms of the development of the album: it deals with weariness and emptiness, certainly, but it’s mood is light, forgiving, almost relieved. The harmonica solos are wonderful.
    -Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)Spotify:
    
16. Suze (The Cough Song) – TBS1-3–
    Spotify:
    
17. Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag
18. Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag

Personnel:

• Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica, vocal)

Notes:

• 3, 6, 9, 13, 14 are false starts.
• 2, 4, 10 are interrupted.
• Only 1, 2, 8, 12, 15-18 are in circulation.

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Related articles @ JV:

•  -> Bob Dylan recording sessions
• Johannasvisions @ facebook

References:

• Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions – Part one – by Michael Krogsgaard
• Still On The Road – Olof Björner

-Egil