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They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
But you wouldn’t know it by me
Every day’s been darkness since you been gone
~Bob Dylan (Meet Me In The Morning)

Certainly “Meet Me In The Morning”…. +
~Buddy Cage (when asked by Robbie Bossert in an interview about his best performance)

..the flawless blues of “Meet Me In The Morning”…
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)

vimeo:

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Spotify:

@#200 on my list of Bob Dylan’s top 200 songs. It’s a lovely blues with brilliant steel guitar playing by Buddy Cage.

Facts

“Meet me in the morning” is the first track on side two of “Blood On The Tracks” (January 20, 1975).

Check out: “Blood On The Tracks” (January 20, 1975)

Known studio recordings:

‘Meet Me In The Morning’ was seemingly triggered by a dissatisfaction with the various blues he had penned to date, starting where a couplet from ‘Don’t Want No Married Woman’ left off. If the song was written to self-consciously fill the slot earmarked for ‘Call Letter Blues’, it soon stepped into that song’s shoes, Dylan taking the backing track of the earlier song, recorded with Deliverance, and overdubbing an entirely new vocal, before letting Buddy Cage add some steely riffs of his own.
~Clinton Heylin (Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 2, . 1974-2008)

• A&R Studios, NYC, September 18, 1974
  Overdubbing vocal & Steel guitar on a take of “Call Letter Blues” from September 16.
  Released on “Blood On The Tracks” (20 Jan 1975)
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• A&R Studios, NYC, September 19, 1974 – 7 takes
  One of the complete takes (unknown which one) was released on vinyl single Duquesne Whistle, Columbia 8765-8765-40533-7, 18 November 2012.
  – Bob Dylan (guitar, vocal)
  – Tony Brown (bass)
  

According to a contemporary report in Rolling Stone, the song was then cut again in Minneapolis in December, though no such version has ever appeared, and one musician present at those sessions is adamant it was not recorded at Sound 80. (It is certainly not listed on the two-inch Sound 80 master-tapes which reside at Sony.)
~Clinton Heylin (Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 2, . 1974-2008)

Further reading:

• Blood On The Tracks – First recording session, 16 September 1974
• Blood On The Tracks, 4th Recording Session, 19 September 1974

Live:

• It has only been performed live one time, together with Jack White in Nashville September 19, 2007

Ryman Auditorium
Nashville, Tennessee
19 September 2007

• Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar & keyboard)
• Stu Kimball (guitar)
• Denny Freeman (guitar)
• Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
• Tony Garnier (bass)
• George Recile (drums & percussion)
• Jack White (el guitar)

Album:

• Released on “Blood On the Tracks” – 20 Jan. 1975
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  –> check out: Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks (released 20 Jan 1975)

Lyrics

Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha
Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha
Honey, we could be in Kansas
By time the snow begins to thaw

They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
But you wouldn’t know it by me
Every day’s been darkness since you been gone

Little rooster crowin’, there must be something on his mind
Little rooster crowin’, there must be something on his mind
Well, I feel just like that rooster
Honey, ya treat me so unkind

[The birds are flyin’ low babe, honey I feel so exposed
Well, the birds are flyin’ low babe, honey I feel so exposed
Well now, I ain’t got any matches
And the station doors are closed]*

Well, I struggled through barbed wire, felt the hail fall from above
Well, I struggled through barbed wire, felt the hail fall from above
Well, you know I even outran the hound dogs
Honey, you know I’ve earned your love

Look at the sun sinkin’ like a ship
Look at the sun sinkin’ like a ship
Ain’t that just like my heart, babe
When you kissed my lips?

*This official verse (Bob Dylan Lyrics book) is not sung on either versions

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The new outtake version has slightly different lyrics:

second half of verse two becomes:

Honey every day been darkness
Ever since you been gone

and “Well, I feel just like the rooster” becomes “You’re just like the rooster” (verse three).

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Check out:

• Bob Dylan top 200 according to Egil
• Bob Dylan’s best songs: You’re A Big Girl Now
• Tangled Up in Blue
• Idiot Wind (New York version)
• Shelter From the Storm
• Up To Me
• Simple Twist Of Fate
• If You See Her, Say Hello
• You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

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Sources

• Clinton Heylin – Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 2, . 1974-2008
• Les Kokay – “Blood On The Tracks” Isis Magazine issue 167
• Andy Gill and Kevin Odegard – A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks
• Paul Williams – Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986
• Wikipedia
• Olof’s – Still On The Road

-Egil