Tag Archives: The songs He didn’t write

Blues, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan - The songs he didn't write, folk, Gospel

The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan In My Time of Dying





“The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing, thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness”
– Psalms 41:3

In My Time of Dying (also called Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed or variations on this) is a traditional gospel music song that has been recorded by numerous musicians. Bob Dylan recorded it for his debut album as In My Time Of Dyin’.

It was (as most of the songs on the album) cut in one take.

” I can’t see myself singing the same song twice in a row. That’s terrible.”
– Bob Dylan

“Dylan had never sung ‘In My Time of Dyin’ ‘ prior to this recording session. He does not recall where he first heard it. The guitar is fretted with the lipstick holder [ makeshift slide ] he borrowed from his girl, Suze Rotolo, who sat devotedly and wide-eyed through the recording session.”
– Liner Notes, Bob Dylan (album, 1962)

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Blues, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan - The songs he didn't write, folk

The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan House of the rising sun

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The House of the Rising Sun is a traditional folk song, sometimes called Rising Sun Blues. It tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans; many versions also urge a sibling to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version was recorded in 1964 by The Animals.

Bob Dylan recorded it, as House of the risin’ sun,  for his debut album released in 1962. He did it several more times both live and in studio.

Album version:

Like many classic folk ballads, The House of the Rising Sun is of uncertain authorship. Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads, and thematically it has some resemblance to the 16th-century ballad The Unfortunate Rake. According to Alan Lomax, “Rising Sun” was used as the name of a bawdy house in two traditional English songs, and it was also a name for English pubs. He further suggested that the melody might be related to a 17th-century folk song, “Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave”, also known as “Matty Groves”, but a survey by Bertrand Bronson showed no clear relationship between the two songs. Lomax proposed that the location of the house was then relocated from England to New Orleans by white southern performers. However, Vance Randolph proposed an alternative French origin, the “rising sun” referring to the decorative use of the sunburst insignia dating to the time of Louis XIV, which was brought to North America by French immigrants. Continue reading The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan House of the rising sun →

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan - The songs he didn't write

The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan See that my grave is kept clean

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See That My Grave Is Kept Clean is a blues song recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in two slightly differing versions in October 1927 and February 1928 that became one of his most famous compositions.

Bob Dylan recorded the song for his 1962 debut album Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan does a great interpretation of the song. It is the last song on the album, and what a send-off. It is stunning, great guitar playing, fantastic singing, understated and insistent at the same time. Dylan’s voice is remarkable Continue reading The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan See that my grave is kept clean →

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The songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan Let’s Begin (Jimmy Webb)

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avignon 1981 bob dylan

Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston”, “The Worst That Could Happen”, “All I Know”, and “MacArthur Park”. He has had successful collaborations with Glen Campbell, Michael Feinstein, The 5th Dimension, Art Garfunkel, and Richard Harris.

In addition, his compositions have been performed by many popular contemporary artists, including America, Johnny Cash, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, John Denver, Amy Grant, Isaac Hayes, Thelma Houston, Billy Joel, Tom Jones, Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge, Rod McKuen, Linda Ronstadt, R.E.M., Carly Simon, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, The Supremes, James Taylor, The Temptations, Dionne Warwick,Larry Coryell (The Real Great Escape) and Bob Dylan.

Webb was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1990. He received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, the Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award in 2003, the ASCAP “Voice of Music” Award in 2006, and the Ivor Novello Special International Award in 2012.

Jimmy Webb‘s song Let’s begin was first released on Leah Kunkel’s album, I run with trouble from 1980.

Bob Dylan performed it 18 times live in 1981. I found two very fine performances.

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The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan The Lakes of Pontchartrain

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pontchartrain dylanO’er railroad ties and crossings
I made my weary way,
Through swamps and elevations
My tired feet did stray
Until I resolved at sunset
Some higher ground to win.
‘Twas there I met with a Creole girl
By the lake of Ponchartrain.

The Lakes of Pontchartrain is an American (US) ballad about a man who is given shelter by a beautiful Louisiana Creole woman. He falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, but she is already promised to a sailor and declines.

According to BobDylan.com Dylan played it 18 times live from 1988 to 1991.
Bob Dylan sings fantastic on the two versions I managed to dig up (Neil Young was on stage with Dylan on both these occasions).

Paul Brady has done maybe the most known version of this traditional song. Here is a video where he talks about how he learned Bob Dylan to play The Lakes of Pontchartrain:

This is a great version from Bob Dylan in New Jersey 1988, June 24 :

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