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“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
29 July 1965
The 3rd Highway 61 Revisited session, produced by Bob Johnston

To create the material for Highway 61 Revisited, Dylan spent a month writing in his new home in the Byrdcliffe artists’ colony of Woodstock in upstate New York. When he returned to Studio A on July 29, he was backed by the same musicians as the previous session, but his producer had changed from Wilson to Johnston. Their first session together was devoted to three songs. After recording several takes each of “Tombstone Blues”, “It Takes a Lot to Laugh” and “Positively 4th Street”, masters were successfully recorded. “Tombstone Blues” and “It Takes a Lot to Laugh” were included in the final album, but “Positively 4th Street” was issued as a single-only release. At the close of the July 29 session, Dylan attempted to record “Desolation Row”, accompanied by Al Kooper on electric guitar and Harvey Brooks on bass. There was no drummer, as the drummer had gone home. This electric version was eventually released in 2005, on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7.  ~Wikipedia

Songs:

1. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
2. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
3. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
4. Tombstone Blues
5. Tombstone Blues
6. Tombstone Blues
7. Tombstone Blues
8. Tombstone Blues
9. Tombstone Blues
10. Tombstone Blues
11. Tombstone Blues
12. Tombstone Blues
    (recorded 10 am – 1 pm)
    released 30 Aug 2005 – The Bootleg Series Vol 7. No Direction Home: The Soundtrack
    
13. Tombstone Blues
14. Tombstone Blues
    (recorded 10 am – 1 pm)
    released 30 Aug 1965 – Highway 61 Revisited
    
    
    –
    
    If Salvador Dali or Luis Bunuel had picked up a Fender Strat to head a blues band, they might have come up with something like “Tombstone Blues.”
    ~Bill Janovitz (allmusic.com)
    —
15. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
16. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
17. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
18. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
    (recorded 2:30 – 5:30 pm)
    released 30 Aug 1965 – Highway 61 Revisited
    
    
    –
    
19. Positively 4th Street
20. Positively 4th Street
21. Positively 4th Street
22. Positively 4th Street
23. Positively 4th Street
24. Positively 4th Street
25. Positively 4th Street
26. Positively 4th Street
27. Positively 4th Street
28. Positively 4th Street
    (recorded 2:30 – 5:30 pm)
    released 7 Sept 1965 as a single
    
    –
    

Musicians:

• Bob Dylan (guitar, piano, harmonica, vocal)
• 1-14 Mike Bloomfield (guitar), Paul Griffin (piano), Bobby Gregg (drums), Joseph Machao Jr. (bass), Al Kooper (organ)
• 15-28 Mike Bloomfield (guitar), Frank Owens (piano), Bobby Gregg (drums), Russ Savakus (bass), Al Kooper (organ)

Related articles @ JV:

• Bob Dylan recording sessions
  –
• Johannasvisions @ Facebook
• Bob Dylan top 200 songs
• Bob Dylan videos @ Johannasvisions.com
• Bob Dylan albums @ Johannasvisions.com
• Bob Dylan concerts @ Johannasvisions.com

References:

• Still On The Road – Olof Björner

—

Other July 29:

• Ina Anita Carter (March 31, 1933 – July 29, 1999), the youngest daughter of Ezra and Mother Maybelle Carter, was a versatile American singer who experimented with several different types of music and played upright bass with her sisters Helen Carter and June Carter Cash as The Carter Sisters. The trio joined the Grand Ole Opry radio show in 1950 (Anita was 17 years old at the time), opened shows for Elvis Presley, and joined The Johnny Cash Show in 1971. As a solo artist, and with her family, Carter recorded for a number of labels including RCA Victor, Cadence, Columbia, Audiograph, United Artists, Liberty and Capitol.
  
• Vivienne Patricia “Patti” Scialfa, born July 29, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. She is married to Bruce Springsteen and they have three children.
  
• Geddy Lee Weinrib, OC (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953), better known as Geddy Lee, is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined what would become Rush in September 1968, at the request of his childhood friend Alex Lifeson, replacing original bassist and frontman Jeff Jones.
• John James Sykes (born 29 July 1959) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter who has played with Streetfighter, Tygers of Pan Tang, John Sloman’s Badlands, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, and Blue Murder. Sykes co-wrote the majority of the songs on Whitesnake’s 1987 self-titled album with David Coverdale. Sykes is also a successful solo artist.

-Egil