This is Vol. 3 of my series Roots of Bob Dylan 1962 - 1966. Here I will discuss the original songs from Another Side Of Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home plus some important outtakes.

Please read the

• Introduction

that also includes the necessary credits and a list of the most important literature and online resources used here.

The complete series:

• Vol. 1: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Bob Dylan" & "The Freewheelin'" (1962/63)
  
• Vol. 2: Roots of Bob Dylan: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1963)
  
• Vol. 3: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Another Side of Bob Dylan" & Bringing It All Back Home" (1964/65)
  
• Vol. 4: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Highway 61 Revisited" & Blonde On Blonde" (1965/66) (coming later)

Another Side Of Bob Dylan


- All I Really Want To Do

Original melody, no known precursor

There is related song by Irving Berlin, "I Don't Want To Be Married", a quasi-feminist comical duet written in 1932 for Face The Music that also uses the phrase "to be friends" and challenges traditional gender stereotypes in a surprisingly provocative way. For more about this song see in this blog: "...Be Friends With You" - Questioning Stereotypes: Bob Dylan & Irving Berlin


- Black Crow Blues

This is a standard 12-bar-Blues with a generic melody.


- Spanish Harlem Incident

Original melody, no known precursor.

There's a charming dark-eyed little lassie that I know,

Who with tender teasing glances sets the heart aglow,

Lips as red as ripest cherries, eyes of dusky shade,

Sunburned as the leaves of Autumn is the gypsy maid.

She's no violet, she's no red, red rose,

And though the lily of the valley's sweet,

A sweeter flower grows.

She is no tulip rare in colors bright arrayed,

She's just a wild flow'r of the forrest shade,

This little gypsy maid.

"you promised that you forget me not

[...] but you forgot to remember"

"she said she would never forget

[...] but she acts like we never have met"

I Don't Believe You

I

C/G -------G7'---------/

can't understand she let

C/G------G7'-------/

go off my hand and

C/G---------G7'-------/C

left me here facing the wall

Remember

Re-

Bb----------/F+

member the night, the

Bb----------/F+

night___you said___"I

Bb------/C7b9----C7/F

love----you"_____remember?

In both songs also the harmonies are used in a very similar way. Berlin changes back and forth between Bb and F+ (the easiest way to play these chords on guitar on the top three strings: Bb - xxx331, F+ - xxx221): a part of the chord is moved a half step up and down. Dylan instead plays a Blues lick (that can be found for example in the introduction to Chuck Berry's version of "Worried Live Blues", 1960, mp3 of the intro) where he moves part of the chord two half steps up and down the fret (C/G - xxx053, G7' - xxx031).













In fact the melody and the harmonies of "I Don't Believe You" look like a simplified and much less sophisticated variant of what Berlin wrote for "Remember". Dylan built his new song around some of Berlin's musical ideas and adjusted them to his own style by replacing the original chords with an something most likely borrowed from the intro to Chuck Berry's "Worried life Blues". Of course I don't know if Dylan was unconsciously assimilating some ideas from a half-remembered song from the past or if he deliberately wrote a new song over this old classic. But it should come as no surprise that at this point in his career he was looking for inspiration outside the sphere of Folk and Blues.


- Ballad In Plain D

Based on "I Loved A Lass", Ewan MacColls version of a British ballad known since the 17th century ("The False Bride"/"The Forlorn Lover"/"A Week Before Easter", see the Traditional Ballad Index ; see a 17th century broadside: "The Forlorn Lover " ). I don't think the melody used by MacColl is that old as other versions seem to use different tunes (see f. ex. "Week Before Easter" at the Digital Tradition Song Database). He recorded it in 1961 for Classic Scots Ballads, Tradition TLP 1015 (see review ; a short snippett is available on allmusic.com and amazon.co.uk).

The tune and the first verse c/o The Digital Tradition Song Database:











Carolyn Hester recorded the song in 1963 on This Life I'm Living, Columbia CL-2032 and Richard Farina used the melody for his "Birmingham Sunday" (see the Richard & Mimi Fariňa Fan Site ).

This is another example where Dylan not only adapted the tune but where also the lyrics served as a starting point and offered some inspiration. His first verse starts with the same motif: "I once loved a girl [...] but now she is gone" echoes "I once loved a lass [...] but now [...] she's gone". Also his last verse:

Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me,
"How good, how good does it feel to be free?"
And I answer them most mysteriously,
"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?"

is built like one verse in MacColl's version (also noted by Heylin, p. 196):

The men of yon forest, they ask it of me
"How many strawberries grow in the salt sea?"
And I ask of them back with a tear in my eye
"How many ships sail in the forest?"

- It Ain't Me Babe

This is an original song with a new melody. Dylan recycled some ideas for the lyrics from his own earlier song "Hero Blues" and the "No, no, no..." of the refrain may be an ironic reference to the Beatles' "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah..." (see Heylin, p. 189 )

Go 'way f'om mah window,

Go 'way f'om mah do',

Go 'way f'om mah bedside,

Don' you tease me no mo'

--------------------------------


- Mama, You've Been on My Mind

Original melody, no known precursor

During some RT shows in '75 Dylan said that this song had been inspired by a song by Bill Monroe but I have no idea which one it could be. To me it seems the biggest musical influence on "Mama..." was his own "Don't Think Twice".



Bringing It All Back Home


- Subterranean Homesick Blues

Dylan has credited - in an interview with Robert Hilburn in 2004 - Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" (1956, here at YouTube) as a major inspiration for this song (see the interesting analysis at The Dylan Commentaries) . But it seems to me that Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" (also at YouTube) played a great role, too.

Chuck Berry's Rock'n Roll songs were based on the Hokum Blues of the late 20s and the 30s. "It's Tight Like That" by Tampa Red & Georgia Tom in 1928 was the key song of this genre and also one of the most influential and most often copied Blues recordings ever (mp3).



- She Belongs To Me

The melody of "She Belongs To Me" sounds to me as if it was derived from or inspired by "Betty And Dupree" (or "Dupree Blues" or "Frank Dupree"), a murder ballad from the 20s based on a real story (see Traditional Ballad Index & The Originals for discographical data). This song was written and first recorded by Blind Andy Jenkins (i. e. Rev. Andrew Jenkins, a very profilic songwriter) in 1925, the same year also by Vernon Dalhart (I haven't been able to find these two recordings) and since then there have been many versions, for example this one by the legendary guitar player Willie Walker (1930):

Betty told Dupree, "I want a diamond ring." (2x)
Dupree told Betty, "l'Il give you most anything."

He said, "Lie down, little Betty, see what tomorrow brings," (2x)
It may bring sunshine, may bring you that diamond ring."

Then he got his pistol, went to the jewelry store,(2x)
Killed a policeman and he wounded four or five more.

Then he went to the post office to get the evening mail (2x)
Sheriff caught poor Dupree and put him in that old Atlanta jail.

Dupree's mother said to Betty, "Looka' here what you done done."(2x)
"Made my boy rob and steal, now he is gonna be hung"

Betty went to the jailhouse, she could not see Dupree (2x)
She told the jailer, "Tell him these words for me."

"I come to see you, baby, I could not see your face." (2x)
"You know I love you, but I cannot take your place."

Sail on, sail on, sail on, Dupree, sail on. (2x)
You don't mind sailing, you'll be gone so doggone long.

- Maggie's Farm

Heylin (p. 231) claims that this is "an electric reworking of the traditional 'Down On Penny's Farm'". But the only thing these two songs have in common is the "farm". Apart from that they are completely different. "Maggie's Farm" has an original melody and to my knowledge there are no musical parallels to other songs.


- Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Original song with a new melody.


- Outlaw Blues
- On The Road Again



- Bob Dylan's 115th Dream

Recycles the melody of "Motorpsycho Nightmare"


- Mr. Tambourine Man

[...]

in the city's mad whirl;

Ere we thought of goin' to war

[Refrain]

I met her on Broadway
With a tambourine in her hand
"Follow on, follow on"
Was her solemn cry
To the passersby

[...]

In fact songs about the Salvation Army, especially about the girls with the tambourine were very popular in these years. One example is "My Salvation Army Girl" by Al Piantadosi & Jack Mason (1918, sheet music at the Lester S. Levy Collection) and another from before the war is "Salvation Nell" (1913) by Grant Clarke, Edgar Leslie & Theodore Morse (sheet music c/o The Lester S. Levy Collection, an mp3 of a recording by Henry Burr & The Peerless Quartet, 1913, c/o The Internet Archive). In this song all the men in town follow the "swell" girl from the Salvation Army with her "cute" tambourine:

Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land o' Crimond, I'll bid you fareweel
I'm bound out for Greenland and ready to sail
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale

Adieu to my comrades, for awhile we must part
And likewise the dear lass that fair won my heart
The cold ice of Greenland, my love will not chill
And the longer my absence, more loving she'll feel

Our ship is well rigged and she's ready to sail
Our crew, they are anxious to follow the whale
Where the icebergs do float and the stormy winds blow
Where the land and the ocean are covered with snow

The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare
No seed time nor harvest is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly on mountain and dale
But there isn't a birdie to sing tae the whale

There is no habitation for a man to live there
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear
And there will be no temptation to tarry long there
Wi' our ship bumper full, we will homeward repair

"Farewell To Tarwathie" was first recorded by A. L. Lloyd for the LP Thar She Blows! (Riverside RLP 12-635, 1956) which was reissued in the 60s in the USA on Whaling Ballads (Washington WLP 724). At the moment the song is available on A.L. Lloyd, Leviathan! - Ballads And Songs Of The Wailing Trade (Topic TSCD 497, 1967 &1998; here on amazon.co.uk). Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger printed it in 1960 in their important and influential collection The Singing Island. A Collection of English and Scots Folksongs and it was also included in MacColls Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland (Oak Publication, 1965) although the latter obviously postdates Dylan's recording. A fine recent performance by Raymond Crooke is available at YouTube

For more about this song's history see my article on justanothertune.com .

This is Vol. 2 of my series Roots of Bob Dylan 1962 - 1966. Here I will discuss the original songs from The Times They Are A-Changin' plus some important outtakes.

Please read the

• Introduction

that also includes the necessary credits and a list of the most important literature and online resources used here.

The complete series:

• Vol. 1: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Bob Dylan" & "The Freewheelin'" (1962/63)
  
• Vol. 2: Roots of Bob Dylan: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1963)
  
• Vol. 3: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Another Side of Bob Dylan" & Bringing It All Back Home" (1964/65)
  
• Vol. 4: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Highway 61 Revisited" & Blonde On Blonde" (1965/66) (coming later)

- The Times They Are A-Changin' (& Paths Of Victory)

Harvey (p. 112) claims that the melody is derived from "Deliverance Will Come" although he also writes (p. 119) that "the distance in terms of melodic development from 'Deliverance Will Come' to 'The Times...' is considerable" . This is a 19th century hymn most likely written in 1836 by The Reverend John B. Mathias. It has also been recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (1926, as "Palms Of Victory") and the Carter Family (1936, as "The Wayworn Traveler").

For more information about the song's history see Hymntime.com, Manfred Helfert's BobDylanRoots.com, Wikipedia and Harvey, p. 84. Here's a printed version from the Church and Sunday school hymnal : a collection of hymns and sacred songs, appropriate for church services, Sunday schools and general devotional exercises, 1902, p. 132 (c/o The Internet Archive):
























Dylan had already used this song as a blueprint for his own "Paths Of Victory" (see Harvey, p. 84-86) but I must admit I can't hear any musical relationship to "The Times They Are A-Changin'".

Recently Dylan himself revealed the source for the melody of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (see this article on the website of Tour Scotland. Thanks to Stew for bringing it to my attention and sending me some more information including some of the links used here): "51st (Highland) Division's Farewell To Sicily" (lyrics: Hamish Henderson (194?), music: "Farewell To The Creeks" by Pipe Major James Robertson (1915). About " Farewell To The Creeks", quoted from: Andrew Kuntz, The Fiddler's Companion:

Scottish, English, American; Pipe March and Jig. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. “Farewell to the Creeks” is a well-known north country tune composed by Pipe Major James ‘Pipie’ Robertson of Boyne, Banffshire, in 1915 when he was a prisoner of war in Germany[...] It is the vehicle for Hamish Henderson’s popular song "The Highland Division’s Farewell to Sicily,” also called “Banks of Sicily,” composed while he was Intelligence Officer for the Highland Division in World War II. G. W. Lockhart (in Fiddles and Folk, 1998) relates that Henderson had been viewing the smoke curling from Mt. Etna’s crater in the distance behind the Pipes and Drums of the division’s 153 Brigade, when the band launched into “Farewell to the Creeks.” “Without hindrance,” said Henderson, “the words came flowing to me.”

More info about this song is available on TheSessionOrg : Farewell To The Creeks (including sheet music). It's not so much Henderson who deserves the credit but Major Robertson for his beautiful melody. But Dylan didn't use the whole tune but only a very distinctive musical phrase that he turned into a kind of leitmotif for "The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Henderson's "Farewell To Sicily" was recorded by Ewan MacColl on Barrack Room Ballads (Topic 10T26, ca. 1958?). and then reissued on The Real MacColl (Topic, 1993, see amazon.co.uk for 30 seconds of this song). Hamish Henderson's own recording is now available on A' The Bairns O Adam (Greentrax CDTRAX244, 2003, hear a 30-second snippet at amazon.co.uk).

Richard Farina recorded it with Carolyn Hester and the McEwens on the Scottish EP Four For Fun (1962) and later used the tune as part of his Dulcimer instrumental "Hamish" (on Celebrations For A Gray Day, 1965, see the Richard and Mimi Farina Fan Site). The song was also printed in SingOut! in 1959 and in Norman Buchan, 101 Scottish Songs (1962). Unfortunately I can't use any these recordings here. But there are some more recent performances available at YouTube:

• "Farewell To The Creeks played on a bagpipe
• The McCalmans, Farewell To Sicily (1977)

- Ballad Of Hollis Brown

Based on "Pretty Polly". For the history of this song see the Traditional Ballad Index. It's a simplified variant of the older British ballad "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" or "The Gosport Tragedy" (printed since 1767 , see also the Traditional Ballad Index). Pretty Polly was first printed in the USA in Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains, Volume I (1916), p. 79-81 and first recorded by B.F. Shelton in 1927 (mp3 )

Most later versions seem to derive from Shelton's recording. Dylan himself performed that song in 1961 (mp3: Bonnie Beechers Apartment, May '61) and here the melody already sounds very close to the one used for "Hollis Brown". Harvey (p.13 ) thinks Jean Ritchie's version may have been Dylan's source (although Dylan surely knew Shelton's recording). She has recorded the song in 1959 for Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand & David Sear, A Folk Concert at Town Hall, New York (Folkways FW 02428) and then later in 1963 for Jean Ritchie And Doc Watson at Folk City (Folkways FW 40005). But of course it could also have been Pete Seeger's recording (on American Ballads, Folkways FW 02319, 1957).


- With God on Our Side

Based on Dominic Behan, "The Patriot Game" (see Wikipedia; Behan's own recording is at the moment available at YouTube). Dylan may have learned it from the Clancy Brothers, who used to perform this song; a live version was released in 1963 . In the USA "The Patriot Game" was also recorded by the Kingston Trio (YouTube) so I presume it was well known among Folk Revivalists. According to Heylin (p. 138) Dylan heard it first from British singer Nigel Denver.

The melody is older ("The Bold Grenadier"/"The Nightingale"/"One Morning In May", "The Lady And The Soldier") and variants have been collected since 1903 (see the Traditional Ballad Index, see also "Song To Woody"). There is also an undated 19th-century broadside in the collection of the Bodleian Library. Behan may have borrowed the tune from a recording of "The Nightingale" by Jo Stafford (1948, YouTube) that seems to be derived from a printed version in Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains, Volume I (1916), p. 68-72.

But it also could have been Burl Ives' version of this ballad: "Hear A Nightingale Sing", recorded 1952, issued 1956 on In The Quiet Of The Night , Decca, now available on The Singing Wayfarer, Proper Records. See Harvey, p. 123 for a discussion of this two songs' relationship to "The Patriot Game".


- One Too Many Mornings

According to Harvey (p. 77) Dylan "once again uses 'Deliverance Will Come' as a point of departure [...] He maintains some aspects of [that song] but significantly alters the form and phrase structure [...] the result is unique and fresh, the mark of a maturing composer".


- North Country Blues

[...] the melody derives from the late 19th century Great Lakes ballad 'Red Iron Ore' [...] The song was printed in Franz Rickaby's 'Ballads And Songs Of The Shanty Boy' (1926, p. 161 [here as a Google book , a short comment is on p. 225 ]) from the singing of Michael Cassius Dean of Virginia, Minnesota, 15 miles east of Hibbing [...] Dylan drops the [...] refrain, while retaining the meter, phrase structure, and much of the melodic contour from 'Red Iron Ore'" (Harvey, p. 76f).

This lyrics of "Red Iron Ore" were first printed in Dean's own book Flying cloud, and one hundred and fifty other old time songs and ballads of outdoor men, sailors, lumber jacks, soldiers, men of the great lakes, railroad men, miners, etc (1922, p. 12) Via Rickaby's book - who combined it with a tune, I wonder if that one really was the melody used by Dean - the song found its way into Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927, p. 176) and John Lomax, American Ballads And Folk Songs (1934, p. 477):























See also the Digital Tradition Database for a set of lyrics and the melody.

The earliest recordings:

• Bob Gibson, There's A Meetin' Here Tonight, Riverside RLP 111, 1958 (a snippet of this version can be found on allmusic.com )
• Vivien Richman, Sings Folk Songs of West Pennsylvania, FW03568 , 1959
• Alan Mills, Canada's Story In Song, Folkways FW0300 (as "Iron Ore by 'Fifty-Four'" same melody with a new set of lyrics about the building of a railway written in 1954)

- Only A Pawn In Their Game

Original melody, no known precedent. One of the major motifs in "Only A Pawn In Their Game" is the idea that the people are taught racism ("He's taught in his school...", "And he's taught how to walk in a pack..."). The same idea - only expressed in a more universal way - can be found "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" (from South Pacific, 1949) by Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers:

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

- Boots Of Spanish Leather

See "Girl From The North Country" that has exactly the same melody.

The lyrics are typical Dylanesque patchwork. The "lonesome ocean" may have been borrowed from "Golden Vanity", the "diamonds from the deepest ocean" make me think of Irving Berlin's great classic "How Deep Is The Ocean", "[...] stormy weather" may also be a reference to the famous song by Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler and the "spanish leather" is surely derived from the "Gipsy Laddie/Gipsy Davy" song family where it was an important textual hook that has survived from the earliest 18th century broadsides until today:

She pulled off her high heel'd shoes,
They were made of Spanish Leather.

"My Ship" by Kurt Weill & Ira Gershwin from the 1941 musical Lady In The Dark shares with "Boots Of Spanish Leather" the major motif: all the material things don't mean nothing if I don't get my "own true love" back

My ship has sails that are made of silk
The decks are trimmed with gold
And of jam and spice
There's a paradise in the hold.

My ship's aglow with a million pearls
And rubies fill each bin
The sun sits high in a sapphire sky
When my ship comes in

I can wait the years till it appears
One fine day one spring
But the pearls and such
They don't mean much
If there's missing just one thing

I do not care if that day arrives
That dream need never be
If the ship I sing
Doesn't also bring
My own true love to me

Another closely related 20th century song is "Something To Remember You By" by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, written in 1930 for the revue Three's A Crowd where Libby Holman sang it to a sailor. This song later became a standard, it was recorded and performed by many singers. In the 40s it was a hit for Dinah Shore, see YouTube for Vera Lynn's version, 1941:

Oh, give me something to remember you by
When you are far away from me, dear;
Some little something, meaning love can not die,
No matter where you chance to be.
Though Ill pray for you, night and day for you;
It will see me through like a charm,
Till youre returning.
So give me something to remember you by
When you are far away from me.

Here the woman asks her sailor to give her a token "to remember you by", "some little something" that should help her during the time when he's away. But - unlike Dylan's song - it's only one side of the story and the listener somehow knows that the sailor won't be back. This is a song that Dylan surely knew well. "Something To Remember You By" may have also been an influence on "Girl From The North Country" where a variant of the line "pray for you, night and day for you" was used. Other related sailor songs from this era are "I Cover The Waterfront" and "Red Sails In The Sunset", both torch songs where a lonesome lover is waiting for a ship to return with the lost love.

Even more songs from this song family were published during the 19th century: a sailor leaves his girl and sails away, she is usually waiting patiently at home, sometimes he comes back, sometimes not. Examples are ballads like: "Sailor and His Bride", "The Gallant Sailor", "Sweet Jenny On The Moor", "Bid Me Good-bye", "Sailor's Bride", "Sailor And His True Love", "Phoebe And Her Dark-Eyed Sailor", Robert Burns' "The Soldier's Return", "Black-Eyed Susan" and many more. Many of them were later collected from oral tradition by 20th century Folklorists, so they must have been really popular.

A very interesting song from this family is "Sailor's Love Letter" (or "The Letter"). The lyrics share some motifs with "Boots Of Spanish Leather". I wonder if Dylan was aware of this one at that time. This ballad (first published ca. 1800) was very popular during the 19th century. There were a lot of broadsides printed in Britain and also some in the USA.

Some examples from Britain (c/o the Allegro Catalogue of Ballads, Bodleian Library):

• Harding B11 (3106) (between 1813 and 1838)
• Firth c.12 (332) (between 1863 and 1885, "The original song")
• Firth c.12(338) (undated)

From the USA:

• a broadside, dated (ca. 1860s) (from America Singing: Nineteenth Century Songsheets, LOC)
• and as as sheet music:The Letter. A Popular Ballad. From the Songs of the Superstions [sic] of Ireland. (undated, "Written and Composed by Samuel Lover, Esqr." [I presume he wrote a new melody]; "as Sung with great Applause by Madame [Maria] Caradori Allan [Italian concert & opera singer, 1800-1865] " (c/o Lester Levy Collection Of Sheet Music).

This is a compilation of all verses used for this song. The versions I know are either missing the first two stanzas or the last two.

Dearest maiden I must leave thee,
Far to sail on the raging sea,
I'll return when Fortune waves me
Back again my love, to thee.
I'll return, and then we'll marry;
-Oh, how happy then we'll be!-
But if I am forced to tarry,
I'll send a long letter back to thee.

Morn is broke and they are parted
Still the bark's in sight of home;
She walks the beach quite broken-hearted;
She can but view the bark alone.
"Adieu," she cried, "let fortune guide thee
O'er the wide and trackless sea;
Pray forget not those behind thee,
And send a letter back to me."

Fare thee well, love, now thou art going,
Over the wild and trackless sea;
Smooth be its waves, and fair the wind blowing,
Though it's to bear thee far from me.
But when on the western ocean,
Some happy home-bound bark you see,
Swear by the truth of your heart's devotion,
To send a letter back to me.

Think of the shore thou'st left behind thee,
Even when reaching a brighter strand,
Let not the golden glories blind thee,
Of that glorious Indian land.
Send me not its diamond treasures,
Nor pearls from the depths of its sandy sea,
But tell me of all your woes and pleasures,
In a long letter back to me.

But while dwelling in lands of pleasure,
Think as you bask in the bright sunshine,
That while the lingering time I measure,
Sad and wintry hours are mine.
Lonely by my taper weeping,
And watching the spark of promise to see,
All for that bright spark my night watch keeping,
For, oh! 'tis a letter back from thee.

To say that soon thy sail will be flowing,
Homeward to bear thee over the sea,
Calm be the waves, and swift the wind blowing.
For, oh! thou art coming back to me.
To say thy heart is as true as ever
Though many fair ones thou hast seen,
But from love's pledge you ne'er shall siver
Till death his dart does pierce so keen.

I can't leave out Irving Berlin's "Kiss Your Sailor Boy Goodbye" (1913, see the sheet music), an amusing parody of these kind of songs. At this time Berlin was experimenting with ballads and he regularly made fun of Victorian values and the romantic ideology in general:

My honey dear, my honey dear
You hear the steamboat whistle blowin'
My honey dear, my honey dear
The whistle means I must be going
Far across the sea
Hear them calling me
It's the Captain's orders
I must go
So

[chorus:]
Kiss your sailor boy goodbye
Now don't you cry
Just dry that tear from your eye, my honey
Don't feel so blue
I'll write to you
If I don't I hope to die
When I'm away
You bet I'll stay
All by my "own-some," real lonesome for you
Honey
Sweet letters I'll be sending
With crosses on the ending
Kiss your sailor boy goodbye

[2nd verse:]
My honey dear, my honey dear
You better save up all your lovin'
Remember dear, remember dear
My heart'll be just like an oven
When my ship comes in
Honey, we'll begin
To make up for lost time
Don't forget
Pet
[chorus:]

Most important in "Boots Of Spanish Leather" is the reversal of the gender roles. The song starts with a male voice singing "Oh I'm sailin' away my own true love" and seems to take the typical path of these kind of stories. But with verse 2 we hear that it is a dialogue between two lovers and only with verse 7 it becomes clear that it is the woman who has left to sail "across the lonesome ocean". This skillful dramartugy gives the song most of its effectivity.

In 19th century songs it was usually the man - a "real" sailor or soldier - who had to leave. 20th century songs like "Something To Remember You By" and "I Cover The Waterfront" had originally been writen for female performers. But when male singers recorded them they already anticipated the reversal of gender roles. One of the major developments in 20th century popular songs was change of female role models. Now the girls became more active and more self-confident and it is often enough the man who has to wait patiently for lost lover.


- When The Ship Comes In

Original melody, no known precursor ("no specific melodic precedent" - Harvey, p. 118).


- The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll

Heylin (p. 166) claims that Dylan has set his lyrics "to the tune of Child Ballad 173 [see also the Traditional Ballad Index], 'Mary Hamilton'". I presume he means one of the melodies (see for example the different tune printed in Child, The English And Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. 5, 1898, p. 421) used for this ancient ballad, the one that is common today (c/o : Digital Tradition Database):











This is the melody used for example by Joan Baez, who recorded the song in 1960 (here is an early live performance at YouTube; check out a fine recent performance by Raymond Crooke, also at YouTube ). Heylin (p. 168) mentions Jeannie Robertson's "deathless rendition" (first released on The Folk Songs Of Britain: Child Ballads 2, Caedmon TC1146) as a possible inspiration. But I only hear very few echoes of the melody of Joan Baez' version in the refrain of Dylan's song.

Dylan himself once claimed (in the liner notes to Biograph) that "Pirate Jenny" (also called "The Black Freighter", original German title: "Seeräuber Jenny") from the Dreigroschenoper by Brecht & Weill (1928) had served as a model for "Hattie Carroll". Harvey (p. 64) sees "structural, melodic, and lyric connections" to "Hattie Carroll". But I must admit that his analysis doesn't convince me. Here's Lotte Lenya singing the original German version in the movie Die Dreigroschenoper (1931):



In 1962 she performed the English version for the BBC:



I think "Hattie Carroll" owes very little to those two songs and the melody is for the most part Dylan's own work.

But maybe it was another ballad by Brecht that gave Dylan some ideas for the structure of "Hattie Carroll": ín his "Von der Kindesmörderin Marie Farrar" (written 1922, first published 1926 in the "Hauspostille"; engl. "Of The Infanticide Marie Farrar"; see Gray, Encyclopedia, p. 86) the verses close with a short refrain that directly adresses the listener:

[1st verse in German]
Marie Farrar, geboren im April
Unmündig, merkmallos, rachitisch, Waise
Bislang angeblich unbescholten, will
Ein Kind ermordet haben in der Weise:
Sie sagt, sie habe schon im zweiten Monat
Bei einer Frau in einem Kellerhaus
Versucht, es abzutreiben mit zwei Spritzen
Angeblich schmerzhaft, doch ging's nicht heraus.

Doch ihr, ich bitte euch, wollt nicht in Zorn verfallen
Denn alle Kreatur braucht Hilf von allen.

An English translation:

Marie Farrar, born in April,
No marks, a minor, rachitic, both parents dead,
Allegedly, up to now without police record,
Committed infanticide, it is said,
As follows: in her second month, she says,
With the aid of a barmaid she did her best
To get rid of her child with two douches,
Allegedly painful but without success.

But you, I beg you, check your wrath and scorn
For man needs help from every creature born.

- Restless Farewell

This song is of course based on the Clancy Brother's version of "The Parting Glass" (or: "Good Night and Joy Be With You All"). They brought it to America, it was in their live repertoire in the early 60s and they released a live version in 1964 on The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem, In Person At Carnegie Hall (see allmusic.com).

• A19th century broadside.
• A fine performance by Liam Clancy & Tommy Makem (Dublin 1977) at YouTube.
• More about this song on my website: Some Notes On The History Of "The Parting Glass"

-----------------------------------



- Lay Down Your Weary Tune

"I had heard a Scottish ballad on an old 78 record that I was trying to really capture the feeling of, that was haunting me [...] There were no lyrics or anything. It was just a melody [...] I wanted lyrics that would feel the same way" (Bob Dylan, liner notes to Biograph)

Now it is not known what recording Dylan was listening to but the melody he wrote for "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" is surely related to the one used for the Folk revival standard "The Water Is Wide" (see also Harvey, p. 60/61). Here is one variant (thanks to the Digital Tradition Database, from a recording by the Beers Family that is available at the website of the State Archives Of Florida):








Please see my attempt at reconstructing the history of this song that is now available on my website:

• Vol. 1: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Bob Dylan" & "The Freewheelin'" (1962/63)
  
• Vol. 2: Roots of Bob Dylan: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1963)
  
• Vol. 3: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Another Side of Bob Dylan" & Bringing It All Back Home" (1964/65)
  
• Vol. 4: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Highway 61 Revisited" & Blonde On Blonde" (1965/66) (coming later)
  

Introduction

It is widely known a lot of Bob Dylan's songs are in some way based on or derived from or influenced by earlier songs. Discussing these influences is a favourite subject among Dylan fans and professional "Dylanologists". Unfortunately these days Dylan is often enough smeared as a plagiarist who has stolen "everything". That's of course laughable.

There is also the opposite attitude: everything is justified because it is the so-called "Folk process". But this term often only serves as an excuse for blatant plagiarism and a songwriters inability or unwillingness to come up with something original. The truth is somewhere in between. Every songwriter borrows and "steals". Musicologist Charles Hamm for example once wrote about Irving Berlin:

"[he] more effectively than any of his peers, drew on the collective knowledge and memory of his audience to fashion dramatic situations and musical phrases similar to those found in songs they already knew, [but] shaped in slightly unexpected ways. His best songs were almost - but not quite - already known to his listeners when heard for the first time. They were old stories with a new twist [...] Berlin [...] deliberately and routinely used rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic patterns similar to those found in other pieces, as well as direct quotations of lyrics and music from other songwriters, for associative and expressive effect" (quoted from Professor Hamm's great book Irving Berlin, Songs From The Melting Pot: The Formative Years 1907 - 1914, New York & Oxford 1997, p. 108/9).

Writing a popular song often means using bits and pieces from very disparate sources and then turn it into something new. It is important to understand how Dylan used this bits and pieces because it helps to understand the songwriting technique. At first it's always necessary to explain exactly the relationship to the song used as a source:

• sometimes the melody is lifted completely, as for example in "Song To Woody", "Masters Of War", "Bob Dylan's Dream" or "Farewell Angelina".
• then there are Dylan songs that are in one way or another based upon on songs: sometimes the melody is still very close to the original (as in "North Country" Blues"), sometimes it's partly changed and only retains some elements but is still recognizable (as for example in "Lay Down Your Weary Tune"), often it's very different, in fact a new melody (as in "Girl From The North Country" or in "I Don't Believe You")
• then there are many examples where Dylan only uses an idea, a musical phrase, a motif, a structural device etc. from an older song and reshapes it to serve his purposes.

I tried to put together what is known today and sometimes tried to dig a little deeper (and added some of my own research). For the early songs I will regularly refer to and quote from Todd Harvey's great book The Formative Dylan (2001). Unfortunately Clinton Heylin's Revolution In The Air. The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973 (2009) is often very disappointing.

I will write mostly about possible sources and influences for the music but will occasionally also discuss the lyrics. I'm also interested in Dylan's relationship to mainstream popular music, a question that is rarely approached by other researchers and writers. Too often they only refer to Folk & Blues. But I think that Bob Dylan was from the start (and especially since "Another Side of Bob Dylan", 1964) also influenced and inspired by the songs and writers of this genre (even though he rarely acknowledged them).

I have included all the songs from the regular LP's as well as a few important outtakes. Maybe I'll add some more later. An earlier version of this work as well as some individual parts have been used by me in Bob Dylan forums (especially the ExpectingRain discussion board).


Credits

I wish to thank Stew in Scotland with whom I have discussed some of these songs, who has always supported me with additional information and who has written some articles for my website some years ago.

The research for the sources of Dylan's songs started long time ago and much information was unearthed in groundbreaking articles in Dylan-fanzines in the 80s & 90s. Especially Matthew Zuckermann's article If There's An Original Thought Out There, I Could Use It Right Now: The Folk Roots of Bob Dylan (in Isis magazine ca. 1996, an expanded version is available online at Expectingrain) is still inspiring. I am also indebted to Manfred Helfert's great site Bob Dylan's Musical Roots & Influences.

• BobDylan.Com (lyrics for all Dylan songs)
• A Traditional Music Library
• The allegro Catalogue of Ballads (Bodleian Library)
• Digital Tradition Database (with lyrics to a lot of songs and many scores, some of which I used here)
• Folk Music - An Index to Recorded Resources
• Smithsonian Folkways
• Traditional Ballad Index

Many thanks also to all the uploaders at YouTube and the Internet Archive and to Google Books

This is Vol. 1 of my series Roots of Bob Dylan 1962 - 1966. Here I will discuss the original songs from "Bob Dylan" and "Freewheelin'" plus some important outtakes.