JUNE 9, 1964 – During an evening session Bob Dylan recorded “Mr. Tambourine Man” with producer Tom Wilson at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. This was the first session for the “Another Side Of Bob Dylan” album, which saw Dylan recording 14 original compositions that night. The take, recorded with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, was cut from the album because Dylan felt the song was special and their performance did not do it justice. Sometime that month he also recorded a publisher’s demo of the song at Witmark Music. More than six months passed before Dylan re-recorded the song, again with Wilson in the producer’s chair, during the final “Bringing It All Back Home” session on January 15, 1965, the same day that “Gates of Eden,” “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” were recorded.
The Byrds later recorded a version of “Mr. Tambourine Man” that was released as their first single and reached #1 on both the US & UK Charts. The Byrds’ recording of the song was influential in initiating the musical subgenre of folk-rock, leading many contemporary bands to mimic its fusion of jangly guitars and intellectual lyrics in the wake of the single’s success.
The “Bringing it All Back Home” version of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was included on “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits” in 1967 and several later Dylan compilation albums, including “Biograph,” “Masterpieces,” and “The Essential Bob Dylan.” The two June 1964 recordings, one with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and the other at Witmark Music, have been released on “The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home” and “The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos 1962–1964” respectively. Outtakes from the January 15, 1965 recording session were released on “The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966” in 2015.
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JUNE 9, 1964 – Bob Dylan recorded “Mr. Tambourine Man”
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