


“Bob and I wailed like we were at a blues bar in Mississippi,” Robertson wrote in his biography Testimony. He remembers the Nasvhille musicians falling silent as Dylan handed him his first opportunity, on Obviously Five Believers. Robertson is in incendiary form throughout. From there, Blonde On Blonde is a bluesy masterwork, refining the blueprint established on Highway 61 Revisited. Recording kicked off at midnight, Henry Strzelecki laid on the floor pushing Kooper’s organ pedals and laughing maniacally.Īnnouncing the album with a wonky ode to getting high was textbook uncompromising Dylan, and despite its overt drug references, when released as a single it reached No. The musicians, high as kites, swapped instruments and Dylan demanded the sound of a marching band, with trombonist Wayne Butler called in. We’ll send out for something’,” recalled Moss in Howard Sounes’ Down The Highway biography. “He said ‘I’m not going to do this with a bunch of straight people. Dylan returned to Tennessee in March, these sessions culminating in a party at which everyone was encouraged to “get stoned” before recording the opening Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. The February sessions also yielded Visions Of Johanna and Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again, which later featured on the soundtrack to Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. It was the longest pop song ever recorded, cut in a single take, and Dylan would later proclaim it “the best I’ve ever written”. “I was playing one-handed, looking at my watch,” recalled drummer Kenny Buttrey. Accounts differ over the order in which the songs were recorded, but McCoy believes the majestic 11-minute album closer Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, with its streetcar visions, Arabian drums and memories of Cannery Row, came first, in the early hours of 16 February 1966. They won’t do that in New York.”īiographer Robert Shelton wrote that Blonde On Blonde starts with a joke and ends with a hymn.

Dylan liked what he found in Music City, telling an Australian interviewer: “If they want to make good records they just sit around and wait all night ‘til you’re ready. Johnston reputedly sent in a janitor with a sledgehammer to remove any obstacles to live recording, Dylan working on a piano at the Ramada Inn while the sessioneers played cards and waited for the call. Mythology surrounds who played what, debate even rages over what date the album was released, but in Nashville, Dylan had found the perfect environment for his magnum opus to unfurl. While Mike Bloomfield starred on Highway 61, Blonde On Blonde’s guitarists include Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss, Robertson and Jerry Kennedy. Accompanied by Robbie Robertson and Al Kooper, who played the organ on Like A Rolling Stone, Dylan was met by session aces who eyed the New Yorkers suspiciously. In 10 recording sessions we didn’t get one song … It was the band.” Seeing off resistance from manager Albert Grossman, Johnston persuaded Dylan to go to Nashville. The sessions and further attempts early in ‘66 yielded little, leaving Dylan to reflect: “I was really down. After unleashing the semi-electric Bringing It All Back Home in March 1965 and fully committing on Highway 61 Revisited five months later, 24-year-old Dylan arrived at New York’s Columbia Studio A in October with boos ringing in his ears, along with The Hawks and producer Bob Johnston. Released in June 1966, Blonde On Blonde completed a stunning trilogy over 15 months, a run equalled only by The Beatles’ mid-60s imperial period.
BOB DYLAN BLONDE ON BLONDE ALBUM MEANING HOW TO
