Positively 4th Street

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"Positively 4th Street"
Single by Bob Dylan
Released	September 1965
Format	45 RPM
Recorded	July 29, 1965
Genre	Rock
Length	3.54 min
Label	Columbia 43389
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston
Chart positions
US #7, UK #8
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Like a Rolling Stone"	"Positively 4th Street"	"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"

"Positively 4th Street" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, first recorded by Dylan in New York City on July 29, 1965. Released as Columbia Records single 43389 during September of the same year, it reached #7 on the U.S. charts and #8 on the U.K. charts.

[edit] Criticism

"Positively 4th Street" lyrics are bitter and derisive, which caused many at the time of the song's release to draw comparison with Dylan's similarly toned previous single "Like a Rolling Stone" (indeed, journalist Andy Gill described it as "simply the second wind of a one-sided argument, so closely did it follow its predecessor's formula, both musically and attitudinally"). Despite its direct second-person voice, it has found many different meanings for many different listeners. Many have interpreted the song to be a general disparagement to the opportunistic and disingenuous people of the world, though like many Dylan songs it is probable that he was directing it at one or more specific individuals as well.

There is uncertainty about exactly which "4th Street" the title refers to, with many scholars and fans speculating it refers to more than one. New York City's 4th Street is at the heart of the Manhattan residential district Greenwich Village, where Dylan once lived (the building, at 161 West 4th Street, now houses an erotic goods shop). This area was central to the burgeoning folk music scene of the early 1960s around Dylan and many other influential singer-songwriters. However, the song also may concern Dylan's stay at the University of Minnesota, where 4th Street is one of the two main roads crossing through the part of campus known as Dinkytown, where Dylan lived and performed.

The song is generally assumed to ridicule Greenwich Village people who criticized Dylan, for his departure from simple folk styles towards the electric guitar. Many of them were good friends, took offense, and assumed that the song carried personal references. Village critic Izzy Young had this to say of the accusation:

"At least five hundred came into my place [the Folklore Center]... and asked if it was about me. I don't know if it was, but it was unfair. I'm in the Village twenty-five years now. I was one of the representatives of the Village, there is such a thing as the Village. Dave Van Ronk was still in the Village. Dylan comes in and takes from us, uses my resources, then he leaves and he gets bitter. He writes a bitter song. He was the one who left."

Other possible targets of the song's derision are: Tom Paxton, who had condemned Dylan's "going electric" in a Sing Out! magazine article titled "Folk Rot"; Irwin Silber, editor of Sing Out! and another critic of Dylan's move away from traditional folk styles; and Dylan's ex-girlfriend Suze Rotolo. Phil Ochs was also claimed to be a target in Michael Schumacher's book There For Fortune: The Life Of Phil Ochs.

David Hadju took the title of the song for his 2002 book, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina.

[edit] Musical structure

The song, like most of Dylan's, is composed of a simple chordal and melodic structure; the verse has a I-ii-IV progression followed by a I-V-IV-ii-V. While the lyrics are distinctly negative, the organ-dominated backing music is major and almost care-free. This contrast heightens the ridicule and mockery of the lyrics.

[edit] Recording sessions & release

"Positively 4th Street" was recorded July 29, 1965 during the same sessions that produced most of the material that appeared on Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. The song was the last song to be attempted that day, with Dylan and a variety of session musicians having successfully recorded master takes of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" and "Tombstone Blues" earlier. The band for "Positively 4th Street" featured Robert Gregg (drums), Russ Savakus (bass), Frank Owens (piano), Al Kooper (organ) and Mike Bloomfield (guitar), with the song appearing as "Black Dalli Rue" on the studio's official recording sheets.

Though recorded at the Highway 61 sessions, the song was saved for single-only release, eventually charting in the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic. Critic Dave Marsh praised it as "an icy hipster bitch session" with "Dylan cutting loose his barbed-wire tongue at somebody luckless enough to have crossed the path of his desires." The song later appeared on the compilations Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Biograph, and The Essential Bob Dylan.

The song was also covered by The Beatles in the Let It Be sessions. During the creatively bleak spots in the Let It Be sessions George Harrison would often contribute a Dylan cover to lighten the mood.

Bryan Ferry covered this song on his 2007 album, Dylanesque.