Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

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“Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
Song by Bob Dylan
Album Highway 61 Revisited
Released August 30, 1965
Recorded Columbia Studios, New York, August 4, 1965
Genre Rock, Folk rock
Length 5:31
Label Columbia
Writer Bob Dylan
Producer Bob Johnston
Highway 61 Revisited track listing
Highway 61 Revisited
(7)		 “Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
(8)		 Desolation Row
(9)


"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan. It was originally released on the album Highway 61 Revisited. It was recorded on August 4, 1965, in one of the last recording sessions for the album, right before recording Desolation Row, which followed it on the album as well.[1] It is considered one of Dylan's 1960's masterpieces, and a comic tour de force.[1]

Contents

[edit] Lyrics

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" continues on the road weariness from the album's previous song, "Highway 61 Revisited".[2] The singer finds himself in Juarez, Mexico at Easter time, amidst sickness, despair, whores and saints.[3] While there, he encounters shady women like Saint Annie and Sweet Melinda, as well as corrupt authorities, and drinks and drugs his way into helplessness.[1] The song establishes a nightmare vision as the is pulled by gravity, negativity, drink, illness, remorse and memories.[4] Scene and situation are combined into a gorgeous evocation of muddied conscienceness without ever resolving into a clear picture of what the song is about.[5] But in the surprising final verse, the singer has had enough finds the means to pick up and leave it all behind and head back to New York City, where things may be better.[6]

Like many songs on Highway 61 Revisited, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is overflowing with literary references, including images recalling Malcolm Lowry's novel Under the Volcano,[7] a street name taken from Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue,"[8] and the title's reference to Rimbaud's "My Bohemian Life (Fantasy)," in which Rimbaud refers to himself as "Tom Thumb in a daze."[9]

[edit] Music

Musically, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" has no chorus, but six AAAA rhymed verses, sweetened and deepened by a handful of chords and Dylan's vocal emphasis. Keyboards, drums and vocals provide texture.[10] The keyboad parts are particularly notable, making innovative use of two different pianos, with Al Kooper playing an electric Hohner Pianet and Paul Griffin adding a bar room feel on tack piano.[11]

[edit] Other Appearances

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' was included on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II. An alternate take of the song is included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack.[12]

It has also been popular live in concert. A live version recorded at a concert in Liverpool on May 14, 1966 was released as the B-side to the release of the I Want You single.[13] The song was also part of the famous and controversial electric set with The Band of the concert at Albert Hall on May 26, 1966 that was released on the album The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert.

The song has also been covered many times. A live cover by Neil Young is included on the album The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. Others who have covered the song include Judy Collins, Nina Simone and Linda Ronstadt.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d All Music Guide Tom Thumb.
  2. ^ Humphries, Patrick (1995). Bob Dylan, 26. ISBN0 7119 4868 2. 
  3. ^ Shelton, Robert (1997). No Direction Home; The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 282. ISBN 0-306-80782-3. 
  4. ^ Shelton, Robert (1997). No Direction Home; The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 282. ISBN 0-306-80782-3. 
  5. ^ Williams, Paul (1991). Bob Dylan Performing Artist, 160. ISBN 0-88733-131-9. 
  6. ^ Shelton, Robert (1997). No Direction Home; The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 282. ISBN 0-306-80782-3. 
  7. ^ Shelton, Robert (1997). No Direction Home; The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 282. ISBN 0-306-80782-3. 
  8. ^ Shelton, Robert (1997). No Direction Home; The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 282. ISBN 0-306-80782-3. 
  9. ^ Gill, Andy (1998). Don't Think Twice It's All Right: Bob Dylan The Early Years, 88. ISBN 1 56025 185 9. 
  10. ^ Williams, Paul (1991). Bob Dylan Performing Artist, 167. ISBN 0-88733-131-9. 
  11. ^ Gill, Andy (1998). Don't Think Twice It's All Right: Bob Dylan The Early Years, 88. ISBN 1 56025 185 9. 
  12. ^ All Music Guide Bootleg 7.
  13. ^ Williams, Paul (1991). Bob Dylan Performing Artist, 167. ISBN 0-88733-131-9. 

[edit] External links