The Basement Tapes (Sessions)

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This is about recording sessions. For the album with a similar name see The Basement Tapes.

The Basement Tape is a set of over 100 songs recorded by Bob Dylan mostly in the cellar of "Big Pink", the house in West Saugerties, New York (near Woodstock) rented by some members of his former live backing band, The Hawks, in the spring and summer of 1967, shortly before the recording of the John Wesley Harding album in Nashville. The other musicians on these sessions were Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel; they later became The Band.

Some of this material was pressed as an acetate labelled The Basement Tape and circulated to other musicians including Manfred Mann, Peter, Paul and Mary and The Byrds, who would release hit versions of several songs.

When the existence of the tapes became common knowledge there were repeated demands for their release including articles in Rolling Stone. A bootleg record of songs from the tape, Great White Wonder, was released in 1969 and a selection was subsequently given official release as The Basement Tapes by Columbia Records in 1975.

As well as Dylan originals and traditional folk material, the sessions included many cover versions including four songs associated with Johnny Cash, four associated with Ian and Sylvia, two from Hank Williams and two from Hank Snow.

[edit] Tracks

Below are the songs constituting The Basement Tapes, in alphabetical order. This encompasses all known recordings made by Bob Dylan with The Band during 1967. The vast majority of these recordings are still officially unreleased, though they are widely available in trading circles and via the Internet. There are over five hours of music here, although due to the nature of the recordings, there are several fragmentary, or incomplete, or badly recorded tracks.

"A Fool Such as I" (2:50) (Bill Trader): Hank Snow had made this song a hit in the country charts in 1953, though undoubtedly the more famous rendition is Elvis Presley's 1959 recording, which went to number 2 in the Pop charts.
"All American Boy" (3:56) (Bill Parsons-Orville Lunsford): less a cover and more a whole-sale rewrite, or more likely a rather snarling parody, of the original song. Supposedly about Elvis's rise to fame, and originally a hit for Bobby Bare. The song also has references to Elvis's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, with Dylan working in some personal references to his manager during the 1960s, Albert Grossman.
"All You Have To Do Is Dream – Take 1" (3:48): one of the last songs recorded during the Basement Tapes sessions. Levon Helm is present on drums on both takes. Not to be confused with the Everly Brothers' “All I Have To Do Is Dream."
"All You Have To Do Is Dream – Take 2" (3:47): second take. Notable for a jarring loud guitar solo by Robbie Robertson in the middle of the song.
"Apple Suckling Tree – Take 1" (2:42): one of the few Basement Tapes sessions to have drums (played by Robertson). Written to the tune of “Frog Went A-Courting". Garth Hudson believes this may have been recorded at the Ohayo Mountain home of Clarence Schmidt.
"Apple Suckling Tree – Take 2" (2:48): This take, with some additional overdubs in 1975, was released on the official album.
"Attackin' My Broom" (:21): a very brief fragment found immediately before the first take of The Spanish Song.
"Baby Ain't That Fine" (2:08) (Dallas Frazier): a 1966 country hit duet for Melba Montgomery and Gene Pitney.
"Baby, Won't You Be My Baby" (2:47): A Basement Tapes original that unfortunately cuts out right in the middle of what appears to be an extended instrumental break. The rest of the performance may have been taped over.
"Banks of the Royal Canal" (5:41) (Brendan Behan): also known as “The Royal Canal" and “The Auld Triangle", the song opens Behan's first play, The Quare Fellow, and is about being imprisoned. While Dylan's “I Shall Be Released" is a song of hope for escape from captivity, this song is largely the antithesis of that song, mired in total despair.
"Be Careful of the Stones That You Throw – False Start" (19): false start.
"Be Careful of the Stones That You Throw – Complete Take" (2:58) (Bonnie): Little Jimmy Dickens first recorded this song in 1949, and Hank Williams released the song under the “Luke the Drifter" moniker in 1952. Sounds very much like a first-time run through.
"Belchazaar – False Start" (:18): false start, or perhaps a fragment of a taped over performance.
"Belchazaar" (3:09) (Johnny Cash): A Johnny Cash song released in 1957. The first of three Cash covers recorded during the Basement Tapes sessions.
"Bells of Rhymney" (3:12) (Idris Davies-Pete Seeger): Recorded by both the Byrds on the Mr. Tambourine Man album and The Essential Pete Seeger by Pete Seeger in 1965.
"Big River – Take 1" (:50): breaks downs.
"Big River – Take 2" (2:30) (Johnny Cash: The second Johnny Cash cover from the sessions. Cash recorded the song for Sun Records in 1958.
"Blues Instrumental" (2:06):
"Bonnie Ship The Diamond" (3:33): traditional sea shanty often performed during the folk revival of the 1960s.
"Bourbon Street" (2:24): A seemingly complete performance, though the very end is muffled and the song just cuts off. This, along with “Don't Ya Tell Henry," prominently features the trombone. Most likely recorded back to back.
"Bring It On Home" (2:59): Dylan & The Band goofing off, variation of Bo Diddley's “Bring It To Jerome" from 1955.
"Clothes Line Saga – False Start" (:25): Dylan and The Band start out, then promptly change key and start anew.
"Clothes Line Saga – Complete Take" (2:57): Basement Tapes original. Overdubs were added in 1975 for the official album.
"Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" (2:04): another folk revival standard.
"Comin' Round the Mountain" (1:37): western song copyrighted by Spencer Williams in 1923. Famous as a singalong.
"Confidential to Me" (1:33) (Dorinda Morgan): cover of a 1956 hit by Sonny Knight.
"Cool Water" (3:00): a song widely recorded by a quite the variety of artists, perhaps most prominently the 1959 recording cut by Marty Robbins.
"Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) – Take 1" (2:11): A song Dylan has played frequently live. First take.
"Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) – Take 2" (2:06) (Acetate): Second take. This version was officially released on the 1975 album.
"Don't Ya Tell Henry" (2:26): almost certainly cut at the same time “Bourbon Street" was cut, and featuring the trombone as the primary instrument. The official album features the song, though not this recording. The recording released on the album is a rather straight laced version featuring The Band only.
"Don't You Try Me Now" (3:11): a rather undeveloped original. With some more work it would stand as a fine Basement Tapes original.
"Down On Me" (:40): a traditional song famously covered by Janis Joplin. Just a fragment here.
"Flight of the Bumblebee" (2:20) (Rimsky-Korsakov): a Classical instrumental done by many other artists.
"Folsom Prison Blues" (2:43) (Johnny Cash): The third Johnny Cash cover, first recorded by Cash in 1956.
"Four Strong Winds" (3:39) (Ian Tyson): One of several Ian and Sylvia Tyson songs. Ian and Sylvia recorded several Basement Tapes songs as well.
"The French Girl – Initial Tuning" (:22): Dylan gives The Band directions on what key to play in.
"The French Girl Take 1" (2:11): first run through.
"The French Girl Take 2" (2:55) (Ian Tyson): Another Ian and Sylvia Tyson song. Dylan would return to this in the late 1980s while touring with The Grateful Dead.
"Get You Rocks Off" (3:41): a Basement Tapes original later covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band on their 1973 album Messin'.
"Going Down the Road Feeling Bad (No Shoes On My Feet)" (3:15) (traditional): first recorded in 1923 by Henry Whittier. John Ford used it for his film adaptation of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. By the time Dylan informally recorded it during the basement sessions, he had been playing the song for several years.
"Goin' to Acapulco" (5:26): a Basement Tapes original completely unknown until it was released in 1975 on the official album.
"Gonna Get You Now" (1:28): an original song. Just a throwaway.
"The Hills of Mexico (On the Trail of the Buffalo) – False Start" (:19): false start
"The Hills of Mexico (On the Trail of the Buffalo)" (2:43) (traditional): Dylan calls the performance to a halt near the three minute mark, advising Garth Hudson not to record the performance as it is just “wasting tape".
"I Can't Come In With A Broken Heart – False Take" (:41): false start
"I Can't Come In With A Broken Heart" (2:00): Another promising composition at that is unfortunately heavily distorted and rather badly recorded.
"I Can't Make It Alone" (3:31): an original composition, with some superficial similarities to “This Wheel's On Fire".
"I Don't Hurt Anymore" (2:25) (Don Robertson-Jack Rollins): first recorded by Hank Snow in 1954, where it became a number one hit in the country charts.
"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (3:17) (Stan Kesler-Charlie Feathers): made famous by Elvis Presley in 1955. This version bears little resemblance to Elvis's rendition.
"I'm Alright" (:59): Quite a promising song that unfortunately gets cut off around the minute mark. Possibly they ran out of tape in the middle of the performance.
"I'm A Fool For You" (3:57): a rather rough rehearsal, with Dylan giving out key changes at different times during the song.
"I'm Guilty of Loving You" (1:06): another fragment. Greil Marcus states this may be loosely based on Jim Reeves' 1963 song "Guilty". “Johnny Todd" immediately follows the song. In all likelihood, the tape was rewound too far and they accidentally taped over the performance.
"I'm in the Mood for Love" (1:53) (John Lee Hooker): recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1951. Robertson and Danko also recorded the song in 1965 with John Hammond, Jr. More of Dylan and The Band goofing around and having fun.
"I'm Not There (1956)" (5:08): one of the most famous and highly regarded outtakes, not just of the Basement Tapes, but Dylan's whole career. The 2007 film about Dylan entitled I'm Not There takes its title from this song, which was released on the film's soundtrack.
"I Shall Be Released" (3:56) (Acetate): probably the most famous Basement Tapes number, and easily the most widely covered. Oddly enough, it, along with "Quinn the Eskimo" (both big hits in the 1960s for other artists) were not released in their original incarnations on the official album.
"I'm Your Teenage Prayer – False Start" (:22): false start
"I'm Your Teenage Prayer" (3:30): 1950s doowop teeny bopper parody. There is much word play and rhyming rather nonsensical lyrical combinations with the word prayer.
"Johnny Todd" (2:02) (traditional): sea chanty revived during the early 1950s by the folk revival. Made widely known by Bob Roberts.
"Joshua Gone Barbados" (2:44) (Eric Von Schmidt): recorded by von Schmidt in 1963. Von Schmidt also taught Dylan the song “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down", witten by Reverend Gary Davis which Dylan covered on his debut album in 1962 and also played in the 1966 shows with The Band for the world tour.
"The King of France" (3:24): A heavily distorted, poorly recorded original song.
"Lock Your Door" (:19): just a fragment.
"Lo and Behold! – Take 1" (2:53): first take, Dylan begins laughing during the one of the choruses toward the song's end.
"Lo and Behold! – Take 2" (2:45) (Acetate): the version released on the official album. Also appeared on acetate.
"Million Dollar Bash – Take 1" (2:34): the first take, there are some sound issues with the recording.
"Million Dollar Bash – Take 1 – Guitar and banter" 23: After Take 1 ends, there is some additional, barely heard talking, some guitar tuning, and then a low voice saying “Bash".
"Million Dollar Bash – Take 2" (2:34) (Acetate): one of the more famous basement recordings, appeared on the acetate and released on the official album.
"Next Time on the Highway" (2:18): original song. During the instrumental break, Dylan can be plainly heard singing obscenities and cursing, which is unusual in any Dylan song.
"Nine Hundred Miles" (:44) (traditional): a very badly recorded traditional song that is thankfully only a mere forty seconds. Woody Guthrie made this song a folk standard.
"Nothing Was Delivered – Take 1" (4:24) (Acetate): a completely realised performance, sounds professionally recorded. Appeared on the acetate and the official album.
"Nothing Was Delivered – Take 2" (3:40): Alternate take with Dylan doing some brief talking blues during the middle of the song.
"Nothing Was Delivered – Take 3" (:33): a mere fragmentary take. Sounds like the rest of the performance was lost.
"Odds & Ends – Take 1" (1:53): first take.
"Odds & Ends – Take 2" (1:47): Basement Tapes original song. Officially released, with overdubs, on the official album.
"Ol' Roison the Beau" (4:49) (traditional): a folk revival standard. Not the best sound recording but a very good performance.
"On a Rainy Afternoon" (2:46): original composition. Has a rather muddy sound. While the recording itself leaves a lot to be desired, the song has a strong, inventive melody and a rather engaging feel.
"One For the Road" (4:48): heavily inspired by the Frank Sinatra classic written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, but still an original, unreleased Basement Tapes song.
"One Man's Loss (Always Is Another Man's Gain)" (3:50): Marcus states this is loosely based on Dick Thomas's 1950 Hank William's styled “One Man's Loss is Another Man's Gain." The song shows potential, but the recording is very shoddy and rather horrendous, with the music completely burying Dylan's vocal, to the point where the listener is straining the entire time to hear what he is actually saying.
"One Single River (Song for Canada)" (4:22) (Ian Tyson-Sylvia Fricker): yet another Ian Tyson-Sylvia Fricker song, and one of the highlights of the many non-originals Dylan and the Band recorded.
"Open the Door, Homer – Take 1" (2:50) (Acetate): appeared on the acetate and the official album. References the 1947 hit “Open the Door, Richard" in the first line of its chorus.
"Open the Door, Homer – Take 2" (:57): unfinished take.
"Open the Door, Homer – Take 3" (3:19): a slower tempo take.
"People Get Ready" (3:22) (Curtis Mayfield): a cover of the 1965 monster hit by The Impressions. Dylan would revisit this song twice more, once recording it in 1978 for a rare Renaldo and Clara EP. He also recorded it for the 1990 soundtrack to Flashback, a movie starring Dennis Hopper.
"Please Mrs. Henry" (2:33) (Acetate): appears on the acetate and the official album. Notable for Paul McCartney trying to get The Beatles to record it during the Let It Be sessions.
"Po' Lazarus" (:57) (traditional): A song Dylan originally performed in 1961. Unfortunately the tape cuts out just as the performance is really getting going.
"Quinn the Eskimo – Take 1" (2:00) (Acetate): one of the earliest known Basement Tapes songs that the general public were aware of; a huge hit for Manfred Mann in 1968. This take was originally bootlegged on the rock's first commercial bootleg, the Great White Wonder, with Dylan famously telling Garth he's “waiting on you," which Hudson promptly answers him with an organ riff. This take is still officially unreleased.
"Quinn the Eskimo – Take 2" (2:20): first released on Biograph in 1985. Oddly enough, neither take was released on the official album.
"Quit Kicking My Dog Around" (2:43) (Webb M. Oungst-Cy Perkins): A rough rehearsal, no more, no less. Dylan rhymes a rather obvious curse word with the word “duck", saying the profanity three times in rapid succession.
"Rock, Salt, and Nails" (4:35) (Bruce U. Utah Phillips): first recorded by Rosalie Sorrells, made a hit by the bluegrass artists Flatt & Scruggs, a rather conventional ballad with some strange lyrics that sound as if they could have been written by Dylan himself.
"Santa-Fe" (2:10): a rather rough recording with improvised lyrics formed around a rather nice melody.
"See That My Grave is Kept Clean" (3:32) (traditional/Blind Lemon Jefferson): first recorded in 1928 by Jefferson, famously included in the Anthology of American Folk Music, and first recorded by Dylan in 1962 for his debut. The song dates back from before the Civil War. This was one of the last recordings made during the basement sessions, and for all intents and purposes sounds like a Self Portrait or Nashville Skyline outtake with Dylan's smooth croon.
"See You Later Allen Ginsberg – Take 1" (:45): variations on “See You Later, Alligator". The title is coined by one of the members of The Band at the beginning of first take, causing Dylan to laugh. Years later Robbie Robertson referred to some of these sessions as "reefer run amok." The first take ends abruptly, with Dylan giving instructions to erase the take. Appropriately enough, the first take cuts out with Dylan's incomplete statement saying “Let's erase – ".
"See You Later Allen Ginsberg – Take 2" (:50): The second take of this play on words, begins immediately after the first take.
"Silent Weekend" (3:02): one of the original compositions. Originally slated for official release on The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3, released in 1991, but yanked from that release when the planned four disc release was trimmed down to three discs
"Sign on the Cross" (7:19): the longest recording of the Basement Tapes, and commonly regarded as one of the highlights from the sessions. Strangely enough, not released on the official album of 1975. Unfortunately, this is only available on bootleg recordings. Greil Marcus hailed it, along with "I'm Not There", as the two best songs recorded during the sessions.
"Silhouettes" (:22) (Frank C Slay, Jr.-Bob Crewe): a very brief cover of The Rays' #3 doowop song, released in 1957.
"Spanish is the Loving Tongue" (3:57) (Charles Badger Clark-J Williams): another song Ian and Sylvia frequently played. Dylan recorded the song two more times, the second being released asb-side to the "George Jackson" single, and the third being released on Columbia's "revenge album", Dylan, from 1973.
"The Spanish Song – Take 1" (2:45) (traditional): Dylan sings of time spent in Mexico.
"The Spanish Song – Take 2" (2:11): Dylan again sings of time spent in Mexico, widely considered to be the lesser of the two takes of this song.
"Still in Town, Still Around" (3:05) (Hank Cochran-Harlan Howard)): the fourth song covered by Dylan and The Band that was initially made famous by Johnny Cash.
"This Wheel's on Fire" (3:58) (Acetate) (Bob Dylan/Rick Danko): A Basement Tapes original covered by The Band on Music From Big Pink, and also released on the official 1975 album.
"Tears of Rage – Take 1"(3:58) (Bob Dylan/Richard Manuel): first take of one of the most famous Basement Tapes songs. This is a complete, well polished take. The song has gone on to be one of the most covered tunes from the basement sessions, and The Band recorded their own version, which appeared as the opening track on their watershed work Music From Big Pink.
"Tears of Rage – Take 2" (2:28): This take breaks down halfway through.
"Tears of Rage – Take 3" (4:14) (Acetate): This take was released on the 1975 album.
"Tiny Montgomery" (2:54) (Acetate): appears on the acetate, released on the official album. A rather charming song.
"Too Much of Nothing – Take 1" (3:01): officially released on the 1975 album, this take is not the most famous of the two takes that exist. Robertson angered collectors when he released this take instead of the much more widely known take 2 in 1975.
"Too Much of Nothing – Take 2" (2:53): the most widely known version of this song before the 1975 album. Appears on the acetate and on the Great White Wonder.
"Try Me Little Girl" (1:37): A rehearsal in which Dylan sings in a weak falsetto voice.
"Tupelo" (2:19) (John Lee Hooker): recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1959. Dylan oddly strays from the lyrics to spell Mississippi and Tupelo several times throughout the song.
"Under Control – Untitled Instrumental“ (35): There is an untitled instrumental right before “Under Control." On most bootleg copies the tape stops and “Under Control" begins immediately, sounding like the instrumental accidentally erased the first few seconds of the “Under Control" take.. Right before "Under Control" begins, Dylan can be heard saying that the guitar he was utilising wasn't meant to play that kind of instrumental music.
"Under Control“ (2:51): an original which is unfortunately somewhat distorted. With a clearer recording and a more controlled take could have been one of the hard rocking songs in the all the sessions. As it is, it is a rather rough hewn, oddly heavy song unlike anything else recorded during the Basement Tapes.
"Waltzin' with Sin – False Start" (:31): false start, Dylan starts into the song and then the take breaks down.
"Waltzin' with Sin" (2:50) (Hayes-Burns): a very charming cover version. At halfway through the song, Dylan tells the band to try again and they go through the song a second time.
"Wildwood Flower" (2:17) (A.P. Carter): A very famous song which The Carter Family made a standard, taking the song all the way to the number 3 spot in the music charts in 1928. June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash's wife, recorded the song and made it the title to her last ever album, released in 2005.
"Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread – Take 1" (1:52): another one of the more oddly clever lyrics, telling a rather ridiculous story about a bus ride.
"Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread – Take 2" (2:13 (Acetate)): the officially released version, appearing in 1975 on the album.
"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere – Take 1" (2:47): first take, with wildly surrealistic improvised lyrics.
"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere – Take 2" (2:45) (Acetate): one of Dylan's most famous songs from the Basement Tapes. Recorded by the Byrds for their landmark Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, released in 1968. Dylan recorded a version of it, with some different lyrics, in 1971 for his Greatest Hits II album.
"You Win Again" (2:42) (Hank Williams): Williams released the song in 1952. Dylan models his version on the Jerry Lee Lewis b-side version to "Great Balls of Fire", which was a number 2 hit in 1957.
"Young But Daily Growing (Lang-a-Growing)" (5:36) (traditional): one of the oldest songs in Dylan's repertoire. Dylan sang the song first in 1961 (recordings of that performance circulates as part portions of the Minnesota Tapes). Although he has additional accompaniment, this recording sounds largely the same as his 1961 rendition. Both are fantastic, and this stands as one of the highlights of the Basement Tapes covers.