| "Farewell, Angelina" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan from the album The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 | |
| Released | March 26, 1991 |
| Recorded | January 13, 1965 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 5:27 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Writer | Bob Dylan |
| Producer | Tom Wilson |
"Farewell Angelina" is a song written by Bob Dylan in the middle 1960s, but most famous in the hands of Joan Baez.
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Written in the middle 1960s, the song was planned to be included on Another Side of Bob Dylan and again for Bringing It All Back Home but failed to make the cut. During the first session for Bringing it All Back Home, Dylan attempted to record this song only once, but he abandoned all attempts to record the song again.[1] Dylan's original recording of "Farewell Angelina" was eventually issued in 1991 on The Bootleg Series.
Joan Baez included this song on her 1965 album Farewell Angelina. Baez' version, though only about half as long as Dylan's recording, was very similar in structure and showed her moving away from pure folk music with the use of string bass accompaniment.
Although "Farewell Angelina" is basically a simple folk love song, some critics have questioned the meaning of some of the more obscure lyrics like "The Jack and the Queen have forsaked the courtyard / Fifty-two gypsies now file past the guards".
The tune seems to be inspired by the folk song "Farewell to Tarwathie".
In more modern times "Farewell Angelina" has remained a continuous part of Joan Baez' concert repertoire, being recorded twice for live albums during the 1980s. The song has also been recorded by the New Riders of the Purple Sage (on Oh, What a Mighty Time), John Mellencamp (on Rough Harvest) , Tim O'Brien, Show of Hands, and Danu's When All is Said and Done. German and French versions of the song have been recorded by Nana Mouskouri. A rare acoustic version was recorded by Jeff Buckley in the early 1990s. The Celtic jam band, Wake the Dead, recorded it in 2006 for their third album "Blue Light Cheap Hotel".
In 1997, this song was translated & released by Bengali Singer-songwriter Kabir Suman.
Pierre Delanoë and Hugues Aufray translated the song into the French under the title Adieu Angelina, which itself has been recorded many times.