Obviously 5 Believers

"Obviously 5 Believers" is a song by Bob Dylan. It was recorded at Columbia Music Row Studios, Nashville on 10 March 1966, and released as the last track of side three of his double album Blonde on Blonde on 20 June 1966.[1][2]

"Obviously 5 Believers"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Blonde on Blonde
ReleasedJune 20, 1966 (1966-06-20)
RecordedMarch 10, 1966
StudioColumbia Music Row, Nashville, Tennessee
Length3:36
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Bob Johnston

Recording and interpretation

The song was recorded in the early morning hours of the 9–10 March 1966 Nashville session under the working title "Black Dog Blues." Sean Wilentz feels that the song is driven by Robbie Robertson's guitar, Charlie McCoy's harmonica and Ken Buttrey's drumming.[5][6][7] After an initial breakdown, Dylan complained to the band that the song was "very easy, man" and that he didn't want to spend much time on it.[5][7] Within four takes, the recording was done.[5] Take 4 was used on Blonde on Blonde, and as the B-side to the single release of "Just Like a Woman" in certain countries.[8][9] In 2010 it was included on The Original Mono Recordings. The other three takes were released in 2015 on the Collector's Edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966.

The song is similar in melody and structure to Memphis Minnie's "Chauffeur Blues", which was also an inspiration for '"Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat".[10][1]

Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guedson describe "Obviously 5 Believers" as "a bluesy love song about loneliness"[1], and Andy Gill describes it as like "a basic love moan", except in its apparently arbitrary references to fifteen jugglers and five believers.[6] Clinton Heylin believes that every song Dylan recorded in Nashville for Blonde on Blonde relied on the skill of the backing musicians, but this song was "entirely dependent on them."[7] It was described by Robert Shelton as "the best R&B song on the album"[11] whereas Michael Gary dismissed it as "a filler track ... with a repetitive and undistinguished lyric" that was more like a song from Highway 61 Revisited than from Blonde on Blonde.[12] Crawdaddy's assessment was that "the vocal here is truly the entire message and on this cut we are listening to a genuine blues artist."[13]

Thomas Reed used the song lyric "fifteen jugglers, five believers" in the title of his book Fifteen Jugglers, Five Believers: Literary Politics and the Poetics of American Social Movements.[14]

Live Performances

Dylan did not play the song live until 1995, when he debuted it at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California on 15 May. He played it live a further 39 times before retiring it after a performance at The Charles A. Dana Center, Waltham, Massachusetts on 12 April 1997.[15]

Personnel

[2]

Musicians

Technical

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References
  1. Margotin, Philippe; Guedson, Jean-Michel (2015). Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers. p. 238. ISBN 978-1579129859.
  2. Björner, Olof. "Still on the Road: 1966 Blonde on Blonde Recording Sessions and World Tour". bjorner.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  3. Gill 2011, p. 152
  4. Heylin 2009, p. 311
  5. Wilentz, Sean (2009). Bob Dylan in America. The Bodley Head. pp. 122–124. ISBN 978-1-84792-150-5.
  6. Gill, Andy (2011). Bob Dylan: The Stories Behind the Songs 1962–1969. Carlton Books. pp. 150–152. ISBN 978-1-84732-759-8.
  7. Heylin, Clinton (2009). Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Volume One: 1957–73. Constable. pp. 310–311. ISBN 978-1-84901-051-1.
  8. Martin C. Strong (20 January 2012). Bob Dylan: The Complete Discography. Birlinn. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-85790-167-5.
  9. "4-43792 (Just Like A Woman / Obviously 5 Believers)". 45cat.com. 45cat. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  10. Trager, Oliver (2004). Keys to the Rain. Billboard Books. p. 461. ISBN 0-8230-7974-0.
  11. Shelton, Robert (2011). No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Revised & updated edition. Omnibus Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-84938-911-2.
  12. Michael Gray (2000). Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan. Cassell. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-304-70762-1.
  13. Crawdaddy. Crawdaddy Publishing Company, Incorporated. 1967. p. 178. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  14. T. V. Reed (1 January 1992). Fifteen Jugglers, Five Believers: Literary Politics and the Poetics of American Social Movements. University of California Press. pp. xi. ISBN 978-0-520-07522-1.
  15. "Setlists that contain Obviously Five Believers". bobdylan.com. Sony Music Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
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