Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
"Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home. In 2005, Mojo magazine rated the song as the 68th greatest Bob Dylan song.[1]
| "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Bringing It All Back Home | |
| Released | March 22, 1965 |
| Recorded | January 13–14, 1965 |
| Studio | Columbia Recording, New York City |
| Genre | Folk rock, blues rock, talking blues |
| Length | 6:32 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
Dylan recorded an acoustic version on January 13.1965, the first day of the Bringing It All Back Home sessions, a day later he recorded the final version with Bobby Gregg on drums, William Lee on bass, and Paul Griffin on piano.[2] He did not perform the song live until October 13, 1988, then went on to play it during the final six concerts of his 1988 tour.[3]
The title is an allusion to a Dylan number from two years prior: "Bob Dylan's Dream". The track commences with an early take of Dylan beginning to play the song alone before producer Tom Wilson is heard bursting into laughter[4] and signalling for a start-over. The track is then transitioned into a later take played by the full band.[5]
The song is a satirical and highly surrealistic story that gleefully jumbles together historical and literary and narrative reference points from the voyages of Columbus to Moby Dick to the present day. A protagonist, "Captain Arab" (making reference to Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick)[6] is in the narrator's mind for much of the tale.
The song was covered by Taj Mahal on the Dylan tribute album Chimes of Freedom[7]
References
- "The 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs". Mojo Magazine. September 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
- McNally, Dennis (2014). On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom. Counterpoint. p. 408. ISBN 978-1-61902-449-6.
- Williams, Paul (2009). Bob Dylan: Performance Artist 1986-1990 And Beyond (Mind Out Of Time): The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-118-9.
- Browne, David (November 4, 2015). "Remembering Bob Dylan's Pioneering Producer Tom Wilson". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- Marcus, Greil (2006). Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-0-7867-3658-4.
- Cotkin, George (2012). Dive Deeper: Journeys with Moby-Dick. Oxford University Press. pp. 254–255. ISBN 978-0-19-998672-9.
- Dickerson, John (February 7, 2012). "A Weird and Wooly New Mix of Bob Dylan Imitations and Tributes". Slate. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
