“See by Faith” – a previously unlisted Bob Dylan song

by Tony Attwood

On Disc 3 of the Bootleg series 13, there is a song “Stand by Faith”.  As far as I know it was never performed in concert, and just appeared once in a rehearsal in September 1979, and as Heylin says, it was also recorded at Rundown Studios that some month.

Stand by Faith is not listed on the official Bob Dylan site however.  And probably that would be that if it were not for the fact that on the 13th and final track of the  Blind Boys of Alabama album “Almost Home” released in 2017 we have “See by Faith” which appears to be the same song as that which appears on Bootleg 13, disc 3.

In some places it is described as a “bonus track”.  And just to complete the connection with Bob, the album also includes “I shall be released”.

Here are the lyrics of the original

How do we move
Move by faith
How do we move
Move by faith
How do we move
Move by faith
By faith, by faith, oh Lord

How do we see
Move by faith
How do we see
Move by faith
How do we see
Move by faith
By faith, by faith, oh Lord

How do we love
Move by faith
How do we love
Move by faith
How do we love
Move by faith
By faith, by faith, oh Lord

How do we stand
Move by faith
How do we stand
Move by faith
How do we stand
Move by faith
By faith, by faith, oh Lord

How do we walk
Move by faith
How do we walk
Move by faith
How do we walk
Move by faith
By faith, by faith, oh Lord

Here’s the new release…

As you can tell from the video above, it is Bob at his most simplistic and unoriginal.  It is in fact just one line per verse song which is kept alive by the orchestration and the fact that after every couple of verses the band use the old trick of going up a tone to give some sort of sense of progression.

And as you can tell from my review here, I really don’t think much of it.  Indeed it is the sort of song anyone could have knocked up in a few moments.  It represents, in my personal opinion, Bob trying to say something religious and just dropping into the sort of thing anyone could, and many did, write.

What else is on the site

You’ll find an index to our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.

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