Other People’s Songs: “Baby let me follow you down”

By Aaron Galbraith and Tony Attwood

Aaron: The song was first recorded as “Don’t Tear My Clothes” in January 1935 by the State Street Boys, a group that included Big Bill Broonzy and Jazz Gillum.

Tony: My father played piano and later sax in dance bands in the pre-war era, and we had 78 rpm records of this type of music in the house – complete with the scratches that can be heard in parts of this recording.  I absolutely love this type of music.

So although it doesn’t have anything to do the song in question I want to add another Big Bill Broonzy recording from the same era – just in case anyone likes this music as much as I do.  You’ll know the song, of course…

Aaron: Bob’s version appears on his debut album. He starts off the song with the introduction ” “I first heard this from Ric von Schmidt. He lives in Cambridge. Ric is a blues guitar player. I met him one day on the green pastures of the Harvard University.”

The song has been mistakenly credited to Eric Von Schmidt. However it was adapted from Mama Let Me Lay It on You written by Reverend Gary Davis. Here is Dave Van Ronk from 1964

Tony:  The British Band, the Animals, played this at their gigs, along with “House of the Rising Sun” and admitted (at least to me, I don’t know if they made it public) that they got both songs from Dylan’s album.    But I’d not heard this van Ronk version before, which is presumably where the arrangement came from.

Aaron: Bryan Ferry recorded the song on his 2007 album Dylanesque 2007.

Tony: Dylanesque is a superb album, and I do love Ferry’s comment in an interview after the album was released, when asked what he would say if he met Bob Dylan.  He paused for a second and then said he would say, “I hope you don’t mind”.

And because there is no one here to stop me, I’m going to go off-piste and slip in another track from the Dylanesque album simply because I love this version of “Gates of Eden”.  So if you are here just to read the background to “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”, do stop reading now.   But if you would like to hear an exquisite version of “Gates” do play this – and do play it all the way through.  Sorry Aaron, I’ve subverted the story, once again.

Previously in this series…

1. Other people’s songs. How Dylan covers the work of other composers
2. Other People’s songs: Bob and others perform “Froggie went a courtin”
3. Other people’s songs: They killed him
4. Other people’s songs: Frankie & Albert
5. Other people’s songs: Tomorrow Night where the music is always everything
6. Other people’s songs: from Stack a Lee to Stagger Lee and Hugh Laurie
7. Other people’s songs: Love Henry
8. Other people’s songs: Rank Stranger To Me
9. Other people’s songs: Man of Constant Sorrow
10. Other people’s songs: Satisfied Mind
11. Other people’s songs: See that my grave is kept clean
12. Other people’s songs: Precious moments and some extras
13. Other people’s songs: You go to my head
14. Other people’s songs: What’ll I do?
15. Other people’s songs: Copper Kettle
16. Other people’s songs: Belle Isle
17. Other people’s songs: Fixing to Die
18. Other people’s songs: When did you leave heaven?
19. Other people’s songs: Sally Sue Brown
20. Other people’s songs: Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
21. Other people’s songs: Step it up and Go
22. Other people’s songs: Canadee-I-O
23. Other people’s songs: Arthur McBride
24. Other people’s songs: Little Sadie
25. Other people’s songs: Blue Moon, and North London Forever
26. Other people’s songs: Hard times come again no more
27. Other people’s songs: You’re no good
28. Other people’s songs: Lone Pilgrim (and more Crooked Still)
29. Other people’s songs: Blood in my eyes
30. Other people’s songs: I forgot more than you’ll ever know
31.  Other people’s songs: Let’s stick (or maybe work) together.
32. Other people’s songs: Highway 51
33. Other people’s songs: Jim Jones
34. Other people’s songs: Let’s stick (or maybe work) together.
35. Other people’s songs: Jim Jones
36. Other people’s songs: Highway 51 Blues
37. Other people’s songs: Freight Train Blues
38. Other People’s Songs: The Little Drummer Boy
39. Other People’s Songs: Must be Santa
40. Other People’s songs: The Christmas Song
41. Other People’s songs: Corina Corina
42. Other People’s Songs: Mr Bojangles
43. Other People’s Songs: It hurts me too
44. Other people’s songs: Take a message to Mary
45. Other people’s songs: House of the Rising Sun
46. Other people’s songs: “Days of 49”
47. Other people’s songs: In my time of dying
48. Other people’s songs: Pretty Peggy O