Why does Bob Dylan so often re-write the music of his songs?

By Tony Attwood

If you are a regular reader of Untold Dylan, then first, thank you, I really do appreciate it.  And second, you will I am sure have noticed that while the contributions of those other writers who are kind enough to write various series of articles for the site are generally planned and organised before they hand over their material to me for publication, my pieces are far less well planned and as a result can meander somewhat.

And this is most certainly true of late as I have been puzzling over the issue of the way Dylan, in his early years of fame, set about writing the music (rather than the lyrics), of his songs.

Before I began this, I did do some searching around for books on Bob’s music (as opposed to lyrics) in the early days of his career.  But I found precious little that could help me tackle this subject.   And so, as indeed I am sure has been most apparent, I am writing a series of articles without actually knowing where it is going to take me.

Yet despite working in the dark, as it were, I remain deeply fascinated by the way Dylan has constantly written and re-written his music – something few other musicians working in the pop and rock field have done – or at least done so extensively.

And so the first question I set myself in pondering this point is why Dylan has done this.  The answer I have come up with is that he does it because this is what happened with the traditional music of England which so fascinated Dylan once he discovered it in the 1960s.  I believe (with no direct evidence from Bob of course) that this interest led to the notion that music changing across the years, decades and centuries, could be carried on today by contemporary musicians – and indeed could be undertaken by himself  And so this is what he has done.  When we go to Bob’s latest concert it is not just to see him again, but to see if he has transformed any more of his songs into something utterly different.

What fascinates me further is that not only has any other musician gone as far as Bob has with such an endeavour, few writers have tackled this issue of Bob’s regular re-writing of his music.   And this was why my recent series, sometimes called “Bob Dylan the composer” has been looking into the origins of the music of some of Bob’s early songs, most notably those from 1963.  In case you are interested I’ve put a list of the recent articles from this series at the end.

However today I decided enough writing had been done for the moment on individual songs, and it was time to try and pull this notion together, if for no other reason that to allow me to see where I had got to.  In short, I started wondering why Bob, in 1963 primarily, was utilising other people’s music to fit his lyrical ideas.

To begin with, to look at this one needs of course a list of Dylan’s songs from that year, and fortunately we published just such a list for each and every year of Bob’s composing.    The page covering the 1960s with links to our early reviews of each song is here.  I don’t know if anyone else ever finds it useful, but I’m so glad the effort was put in, as I’m endlessly going back to see when songs were written, rather than when they were recorded.

And in looking back at the list, and considering Bob’s musical input, what became clear to me was that although by 1963 Bob already had a very clear vision of what made a great lyric, and indeed a very profound ability to write excellent song lyrics, he appears to have been far less certain as to his own ability to write original music.   For while sometimes he does create songs that are seemingly new, in the musical sense, he often dips back into using someone else’s music – at least as a starting point.

So what I have now done (and this may of course just turn out to be for my own benefit but you never know…) is taken the list of songs composed in 1963 and tried to summarise the origin of the music (and I stress, just the music, not the lyrics) in a few words

1. Masters of War based on Nottamun Town
2. Girl from the North Country based on Scarborough Fair
3. Boots of Spanish Leather based on Girl from the North Country
4. Bob Dylan’s Dream based on Lord Franklin
5. Farewell based on Leaving of Liverpool
6. Talkin Devil  unfinished song, origin unknown
7. All over you Title taken from James Bond film “Goldfinger”.  Song unfinished
8. Going back to Rome 12 bar blues
9. Only a Hobo based on “Man in the Street” and on “Poor Miner’s Lament”
10. Ramblin Down Thru the World based in part on Woody Guthrie’s “Ramblin Round”
11. Who killed Davey Moore?  Based on Who Killed Cock Robin
12. As I rode out one morning  Based on  W. H. Auden poem As I Walked Out One Evening
13. Dusty Old Fairgrounds A fast prelude to “Times they are a Changin”
14. Walls of Red Wing Based on “The road and the miles to Dundee”
15. New Orleans Rag Based on the format of ragtime music
16. You’ve been hiding too long. Based on “Ballad for a Friend” and “Oxford Town”
17. Seven Curses  Based on “Come all ye bold Highwaymen”
18. With God on our Side Based on “The Patriot Game”
19. Talking World War III Blues Based on Woody Guthrie style of talking blues
20. Only a pawn in their game
21. Eternal Circle Based on “Come all ye bold highwaymen”
22. North Country Blues
23. Gypsy Lou
24. Troubled and I Don’t Know Why Based on “I’m Troubled” and “What Would the Deep Sea Say”
25. When the ship comes in Influenced by “Pirate Jenny” from Brecht and Weill’s “The Threepenny Opera”
26. The Times they are a-Changing
27. Percy’s Song  Paul Clayton song called “The Wind and the Rain” 
28. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll Music based on folk song “Mary Hamilton”
29. Lay Down your Weary Tune.  Dylan himself said he was trying to capture to essence of Scottish folk music.  No exact song has been identified but some have suggested “The Water Is Wide”, “O Waly, Waly” and “I Wish, I Wish”
30. One too many mornings A variation on “Times they are a changing”
31. Restless Farewell  Based on “The Parting Glass”

Now this is a very crude set of links, that I know.  Many versions of older folk songs exist, and you may well find one that sounds nothing like the song that I have linked it too – and on this basis my list needs refining.  But my fundamental point here – which I am exploring as I write it (as I have noted several times) – is that while Bob at this early juncture in his career as a composer, was able to create interesting and often powerful lyrics, seemingly with some ease, and often with enormous success, his compositional skills were behind the lyrical skills.

However the notion of taking earlier songs as a basis for his work was well founded, I think, because we can see between these reuses of older songs, new songs emerge.  Indeed if you have had a look at my list above you might have noted that no antecedent is given for several songs in the latter part of the list.   Songs such as “Only a Pawn in their Game,” “North Country Blues,” “Gypsy Lou,” and most notably “The Times they are a-Changin”.

It is perhaps not too fanciful to suggest that Bob edged his way to writing his own music with some caution, but it was the success of these original songs which showed him that yes indeed, not only was he brilliant at writing lyrics, he could also write good original music as well.

Of course there is no evidence from Bob himself on this point, but if I may, I would also cite my article from yesterday on Tell ol Bill    We do have (and in that article I have referred to) a recording of the Tell ol Bill session in which various approaches were tried out, and that gives us some insight into Bob’s way of writing the music, once the words are already there.

In my very humble view, I think Bob got it very wrong in that case, for as I have so often said on this site, I think he wrote a brilliant composition and found the perfect arrangement of it, but then he felt it was not up to the standard he wanted.

But the main point with the recording of the Tell Ol Bill session is that we can hear Bob trying out all sorts of different approaches.   With the lyrics, he seems to know from the start, how they should work.  But with the music, he is not always able to make the absolute judgements that he can with the lyrics.

Of course, that’s just my view, and although I’ve had a lifetime largely involving creative activities, I am as aware of ever that I might well be wrong, but I do see a link between Bob’s very tenuous steps toward being a composer of original music, and his subsequent interest in looking at ways to re-write the music, or at the very least the musical arrangement of his songs.

For as you will hear if you play the recording of the Tell Ol Bill sessions, those lyrics don’t change, but the music moves through a variety of different styles and approaches.

• All directions at once: Tell Ol Bill
• Dylan’s “Tell Ol Bill”: roots in a blues ballad, rhymes from the Romantic poets
• Tell Ol’ Bill: Dylan digs deep into the song’s origins to create a brilliant film song
  

Previously in this series, which is becoming known (to me at least) as Dylan, the composer,  I’ve looked at…

1. Blowing in the Wind and No More Auction Block
2. Bob Dylan’s Dream How the most subtle of musical changes gave the song a totally different meaning
3. Masters of War How Bob Dylan became a poet first and a songwriter second
4. Girl from the North Country, Farewell, All Over You, The Death of Emmett Till
5. Davey Moore and Joni Mitchell’s complaint
6. Walls of Red Wing and New Orleans Rag
7. Seven Curses and With God on Our Side
8. Dylan 1963, the era of other people’s songs: From talking blues to Eternal Circle
9. North Country Blues and the evolution of the equality of lyrics AND music
10. Dylan in 1963: “Gypsy Lou” and “Troubled and I Don’t Know Why”
11. When the Ship Comes in: from Pirate Jenny onward.
12. When Bob said Times they are changing it is quite likely he didn’t fully realise how.
13. Dylan the composer: “Percy’s Song” and “One Too Many Mornings”