| "John Wesley Harding" | |
|---|---|
| Song byBob Dylan | |
| from the albumJohn Wesley Harding | |
| Released | December 27, 1967 (1967-12-27) |
| Recorded | November 6, 1967 |
| Studio | Columbia Studio A (Nashville, Tennessee)[1] |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:59 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter | Bob Dylan |
| Producer | Bob Johnston |
| Audio sample | |
"John Wesley Harding" is a song by American singer-songwriterBob Dylan that appears as the opening track on his 1967album of the same name.
Dylan toldJann Wenner in a 1969Rolling Stone interview that the song "started out to be a long ballad. I was gonna write a ballad on ... like maybe one of those old cowboy ... you know, a real long ballad. But in the middle of the second verse, I got tired. I had a tune, and I didn't want to waste the tune; it was a nice little melody, so I just wrote a quick third verse, and I recorded that."[2] BiographerClinton Heylin states that Dylan has had a well-documented interest in outlaw cowboys, includingJesse James andBilly the Kid,[3] and in the past Dylan has said that his favorite folk song was "John Hardy",[4] whose real-life title character in 1893 murdered another man over a game ofcraps.[5]John Wesley Hardin was another late-19th century outlaw.[3] Dylan has stated that he chose John Wesley Hardin for his protagonist over other outlaws because his name "[fit] in the tempo" of the song.[2] Dylan added the g to the end of Hardin's name by mistake.[6][7]
The song was recorded in two takes on November 6, 1967, in Studio A of Columbia Music Row Studios inNashville, Tennessee.[3][8] Both of these were considered for the album, but the second take was ultimately chosen.[3]
Dylan has said that he did not have a clear notion of what the song was about.[2][7] He toldCameron Crowe in 1985 that after recording theJohn Wesley Harding album, he "didn't know what to make of it. ... So I figured the best thing to do would be to put out the album as quickly as possible, call itJohn Wesley Harding because that was the one song that I had no idea what it was about, why it was even on the album. So I figured I'd call the album that, call attention to it, make it something special..."[7] It was the only title that he considered for the album.[2] He told aNewsweek interviewer in 1969 that the songs on hiscountryNashville Skyline album: "These are the type of songs that I always felt like writing. The songs reflect more of the inner me than the songs of the past. They're more to my base than, say, 'John Wesley Harding'. There I felt like everyone expected me to be a poet so that's what I tried to be."[9]
"John Wesley Harding" has been covered byMcKendree Spring on their 1969 eponymous album,[10] as well asTom Russell[11] andWesley Willis.[12]
