The Basement Tapes is a collection of over 100 songs recorded byBob Dylan and his then-backing group,the Band, in the summer of 1967 inWest Saugerties,New York, just outsideWoodstock. Recording sessions began in a den known as "The Red Room" in Dylan's home, before moving to an improvised recording studio in the basement of a house known asBig Pink, whereRick Danko,Richard Manuel andGarth Hudson lived.[1] Roughly half the songs recorded onThe Basement Tapes were covers oftraditionalfolk andbluesballads,rock songs, andcountry music, and half were original compositions by Dylan.
Fourteen basement tape songs appeared in 1968 on a demo privately circulated by Dylan's publishing company, Dwarf Music.[2] Public awareness of the basement recordings increased with the release of the first bootleg,Great White Wonder, in 1969.[3] In 1975 CBS officially releasedThe Basement Tapes, but only sixteen of the twenty-four songs were recorded by Dylan and the Band in Woodstock in 1967. The other eight tracks were recordings by the Band from different times.[4] Subsequently, more and more basement recordings have been unearthed and illicitly released, culminating in the release of a five-CD bootleg set in 1990,The Genuine Basement Tapes, containing 108 tracks.[5] Two songs, "I Shall Be Released" and "Santa-Fe" were officially released onThe Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 in 1991. "I'm Not There" was released on thesoundtrack album accompanying thebiographical film about Dylan, directed byTodd Haynes, named after the song. "Minstrel Boy" was released in 2013 onThe Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971). The songs of the Basement Tapes have been catalogued byGreil Marcus in his bookInvisible Republic,[6] and bySid Griffin in his critical studyMillion Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, the Band, and the Basement Tapes.[7]
On November 4, 2014, Columbia/Legacy issuedThe Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete, an official 6-CD box set containing 138 tracks which comprise all of Dylan's basement recordings, including 30 never-bootlegged tracks.[8][9]
Below is an alphabetical list of songs from these recording sessions. This list does not include songs that feature only the members of the Band.
| Song title | Writer(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| "Ain't No More Cane" | Traditional | Released in two takes with a Dylan vocal onThe Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete. The version of “Ain’t No More Cane” on the 1975 album features only the Band without a Dylan vocal. This version of the song has been identified by Griffin (pp. 299–300), quoting album engineer Rob Fraboni, as having been newly recorded by the Band for the 1975 album. But the credits on the Band compilationA Musical History, which was executive-produced by Robbie Robertson, lists the recording date for the version of the song on the 1975 album as 1967 or 1968. |
| "All American Boy" | Bill Parsons, Orville Lunsford | Originally a hit forBobby Bare, the song has references to Elvis Presley's manager,Colonel Tom Parker.[10] Dylan's version has different lyrics,[11] and some have seen the song as being critical of his own manager during the 1960s,Albert Grossman.[10] |
| "All You Have to Do is Dream" (takes 1 and 2) | Dylan | Levon Helm, who was absent for much of the Basement Tapes sessions,[12] is believed to be playing drums on both takes of this song, which makes the song one of the last recorded during the basement sessions, perhaps in late 1967 or early 1968.[13][14] |
| "Apple Suckling Tree" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | Griffin suggests this song features either Robertson on drums and Manuel on tambourine, or the other way around. It is written to the tune of "Frog Went A-Courting".[15] The second take, with some additional overdubs added, was released on the 1975 album. |
| "The Auld Triangle" | Dick Shannon | Also known as "The Royal Canal" and "The Banks of The Royal Canal", the song is often misattributed toBrendan Behan as it featured in his first play,The Quare Fellow, which is set inMountjoy Prison,Dublin.[16][17] |
| "Baby Ain't That Fine" | Dallas Frazier | A 1966 country hit duet forMelba Montgomery andGene Pitney.[14][18] |
| "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby" | Dylan | A Dylan original, the song has been described by Ben Rollins as a "melding of Blues, Country, and Memphis soul."[1] |
| "Be Careful of the Stones You Throw" (false start and take) | Bonnie Dodd | Composed by Dodd, who played pedal steel in theTex Ritter band, the song was first recorded byLittle Jimmy Dickens in 1949, andHank Williams released the song under his "Luke the Drifter" moniker in 1952. The song was a hit forDion DiMucci andHank Williams Jr in the 1960s.[19] |
| "Belchazaar" (false start and take) | Johnny Cash | A Johnny Cash song released in 1957. One of several Cash covers recorded during the Basement Tapes sessions. |
| "Bells of Rhymney" | Idris Davies,Pete Seeger | Davies, a Welsh miner, originally wrote this as a poem about theGeneral Strike of 1926; it was later set to music by Seeger.[20] Recorded byThe Byrds on theMr. Tambourine Man album and by Pete Seeger on hisPete Seeger and Sonny Terry at Carnegie Hall album. |
| "Big River" (takes 1 and 2) | Cash | One of severalJohnny Cash covers from the sessions. Cash recorded the song forSun Records in 1958. Take one breaks down. |
| "Blowin' in the Wind" | Dylan | Released onThe Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete. Although The Hawks had played with Dylan for two years, they had never performed this classic Dylan song live. BothRobbie Robertson andGarth Hudson take extended solos.[1] |
| "Bonnie Ship the Diamond" | Traditional | A traditionalsea shanty. |
| "Bourbon Street" | Dylan | This, along with "Don't Ya Tell Henry", prominently features the trombone. |
| "Bring it on Home" | Bo Diddley, Dylan | A variation ofBo Diddley's "Bring It To Jerome", recorded in 1955. |
| "Clothes Line Saga" (false start and take) | Dylan | Also known as "Answer to Ode", this song is widely believed to be a parody ofBobbie Gentry's 1967 hit "Ode to Billie Joe".[21][22] |
| "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" | Traditional | |
| "Comin' Round the Mountain" | Traditional; under copyright | A western song copyrighted bySpencer Williams in 1923. |
| "Confidential" | Dorinda Morgan | Cover of a 1956 hit by Sonny Knight.[23][24] |
| "Cool Water" | Bob Nolan | A song widely recorded by a variety of artists. |
| "Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)" (takes 1 and 2) | Dylan | Take two was released on the 1975 album. |
| "Don't Ya Tell Henry" | Dylan | The 1975 album features the song, but that recording is without Dylan's vocal. |
| "Don't You Try Me Now | Dylan | – |
| "Down on Me" | Traditional | This is just a fragment of a traditional song which had been recorded by bothOdetta andEric von Schmidt. |
| "Dress it Up, Better Have it All" | Dylan | A sketch for a song with half-completed lyrics with a rockabilly sound, including three guitar solos byRobbie Robertson, reminiscent of theCarl Perkins sound.[1] |
| "Edge of the Ocean" | Dylan | Previously unreleased on bootleg, this song was heard for the first time onThe Basement Tapes Complete, and has been described as an early basement recording, made in Dylan's home in Woodstock before the move to Big Pink.[1] |
| "Flight of the Bumblebee" | Rimsky-Korsakov | Not really a cover of the song itself, it seems to be an improvisation begun by Dylan and the Hawks after being amused by Manuel playing a few seconds of "Flight of the Bumblebee",[23] with the lyrics sounding "as if it's poetry night in a 1956 San Francisco jazz club."[25] |
| "Folsom Prison Blues" | Cash | Another Johnny Cash cover, first recorded by Cash in 1956. |
| "A Fool Such as I" | Bill Trader | This was a hit forHank Snow on the country charts in 1953, and a number 2 pop hit forElvis Presley in 1959.[26] |
| "Four Strong Winds" | Ian Tyson | One of a number of Ian and Sylvia Tyson songs.Ian and Sylvia recorded several Basement Tapes songs as well. |
| "The French Girl" (false start and 2 takes) | Tyson | Another Ian and Sylvia Tyson song. Dylan would return to this in the late 1980s while touring withThe Grateful Dead. |
| "Get Your Rocks Off" | Dylan | A Basement Tapes original later covered byManfred Mann's Earth Band on their 1973 albumMessin'. |
| "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" | Traditional | First recorded in 1923 byHenry Whitter.John Ford used it for his film adaptation ofSteinbeck'sThe Grapes of Wrath. By the time Dylan informally recorded it during the basement sessions, he had been playing the song for several years. |
| "Goin' to Acapulco" | Dylan | An original Dylan song which was unknown until it was released on the 1975 album. |
| "Gonna Get You Now" | Dylan | A funky, bawdy groove characterizes this unfinished song.[1] |
| "The Hills of Mexico" | Traditional | A variant of the song "On the Trail of the Buffalo." Dylan ends the performance near the three-minute mark, advising Garth Hudson not to record the performance as it is just "wasting tape". This song has been recorded byWoody Guthrie,Johnny Cash, and many others. During hisNever Ending Tour, Dylan performed "On the Trail of the Buffalo" many times.[27] |
| "I Can't Come in With a Broken Heart" | Dylan | Described by Griffin as a one-chord rocker which fails to find the groove.[28] |
| "I Can't Make it Alone" | Dylan | An unfinished song sketch with a tune reminiscent of "She's Not There" byThe Zombies.[1][29] |
| "I Don't Hurt Anymore" | Don Robertson, Jack Rollins | First recorded byHank Snow in 1954, where it became a number one hit in the country charts. |
| "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" | Stan Kesler,Charlie Feathers | Made famous byElvis Presley in 1955. This version bears little resemblance to Elvis's rendition. |
| "I Shall Be Released" | Dylan | Perhaps the most famous Basement Tapes number, and the most widely covered.[30] However, it was not included in the 1975 album. This 1967 recording was finally released bySony in 1991 onThe Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3. |
| "I'm Alright" | Dylan | Only a fragment. |
| "I'm a Fool for You" | Dylan | Rollins describes this as a song which Dylan begins to teach the Band, but never completes.[1] |
| "I'm Guilty of Loving You" | Dylan | Another fragment.Greil Marcus states this may be loosely based onJim Reeves' 1963 song "Guilty".[31] |
| "I'm in the Mood for Love" | John Lee Hooker | Recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1951. Robertson and Danko also recorded the song in 1965 withJohn Hammond, Jr. |
| "I'm Not There" | Dylan | One of the most famous and highly regarded outtakes, not just of the Basement Tapes, but Dylan's whole career. The 2007 film about Dylan entitledI'm Not There takes its title from this song, which was released on thefilm's soundtrack.[32] |
| "I'm Your Teenage Prayer" (false start and take) | Dylan | |
| "If I Were a Carpenter" | Tim Hardin | A rollicking version of the Hardin song which was a top ten hit forBobby Darin in 1966.[1] |
| "Johnny Todd" | Traditional | A sea chanty revived during the early 1950s by the folk revival. Made widely known byBob Roberts. |
| "Joshua Gone Barbados" | Eric Von Schmidt | Recorded by von Schmidt in 1963. Von Schmidt also taught Dylan the song "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down", written byReverend Gary Davis which Dylan covered on his debut album in 1962 and also played in the 1966 shows with the Band for the world tour. |
| "Kickin’ My Dog Around" | Traditional | Two different accounts of the origins of this song have been published.[33][34]Alan Lomax published it as "The Hound Dawg Song" in his book,The Folk Songs of North America (1960), and suggests that the song's origins date back to the 1880s. The song has been credited to 19th century African-American minstrel performerJames A. Bland, although this version descends into "a goofy call and response barnyard litany".[1] Sources agree earliest recorded version was released byGid Tanner and hisSkillet Lickers in 1928. |
| "The King of France" | Dylan | |
| "Lock Your Door" | Dylan | Only a fragment. |
| "Lo and Behold!" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | Take two was released on the 1975 album. |
| "Minstrel Boy" | Dylan | A live version recorded during Dylan's performance atIsle of Wight Festival 1969 was released in 1970 onSelf Portrait; however, this recording from 1967 was unknown until its release on 2013'sThe Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969–1971).[35] |
| "Million Dollar Bash" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | One of the best known basement songs, released on the 1975 album. Recorded byFairport Convention and released in 1969 onUnhalfbricking.Cash Box said that "Dylan leads a nonsense/rapsong about the party of parties whereeverybody must have gotten stoned."[36] Take two was released on the 1975 album. |
| "Mr. Blue" | Dewayne Blackwell | This song was a number one hit forThe Fleetwoods in 1959.[1] |
| "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" | Clarence Williams | This song reached number 4 on the Country Charts whenHank Williams released it as a single in 1949.[1] |
| "Nine Hundred Miles" | Traditional | Woody Guthrie made this song a folk standard. |
| "Nothing Was Delivered" (takes 1 & 2, fragment) | Dylan | Take one was released on the 1975 album. Recorded byThe Byrds and released in 1968 onSweetheart of the Rodeo. |
| "Odds and Ends" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | Take two was released on the 1975 album with overdubs. |
| "Ol' Roison the Beau" | Traditional | A folk revival standard. |
| "On a Rainy Afternoon" | Dylan | Griffin notes that Dylan recorded a song with the same title in a Glasgow hotel room in May 1966. This is a different song, described by Griffin as sounding like "a pounding outtake fromHighway 61 Revisited."[37] |
| "One For the Road" | Dylan | The song has been described as an enjoyably sloppy, improvised version of a Sinatra number ("One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)").[38] |
| "One Man's Loss" | Dylan | Marcus states this is probably loosely based onDick Thomas's 1950 Hank William's-styled "One Man's Loss is Another Man's Gain".[39] |
| "One Single River" | Ian Tyson,Peter Gzowski | AnotherIan and Sylvia song, which they recorded under the title "Song for Canada". |
| "One Too Many Mornings" | Dylan | Released onThe Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete.Richard Manuel sings the first verse before Dylan's vocal takes over.[1] |
| "Open the Door, Homer" (takes 1, 2, and 3) | Dylan | The chorus echoes the 1947 hit song "Open the Door, Richard" byJack McVea, which reached number one in the charts in 1947, recorded byCount Basie.[40] Take one was released on the 1975 album. |
| "People Get Ready" | Curtis Mayfield | |
| "Please Mrs. Henry" | Dylan | Appears on the acetate and the 1975 album. Notable forPaul McCartney trying to getthe Beatles to record it during theLet It Be sessions.[41] Other bands to cover the song includeCheap Trick,Manfred Mann's Earth Band andChris Spedding.[42] |
| "Po' Lazarus" | Traditional | A song Dylan originally performed in 1961. |
| "Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)" (takes 1 and 2) | Dylan | ThisBasement Tapes song was a hit forManfred Mann in January 1968, reaching number one in theUK singles chart. Dylan's take one originally appeared on the first rock bootleg album,Great White Wonder, in 1969. Take two appeared on Dylan's 1985 compilation albumBiograph. |
| "Rock, Salt, and Nails" | Utah Phillips | First recorded byRosalie Sorrels, made a hit by the bluegrass artistsFlatt & Scruggs. |
| "Roll On Train" | Dylan | It has been suggested this early Basement song was recorded in the "Red Room" of Dylan's home, Hi Lo Ha, in the Byrdcliffe area of Woodstock.[1] |
| "Santa-Fe" | Dylan | A Dylan original that was finally released onThe Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 in 1991.[43] |
| "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" | Blind Lemon Jefferson | First recorded in 1928 by Jefferson, famously included in theAnthology of American Folk Music, and first recorded by Dylan in 1962 for hiseponymous debut album. On the officially released box set, it was titled "One Kind Favor". |
| "See You Later Allen Ginsberg" | Dylan | Variation on "See You Later, Alligator". The title is coined by one of the members of the Band at the beginning of the first take, causing Dylan to laugh. Years later Robbie Robertson referred to some of these sessions as "reefer run amok".[citation needed] The first take ends abruptly, with Dylan giving instructions to erase the take. |
| "Silent Weekend" | Dylan | A Dylan composition described by Griffin as rockabilly, and suitable for aRonnie Hawkins interpretation.[44] |
| "Sign on the Cross" | Dylan | The longest recording of theBasement Tapes, and often regarded as one of the highlights from the sessions.[10][45] |
| "Silhouettes" | Frank Slay Jr.,Bob Crewe | A very brief cover ofThe Rays' number 3 doo-wop song, released in 1957.[46][47] |
| "Spanish is the Loving Tongue" | Charles Badger Clark | Written by 'the cowboy poet' Charles Badger Clark, and published in 1915 as a poem: "A Border Affair"; it was later set to music by Billy Simon. Dylan subsequently recorded this song twice; the second version was released as theB-side of his 1971 single "Watching the River Flow"; the third version was released on Columbia's so-called "revenge album",Dylan, in 1973, but was recorded earlier, during theSelf Portrait sessions inNashville in 1969.[48] |
| "The Spanish Song" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | This song, and its partner Take two, are bizarre recordings by Dylan and the Band, suggesting a high-spirited caricature of Spanish music. Griffin suggests that the improvised lyrics and encouraging laughter give these recordings the quality of a party tape.[49] Greil Marcus described these recording as "complete dementia with the spirit ofSam Peckinpah present to crack the whip".[50] |
| "Still in Town, Still Around" | Hank Cochran,Harlan Howard | One of several songs covered by Dylan and the Band that were most familiar from Johnny Cash versions. |
| "This Wheel's on Fire" | Dylan,Rick Danko | ABasement Tapes original covered by the Band onMusic From Big Pink, and also released on the official 1975 album. |
| "Tears of Rage" (takes 1, 2, 3) | Dylan,Richard Manuel | The first take of one of the most famousBasement Tapes songs. The song has gone on to be one of the most covered tunes from the basement sessions. The Band recorded their own version, which appeared as the opening track of their first album,Music From Big Pink. Take two breaks down, and take three was released on the 1975 album. |
| "Tiny Montgomery" | Dylan | Released on the 1975 album. |
| "Too Much of Nothing" (takes 1 and 2) | Dylan | Take one appears on the 1975 album, and is notably different in arrangement from take two, which appeared onGreat White Wonder. |
| "Try Me Little Girl" | Dylan | A jazzy blues in which Dylan sings in a weakfalsetto voice. |
| "Tupelo" | John Lee Hooker | Recorded by Hooker in 1959. |
| "Under Control | Dylan | Rollins describes this song as a sketch driven by Robbie Robertson's heavy-duty guitar riff which uses cadences not usually associated with the blues.[1] |
| "Waltzing with Sin" (false start and take) | Red Hayes-Sonny Burns | – |
| "Wild Wolf" | Dylan | Released onThe Basement Tapes Complete, this Dylan composition had not previously been heard on any bootleg. Critic Bill Wyman wrote: "Brooding and impeccably arranged, it is utterly sensational and unlike anything Dylan had recorded up to that point; it contains all the nuance and power he would (unsuccessfully) go for on the moodier tracks onStreet-Legal ten years later.[51] |
| "Wildwood Flower" | A. P. Carter | A song whichThe Carter Family made a standard, taking the song all the way to the number 3 spot in the music charts in 1928. |
| "Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | Take two appears on the 1975 release. |
| "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" (takes 1 & 2) | Dylan | On the first take, the lyrics of this song are both improvised and absurd: "Now look here, dear soup, you must feed the cats/ The cats need feeding and you're the one to do it/ Get your hat and feed the cats/ You ain't goin' nowhere". The lyrics are tightened up by take two, providing a chance to hear Dylan's improvisational style of writing in action.[52] Dylan recorded this again, with slightly different lyrics, forGreatest Hits II. Take two was released on the 1975 album. |
| "You Win Again" | Hank Williams | Williams released the song in 1952. Dylan models his version on theJerry Lee Lewis B-side version to "Great Balls of Fire", which was a number 2 hit in 1957. |
| "Young But Daily Growing" | Traditional | One of the oldest songs in Dylan's repertoire. A recording exists of Dylan singing this song inMinneapolis in 1961. Although he has additional accompaniment, this recording sounds very similar to his 1961 rendition.[53] |
