"Subterranean Homesick Blues" | ||||
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Single by Bob Dylan | ||||
from the album Bringing It All Back Home | ||||
B-side | "She Belongs to Me" | |||
Released | March 8, 1965 | |||
Recorded | January 14, 1965 | |||
Studio | Columbia 30th Street, New York City | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:20 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan | |||
Producer(s) | Tom Wilson | |||
Bob Dylan singles chronology | ||||
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"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 14, 1965, and released as a single by Columbia Records, catalogue number 43242, on March 8. [5] It is the first track on the album Bringing It All Back Home , released some two weeks later. [6] It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also entered the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. The song has subsequently been reissued on numerous compilations, the first being the 1967 singles compilation Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits . One of Dylan's first electric recordings, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is also notable for its innovative music video, which first appeared in D. A. Pennebaker's documentary Dont Look Back . An acoustic version of the song, recorded the day before the single, was released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 .
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is ranked 187th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. [7] In its contemporary review, Cash Box described it as a "rockin’-country folk blueser with a solid beat and catchy lyrics" and "wild" guitar and harmonica playing. [8]
In 2004, Dylan said of the song: "It's from Chuck Berry, a bit of 'Too Much Monkey Business' and some of the scat songs of the '40s." [9]
Dylan has also stated that when he attended the University of Minnesota in 1959, he fell under the influence of the Beat scene: "It was Jack Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso and Ferlinghetti." [10] Kerouac's The Subterraneans , a novel published in 1958 about the Beats, has been suggested as a possible inspiration for the song's title. [11] [12]
The song's first line is a reference to codeine distillation and the politics of the time: "Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine / I'm on the pavement thinkin' about the government". [6] [13] The song also depicts some of the growing conflicts between "straights" or "squares" and the emerging counterculture of the 1960s. The widespread use of recreational drugs and turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War were both starting to take hold of the nation, and Dylan's hyperkinetic lyrics were dense with up-to-the-minute allusions to important emerging elements in the 1960s youth culture. According to rock journalist Andy Gill, "an entire generation recognized the zeitgeist in the verbal whirlwind of 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'." [13]
The song also refers to the struggles surrounding the American civil rights movement ("Better stay away from those / That carry 'round a fire hose"—during the civil rights movement, peaceful protestors were beaten and sprayed with high-pressure fire hoses). The song was Dylan's first Top 40 hit in the United States. [14]
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" has had a wide influence, resulting in iconic references by artists and non-artists alike. (Most infamously, its lyric "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" was the inspiration for the name of the American far-left organization known as the Weather Underground, which formed after breaking away from the Students for a Democratic Society.) [15] In a 2007 study of legal opinions and briefs that found Dylan was quoted by judges and lawyers more than any other songwriter, "you don't need a weatherman..." was distinguished as the line most often cited. [16] [17] [a]
John Lennon was reported to find the song so captivating that he did not know how he would be able to write a song that could compete with it. [18] [19] The group Firehose took its name from a lyric from the song: "Better stay away from those that carry around a fire hose..." [20] A line in the song provided the Australian garage rock band Jet with the title of their debut album Get Born . [21] "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is referenced in the title of Radiohead's song "Subterranean Homesick Alien" from the 1997 album OK Computer . [22]
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Covers of the song span a range of styles, including those by the reggae musician Gregory Isaacs on Is It Rolling Bob?, his 2004 album of Dylan songs, with Toots Hibbert; [23] the bluegrass musician Tim O'Brien on his 1996 album of Dylan covers, Red on Blonde ; the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers on the 1987 album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan ; the Cajun-style fiddle player Doug Kershaw on Louisiana Man in 1978; and the singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson on his 1974 album Pussy Cats , produced by John Lennon, who admired the song. [24] The song was also covered by Alanis Morissette when she stood in for Dylan at his 2005 induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame. [25] In addition, Robert Wyatt's "Blues in Bob Minor", on his 1997 album Shleep, uses the song's rhythm as a structural template. [26]
In December 2009, the rapper Juelz Santana released the single "Mixin' Up the Medicine", which features lyrics in the chorus, performed by alternative rapper Yelawolf, and maintains some of the song's original acoustics. Ed Volker of the New Orleans Radiators also has performed the song in his solo shows and with the Radiators, often paired with "Highway 61 Revisited".[ citation needed ]
In 1985, British actor Tom Watt, at the time enjoying a high profile playing the role of Lofty Holloway in EastEnders , released a version of the song that made number 67 in the UK singles chart.
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Elvis Costello cited "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as inspiration for his 1978 song "Pump It Up" saying, "It's how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That's what I did." [27]
Echo & the Bunnymen's 1980 song "Villiers Terrace" includes the lyric "There's people rolling 'round on the carpet / Mixin' up the medicine."
Chumbawamba's 2004 single "The Wizard of Menlo Park" features the lyric "Old Thomas Edison, mixing up the medicine."
R.E.M.'s 1987 hit, "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", has been stated by guitarist Peter Buck to be an homage to the song.
Zounds' remixed single "This Land" contains the lyric "fifteen years of schooling and they put you on the night shift."
The Hayes Carll track "KMAG YOYO" is a direct homage to the rhythms and subject matter of "Subterranean Homesick Blues". [28]
The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1989 single "Blues from a Gun" includes the lyric "Look out kid, you're gonna get hit", a line borrowed from the Dylan track.
Radiohead's song "Subterranean Homesick Alien", from their 1997 album OK Computer , pays homage by referencing Bob Dylan's track in the title.
Robert Wyatt's song "Blues in Bob Minor" from his 1997 album Shleep includes the line, "Genuflecting, bowing deeply/It don't take a weathergirl to see/Where the wind is blowing/What the wind is bending."
The Gaslight Anthem's song "Angry Johnny and the Radio", from their 2007 album Sink or Swim, includes the lyrics "And I'm still here singin', thinking about the government" and "Are you hidin' in a basement, mixin' up the medicine?"
Beastie Boys' song "Funky Donkey" from their 2011 album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two contains the lyrics "I don't wear Crocs and I don't wear sandals / The pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handle."
Deaf Havana's album Old Souls contains the song "Subterranean Bullshit Blues", which references the title in homage to the songwriter James Veck-Gilodi's respect for Dylan.
Adam Green's song "Novotel" includes the lyric "Novotel / The phone's tapped anyway."
The alternative rock band fIREHOSE took their name from the following line in this song: "Walk on your tiptoes, don't tie no bows. Better stay away from those that carry around a firehose".
In addition to its influence on music, the song was used in one of the first "modern" promotional film clips, the forerunner of what was later known as the music video. Rolling Stone ranked it seventh in the magazine's October 1993 list of "100 Top Music Videos". [29] The original clip was the opening segment of D. A. Pennebaker's film Dont Look Back , a documentary on Dylan's 1965 tour of England. In the film, Dylan, who came up with the idea, holds up cue cards with selected words and phrases from the lyrics. The cue cards were written by Donovan, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Neuwirth and Dylan himself. [13]
While staring at the camera, Dylan flips the cards as the song plays. There are intentional misspellings and puns throughout the clip: for instance, when the song's lyrics say "eleven dollar bills", the poster says "20 dollar bills". The clip was shot in an alley close to the Savoy Hotel in London. Ginsberg is constantly visible in the background, talking to Neuwirth. For use as a trailer, the following text was superimposed at the end of the clip, Dylan and Ginsberg are exiting the frame: "SURFACING HERE SOON | BOB DYLAN IN | DONT LOOK BACK By D. A. PENNEBAKER". The Savoy Hotel has retained much of its exterior as it was in 1965, and the alley used in the film has been identified as the Savoy Steps. [30]
In addition to the Savoy Hotel clip, two alternative promotional films were shot: one in a park (Embankment Gardens, adjacent to the Savoy Hotel) where Dylan, Neuwirth and Ginsberg are joined by Dylan's producer, Tom Wilson, and another shot on the roof of an unknown building. A montage of the clips can be seen in the documentary No Direction Home .
The film clip was used in September 2010 in a promotional video to launch Google Instant. [31] As they are typed, the lyrics of the song generate search engine results pages.
The 1992 Tim Robbins film Bob Roberts features Robbins in the title role as a right-wing folk singer who uses Dylan's cue-card concept for the song "Wall Street Rap". [32]
"Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for the 2003 song "Bob" parodies Dylan's music and writing style with a series of 38 palindromic sentences. The word "Bob" is itself a palindrome and Yankovic mimics Dylan's video by dressing as Dylan and dropping cue cards that have the song's lyrics on them. [33] [34]
Several other musicians have imitated or paid homage to the video by using a similar cue-card format, most notably Australian band INXS in the video for their 1987 song "Mediate" [35] and the German band Wir sind Helden in their 2005 song " Nur ein Wort " (Just one word). [36]
According to Far Out Magazine [37]
Dont [sic] Look Back is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.
Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Dylan continued the musical approach of his previous album Bringing It All Back Home (1965), using rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album in a further departure from his primarily acoustic folk sound, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural climate of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.
Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. In a major transition from his earlier sound, it was Dylan's first album to incorporate electric instrumentation, which caused controversy and divided many in the contemporary folk scene.
Donn Alan Pennebaker was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of direct cinema. Performing arts and politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award. Pennebaker was called by The Independent as "arguably the pre-eminent chronicler of Sixties counterculture".
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England. Dylan distilled this draft into four verses and a chorus. "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded a few weeks later as part of the sessions for the forthcoming album Highway 61 Revisited.
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–76 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who was a major recording artist and concert performer, to play in smaller auditoriums in less populated cities where he could be more intimate with his audiences.
Robert John Neuwirth was an American folk singer, songwriter, record producer, and visual artist. He was noted for being the road manager and associate of Bob Dylan, as well as the co-writer of Janis Joplin's hit song "Mercedes Benz".
"A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Originally recorded for Simon's 1965 UK-only debut, The Paul Simon Songbook, it was recorded soon after by Simon and his partner, Art Garfunkel, for the duo's third album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan is a 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his "retirement" from touring following his motorcycle accident in July 1966. This period encapsulates Dylan's rise to fame as a folk singer and songwriter where he became the center of a cultural and musical upheaval, and continues through the electric controversy surrounding his move to a rock style of music.
"Talkin' World War III Blues" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that was first released as the tenth track of his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Like nearly every song on the album, it is performed by Dylan solo, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica played in a rack.
"Mediate" is a song by INXS from their 1987 album, Kick. On the album, the song segues from their big hit single, "Need You Tonight." The song has the distinction of having almost every line rhyme with the word "ate".
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling his style on Woody Guthrie's folk songs, Robert Johnson's blues and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams's country songs, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
Modern Times is the thirty-second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 29, 2006, by Columbia Records. The album was the third work in a string of critically acclaimed albums by Dylan. It continued its predecessors' tendencies toward blues, rockabilly and pre-rock balladry, and was self-produced by Dylan under the pseudonym "Jack Frost". Despite the acclaim, the album sparked some debate over its uncredited use of choruses and arrangements from older songs, as well as many lyrical lines taken from the work of 19th-century poet Henry Timrod and Roman poet Ovid.
"Pump It Up" is a 1978 song by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It originally appeared on Costello's second album This Year's Model, which was the first he recorded with the backing group the Attractions. Written as an ironic response to his time during the Stiffs Live Tour and inspired by "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan, "Pump It Up" features a stomping rhythm and ironic lyrics.
65 Revisited is a 2007 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker. It was made from footage the director shot for his 1967 film Dont Look Back. Both films show Bob Dylan and entourage during their 1965 concert tour of the UK. The newer film includes outtakes from its predecessor, and adds several full-length song performances.
The soundtrack album for the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There was released as a double CD on October 30, 2007. It features only one recording by Dylan himself—his previously unreleased recording of the title song "I'm Not There" recorded during The Basement Tapes' sessions in 1967—plus various other artists' recordings of songs written by Dylan. These CDs do not contain the movie sound track. Fragments from less than half of the titles are heard in the film, which features more of Dylan's own recordings. The end credits relay a complete list of music heard in the film.
Zé Ramalho Canta Bob Dylan – Tá Tudo Mudando is the second tribute album by Brazilian singer-songwriter Zé Ramalho, released in 2008. This time, he pays an homage to Bob Dylan, whose "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" had already been covered by him. Most of the songs' lyrics were almost literally rewritten to Portuguese. The album cover is a reference to Dylan's known promotional film clip for the 1965 song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". "O Vento Vai Responder", a cover of "Blowin' in the Wind", was used in the soundtrack of the Rede Globo telenovela, Caminho das Índias.
Dylan Jazz is an instrumental jazz album of Bob Dylan songs featuring Glen Campbell on guitar and Jim Horn on saxophone and flute, released in 1965.
Subterranean Home Sick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home is a 2010 digitally-released tribute to Bob Dylan's album Bringing It All Back Home. Sixteen artists collaborated to compile the album, which was released on October 5, 2010, by Reimagine Music.
"Bob" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the 2003 album, Poodle Hat. The song is a parody sung in the style of Bob Dylan, and all of the lyrics are palindromes as is the title. For example, the song's first line is "I, man, am regal—a German am I", which reads the same when reversed.