Dylan :: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (1966)

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If you consider yourself more than a casual fan of Bob Dylan, chances are you remember the song, album and/or concert event that turned you into a true believer. Yes, there are obviously folks with a passing interest in the artist who can hum a few bars to “Like A Rolling Stone,” but the majority of Dylan fans seem to be, on a variety of levels, all in.

For me, the moment I realized that there was something more to the man that just the legend, and the oft-covered songs on the local classic rock station, was hearing Bootleg Series Vol. 4 – Live, 1966, specifically the track “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down.” It was then I knew, that I too, was all in.

Bootleg Series Vol. 4 is comprised of the stuff of legend. Officiously released in 1998, this show, for mis-labled for years on the bootleg scene as having taken place at the Royal Albert Hall.

The track in question, the traditional “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down,” originally arranged and released as a sparse folk song on Dylan’s 1962 eponymous debut, takes on an altogether new power here. Raucously backed by The Hawks, who would soon morph into The Band, Dylan leads the group through the standard with an almost venomous self confidence. After hearing this, I never looked back.

Previously: Bob Dylan :: Don’t Look Back (Deluxe DVD)

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Bob Dylan :: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down

Video: Bob Dylan :: Like A Rolling Stone, Live 1966
Video: Bob Dylan :: Ballad Of A Thin Man, Live 1966
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Amazon: Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series Vol. 4 – Live, 1966

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13 thoughts on “Dylan :: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (1966)

  1. yes, yes, yes — this track, One Too Many Mornings, and I Don’t Believe You (she acts like we never have met), all from these recordings, are possibly (for all intents and purposes) my favorite [rocking-] dylan tracks — what a ridiculous statement to ever have to make…”favorite dylan tracks”…psh. Albeit, these versions came to my knowledge many years after my general Conversion to Bob Dylan as a kid, it was tracks like these that really set off the avalanche of obsession that was to follow. Good call, sir/or madam.

  2. Absolutely superb. I don’t know if it was this song in particular, for me, but this whole album bowled me over, especially as my parents were among the disappointed folkies who he blew away with this gig – my Mum was at this very concert.

    That second CD is one of the all-time moments of confrontational rock ‘n’ roll genius in the history of music.

    ‘Play it fucking loud’

  3. The Just like Tom thumb’s blues on there is also amazing. The bootleg series 5 is also amazing with a raging Romance in Durango and Ballad of Hattie Carrol. I hope they release another bootleg series soon.

  4. I just recently became a true believer. Oddly enough, I started listening to Dylan after I got hooked on John Wesley Harding at a weekend party at a cabin out in the sticks… there’s a strange album to get started with. But true believer… I was a believer after Blood on the Tracks, but I think after Sara, Forever Young, and the Rolling Thunder bootleg release, I was a true “I will eventually have the entire Dylan catalogue” believer.

  5. Love the reinvention here. This is one of my favourite Dylan “covers” of his original compositions. All-timer has to be “Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” from the ‘Before The Flood’ live disc. Kicks the crap out of the Blonde on Blonde version.

  6. The “Forever Young” from the the ‘Last Waltz’ is, well, there really are no words for it. And although The Rolling Thunder Revue is probably his greatest tour, he never clicked with anyone like he did with The Band.

  7. Wow, I’ll just add to the list of voices in agreement. Dylan was always my dad’s favorite, but this was the album…specifically disc 2, of course…that finally connected with me. This got me hooked on Dylan, but possibly even more so on The Band.

    On another note, a girl taking my order last week at a Chinese restaurant looked at my never-ending-tour shirt and asked who Bob Dylan is. Dumbfounded, I ignored the question, placed my order, and she says “Is it you? Are you Bob Dylan?”

  8. Just listen to the energy and the music in that song. Everyone is into it. Everyone knows their place. This is what music is about.

  9. wow, i’d better get that sucker out and give it a listen with fresh ears… when it originally came out, my impression of Disc 2 was that it was (don’t stone me) haphazard and lurching… no issue with the 1st disc, but I must confess I’ve not given it its due since it originally came out… I’ve purchased the subsequent Rolling Thunder set but still have yet to snag the ’64 set… (and I call myself a fan?).

    I’ve seen the man ‘only’ four times (and only since the mid-80’s onward) and his ‘Greatest Hits’ album was the 1st album I bought back in the 60’s that wasn’t the Beatles or Stones (I was about 12 at the time) – not sure that entitles me to have a contrary opinion without invoking anyone’s ire though (? ‘-)…. whatever, etc. but I’m ‘in’ as far as his overall canon goes. And a big 10-4 on the comment re: ‘One too many mornings’… kills me every time.

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