| "John Wesley Harding" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album John Wesley Harding | |
| Released | December 27, 1967 |
| Recorded | November 6, 1967 |
| Genre | Folk rock, country rock |
| Length | 2:59 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) | Bob Johnston |
| Audio sample | |
"John Wesley Harding" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the opening track on his 1967 album of the same name.
Writing and recording
Dylan told Jann Wenner in a 1969 Rolling 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."[1] Biographer Clinton Heylin states that Dylan has had a well-documented interest in outlaw cowboys, including Jesse James and Billy the Kid,[2] and in the past Dylan has said that his favorite folk song was "John Hardy",[3] whose real-life title character in 1893 murdered another man over a game of craps.[4] John Wesley Hardin was another late-19th century outlaw.[2] Dylan has stated that he chose John Wesley Hardin for his protagonist over other badmen because his name "[fit] in the tempo" of the song.[1] Dylan added the g to the end of Hardin's name by mistake.[5][6]
The song was recorded in two takes on November 6, 1967, in Studio A of Columbia Music Row Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.[2][7] Both of these were considered for the album, but the second take was ultimately chosen.[2]
Themes
Dylan has said that he did not have a clear notion of what the song was about.[1][6] He told Cameron Crowe in 1985 that after recording the John 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 it John 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..."[6] It was the only title that he considered for the album.[1] He told a Newsweek interviewer in 1969 that the songs on his country Nashville 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."[8]
Cover versions
"John Wesley Harding" has been covered by McKendree Spring on their 1969 eponymous album,[9] as well as Tom Russell[10] and Wesley Willis.[11]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Wenner, Jann. "Interview with Jann S. Wenner," Rolling Stone, November 29, 1969, in Cott 2006, p. 158
- ^ a b c d Heylin 2009, p. 447
- ^ Shelton 1986, p. 448
- ^ John Hardy Found Guilty
- ^ Sounes 2001, p. 227
- ^ a b c Crowe 1985
- ^ Heylin 1995, p. 69
- ^ Reprinted in Shelton 1986, p. 458
- ^ McKendree Spring
- ^ Ruhlmann
- ^ Black Light Diner
References
- "Black Light Diner". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
- Cott, Jonathan, ed. (2006). Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-92312-1.
- Crowe, Cameron (1985). Biograph (CD booklet). Bob Dylan. New York: Columbia Records.
- Heylin, Clinton (1995). Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960–1994. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-15067-9.
- Heylin, Clinton (2009). Revolution In The Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Volume One: 1957–73 (2010 paperback ed.). Constable. ISBN 978-1-84901-296-6.
- "John Hardy Found Guilty of Murder in the First Degree". Wheeling Daily Register. West Virginia Archives and History. 1893-10-13. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
- Maginnis, Tom. "John Wesley Harding: Song Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
- "McKendree Spring". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
- Ruhlmann, William. "Tom Russell: Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
- Shelton, Robert (1986). No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-34721-8.
- Sounes, Howard (2001). Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1686-8.
