Dylan Revisited: Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
In one night, Bob Dylan abandoned his protest icon status and embraced a more expansive interior side.
This is a series by DylanRevisited based on former Twitter threads, now available here in an easier to read and longer lasting format.
In mid-1964, Columbia Records urged Bob Dylan back into the studio. The label was keen to capitalize on the commercial and critical success of The Times They Are A-Changin’, which was released in January of that year. Dylan obliged but, as ever, did so on his own terms.
Another Side of Bob Dylan as a contractual obligation is an idea supported by the rushed recording process. After spending a week in a tiny Greek village with the pre-Velvets Nico, Dylan returned to New York and headed straight from the airport to Columbia’s Studio A.
Waiting there was producer Tom Wilson – who had no idea what to expect – some of Dylan’s friends, journalist Nat Hentoff and many bottles of Beaujolais. Over one evening, Dylan would record an album of 11 songs, most of which he had written or finished during his week in Greece.
You can hear Another Side’s loose, get-it-done vibe on its opening song, All I Really Wanna Do. Dylan does it in one take, meaning we get to hear all the mistakes, mic popping and mirth. Oh, and there’s yodeling.
Contrast this throwaway beginning to the anthemic openers of his previous two albums (Blowin’ in the Wind / The Times They Are A-Changin’) and you sense that Dylan may be making a point here. There’s protesting in this song but it’s a personal campaign.
While All I Really Wanna Do is somewhat slight Dylan song, the intensity of the rhyming throughout demonstrates that it's still a strong piece of writing. Both Cher and The Byrds covered it, releasing their singles at the same time.
When Cher’s version became a top 20 hit in the US, Dylan teased Roger McGuinn, saying “they beat you man.” Poor McGuinn interpreted this as the songwriter feeling let down by the “protectors of his music”, but I suspect Dylan didn’t really care as long as he got paid.
Photo by Michael Ochs
Another Side of Bob Dylan features more unintended laughter during I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met). The chuckles occur when Dylan realizes he’s started singing the wrong verse from the version he had written down.
The finger-picked intro to I Don’t Believe You references the Greek folk music that Dylan must have heard during his week in the Mediterranean sun. It’s another offhand performance, which perfectly captures the theme of a fine song that he’ll continue to play live for years to come.
With its story of a woman who later blanks her former lover, I Don’t Believe You is a precursor to the vicious character assassinations electric Dylan will be writing in a couple of years. And of course, he’ll use the song's title as part of his retort to the “Judas” catcall.
Another Side of Bob Dylan’s looseness and laughter is a stark contrast to the studied and serious, The Times They Are A-Changin’. With its yodeling, honky tonk piano and lines like “weird monkey, very funky”, this carefree record pointedly forsakes the focused, finger-pointing of his previous album.