Chords in progress
We have not analyzed this song audio yet. Once it is ready, you will see the chord player synced with the video.
From album
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan · 1965
Details
Duración6:00
ÁlbumHighway 61 Revisited
Año1965
ISRCUSSM19922508
If you like this, try
The story behind
When Bob Dylan sat down to write *Tombstone Blues*, it seems he had a kind of sound collage in mind, almost as if Salvador Dalí or Luis Buñuel had decided to lead a blues band with a Fender Strat. The song is packed with images that follow one another without apparent order, creating a surreal atmosphere. Think of lines like "The Commander-in-Chief replies while chasing a fly / Saying, 'Death to all who whine and cry' / And dropping a barbell points to the sky / Saying, 'The sun is not yellow / it's chicken'". He also allows himself to throw irreverent darts at religious, political, and bureaucratic figures, as when "the ghost of Belle Starr gives her wit / to Jezebel the nun who violently knits / a bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits / at the head of the chamber of commerce". Critic Bill Janovitz describes this mix of the unexpected and the irreverent as the essence of the piece.
The recording of *Tombstone Blues* took place on July 29, 1965, at Columbia Studio A in New York. Twelve takes were needed to arrive at the definitive version, which was finally included as the second track on the album *Highway 61 Revisited*. Producer Bob Johnston was in charge of this session, on which Dylan handled vocals, guitar, and harmonica. He was accompanied by musicians such as Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Paul Griffin on piano, Al Kooper on organ, Joe Macho, Jr. on bass, and Bobby Gregg on drums. The duration of this final take is five minutes and 58 seconds. Dylan himself commented in the liner notes of his compilation album *Biograph* that he felt he had "achieved a breakthrough, that nothing like it had been done before" with this song. He mentioned that he was inspired by conversations he overheard in bars between police officers about the deaths of criminals. The song's structure, according to critic Andy Gill, is based on four-line verses that rhyme similarly, with an A/A/A/B scheme. The album *Highway 61 Revisited* was released on August 30, 1965, and is considered a turning point, marking Dylan's greater foray into rock music, moving away from his previous acoustic sound.