THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,963) Bob Dylan — “Walkin’ Down the Line”
Dylan first recorded this delectable “throwaway” in November 1962 for Broadside magazine and then in March 1963 as a publishing demo. This remarkable song has “[s]adness everywhere, but the musician Dylan lays a catchy, cheerfully hopping melody underneath, which gives the lament (unintentionally?) a comical charge.” (Jochen Markhorst, https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/10921) It has been covered by a remarkable variety of artists (https://secondhandsongs.com/work/22201/al).
Jochen Markhorst writes of “Walkin’” and its enduring attraction to other artists:
It is one of Dylan’s early railroad songs. . . . Dylan is, as is well known, fond of the symbolic power of train transport and, at the very least, taken with the misty ambiguity that arises when allowing a roaming protagonist to walk down the line. . . . Part of the attraction lies in the stimulating contrast between lyrics and music. The storyteller, who is dragging down the line, is certainly not happy. He has walked all night along the rails, melancholic, with a troubled mind, his girlfriend, who by the way is not too smart, is not feeling well and the money has run out. Sadness everywhere, but the musician Dylan lays a catchy, cheerfully hopping melody underneath, which gives the lament (unintentionally?) a comical charge. The decor cannot be determined unambiguously. But his feet are flying and he is wearing his walkin’ shoes, so it is likely that the poet here tries to evoke the image of a destitute wanderer following a railroad. The poet has not given much love to the lyrics. It is also figuratively a directionless whole, a not too inspired collection of folk and blues clichés, with just one single Dylan-worthy flash: I see the morning light / Well, it’s not because / I’m an early riser / I didn’t go to sleep last night. Dylan considers the song a throw-away, apparently, and treats it that way. To safeguard copyrights, he makes a Witmark recording . . . for Broadside Dylan already recorded it once before, in October ’62, and in May ’64, at colleague Eric Von Schmidt’s home in Florida, it surprisingly pops up again, but it never reaches a stage or an album. . . . It is immediately picked up by colleagues and covered dozens of times in the 60s alone. The narrator’s suffering completely evaporates in all those cheerful, hopping arrangements, but that does not spoil the fun; the melody and the accompaniment have such indestructible, granite power that every adaptation is contagious. The first one is recorded as early as 1963 and is done by the very charming and very talented Jackie DeShannon. It opens her debut album, which she originally wanted to fill with Dylan covers. . . . Other covers from this period all have a similar, dated sound and arrangements . . . . [It] continues to be popular in later decades. . . .
Tony Attwood criticizes the many covers:
[M]any people who have recorded the song, and the different versions they have come up with. But the key thing they have all done is lost that odd chord against the melody contrast which heightens the difference between the lightness of the tune and the sadness of the lyrics. . . . [T]hey keep the jaunty and fun nature of the music, and have little input into the very downtrodden existence expressed in the words.
“Walkin Down the Line” by Bob Dylan. Everyone seems to have recorded their own version
Stephen Thomas Erlewine tells us of Dylan’s publishing demos:
Like any fledgling songwriter, Bob Dylan signed with a publishing company at the outset of his career. Publishers are standard practice for songwriters — it’s where the money comes in, as songs are published, performed, and covered — but in the early ‘60s there was an expectation that publishers would help place songs in the hands of appropriate singers, a practice Dylan effectively ended by popularizing writers singing their own songs, but in 1962, this self-sufficiency was a rarity. Even his 1962 debut contained only three Dylan originals, which in his case reflected his traditional folk roots, but Dylan needed a publisher for those three songs so John Hammond, who signed the singer/songwriter to Columbia, pointed him toward Leeds Music. Dylan cut a demo session for Leeds, between the recording and release of Bob Dylan and when that album wound up stiffing, Leeds let him buy out his contract in the summer of 1962, which then led to him signing with M. Witmark & Sons publishing company. Between 1962 and 1964 . . . Dylan cut several demo sessions for Witmark, usually with the intent of the publisher pitching songs to other singers. Many of his early classics were first essayed here . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-bootleg-series-vol-9-the-witmark-demos-1962-1964-mw0002041825
Here is the Broadside version:
Bob with “Eric Von Schmidt on a special version of this classic song featuring some new and mostly improvised verses. The real joy of the recordings from this tape is just hearing everybody have a good time playing music together.” (City of Red Skies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLl4bn-GRI):
Here is Arlo Guthrie at Woodstock. His hippie rap at the beginning is sooo dated, and sooo hilarious:
Here is Jackie DeShannon:
Here is Linda Ronstadt’s powerhouse version on Playboy After Dark:
Here is Joan Baez:
Here are Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder/Rising Sons:
Here is Odetta:
Here is Hamilton Camp’s million miles an hour version:
Here is Glen Campbell:
Here are the Dillards in ‘63 making fun of Bob’s voice. Who would end up with the more lasting legacy?!:
Here is Marvin Gardens live:
Here is Marvin Gardens’ demo:
Here is Sierra Ferrell’s adorable contemporary version:
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