View source for Bob Dylan's Dream

{{distinguish|Bob Dylan's 115th Dream}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Infobox song
| name     = Bob Dylan's Dream
| cover    =
| alt      =
| artist   = [[Bob Dylan]]
| album    = [[The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan]]
| released = May 27, 1963
| recorded = April 24, 1963
| studio   =
| venue    =
| genre    = [[Contemporary folk music|Folk]]
| length   = 5:03
| label    = [[Columbia Records]]
| writer   = [[Bob Dylan]]
| producer =
}}
"'''Bob Dylan's Dream'''" is a song written by [[Bob Dylan]] in 1963. It was recorded by Dylan on April 24, 1963, and was released by [[Columbia Records]] a month later on the album ''[[The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan]]''.<ref>Heylin, ''Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades'', p. 732</ref><ref>Gray, ''The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia'', pp. 243–244</ref>

The song was also recorded as a [[demo recording|demo]] for Dylan's publishing company, [[M. Witmark & Sons]]. The demo version, taped the day before the album track, was officially released on ''[[The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964]]'' in October 2010.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bobdylan.com/#/early-demos-and-mono-recordings| title=The Bootleg Series Volume 9—The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964| date=October 17, 2010 | accessdate=December 3, 2010 | publisher=bobdylan.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/10/22/album-reviews-bob-dylan-bootleg-series-vol-9-the-witmark-demos-1962-1964-and-the-complete-mono-recordings/ | last=Corbett | first=Ben | title=Album Reviews: Bob Dylan, Bootleg Series Vol. 9, The Witmark Demos 1962–1964 and The Complete Mono Recordings | publisher=[[Crawdaddy]] | accessdate=December 3, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225225331/http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/10/22/album-reviews-bob-dylan-bootleg-series-vol-9-the-witmark-demos-1962-1964-and-the-complete-mono-recordings/ | archive-date=December 25, 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref> A May 10, 1963 live version of the song was also released that month on ''[[In Concert – Brandeis University 1963]]''.<ref name=GreeneRollingStone>{{cite magazine | url = https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/197095 | last = Greene | first = Andy | title = Dylan's New 'Bootleg' to Feature Unearthed Live Show | magazine = [[Rolling Stone]] | date = August 31, 2010 | accessdate = December 8, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101205153726/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/197095 | archive-date = December 5, 2010 | url-status = dead }}</ref> An April 12, 1963 concert performance was included on ''Live 1962–1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections'', released in 2018.

==Background==
Various accounts have been proposed regarding the song's inspiration, none of them being conclusive. In one, 
"Bob Dylan's Dream" recalls the times Dylan had spent in [[Greenwich Village]] with comedian Hugh Romney and their friends during the early 1960s. Romney, later to become [[Wavy Gravy]] of [[Woodstock]] and [[Merry Pranksters]] fame, lived above [[The Gaslight Cafe]] on [[MacDougal Street]], where he worked as entertainment director.<ref name="Sounes, pp. 92-93">Sounes, ''Down the Highway'', pp. 92–93</ref> The two first met at the Gaslight in the spring of 1961. Dylan approached Romney about the possibility of performing and began appearing regularly at the Gaslight's [[Hootenanny|hootenannies]]. Within a few months, he debuted at the Gaslight as a featured act.<ref>Sounes, ''Down the Highway'', pp. 93</ref>

Dylan frequently hung out upstairs in Romney's apartment and wrote one of his most significant songs there, "[[A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall]]", in August 1962 .<ref>Sounes, ''Down the Highway'', pp. 121–122</ref> The next winter, in late January or early February 1963, he wrote "Bob Dylan's Dream" possibly as a nostalgic remembrance of his early days in the Village when his life was less complex.<ref name="Sounes, pp. 92-93"/><ref>Bjorner, ''The Yearly Chronicles'', 1963</ref>

A differing account, by biographer and critic [[Robert Shelton (critic)|Robert Shelton]], posits that the song concerns the lost innocence of Dylan's adolescence in [[Hibbing, Minnesota|Hibbing]], Minnesota.<ref name="Shelton, p. 156">Shelton, ''No Direction Home'', p. 156</ref> John Bucklen, one of Dylan's closest friends in Hibbing in the mid-1950s, told Shelton he and Dylan used to venture out to his sister's house, where they would play guitar and sing verses.<ref>Shelton, ''No Direction Home'', pp. 45–46</ref> "When I heard the song 'Bob Dylan's Dream'," he said, "I couldn't help but think that some of the sessions we had at my sister's house were part of that 'Dream.'"<ref name=EDLIS>{{cite book| title =Bob Dylan's Hibbing| publisher =EDLIS Café Press| year =2019| location =Hibbing, Minnesota| isbn =9781091782891}}</ref><ref name="Heylin, p. 124">Heylin, ''Revolution in the Air'', p. 124</ref>

==The song's origins==
According to Shelton, Dylan credited the melody of "Bob Dylan's Dream" to the [[Traditional song|traditional]] [[broadside ballad]] "Lord Franklin" (also known as "[[Lady Franklin's Lament]]" and "The Sailor's Dream"), which he learned from [[English people|British folksinger]] [[Martin Carthy]], while visiting London in late December 1962.<ref name="Shelton, p. 156"/>

However, Dylan may have learned the song even earlier from his Village friend [[Paul Clayton (folksinger)|Paul Clayton]], who had recorded it in 1957 for his album ''Whaling and Sailing Songs: From the Days of Moby Dick'' for [[Folkways Records|Folkways]] (later remastered on [[Tradition Records|Tradition]]). In either case, after returning from London two weeks later, Dylan began playing "Bob Dylan's Dream" for [[Gil Turner]] during after-hours sessions at [[Gerde's Folk City]], where Turner was emcee.<ref>Heylin, ''Revolution in the Air'', p. 125</ref><ref>Gray, ''Bob Dylan Encyclopedia'', pp. 672–673</ref>

Besides the melody, Dylan's song also shares lyrical similarities with "Lady Franklin's Lament", as in the song's closing lines:<ref name="Shelton, p. 156"/>

{{quote|text=Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat<br>
I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.|sign=[[Bob Dylan]]|source=closing verses of "Bob Dylan's Dream"<ref>Bob Dylan, ''Bob Dylan: Lyrics, 1962–2001'', p. 62</ref>}}

"Lady Franklin's Lament" concludes on a similar note:

{{quote|text=Ten thousand pounds would I freely give<br>
To know on earth, that my Franklin do live.|sign=[[Traditional song|Traditional]]|source=closing verses of "[[Lady Franklin's Lament]]"<ref name="Heylin, p. 124"/>}}

Within a short time, Dylan made the song a regular part of his repertoire, performing it for his first major New York concert at [[Town Hall (New York City)|Town Hall]] on April 12, 1963. Less than two weeks later, on April 24, he recorded two takes of the song at [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]'s Studio A, one of which was selected for the album ''Freewheelin' Bob Dylan''.<ref>Heylin, ''Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions,'', p. 14</ref>

==Notable cover versions==
* [[Peter, Paul, and Mary]] on ''[[Album 1700]]'', 1967<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/album-1700-r108117|title=Peter, Paul & Mary: ''Album 1700''|accessdate=February 25, 2011|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>
* [[Judy Collins]] on ''Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman'', 1993<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/judy-collins-sings-dylanjust-like-a-woman-r189711|title=Judy Collins: ''Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman''|accessdate=February 25, 2011|last=Roach|first=Pemberton|publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>
* [[Phil Carmen]] on ''Bob Dylan's Dream'', 1996<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/bob-dylans-dream-r353132|title=Phil Carmen: ''Bob Dylan's Dream''|accessdate=February 25, 2011|publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>
* [[Kinky Friedman]] on ''Classic Snatches from Europe'', 2003
* [[Bryan Ferry]] on ''[[Chimes of Freedom (album)|Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International]]'', 2012

==See also==
*[[List of Bob Dylan songs based on earlier tunes]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}

* {{Cite web|first=Olof|last=Bjorner|title=The Yearly Chronicles, 1961–64|url=http://www.bjorner.com/chronologies.htm}}
* {{Cite web|first=Olof|last=Bjorner|title=Still on the Road: Recording sessions & concerts, 1961–64|url=http://www.bjorner.com/still.htm#y61}}
* {{Cite book|first=Bob|last=Dylan|author-link=Bob Dylan|title=Bob Dylan: Lyrics, 1962–2001|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-2827-8}}
* {{Cite book|first=Colin|last=Escott|author-link=Colin Escott|title=The Leeds & Witmark Demos|publisher=[[Columbia Records]]|year=2010}}
* {{Cite book|first=Michael|last=Gray|author-link=Michael Gray (author)|title=The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum International Publishing]]|year=2006|isbn=0-8264-6933-7|url=https://archive.org/details/bobdylanencyclop00gray}}
* {{Cite book|first=Clinton|last=Heylin|author-link=Clinton Heylin|title=Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited|publisher=[[Harper Entertainment]]|year=2003|isbn=0-06-052569-X}}
* {{Cite book|last=Clinton|first=Heylin|authorlink1=Clinton Heylin| title=Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|year=1997|isbn=0-312-15067-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Clinton|first=Heylin|authorlink1=Clinton Heylin| title=Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973|publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-1-55652-843-9}}
* {{Cite book|first=Robert|last=Shelton|author-link=Robert Shelton (critic)|title=No Direction Home|publisher=Da Capo Press|date=2003 |orig-year=1986 |edition=Reprinted |isbn=0-306-81287-8}}
* {{Cite book|first=Howard|last=Sounes|author-link=Howard Sounes|title=Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan|publisher=[[Grove Press]]|year=2001|isbn=0-8021-1686-8|url=https://archive.org/details/downhighwaylifeo0000soun}}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060715182829/http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/dream.html Lyrics]
* [[Judy Collins]], {{YouTube|nP3spauYdxs|"Bob Dylan's Dream"}} on [[Pete Seeger]]'s TV show ''Rainbow Quest''

{{Bob Dylan}}
{{Bob Dylan songs (1960s)}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bob Dylan'S Dream}}
[[Category:1963 songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Bob Dylan]]
[[Category:Bob Dylan songs]]
[[Category:Peter, Paul and Mary songs]]
[[Category:Songs about dreams]]