Mr. Tambourine Man

In 1965, "Mr. Tambourine Man" was released as the first track on the acoustic side of Bob Dylan's fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home. That is a little surprising, given that the Byrds' electric version, which reached number one on the Hot 100, was released as a single only a few months later. The lyrics are open to many interpretations, including drug references (which Dylan has denied), to the search for a muse, to simply an appreciation of guitarist Bruce Langhorne's actual tambourine playing. Both Dylan's version and the Byrds' (much truncated, with only one of Dylan's four verses) made Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest rock songs.

 

 

Dylan joins at 1:30

First as tribute . . .

Then as saccharine . . .

And finally as farce . . .

Comments

[Cory]

This is one of the most important songs of the 20th century because this was the first popular song that fused the electric guitar with folk music. Though Dylan generally gets credit for electrifying folk music, and it was his song, it was Jim (Roger) McGuinn who actually did it first with this genius electric interpretation - an introduction borrowed from Bach (went to Catholic school in Chicago) and a 4/4 Beatle backbeat (he had just seen a Hard Days Night). It was the first true folk-rock song.
Electrifying folk music was considered heresy at the time and it was several weeks after The Byrds topped the charts that Pete Seeger and the audience at Newport gave Dylan a hard time for calling for an electric guitar for another one of his songs.

[Howard Wasserman]

I would have been very disappointed had you not included Shatner.

[Steve L.]

There was never a chance of that happening.

[James Grimmelmann]

Don’t forget https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IRLqCvvWgcY

[Frank Boyer]

An iconic song from an iconic time.

Here's a cover by the Searchers: https://youtu.be/FrC-O3EsoAo?feature=shared

[Steve L.]

I don't get it, James. Is it a reference to Dylan's "magic swirling ship"?

[James Grimmelmann]

Jonn Flansburgh of TMBG saw a Dylan record jacket which hypheanted "MR. TAMBOURINE MAN" into "MR. TAMBO" and "URINE MAN." They batted the idea around for a while and turned it into a song about these two characters and their strained relationship.

[Steve L.]

Oh.