Blonde on Blonde
A double album cut in New York and Nashville, ending with the 11-minute Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.
Bob Dylan, 1966
- Released
- 1966
- Recorded
- October 1965 to March 1966
- Studio
- Columbia Studio A, New York City, and Columbia's studio in Nashville
- Label
- Columbia
- Producer
- Bob Johnston
- Length
- 72:37
Sessions began in October 1965 in New York with the Hawks, but only One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) came out of them. Producer Bob Johnston suggested Nashville. Dylan's manager Albert Grossman opposed the idea. The album was mixed in Los Angeles in early April 1966, and the double-album format emerged then. Kooper and McCoy recalled one trip to Nashville, while other accounts describe two, so the exact timeline is disputed.
It reached nine in the US and three in the UK. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 got to number two on the US Hot 100, I Want You to 20, and Just Like a Woman to 33. Rolling Stone placed it ninth in 2003 and 38th in 2020. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Critic Robert Shelton said it begins with a joke and ends with a hymn. The Bob Dylan Center's exhibition Thin Wild Mercury covers the making of the album and the 1966 tour.
Track listing
- Rainy Day Women #12 & 354:36
- Pledging My Time3:50
- Visions of Johanna7:33
- One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)4:54
- I Want You3:07
- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again7:05
- Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat3:58
- Just Like a Woman4:52
- Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine3:30
- Temporary Like Achilles5:02
- Absolutely Sweet Marie4:57
- 4th Time Around4:35
- Obviously 5 Believers3:35
- Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands11:23
Personnel
- Bob Dylan vocals
- Robbie Robertson guitar
- Al Kooper organ, electric piano
- Charlie McCoy trumpet, harmonica, guitar, bass
- Kenny Buttrey drums
- Hargus "Pig" Robbins piano
- Wayne Moss guitar, bass
- Joe South guitar, bass
- Henry Strzelecki bass, organ
- Jerry Schatzberg cover photograph
More from Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964), Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), John Wesley Harding (1967), Blood on the Tracks (1975), The Basement Tapes (1975), Desire (1976), Time Out of Mind (1997), The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998), Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020)
Sources
- Blonde on Blonde, Wikipedia
- Bob Dylan Center, Bob Dylan Center