Jesse Fuller / 1:40
Musician
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: November 20, 1961
Technical Team
Producer: John Hammond
Sound Engineers: George Knuerr and Pete Dauria
“You’re No Good” is a song by bluesman Jesse Fuller, born in Jonesboro, Georgia, in 1896. Fuller went to the West Coast in the 1920s, where he made a name for himself as a street musician. He was a true one-man-band musician, playing several instruments simultaneously, including a 12-string guitar, harmonica and/or kazoo, cymbals, hi-hat with the left foot and right foot, and the fotdella, a kind of six-string bass of his own creation. He took on the nickname “The Lone Cat,” under which he made his first recording in 1958, a compilation called Jazz, Folk Songs, Spirituals & Blues. The following year, he released Brother Lowdown, including two of his most famous songs: “You’re No Good,” which Dylan covered in this album, and “San Francisco Bay Blues,” which resulted in countless versions (from Janis Joplin to Eric Clapton). In 1960, Dylan attended a concert by Jesse Fuller in a coffeehouse in Denver called the Exodus. Jesse Fuller died from heart disease on January 29, 1976, in Oakland, California.
With the first song on his first album, Dylan’s interpretation of “You’re No Good” feels nervous, which contrasts with Jesse Fuller’s more serene version. The words themselves are freely adapted from the original text, and Dylan does not hesitate to push his voice to give it a “blues” patina, a gravelly vocal style surprising for him. This would be the only time in his career where he adopted this vocal style.
He played his Gibson J-50 and delivered a harmonica part (in C) with a high pitch and at great speed. The famous harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson later told him: “Boy, you play too fast.”1
The song was recorded in one take, without any recourse to the technique of “drop,” which soon became standard in all studios. In 1961, it was customary to avoid any mounting, and the artist had to control his performance as a whole. Dylan is his own one-man band at the vocals, guitar, and harmonica; there was little left to the sound engineer to make a proper connection. Eight takes were necessary for “You’re No Good,” the fifth being retained as the final one.
Note that, among the first American pressings, the song was sometimes inaccurately listed as “She’s No Good.” Only a good thing for collectors…