Traditional / Arrangement Bob Dylan / 2:39
Musician
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: November 20, 1961
Technical Team
Producer: John Hammond
Sound Engineers: George Knuerr and Pete Dauria
“In My Time of Dyin’” is a spiritual and a blues number. Performed in 1920 by Louisiana street performers, sometimes under the title of “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed,” this song was recorded by the Reverend J. C. Burnett (the recording was never released); by Texas bluesman Blind Willie Johnson on December 3, 1927, for Columbia; and by bluesmen Charley Patton, Josh White (under the pseudonym of the “Singing Christian”), and Dock Reed, who adapted this gospel blues (or holy blues) song by changing the lyrics.
After Dylan, John Sebastian (under the title “Well Well Well” on the album The Four of Us, 1971) and Martin Gore (on the album Counterfeit, 2003) included “In My Time of Dyin’” in their repertoire. However, Led Zeppelin, on their legendary sixth album Physical Graffiti (1975), provides the most widely known rendition of the song.
Bob Dylan said that before entering the studio, he had never played “In My Time of Dyin’” and could not remember when and where he had heard the song for the first time. Nevertheless, he performed it precisely on the guitar in an open tuning on D (D-AD-F#-A-D), placing the capo d’astro on the fourth fret. In this first song on the album without a harmonica part, he provides the rhythm with perfect timing, almost like a metronome. Playing in an open tuning allows him to use a bottleneck in a pure blues tradition. But the famous Stacey Williams wrote in the album notes that Bob used his devoted girlfriend Suze Rotolo’s metal lipstick holder as a bottleneck. However, Suze reveals in her book, A Freewheelin’ Time, published in 2008, that she did not wear lipstick and “how typical of a guy to translate my reaction to being in a recording studio for the first time as devotion.”2
The interpretation is once again nervous, his guitar part slightly out of tune. When you know that Dylan said, “My big fear was that my guitar would go out of tune,”11 he must have had some chills upon hearing his performance. This version of “In My Time of Dyin’” perhaps inspired John Lennon for his song “Well Well Well” on the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band in 1970.
“In My Time of Dyin’” was the last song recorded on the first day at the studio. Dylan only needed one take to record it.