Reverend Gary Davis / Additional contribution by Eric Von Schmidt and Dave Van Ronk / 2:37
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
“Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” is a folk song attributed to the Reverend Gary Davis. There are different recorded versions of this song: one under the title of “Don’t Tear My Clothes” by the State Street Boys in 1935, another by Washboard Sam the following year, and another under the title of “Mama Let Me Lay It on You” by Blind Boy Fuller in 1938. Many years later, the song was adapted by Eric Von Schmidt. This is precisely what Bob Dylan explains at the beginning of his interpretation: “I first heard this from, uh, Ric Von Schmidt. He lives in Cambridge. Ric’s a blues guitar player. I met him one day on the green pastures of Harvard University.”9
In fact, Von Schmidt told Larry Jaffee in 1993 that he had played the song one night in 1960 for Dylan, believing he was reviving a title written by Blind Boy Fuller and given to him by Geno Foreman. Dylan, seduced by what he heard, included the song in his first album. Von Schmidt recalls: “The tune was the same, and the chords were real pretty, but they weren’t the same. I don’t know if he changed them or if he’d heard a different version from Van Ronk.”9
To his surprise, he saw his name on the record associated with the copyright of the song. However, authorship is assigned to Reverend Gary Davis, and Eric Von Schmidt never received any royalties.
Dylan had some difficulty with the guitar part, particularly in a few arpeggios (presumably played with a pick) and where some chords refused systematically to “ring.” But the arrangements are subtle, voice and harmonica in D tuning infusing the song with a sad feeling. Even if from time to time his guitar playing is “irregular,” he has a perfect sense of the rhythm—except perhaps between 2:02 and 2:05, where he panics slightly… Only one take was deemed necessary to put the song in the box.