Bob Dylan / 5:58
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar Mike Bloomfield: guitar
Al Gorgoni: guitar (?)
Frank Owens: piano Al Kooper: organ
Joseph Macho Jr.: bass (?)
Russ Savakus: bass (?)
Bobby Gregg: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: July 29, 1965
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Frank Laico, Pete Dauria, and Ted Brosnan
“Tombstone Blues” is the second song on Bob Dylan’s album Highway 61 Revisited. The name of the song came from the historic city in Arizona, a symbol of the conquest of the American Wild West, where the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place in 1881. For the second time after “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Bob Dylan was inspired for the chorus by Woody Guthrie’s “Takin’ It Easy.” However, he quickly deviates from these models to set in place an irresistibly surreal story with a parade of the most disparate characters: the revolutionary hero Paul Revere, the outlaw Belle Starr, Jezebel the Queen of Israel, Jack the Ripper, St. John the Baptist, the director Cecil B. DeMille, blues singer Ma Rainey, and Ludwig van Beethoven. All this serves to better ridicule all opinion leaders, whether the commander-in-chief (Lyndon B. Johnson, president of the United States at the time), the king of the Philistines (the narrow-minded bourgeoisie), or pipers (peace movements). In the Biograph notes, Dylan said that at the time he used to go to a bar where police officers gathered after work, discussing sordid murder cases or fraud. “I think I wrote this song either in that place, or remembering some conversations.” And he adds, “I felt like I’d broken through with this song, that nothing like it had been done before… just a flash really.”12
With Bob Johnston in charge, the production is marked by the use of reverb and delay effects, resulting in a brighter and clearer sound. The legendary sound engineer Frank Laico brought a slightly different color to the song.
“Tombstone Blues” is heavy rock with a slight touch of country from Bob’s acoustic guitar, without any doubt his Gibson Nick Lucas Special. Although the sound is partly obscured by Frank Owens’s piano part, it seems that another rhythm guitarist backed Dylan, probably Al Gorgoni. There is uncertainty about the bassist. Recording took place in two sessions on the same day. That the bass was played with a pick suggests that Joseph Macho Jr. is the performer. Al Kooper played the Hammond organ; Mike Bloomfield’s Telecaster provided a very bluesy, distinctive phrasing. None of Dylan’s future accompanists ever tried to imitate him, not even Robbie Robertson of the Band.
Finally, Bobby Gregg with his metronomic playing at the snare and hi-hat was responsible for the heavy sound, which gave the work a tension enhanced by the ever-present reverberation, an effect that would not have displeased John Bonham.
Michael Gray wrote, “Dylan could never have written ‘Tombstone Blues’ without Chuck Berry.”30 One thing is certain: this blues-rock song is a musical illustration of rural America, unlike “Like a Rolling Stone,” which represents urban sophistication.
“Tombstone Blues” was the second of three songs recorded on July 29, 1965. The eleventh and final take was chosen, although, according to some sources, a session on August 4 was held to record an insert. If that is the case, the insert is difficult to identify.
Bob Dylan played “Tombstone Blues” for the first time onstage at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York, on August 28, 1965, accompanied by Robbie Robertson, Al Kooper, Harvey Brooks, and Levon Helm.