Bob Dylan / 4:16
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: November 6, 1967
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineer: Charlie Bragg
Dylan’s immigrant is not at all the same as the one portrayed by Charlie Chaplin in his short film of 1917, The Immigrant. Dylan’s immigrant “uses all his power to do evil,” and “lies with ev’ry breath,” even if he “wishes he would’ve stayed home.” Once again, Dylan creates confusion with the most violent and the most pessimistic lyrics on the album. Are we, poor sinners, this unsympathetic immigrant, full of immorality, selfishness, greed, and egocentric dissatisfaction? Is it God himself speaking? When Dylan says, “Whose strength is spent in vain” and “Who eats but is not satisfied,” he references chapter 26 of Leviticus. But the text is open to other interpretations. Is Dylan referring to the questionable behavior of immigrants working in the steel industry during the 1940s in Hibbing, the city of his childhood? Or is he once again referring to his relationship with Albert Grossman, or even to the fate of Native Americans? In 1968, John Cohen asked Dylan if “[t]here might have been a germ that started [the song].” Dylan replied, “Yes, the first line,” adding, “To tell the truth, I have no idea how it comes into my mind.”20
Dylan took part of the melody for “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” from Canadian folksinger Bonnie Dobson’s “Peter Amberley” on her album Bonnie Dobson at Folk City, released in 1962. “Peter Amberley” was an adaptation of the Scottish traditional song “Come All Ye Tramps and Hawkers.” From the first notes, the songwriter immerses us in a very nostalgic atmosphere, which has the effect of softening the darkness of the lyrics. The same color, particularly the rhythm and lengthy interventions on harmonica (in F), turns up later in some of the songs on Neil Young’s Harvest, released in 1972. Dylan’s new intonation is especially noticable in the fourth line. The intonation is fragile and the expression is painful. This “country waltz” does not leave the listener untouched. The words and music invite a degree of introspection in this musical style.
The song took ten takes. The last one was chosen as the master. Dylan performed the song live for the first time on August 31, 1969, at the Isle of Wight Festival. The concert was released on the deluxe version of The Bootleg Series Volume 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) in 2013.