Bob Dylan / 2:44
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar (?), organ (?)
Charlie Daniels: guitar
Norman Blake: guitar
Kelton D. Herston: guitar (?), organ (?)
Bob Wilson: piano
Charlie McCoy: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 14, 1969
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineers: Charlie Bragg and Neil Wilburn
After wandering happily along the trail of Hank Williams in “One More Night,” Bob Dylan turned to Elvis Presley and country rock for inspiration. “Tell Me That It Isn’t True” was one of the most musically successful songs on the record. The story is about a lover who has to face a rumor: everyone in town tells him that the apple of his eye has been seen with another man. Could it be that Dylan had become naïve? But the song was more likely an imitation of the King himself, Elvis Presley, who a few months later produced the last number 1 single of his huge career with a similar song, “Suspicious Minds.” What were the songwriter’s motives in writing a text that was hardly representative of his great talent? Was it a post-accident shock? Amorous euphoria? Tongue in cheek? Humor? Or, more simply, joie de vivre?
The introduction of “Tell Me That It Isn’t True” resembles “Like a Rolling Stone” or “Desolation Row,” due to the guitar riff and the sound of echo on the organ. But who played this organ, since Bob Wilson was on piano? Dylan? Herston, who was mentioned on the studio sheets (but as a guitar player)? Was it added as an overdub? A classic nylon-string guitar played by Charlie Daniels (or Norman Blake?) opens the piece with a very catchy riff and later a very good solo. Two other acoustic guitars are also heard. One of the song’s surprises is its instrumental ending, played simultaneously on piano, classical guitar, and bass. It stands out from the musical style of the rest of the song and is obviously an insert placed exactly at 2:24. Since it was written for piano, it would not be surprising if it had been written by Bob Wilson. “Tell Me That It Isn’t True” was recorded right after “Peggy Day,” on February 14, 1969. Dylan later confided to Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner that it was one of his favorite songs on the album, even though the final results were very different from his original intention. “It came out real slow and mellow. I had written it as a sort of jerky, kind of polka-type thing.”20
It was odd that Dylan only performed this song onstage for the first time on March 10, 2000, during the second concert at the Sun Theater in Anaheim, California. Afterward, he played it dozens of times.