Bob Dylan / 3:15
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
David Bromberg: guitar, bass (?)
Al Kooper: bass, guitar (?)
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio B, New York: March 3, 1970
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
Sound Engineer: Don Puluse
“It Hurts Me Too” is rooted in several blues songs recorded in the late 1920s and the early 1930s: “How Long, How Long Blues” (1928) and “You Got to Reap What You Sow” (1929) by the tandem Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, “Sitting on the Top of the World” (1930) by the Mississippi Sheiks, and especially “Things ’Bout Coming My Way” (1931) by Chicago blues musician Tampa Red. Tampa Red gained the confidence of the Chicago record producer Lester Melrose, and during the 1930s and 1940s he recorded many songs under the RCA Victor label Bluebird, including “When Things Go Wrong with You” (or “It Hurts Me Too”). The tune was another major R&B hit, abundantly covered by Big Bill Broonzy and Elmore James (accompanied by the orchestra of Tampa Red when he was in Chicago).
Yet Dylan has partly appropriated the copyright of the song, although Tampa Red (aka Hudson Whittaker) or Elmore James appear as authors of “It Hurts Me Too.” Except for the refrain, “When things go wrong, so wrong with you / It hurts me too,” the lyrics are entirely Dylan’s, and the music is rather far from the Tampa Red hit in style. In fact, Dylan has just adapted a blues grid, as did thousands of other musicians. And the origin of the song still falls in the public domain.
Listening to Self Portrait, it seems regrettable that Dylan has not interpreted more blues songs. The songwriter excels in the genre. This recording, accompanied by just two guitars (including Bromberg’s impressive solo) and a bass, has a strength and character lacking in many tunes on the album. But who was playing bass? Al Kooper is mentioned in studio records, but is it really him? Bromberg by overdub? Charlie McCoy? It is a mystery.