(slow version)
Bob Dylan / 4:57
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Robbie Robertson: guitar
Richard Manuel: piano
Garth Hudson: keyboards
Rick Danko: bass
Levon Helm: drums
Ken (?): congas
(fast version)
Bob Dylan / 2:49
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Robbie Robertson: guitar
Levon Helm: mandolin
Garth Hudson: keyboards
Rick Danko: bass
Richard Manuel: drums
Recording Studio
The Village Recorder, West Los Angeles, California / Studio B: November 8, 1973 (slow version) / November 14, 1973 (fast version)
Technical Team
Producers: Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, and Rob Fraboni
Sound Engineer: Rob Fraboni
Dylan was inspired by his son (perhaps Jesse, born in 1966) to write this beautiful song. In the liner notes included with the album Biograph, he says, “‘Forever Young,’ I wrote in Tucson. I wrote it thinking about one of my boys and not wanting to be too sentimental. The lines came to me, they were done in a minute… I certainly didn’t intend to write it—I was going for something else, the song wrote itself—naw, you never know what you’re going to write. You never even know if you’re going to make another record, really.”12 But beyond that, “Forever Young” is for all children. It is a hope that they grow up according to the education they have received, that they achieve their goals during an often difficult life, and that they be guided by truth. This is the price, sings Dylan, that they will always be young and that they will resist the “winds of changes.” There is no hidden meaning here. The song is one of the most accessible in Dylan’s repertoire. Roddy Woomble (singer of the Scottish band Idlewild): “Allen Ginsberg said something along the lines that this song should be sung every morning by every child in every school in every country. Which is such a nice idea, because the song is so hopeful, hardly cryptic whatsoever, very plainly encouraging people to find their own truth… ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ might be Dylan’s masterpiece, but ‘Forever Young’ is his national anthem.”106 This is one of Dylan’s most famous songs. He has performed it nearly five hundred times since the concert in Chicago on July 3, 1974.
“Forever Young” is one of three Bob Dylan songs composed before he entered the studio with the Band on November 2, 1973. A very intimate demo had been recorded in June with acoustic guitar (see the Biograph liner notes). During the sessions for Planet Waves, thirteen takes were recorded throughout November: one each on November 2 and November 5, five on November 8, one on November 9, and finally five on November 14. Thirteen takes in two different tones and tempos: in D for the slow version and G for the fast version. Which arrangement to pick for the album? Rob Fraboni tells us, “There was this guy called Ken, who was a friend of theirs visiting. We only did one take of the slow version of ‘Forever Young.’ This take was so riveting, it was so powerful, so immediate, I couldn’t get over it.”89 After the session, Dylan and the Band listened to it from beginning to end without a word. When it was over everyone just left the room. Fraboni followed them, and returned a while later with Ken to listen to the recording. Fraboni recalls, “We were like one minute or two into it, I was so mesmerized by it again I didn’t even notice that Bob had come into the room, and I felt somebody standing behind me… So when we were assembling the master reel I was getting ready to put that [take] on the master reel. I didn’t even ask. And Bob said, ‘What’re you doing with that? We’re not gonna use that.’ [I replied,] ‘You’re crazy. Why?’ Well [it turns out] during the recording… Lou Kemp and this girl came by and she had made a crack [about “Forever Young”] to him, ‘C’mon, Bob, what! Are you getting mushy in your old age?’ It was based on her comment that he wanted to leave [that version] off the record.”89 Fraboni defended the recording and convinced Dylan to reconsider his position and to include both versions on the LP. The slow version featured is on side one, last track, and the faster version is the first track on side two.
The slow version is harmonically quite different and richer than the demo made in June. The arrangements are excellent, Dylan and the Band being in perfect harmony. Dylan provides an expressive vocal, backed by the talent of each musician. Hudson’s keyboard parts are outstanding in their diversity and finesse, complemented by Manuel’s piano. Bass and drums provide an effective rhythm, highlighted by the mysterious Ken on the congas. Finally, Robertson offers a beautiful acoustic arrangement, with the same sound treatment of chorus/flanger pedal used throughout the album. Note Dylan’s excellent harmonica (in D) part, in perfect harmony with the Hudson keyboards. A perfect piece, apparently the fifth take executed on November 8.
The fast version is very close to the demo recorded in June. This time Richard Manuel is on drums and Levon Helm on mandolin with a quite unrecognizable sound. At the beginning of the song, he plays rhythm while Robertson is at the saturated guitar. Although this version is very well executed, it is a bit less successful than the first. Richard Manuel’s drumming is not as good as Levon Helm’s. Dylan’s riffs on harmonica (in C) strengthen the country-rock color. The arrangement was recorded on November 14 in five takes during the last session for the album. Listening to this new version, it feels executed quickly to reassure Dylan, who could not decide which tempo he preferred. The second attempt appears on Planet Waves.