Bob Dylan / 5:30
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals
Mark Knopfler: guitar
Barry Beckett: electric piano, organ
Tim Drummond: bass
Pick Withers: drums
Mickey Buckins: percussion
Harrison Calloway Jr.: trumpet Lloyd Barry: trumpet
Ronnie Eades: baritone saxophone
Harvey Thompson: tenor saxophone
Charles Rose: trombone
Recording Studio
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama: May 2, 1979 (Overdubs May 4, 6, 10, and 11, 1979)
Technical Team
Producers: Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett
Sound Engineer: Gregg Hamm
With the eyes of a new convert, Dylan describes what the world has become as the result of humanity’s distance from God’s word. He rejects counterfeit philosophies with the same vigor. He sings, “Karl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger’s got you tied up in knots” and sees with the same disgust “adulterers in churches and pornography in the schools.” “You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules,” he chastises before asking, “When you gonna wake up?” He builds off a line from the third chapter of the book of Revelation, “Wake up, and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God.” In 1981 Neil Spencer of the New Musical Express interviewed Dylan about the meaning of “strengthen the things that remain” from “When You Gonna Wake Up.” Dylan explained, “Well, the things that remain would be the basic qualities that don’t change, the values that do still exist. It says in the Bible, ‘resist not evil, but overcome evil with good.’ And the values that can overcome evil are the ones to strengthen.”20
Three takes were recorded on May 2, 1979. The third rhythm track was used for overdubs. Between bass, drums, rhythm guitar, and electric piano, “When You Gonna Wake Up” is a superb example of the musicians’ collaboration. They are all excellent, and they prove it. Unfortunately, the song itself is uneven; the chorus is not up to the verses. The decision to differentiate the chorus with an abrupt rhythmic change does nothing but break the groove previously established. It’s a shame, but the mistake is not repeated. Later there is an organ solo played by the talented keyboardist and co-producer Barry Beckett, and Mark Knopfler more modestly ensures a rhythm on his guitar (overdub on May 6). The Muscle Shoals Horns added their soul flair on May 10, and the next day the percussionist Mickey Buckins overdubbed claves and tambourines. At the insistence of Jerry Wexler, Dylan overdubbed a new vocal with confidence. It is a very good performance. His vocals never sounded so clear and precise. Jerry Wexler’s insistence that Dylan not sing while the musicians were laying down the instrumental arrangement was clearly a good decision.