Bob Dylan / 4:21
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar; Mike Campbell: guitar; Benmont Tench: keyboards; David Watson: saxophone; Chops Horns: brass; Bob Glaub: bass; Don Heffington: drums; Bashiri Johnson: drums / Recording Studios: Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, California: January 28, 1985; Shakedown Sound Studio, New York (Overdubs/remix February/March 1985) Producer: Bob Dylan / Sound Engineers: George Tutko (Cherokee) and Arthur Baker (Shakedown) / Remix: Arthur Baker
Bob Dylan went directly to classic American cinema to write this second track of Empire Burlesque. The opening line of “Seeing the Real You at Last” is almost the same as one spoken by Edward G. Robinson in the 1948 film Key Largo, one of John Huston’s masterpieces. Robinson says, “You’d think this rain would cool things off, but it don’t”; Dylan sings, “I thought that the rain would cool things down / But it looks like it don’t.” Another nod to Huston and, consequently, the legendary Humphrey Bogart is, “Well, I have had some rotten nights / Didn’t think that they would pass,” a line borrowed from private detective Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, a movie already referenced in the previous song. As for “I got troubles, I think maybe you got troubles,” and “You could ride like Annie Oakley / You could shoot like Belle Starr,” these lines refer, respectively, to The Hustler (1961), directed by Robert Rossen, and Bronco Billy (1980), by Clint Eastwood.
“Seeing the Real You at Last” is a funky rock song. Dylan provides a magnificent vocal, supported by an excellent rhythm section. The instrumental arrangement includes two musicians from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. The excellent brass section Chops Horns are also present but lost in the mix. The base rhythm track was probably recorded on January 28. The extraordinary percussionist Bashiri Johnson, who had performed onstage with Sting, Miles Davis, Donald Fagen, and others, added overdubs in February or March.
Dylan sang this song for the first time onstage on February 5, 1986, at the inaugural concert of the True Confessions Tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Wellington, New Zealand.