On Sale Today: Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”

Mar. 8, 1965 - On sale today is “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” a new single by Bob Dylan which was recorded January 14. The B-side to the Columbia Records release is “She Belongs to Me.” Both songs will appear on Dylan’s forthcoming album, “Bringing It All Back Home,” set for release in two weeks.

On “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Dylan’s hyperkinetic lyrics are dense with up-to-the-minute allusions to contemporary youth culture (“Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine/I’m on the pavement thinkin’ about the government”). The song also refers to the struggles surrounding the civil rights movement (“Better stay away from those that carry ‘round a fire hose”). In demonstrations in Birmingham, Ala., and elsewhere, protestors were sprayed with high-pressure fire hoses.

The personnel on the recording in addition to Dylan, who plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, are John Hammond Jr. (electric guitar), Bruce Langhorne (electric guitar), Bill Lee (bass guitar), and Bobby Gregg (drums).

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