Bob Dylan’s Unreleased Songs

Thanks to David Reid for the loan of this book

Mission

Derek Barker reviewed "Keys To The Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopaedia" (compiled by Oliver Trager, Billboard Books, USA, 2004) in "Isis" issue 188, and surprisingly found in the Foreword what appears to me to be a startling admission for a book that claims to be "definitive": "Entries for songs Dylan performed before he came to New York City are not included. Neither are songs from informal recording sessions, songs written but never recorded, unreleased out-takes, nor any of the unreleased material from 'The Basement Tapes' and their ilk..." The objective here is to attempt to fill that gap and list all unreleased songs written, or thought to have been written, by Bob, whenever and however recorded.

Some of these songs are deservedly unreleased, some have no known Dylan version, some were abandoned unfinished and therefore not of releasable quality, but others are real gems and deserve official release, hopefully in a future edition of The Bootleg Series, since "bonus" tracks on remastered albums have been ruled out by Bob. Please note I cannot help you to obtain copies of any of these songs which are in unofficial circulation - if you go to Bill Pagel's excellent "Bob Links" site , you may find links there that will help.

If you have any additions or corrections to the material given here, please let me know. All contributors to the accuracy and completeness of this list will be gratefully credited. Cover scans of singles or albums that contain covers of unreleased Dylan songs are also very welcome.

"...there's a density and a gravity to a Dylan song that you can't find anywhere else." Nick Hornby ("31 Songs")

The Directory is in alphabetical order by song title, please click on the appropriate page below (or start with "A" and work your way through...).

(Indefinite and definite articles at the beginning of song titles are ignored, so A WOMAN LIKE YOU is on the "W" page, and THE KING IS ON THE THRONE is on the "K" page.)

For lyrics and chords of unreleased Dylan songs, see Eyolf Østrem's site "My Back Pages - Bob Dylan Chords and Lyrics"

All song titles (or guesses at song titles) listed here are either known, or assumed to be, by Bob Dylan. Bob’s co-authors are credited for songs known to be joint compositions. I’ve omitted unidentified instrumentals, most of which are just jams.

Titles of released songs on regular Dylan albums are in BOLD face, titles of songs that are officially available as covers by other artists are shown in RED (see the new extracted list "Covered & Unreleased"). Titles of songs known to be hoaxes or wrongly associated with Bob are shown in PURPLE. Titles of songs that remain unreleased on albums/singles and have not been covered by other artists are in BLUE. Song titles that were identified in the sources as being by Bob but now known to be covers are included here with their titles in ITALICS - in this case the date given is when it was first performed by Bob, not the composition date. It's very possible that some of the titles still assumed here to be unreleased songs by Bob Dylan are in fact covers that were unrecognised by the source author. Titles that end in "?" are where the song titles are questions J, guessed titles are shown as "(?)".

Some songs have no known "official" title and are listed several times under the various titles that have appeared for them (which people guess at or make up because they don't know the title Bob has given the song). A good example is the unreleased and uncopyrighted song with lyrics about Van Gogh worked on by Bob in a Denver hotel room in March 1966. This has been given several titles, namely DEFINITELY VAN GOGH, THE PAINTING BY VAN GOGH, POSITIVELY VAN GOGH, MOST DEFINITELY NOT VAN GOGH and SPURIOUSLY SEVENTEEN WINDOWS (THE PAINTING BY VAN GOGH)! Bob's choice of title is still not known. SPURIOUSLY SEVENTEEN WIDOWS, of which the last title may be a mis-hearing, is a joke title made up by Paul Cable for the unreleased TELL ME, MOMMA. (He obviously didn't know then that Bob had just called it TELL ME, MOMMA after all!)

If the authorship of a title is not identified in any of the sources it is indicated as "Bob Dylan?".

Some titles identified in the sources as unreleased Dylan songs are in fact session sheet or working titles of released songs or unreleased songs known better by other names. LOVE COPY is a good example - this was named by Larry Sloman in his Rolling Thunder Logbook as being an unreleased song from the "Desire" sessions (which it then was). Michael Krogsgaard's examination of the 1976 Columbia studio records revealed LOVE COPY not to be a new song, but a working title for ABANDONED LOVE, released in 1985 on "Biograph". Such titles are listed in the directory for completeness. A partial list of such titles appears in the various books by Clinton Heylin cited, others appear in Michael Krogsgaard's series of articles on Bob's recording sessions in the "Telegraph" and now "The Bridge".

No circulation code means the song hasn't actually been written or performed by Bob, and the entry is a correction of a report that appears elsewhere.

Thanks to Sigurjon Thor Fridthjofsson (Sion) for providing the list that started this work off.
Thanks to "Frisco Drifter" for the first feedback.
Special thanks go to:

Thanks also go to Phil Aldridge, Derek Barker, Harvey Bojarsky, Dag Braathen, Scott Brodie, Bob Burton, Mark Charles, Ron "Crazy" Chester, Arie Euwijk, Roger Ford, Nick Garrett, Andra Greenberg, John Halley, Avery Holland John Howells, Craig Jamieson, Artur Jarosinski, Rob Lake, Gil Lamont, A.J. LaRue, John Lettiere, Tobias Levander, Jim Linwood, Daniel Luth, Hans Marijnissen, Joy Munsey, Éamonn Ó Catháin, Jim O'Neil, Tom Ostoyich, Raymond Padgett, Dieter Petzold, David Plentus, Michael Poole, Moise Potie, David Reid, Dennis Renfors, John Singer, Michael Smith, Bob Stacy, Raoul Verolleman, Don Wedge and T.J. Young.

There are many more now officially-released Dylan songs that were covered by other artists before being released by Bob, such as those on "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 2", "The Basement Tapes" and "The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3" - too many to list here. This "Released" list is therefore restricted to songs released after the setting up of this web-site in 1998.

	13 Dec 2011: Thanks to Arie de Reus and Tim Dunn for information from "Annie Lennox: The Biography" by Briony Sutherland and Lucy Ellis (Omnibus Press, 2001) that MISSIONARY MAN, a song by Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics released on their 1986 RCA album "Revenge" and as a 7" single, was based on lyrics provided by Bob. Details have been added to the "M" page.
	18 Oct 2011: Thanks to "the Bridge" magazine issue 40 for information about LITTLE BUDDY, song lyrics written by Bob for his summer camp newspaper, the "Hertzl Herald" about a boy and his dog, credited to "Bobby Zimmerman". It's actually a slightly revised version of the 1948 song with the same title by Hank Snow, lyrics here . Details have been added to the "L" page. 1 Oct 2011: Thanks to Harold Lepidus for news that the limited edition boxed set of the Martin Scorsese documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World, released in the UK by Lions Gate Entertainment on 10 Oct 2011, will include an early version of I'D HAVE YOU ANY TIME (see the "I" page) as well as a demo of MAMA, YOU'VE BEEN ON MY MIND on a bonus CD. The US release is not until Spring 2012! Thanks also to Harold for information that there is little Dylan content in the film.
	23 Sep 2011: Thanks to Harold Lepidus, Juan Antonio Yague Ayuso, Donald J Senno and François Kahn for news that Bob's own version of DON’T EVER TAKE YOURSELF AWAY covered by Nikki Jean as STEEL AND FEATHERS (DON'T EVER) (see 25 May 2011) will be released on the CBS US TV series soundtrack album "Hawaii Five-O: Original Songs From The Television Series" on 4 Oct 2011. The "D" and "S" pages have been updated, as has the Released list at the bottom of this page.
	2 Sep 2011: Thanks to Tim Dunn for information about Michel Montecrossa's 2011 Mira Sound Germany 2CD set "Something That Counts: Climate Change Acoustic Concert - Michel & Bob Dylan Fest 2011" including covers of COVER DOWN, BREAK THROUGH ("C" page), GET YOUR ROCKS OFF ("G" page), YOU’VE BEEN HIDING TOO LONG ("Y" page) and WELL, WELL, WELL ("W" page).
	11 Aug 2011: Thanks to Tim Dunn for information about a newly-copyrighted song from 1987 by Bob Dylan and Britta Lee Shain called YOU CAN BLOW MY MIND (IF YOU WANT TO) , now added to the "Y" page. Britta Lee Shain released an album called "Between The River And The Road" in the USA on CDBY Records in Oct 2010, but this song is not included.
	5 Jun 2011: A new hoax! Rebecca Black's single FRIDAY released by Ark Music Factory was written by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson, and is not a lost composition by Bob Dylan from "The Basement Tapes" as has been reported. The version on YouTube purporting to be a lost recording by Bob and accompanied by a fake Columbia promo record label, is actually a hoax by Mike Bauer. The fake record label is a doctored version of a genuine 1971 Columbia US promo for WATCHING THE RIVER FLOW, Columbia 4-45409. Thanks to "Isis" 156 for information.
	25 May 2011: Thanks to Tim Dunn for news that Minnesotan singer Nikki Jean (Nicholle Jean Leary), formerly a member of group Nouveau Riche, was given an "unfinished" song STEEL AND FEATHERS (DON'T EVER) from Bob's 1981 "Shot Of Love" sessions, and has completed the song, to be included on her S-Curve US album "Pennies In A Jar", released on 12 Jul 2011. For more details, see . The song is actually DON’T EVER TAKE YOURSELF AWAY, which used to circulate amongst Dylan collectors only on several bootlegs such as "The Genuine Bootleg Series" illustrated. She's revised Bob's lyrics, rewriting the verses but keeping the tune and choruses. This is already listed on the "D" page, but has been added to the "S" page. (Update: the Bob Dylan version was released in Oct 2011, see above).

C Soundcheck	D Demo	H Home recording	L Live	M Media recording - radio, TV or film
N? No recording circulating?	O Officially released	R Rehearsal	S Studio recording	Y For uncirculating songs - lyrics known

	MISSISSIPPI - out-take from "Time Out Of Mind", 1997 - new recording released on "Love And Theft", 11 Sep 2001, three takes of the original "Time Out Of Mind" version released on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 - Tell Tale Signs: Rare And Unreleased 1989-2006", 7 Oct 2008 Sheryl Crow's 1998 A&M album "The Globe Sessions" containing her version of MISSISSIPPI, then unavailable anywhere else
	TELL ME, MOMMA - only ever performed live in 1966 (no studio version known), released on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live 1996, The 'Royal Albert Hall' Concert", 12 Oct 1998
	KEEP IT WITH MINE - instrumental out-take from "Blonde On Blonde" released on the soundtrack of "The Wendell Baker Story", Velocity/Thinkfilms, USA, 2007
	LIKE A SHIP and MAXINE - two out-takes from "Traveling Wilburys Volume Three", recorded at Wilbury Mountain Studio, Los Angeles, CA, Apr 1990, finally released on the 2007 Rhino boxed set, "The Traveling Wilburys Collection"
	I'M NOT THERE (1956) - previously unreleased Basement Tapes song with The Band from 1967 released on the Todd Haynes film soundtrack "I'm Not There", 2007
	GIRL FROM THE RED RIVER SHORE - rumoured out-take from 1997's "Time Out Of Mind" now released in 2008 as RED RIVER SHORE on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 - Tell Tale Signs" with a second version on CD3 of the 3CD Expanded Edition
	CALIFORNIA - early version of OUTLAW BLUES with different lyrics, out-take from "Bringing It All Back Home", released on the CBS US TV series soundtrack album "NCIS: The Official TV Series Soundtrack Vol. 2", 2009
	Songs officially released in Oct 2010 on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 - The Witmark Demos 1962-1964": Leeds Music demos: BALLAD FOR A FRIEND; POOR BOY BLUES Witmark demos: AIN'T GONNA GRIEVE; ALL OVER YOU; BOUND TO LOSE, BOUND TO WIN; THE DEATH OF EMMETT TILL; FAREWELL; GUESS I'M DOING FINE; GYPSY LOU; HERO BLUES; I'D HATE TO BE YOU ON THAT DREADFUL DAY; LONG AGO, FAR AWAY; LONG TIME GONE; STANDING ON THE HIGHWAY; WHATCHA GONNA DO?
	DON'T EVER TAKE YOURSELF AWAY, out-take from "Shot Of Love" sessions, recorded at Clover Recorder, Los Angeles, CA,, 23 Apr 1981, released on the CBS US TV series soundtrack album "Hawaii Five-0: Original Songs From The Television Series", 2011