"Starlight
In The East"
Directory
of Bob Dylans Unreleased Songs
| Compiled by Alan Fraser |
"Starlight in the East and you're finally released."
Bob Dylan, "No Time To Think", 1978
"...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...).
[Home]
(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 recent site updates, go here.
I very much welcome information about unlisted songs or more details about the ones listed here. |
Revised:
10 March, 2010 ![]()
|
"Searching For A Gem" (Home page) |
![]() |
16 Oct 2009: "NCIS: The Official TV Series Soundtrack Vol. 2" - 2009 CBS US TV series soundtrack album with previously unreleased Dylan song CALIFORNIA added to the C page, meaning this song is now no longer officially unreleased |
2 Oct 2009: Songs added from entries in Clinton Heylin's book "Revolution In The Air - The Songs Of Bob Dylan Vol. 1: 1957-73" (Constable, 2009): CHILLY WINDS (1967), uncirculating Basement Tapes song, C page; SHIRLEY'S ROOM (1970), S page; ROUND AND ROUND WE GO (1971), R page
30 Sep 2009: Songs added from entries in Clinton Heylin's book "Revolution In The Air - The Songs Of Bob Dylan Vol. 1: 1957-73" (Constable, 2009): LIKE A RICH MAN'S SON (1966), L page; WHEN YOU WALKED AWAY (1966), W page; YOU CAN'T GET YOUR WAY ALLA TIME (1966), Y page
21 Sep 2009: Bob's reported collaboration in 1996 with Gerry Goffin on COAST TO COAST BLUES revealed as a hoax, and the C page corrected; YOUR ROCKING CHAIR, a 1978 collaboration between Bob and Helena Springs, now revealed to be the same song as MORE THAN FLESH AND BLOOD, and the M and Y pages amended
![]() |
6 Sep 2009: "Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison" - 2009 EMI compilation with remastered version of unreleased Dylan song I DON'T WANT TO DO IT added to the I page | |
|
|
5 Sep 2009: Songs
added from entries in Clinton Heylin's book
"Revolution In The Air - The Songs Of Bob Dylan Vol. 1: 1957-73" (Constable,
2009):
THE GREAT CHICAGOAN
(1961), G page;
I HEAR A TRAIN A'ROLLING
(1961), I page;
JUST AS LONG AS I'M IN THIS WORLD
(1961), J page;
MEAN OL' MISSISSIPPI BLUES
(1961), M page;
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BELLE #2
(1961), R page 8 Aug 2009: Over the next few weeks I shall be cross-checking the entries in this directory against Clinton Heylin's book "Revolution In The Air - The Songs Of Bob Dylan Vol. 1: 1957-73" (Constable, 2009). The first songs to be added are BONNIE, WHY'D YOU CUT MY HAIR? (1960) on the B page and SONG TO BRIGIT (1956) on the S page. Since in this book Heylin denies the Internet rumour that he has a copy of a Dylan demo of LOVE IS JUST A FOUR LETTER WORD, I'm happy to take his word! His concluding volume "Still On The Road - The Songs Of Bob Dylan Vol. 2: 1973-2008" will be published by Constable in Apr 2010. |
![]() |
5 Aug 2009: MOTHER, song written by Bob in the 5th Grade at school, added to the M page
23 Jul 2009: Bob's reported collaboration in 1977 with Michael Nesmith on RIO revealed as a hoax, and the R page corrected
17 Jun 2009: CHICAGO AFTER DARK, 2008 out-take from "Together Through Life", added to the C page
8 Feb 2009: "Don't Sell Or Buy, It's Crap" [The Replacements] - Sire 1990 US 5-track promo 12" single and CD plus their 1997 Reprise 2CD compilation "All Or Nothing/Nothing For All" with the unreleased Dylan "co-composition" LIKE A ROLLING PIN (J) added to the L page
7 Feb 2009: "Human Ball" [The McCoys] - Mercury 1969 US album with the unreleased Dylan composition ALL OVER YOU added to the A page
3 Feb 2009: "Back In Your Arms" [Tim Hockenberry] - About Records 2008 US album with the Dylan/Jude Johnstone co-composition HOWLIN' AT YOUR WINDOW added to the H page
8 Jan 2009: "Black Holes And Revelations" [Muse] - Helium 3/Warner Bros 2006 UK album with Muse performing Dylan/Matthew Bellamy "co-composition" MAP OF THE PROBLEMATIQUE (which uses "elements" of MAGGIE'S FARM from "Bringing It All Back Home") added to the M page, along with "H.A.A.R.P.", 2008 Warner Bros UK CD + DVD set by Muse with 2007 live version of MAP OF THE PROBLEMATIQUE
Sources
This directory has been compiled mainly from the following resources:
For lyrics and chords of unreleased Dylan songs, see Eyolf
Østrem's site "My Back Pages - Bob Dylan Chords and Lyrics"
![]()
Song Titles
All song titles (or guesses at song titles) listed here are either known, or assumed to be, by Bob Dylan. Bobs co-authors are credited for songs known to be joint compositions. Ive 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 book by Clinton Heylin "Dylan: Behind Closed Doors, The Recording Sessions 1960-1994", others appear in Michael Krogsgaard's series of articles on Bob's recording sessions in the "Telegraph" and now "The Bridge".
Circulation Codes
| 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 |
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
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:
Dr Hanns Peter Bushoff of BMG Germany for his sterling work in re-releasing obscure and rarely-heard cover versions of Dylan songs, especially the unreleased songs, and for providing complimentary copies of his CDs and other material
Tim Dunn for his helpful contributions and for providing me with copies of his "Copyright Files" books
Peter Gilmer for his vigilant monitoring of the Internet for news of unreleased Dylan songs and covers
Dave Plentus whose site has provided me with much information about cover versions of Bob's unreleased songs and who has provided me with many cover scans (see Dave's "Dylan Cover Albums" site), and to
Gil Walker who kindly checked this directory against Paul Cable's book shown above and also against the article surveying unreleased Dylan by Greil Marcus in "Rolling Stone", 26 Nov 1969
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.
Previously Unreleased now Released - Songs Removed From This List
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.
[Home]
© 1998-2010 |
![]()