Bob Dylan, explored
‹ Back to the Roots
Cover of Good as I Been to You

1992

Good as I Been to You

Back to the Roots · 1992–1993

Listen to the album

Why it matters

His first album of just voice, guitar and harmonica since 1964, made up entirely of traditional songs and old blues.

In 1992 Dylan began an album with a band and the guitarist David Bromberg, then set those sessions aside and recorded alone in his garage studio in Malibu. What came out was Good as I Been to You, thirteen old songs played on acoustic guitar and harmonica, with no originals at all. The material ranges across British and Irish ballads such as "Arthur McBride", American murder ballads and blues, and children's songs like "Froggie Went a Courtin'". His voice is hoarse and his guitar playing busy and inventive, giving the old songs a lived-in, unpolished feel very different from the folk revival recordings of thirty years earlier. Many listeners were surprised, but critics welcomed it as a return to his roots and a sign of renewed purpose. It began a period in which old songs fed his playing and writing, and it set up the darker companion album that followed a year later.

Track list · 13 songs

  1. 1Frankie & Albert
  2. 2Jim Jones
  3. 3Blackjack Davey
  4. 4Canadee-i-o
  5. 5Sittin’ on Top of the World
  6. 6Little Maggie
  7. 7Hard Times
  8. 8Step It Up and Go
  9. 9Tomorrow Night
  10. 10Arthur McBride
  11. 11You’re Gonna Quit Me
  12. 12Diamond Joe
  13. 13Froggie Went a Courtin’

Where its songs lead

Froggie Went a Courtin’ · Lent its tune toApple Suckling Tree1975Its nursery-rhyme melody and question-and-answer lines are modelled on the old children's song Froggie Went a-Courtin'.Frankie & Albert · Same theme asStack a Lee1993Both are old American murder ballads that Dylan recorded on his two acoustic albums of the early 1990s.Frankie & Albert · Same theme asLove Henry1993Both are old murder ballads in which a woman kills the man who has been unfaithful to her.Blackjack Davey · Same theme asTin Angel2012Both tell of a lady who rides away with another man and a husband who rides after her.Canadee-i-o · Same theme asJack‐a‐Roe1993Both are old ballads of a young woman who dresses as a man to follow her love, one to war and one to sea.Arthur McBride · Same theme asMasters of War1963Both side with young men against those who would send them to fight.

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