Bob Dylan, explored
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Cover of John Wesley Harding

1967 · a landmark

John Wesley Harding

Basement and Country · 1967–1970

Listen to the album

Why it matters

Released in late 1967 after more than a year of silence, it swapped the wild electric sound of 1966 for spare Nashville recordings with a tiny band. Its short, biblical parables about outlaws, drifters and saints set the quiet tone for the rest of his country years.

After the motorcycle accident in 1966 Dylan withdrew to Woodstock, and for more than a year the public heard nothing new. In late 1967 he went to Nashville with Bob Johnston and recorded this album over a few short sessions, backed only by Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenny Buttrey on drums, with Pete Drake's pedal steel added to the two closing songs. Compared with the swirling sound of 1966, it is startlingly bare: acoustic guitar, harmonica, a light rhythm section and short, carefully weighed verses. The songs read like parables, populated by outlaws, immigrants, saints and messengers, and they echo the Bible and American folklore he was steeped in at the time. Released just after Christmas 1967, at the height of psychedelia, it seemed to point rock music back toward simplicity. Jimi Hendrix's electrifying version of "All Along the Watchtower" the following year became the definitive one, as Dylan himself later acknowledged.

Track list · 12 songs

  1. 1John Wesley Harding
  2. 2As I Went Out One Morning
  3. 3I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
  4. 4All Along the Watchtower
  5. 5The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
  6. 6Drifter’s Escape
  7. 7Dear Landlord
  8. 8I Am a Lonesome Hobo
  9. 9I Pity the Poor Immigrant
  10. 10The Wicked Messenger
  11. 11Down Along the Cove
  12. 12I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight

Where its songs lead

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine · Borrowed the tune ofJoe HillAlfred Hayes and Earl Robinson · 1936The song follows the melody and dream framing of the labor song Joe Hill.All Along the Watchtower · Covered byAll Along the WatchtowerJimi Hendrix · 1968Hendrix recorded his electric version within months of the original's release, and Dylan later adopted its arrangement on stage.All Along the Watchtower · Covered byAll Along the WatchtowerU2 · 1988U2 played the song live and released it on Rattle and Hum.Dear Landlord · Covered byDear LandlordJoe Cocker · 1969Joe Cocker gave it a big soul treatment on his second album in 1969.I Pity the Poor Immigrant · Covered byI Pity the Poor ImmigrantJoan Baez · 1968Joan Baez sang it on Any Day Now, her 1968 album made entirely of Dylan songs.The Wicked Messenger · Covered byThe Wicked MessengerFaces · 1970Faces, with Rod Stewart singing, opened their debut album with it.

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