Dylan becomes an established folk artist and by the end of 1962 he is already headlining hootenanny shows. His song writing is now most prolific, 39 songs can be attributed to 1962, and a lot of time is spent recording the second album for CBS, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

2 Year At a glance

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3 CALENDAR

January	John Hammond arranges a deal with music publishing company Leeds Music. A number of Dylan's new songs are recorded as for them. These are known as the "Leeds Music Demos".
20 January	Bob Dylan writes a letter to Tony Glover: Hey hey hey it’s me writing you a letter. Back now in that city and thinking of all that whistling harmonica music you are making back there in that dungeon hole gets me thinking and talking to my good girlfriend about the harp player I knowed — I looked high and wide and uptown and downtown for that book you wanted and I feel so bad, I can’t find it — will send it tho as soon as I get it. Seen ol Dave Ray and sorta introduced him around. We went one time to see John Lee Hooker paying his dues to the blues at Folky City. Ol Dave is doing & singing & playing better & better every day — Sometime I get the feeling that if it wasn’t for New York, I’d move here. … I was up in Schenectady last week playing and singing — I spent so much money that I went in the hole and had to play an extra nite just to get back to New York. Hope sometime to get an apartment so if you’re ever out this way drop by and my house is yours — it’s getting colder here now and the wind blows right thru to your bones — you’d think you were [in] a swamp land when you walk down the street or something. I’m a gonna take Dave Ray to see Gary Davis sometime soon — Dave then would automatically be 10 times better. Dylan concludes by asking Glover to “say hello to that Mississippi River for me” and quotes Guthrie: “This world is yours, take it easy, but take it.” And he adds: “My girlfriend says that you don’t sign your full name to friends, so — Me, Bob.”
January	Dylan appears at the San Remo Coffee House in Schenectady, New York.
2 February	Dylan plays harmonica on Midnight Special a track on Harry Belafonte's album with the same name.
Early February	Dylan appears at Cynthia Gooding's radio show.
February	Dylan appears at Cafe Lena, Saratoga Springs, New York.
16 February	Dylan writes another letter to Tony Glover in “Minneapolice,” using an envelope from the Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He had just recently written “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”: Work out a new tuning on the guitar you gotta hear it to believe it — Big Joe Williams start at Folk City next Tuesday for two weeks. So the Minor Flea or Bee or key or something like that somewhere huh? oh well what d’you want? — That’s U of M’land [University of Minnesota] out there and you can’t expect too much you know There ain’t much work around here now I aint workin, I’m writing a lot and bummin’ around — This here place we got a couch in one room — I’d sure like to know when you’re a comin’ I’d sure like to know why that Mississippi didn’t say nothing — maybe cause she’s mad at them people for kickin’ [David] Whittaker outta that there keg place — Times aren’t too awful good anywhere right now — Rote a new song called ‘The John Birch Paranoyd Blues’ Dave Ray’s still working down the Gaslight hole — times aint too good down there neither That’s all for now man, hurry write back and say when you’re a coming here — (Bring a piles load of money with you — fill yer trunk up — we can use for wood to burn when you get — wood’s expensive as hell nowadays — Blow inside out & upside down till then. Dylan again signs off with a quotation from Woody Guthrie: “Sometimes I feel like a piece of dirt walkin.”
February	A new magazine "Broadside" is published. Dylan is to be a regular contributor. First issue contains the new song Talkin' John Birch.
2 March	Dylan, playing harmonica and singing backup vocals, records with Victoria Spivey and Big Joe Williams.
19 March	The first self-titled album is released.
	Dylan writes a poem for Izzy Young, called Talking Folklore Center. It is published as a broad-sheet by the Folklore Center, later in 1962.
23 March	Gig at Gerde's Folk City.
Spring	Cynthia Gooding records 6 songs by Dylan in her apartment.
16 or 23 April	At Gerde's Folk City Pete Seeger performs Blowin' In The Wind, a new song Bob Dylan taught him the chords to backstage, just before the performance.
20-22 April	Dylan shares the bill with Jesse Fuller at Ann Arbor Goddard College.
24 April - 6 May	Bob Dylan is the headlining artist at Gerde's Folk City.
24 April	Recording for next album starts.
25 April	After the second Freewheelin’recording session, Bob Dylan performs at the Folk And Jazz Festival at Palm Gardens in New York City.
May	Dylan participates together with Gil Turner, Pete Seeger and Sis Cunningham in the Broadside Show broadcasted by WBAI-radio, New York, later in the fall.
May	Dylan writes a song to Big Joe Williams; he gives the unpublished manuscript lyrics to Tony Glover: “My eyes are cracked I think I been framed / I can’t seem to remember the sound of my name / What did he teach you I heard someone shout / Did he teach you to wheel & wind yourself out / Did he teach you to reveal, respect, and repent the blues / No Jack he taught me how to sleep in my shoes.”
8 June	Suze Rotolo sails to Italy.
Summer	Edwin Miller interviews Dylan for the magazine "Seventeen". Dylan already dismisses the first album: "it's not where I'm at".
Summer	Gil Turner interviews Dylan for a profile in "Sing Out!".
28 June - 1 July	The Potpourri in Montreal.
July	Dylan records Blowin' In The Wind, the first in a series of publishing demos for Witmark Music.
2 July	Finjan Club in Montreal. Dylan's set is recorded.
9 July	Second Freewheelin' session in New York.
13 July	Dylan signs with the Witmark music publishing company.
August	Broadside publishes a new Dylan composition called Ain't Gonna Grieve.
2 August	Robert Allen Zimmerman legally changes his name to Robert Dylan.
11 August	Tony Glover again records Dylan at a private party in Minneapolis.
Mid-August	Rachel Price of FM-Stereo guide interviews Dylan: "Elvis Presley was a good singer ... in the beginning".
September	A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall is first sung by Dylan at the Gaslight Café.
22 September	First appearance at Carnegie Hall. Dylan is part of an all star hootenanny. His set features the live debut (?) of Ballad Of Hollis Brown.
Late September	Another home tape is recorded at the Home of Eve and Mac MacKenzie. It includes the newly written Hard Rain.
October	Dylan performs with John Gibbons on Cynthia Gooding's radio show for WBAI. One song is known, a number called TB Blues which is also mentioned by Dylan a week later, when he appears on the Billy Faier Show on WBAI-FM-Radio.
5 October	Dylan headlines a "Travelin' Hootenanny" show in New York Town Hall. The show is enthusiastically reviewed by Robert Shelton.
October	Dylan is again taped at the Gaslight Café. This tape with17 songs is usually called The Second Gaslight Tape.
26 October	Recording for Freewheelin' continues at Columbia Studios in New York. For the first time Dylan records with a band.
October	In order to transcribe songs for publication in the Broadside magazine, Dylan records four songs at the Folkways Studio.
November	Long Ago Far Away demo is recorded for Witmark.
1 November	Continued Freewheelin' recordings.
14 November	Further Freewheelin' recordings.
6 December	In an attempt to finish the new album another recording session takes place.
Mid-December	Dylan leaves for England, his first trip to Europe, to appear in a TV play called "Madhouse On Castle Street".
14 December	Release of first single: Mixed Up Confusion/Corrina Corrina. It is quickly withdrawn by CBS.
22 December	Dylan performs at the Singers' Club Christmas party at the Princess Louise pub in London, and the next day at the King and Queen Pub in West End.
29 December	Dylan plays at The Troubadour.
30 December	Shooting of "Madhouse On Caste Street" begins.

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4 RECORDINGS

13 January	Cynthia Gooding radio show
February	Leeds Music Demos
2 February	Harry Belafonte studio session
2 March	Victoria Spivey recording session
March	The Cynthia Gooding Tape
24 April	1^st Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
25 April	2^nd Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
May	Broadside show
May	Gerde's Folk City
July	First Witmark demo
2 July	Finjan Club
9 July	3^rd Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
11 August	Minnesota Home Tape
22 September	Carnegie Hall Hootenanny
September	The Home Of Eve and Mac McKenzie
October	Billy Faier Show
October	2^nd Gaslight Tape
26 October	4^th Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
October	Folkways Studio
November	Witmark demo
1 November	5^th Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
15 November	6^th Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
Late 1962	Unidentified Folkclub
6 December	7^th Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan session
December	Witmark demos

For details about these tapes please refer to the corresponding session pages in Still On The Road.

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5 SONGS 1962

January	Ballad For A Friend	Traditional, registered as Bob Dylan.
	Poor Boy Blues
	Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie	Alternate titles are: Rambling Willie and Gamblin' Willie's Dead Man's Hand, Rambling Gangling Willie - the title used in the song book 'Bob Dylan Himself'.
	Standing On The Highway
February	Ballad Of Donald White	Copyrighted as Donald White
	Death Of Robert Johnson	Mentioned by Dylan in the Izzy Young journals.
	The Death Of Emmett Till	Composed for Dylan's appearance at the benefit concert for the Congress of Racial Equality, 23February 1962. Copyrighted in 1963 as Ballad of Emmett Till. Published in Broadside #16 (Nov 1962) as The Ballad Of Emmett Till.
	Let Me Die In My Footsteps	Mentioned in the liner notes to Freewheelin’ by Nat Hentoff as being released as a single! Recorded by Coulson, Dean, McGuiness, Flint and released on their album Lo and Behold, Sire 1972. The alternate title I Will Not Go Down Under The Ground was used on the album Broadside Ballads and in Broadside magazine #3 (April 1962).
	Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues	First published in Broadside #1 (Febr 1962) as Talking John Birch.
March	Talking Folklore Center	No known recording. One verse from this song was included in Dylan's performance of Talkin New York at Gerde's Folk City May 1962.
April	Corrina Corrina
	Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance
	Blowin' In The Wind
May	Rocks And Gravel	Krogsgaard indicates that this song is adapted from Lenny Carr's Alabama Woman Blues and Brownie McGhee's Solid Road. Heylin calls it an arrangement of a traditional song. Lyrics are not included in Bob Dylan: Lyrics 1962-1985.
June	Gates Of Hate	No known recording. A few lines from the lyrics are quoted by Gil Turner in his article "Bob Dylan - A New Voice Singing New Songs" in Sing Out! Oct-Nov 1962, reprinted in Bob Dylan - A Retrospective (see Ch 5 below).
July	Baby I'm In The Mood For You	Sometimes called Sometimes I'm In The Mood.
	Down The Highway
	Quit Your Lowdown Ways
August	Ain't Gonna Grieve
	Long Time Gone
	Talkin' Hypocrite	No official or circulating recording. No published lyrics.
	Tomorrow Is A Long Time
September	A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
October	Ballad Of Hollis Brown
	Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
	John Brown
November	I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
	Long Ago Far Away
	Mixed Up Confusion
	Oxford Town
	Paths Of Victory]
	Playboys And Playgirls
	Walkin' Down The Line
December	Ballad Of The Gliding Swan	Also known as Swan On The River. Written for the BBC TV play Madhouse On Castle Street. Lyrics are not included in Bob Dylan: Lyrics 1962-1985.
	Bob Dylan's Blues
	Hero Blues
	I Shall Be Free
	Kingsport Town	Lyrics are not included in Bob Dylan: Lyrics 1962-1985.
	Whatcha Gonna Do

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6 SOURCES

Tim Dunn	I Just Write 'Em As They Come. Annotated Guide to the Writings of Bob Dylan A Not-A-Ces Publishing Venture 1990.
Glen Dundas	Tangled Up In Tapes — 4th Edition A Recording History of Bob Dylan SMA Services, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada 1999. Softcover 334 pages.
Clinton Heylin	A Life In Stolen Moments. Bob Dylan Day By Day 1941-1995. Schirmer Books 1996, 404 pages.
Clinton Heylin	Bob Dylan, The Recording Sessions 1960-1994 St. Martin's Press, 1995, 233 pages.
Michael Krogsgaard	Positively Bob Dylan A Thirty-Year Discography, Concert & Record Session Guide 1960-1991. Popular Culture, Ink. 1991. 500 pages

7 SUGGESTED READINGS

7.1 General background

Michael Gray	Song & Dance Man III. The Art Of Bob Dylan Cassell 1999. Hardback 918 pages (!!)
Clinton Heylin	Behind The Shades. A Biography. Summit Books 1991, 500 pages.
Daniel Kramer	Bob Dylan. Citadel Press (hardback) or Pocket Books. Great photo book from 1964-1965.
Anthony Scaduto	Bob Dylan. An intimate biography. New American Library 1973
Eric von Schmidt, Jim Rooney	Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years. Anchor Books 1979.
Robert Shelton	No Direction Home. The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. New American Library 1986.
Howard Sounes	Down The Highway. The Life Of Bob Dylan. Groove Press 2001.

7.2 Article compilations

Carl Benson (ed)

The Bob Dylan Companion — Four Decades of Commentary.

Schirmer Books, New York 1998. Softcover 306 pages.

Craig McGregor (ed)

Bob Dylan. A Retrospective.

William Morrow 1972

Elizabeth M. Thomson (ed)

Conclusions On The Wall. New Essays On Bob Dylan.

Thin Man 1980

7.3 Selected articles

Bob Dylan's Publications in Broadside Magazine 1962-1965 – article by David Pichaske in The Telegraph #20

Bob Dylan article in Little Sandy Review 1962 – in Occasionally #4

Doing The London Waltz – article in Brian Lawlan's book Steppin' Out.

Talkin' Hava Negilah: Bob Dylan Approximately Revisited – article in Talkin' Bob Zimmerman Blues #4

The Witmark Demo Tapes – article by Clinton Heylin in The Telegraph #16

Uncopyrighted Songs – article by Clinton Heylin/The Telegraph #25

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – Homer, the Slut #4, 5

Eric von Schmidt Interview – by Joseph Sia, On The Tracks #4 (Fall 1994)

My Name It Is Nothin’ – by Derek Barker, Isis #64

Stealin' Stealin': Bob Dylan & The Blues, 1961-1963 – The Telegraph 54 (Spring 1996)

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Bob Dylan, The Recording Sessions 1960-1994

Carl Benson (ed)