The year many regard as Bob Dylan's best, with the famous World Tour spanning North America, Australia and Europe and the recording of one of the best rock albums ever, BLONDE ON BLONDE. In July Bob Dylan falls off his motorcycle while riding around Albert Grossman's estate in Woodstock. Dylan and is hospitalized. All concert and radio/TV engagements for the rest of the year are first put forward, then cancelled. This marks the end of the surrealistic rock’n’roll phase. Dylan will reappear mote than a year later a very changed man and performer.

2 THE YEAR AT A GLANCE

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3 CALENDAR

26 January	Dylan appears in the early morning talk show of Bob Fass, participating in a two hour long phone-in.
February	Release of the single One Of Us Most Know/Queen Jane Approximately
4 February	The North American tour continues with a show in Louisville, Kentucky.
14–17 February	Recording for BLONDE ON BLONDE is resumed in Nashville with local studio musicians.
8–9 March	Last BLONDE ON BLONDE sessions in Nashville, Tennessee.
12 March	Robert Shelton interviews Dylan on a flight between Lincoln, Nebraska and Denver, Colorado. The interview is published twenty years later in Shelton's book "No Direction Home".
25 March	The acoustic half at the show in Center Arena, Seattle, Washington, includes a version of Oxford Town. It is preceded by Bob telling the lighting guy to put a spotlight on a certain heckler, then he dedicates the song to the guy, who remains in the spotlight while Bob sings the song.
26 March	Last concert in North America for almost eight years in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
April	Release of the single Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35/ Pledging My Time. In the US this stays 10 weeks on the charts, peaking as #2. In England it reaches #7 at best.
13 April	The World Tour proper starts with a show at the Sydney Stadium in Sydney, Australia. This show ends with Positively 4^th Street, instead of Like A Rolling Stone.
21 April	Parts of the press conference at the Adelaide airport is broadcast at the local radio.
28 April	Press conference in Stockholm and interview by Klas Burling are broadcast by Swedish radio.
16 May	Release of BLONDE ON BLONDE.
17 May	The show at Free Trade Hall in Manchester is recorded on 3-track for a possible later live recording. It is later widely bootlegged as the “Royal Albert Hall” concert. The heckler shouting ‘Judas’ and the famous response ‘You’re a liar’ is probably the most famous artist – audience interaction in rock ‘n’ roll. The entire concert is eventually officially released in The Bootleg Series by Sony Music in 1999.
24 May	The show at Dylan's 25th birthday at the Olympia in Paris is recorded to be broadcast on French radio on May 29. At the last minute the broadcast is vetoed by Dylan.
27 May	Royal Albert Hall, London. This turns out to be the last show of the 1966 World Tour and the last Bob Dylan concert until the “come-back” with The Band in January 1974.
April-May	The European leg of the World Tour is again filmed by D.A. Pennebaker. It is later edited by Bob Dylan and Howard Alk. The premiere is delayed until February 8, 1971.
Late May	Vacation in Spain with Sara.
June	Release of single I Want You/Just Like Tom Thum's Blues, the B-side being a live version from Liverpool, 14 May. 1966.
Early Summer	Birth of first son, Jesse Byron.
July 29	While riding around Albert Grossman's estate in Woodstock, Dylan falls off his motorcycle and is hospitalized. All concert and radio/TV engagements for the rest of the year are first put forward, then cancelled.
August	Release of single Just Like A Woman/Obviously Five Believers.

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4 THE 1966 WORLD TOUR

4.1 The musicians

During the first part of the tour in North America the band consisted of:

Robbie Robbertson (guitar),

Garth Hudson (organ),

Richard Manuel (piano),

Rick Danko (bass),

Sandy Konikoff (drums).

When the tour continued in Hawaii in April, Sandy Konikoff was replaced by Mickey Jones.

4.2 The dates

J means there is a recording this show or parts of it

February
	4	Louisville, Kentucky
	5	White Plains, New York	Westchester County Center	J
	6	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Syria Mosque	J
	10	Memphis, Tennesee	Ellis Auditorium Amphitheater
	11	Richmond, Virginia	Richmond Shrine Mosque
	12	Norfolk, Virginia	Arena
	18	New Haven, Connecticut	New Haven Arena
	19	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	Auditorium,
	20	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Place des Arts
	??	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	PNE Agrodome
	24	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Academy Of Music
	25	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Academy Of Music
	26	Hampstead, New York	Island Gardens	J
March
	3	Miami Beach, Florida	Convention Hall
	5	Jacksonville, Florida	Jacksonville Coliseum
	11	St Louis, Missouri	Kiel Opera House
	12	Lincoln, Nebraska	Persching Memorial Auditorium
	13	Denver, Colorado
	??	Los Angeles, California
	??	Santa Monica, California
	24	Tacoma, Washington
	25	Seattle, Washington	Center Arena
	26	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	PNE Agrodome
April
	9	Honolulu, Hawaii	Honolulu International Center
	13	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Stadium	J
	14	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Stadium
	15	Brisbane, Australia	Festival Hall
	19	Melbourne, Australia	Festival Hall	J
	20	Melbourne, Australia	Festival Hall	J
	22	Adelaide, Australia	Palais Royal
	23	Perth, Australia	Capitol Theatre
	29	Stockholm, Sweden	Konserthuset,	J
May
	1	Copenhagen, Denmark	KB-Hallen
	5	Dublin, Ireland	Adelphi Theatre	J
	6	Belfast, Northern Ireland	ABC	J
	10	Bristol, England	Colston Hall	J
	11	Cardiff, Wales	Capitol Theatre
	12	Birmingham, England	Odeon
	14	Liverpool, England	Odeon	J
	15	Leicester, England	De Montfort Hall
	16	Sheffield, England	Gaumont Theatre
	17	Manchester, England	Free Trade Hall	J
	19	Glasgow, Scotland	Odeon
	20	Edinburgh, Scotland	ABC Theatre	J
	21	Newcastle, England	Odeon
	24	Paris, France	Olympia
	26	London, England	Royal Albert Hall	J
	27	London, England	Royal Albert Hall	J

Beskrivning: Beskrivning: Bob Dylan New Center Arena

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4.3 The show

As far as is known the set always consisted of 7 songs with Bob Dylan on vocal guitar and harmonica. After a 15-minute intermission Dylan returned with his band and they performed 8 songs. There were no encores. The set list stayed pretty much the same at least from Australia and onwards.

4.4 The live recordings

		February			April			May
		5	6	26	13	20	29	1	5	6	10	12	14	15	16	17	19	20	26	27
She Belongs To Me	AC	1	1	1	1	1	1				1			1	1	1		1	1	1
To Ramona	AC	2	2
Visions Of Johanna	AC	3	3	3	3	3	3		X		3			3	3	3		3	3	3
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue	AC	4		4	4	4	4		X		4			4	4	4		4	4	4
Desolation Row	AC	5	4	5	5	5	5		X		5			5	5	5		5	5	5
Love Minus Zero/No Limit	AC	6	5	6
Mr. Tambourine Man	AC	7	6	7	7	7			X		7			7	7	7		7	7	7
Tell Me, Momma		8		8	8	8		X			8		X	8	8	8	1	8	8	8
I Don't Believe You		9		9	9		X			X	9		X	9	9	9		9	9	9
Positively 4th Street			X		15
Like A Rolling Stone			X					X			15				15	15		15	15	15
Fourth Time Around	AC			2	2	2	X		X		2			2	2	2		2	2	2
Baby Let Me Follow You Down				10	10	X	X	X			10		X	10	10	10		10	10	10
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues				11	11	X	X	X			11		X	11	11	11		11	11	11
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat				12	12		X				12		X		12	12		12	12	12
One Too Many Mornings				13	13		X	X			13				13	13		13	13	13
Just Like A Woman	AC				6	6			X		6			6	6	6		6	6	6
Ballad Of A Thin Man					14		X	X			14	1			14	14	2	14	14	14

X denotes that the exact position in the show is not known. Entries in italics denotes “known but not in circulation”.

The audience tapes from this period are generally very poor. Only Pittsburgh, February 6 is listenable. The tape from Stockholm is very fragmentary. The guy who taped this concert only taped the beginning of most songs since he was afraid to run out of tape. The PA tapes are on the other hand very good and have been widely bootlegged through the years.

4.5 Interviews and press conferences

26 January	Bob Fass Show	WBAI Studios, New York City, New York	1243
20 February	Martin Bronstein Interview	Place Des Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada	1290
April	Stan Profe interview	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	1340
21 April	Press conference Roger Cardwell interview Bob Francis interview	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia	1350
28 April	Press conference Klas Burling interview	Hotel Flamingo, Solna, Sweden	1370 1380
3 May	London press conference	Mayfair Hotel, London, England	1430
23 May	Press Conference	Hotel Georges V, Paris, France

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5 BLONDE ON BLONDE

5.1 The album

This double album was released May 16, 1966 and on CD first time April 1987 with several shorter mixings, later remixed and re-released in full length. Approximately 73 minutes.

Blonde On Blonde stayed 30 weeks on the US charts and peaked as #9. In England it reached #3 and stayed 10 weeks in the Top 10.

5.2 The recording sessions

Session 1-5 recordings took place at Columbia Recording Studios, New York City, New York.

Session 6-13 recordings took place at Columbia Music Row Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Session #	Date	Released album songs	Take
1	5 October 1965	none
2	30 November 1965	none
3	21 January 1966	none
4	25 January 1966	One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)	24
5	27 January 1966	none
6	14 February 1966	Fourth Time Around	20
		Visions Of Johanna	4
7	15 February 1966	none
8	16 February 1966	Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands	4
9	17 February 1966	Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again	18
10	7 March 1966	Absolutely Sweet Marie	4
11	8 March 1966	Pledging My Time Just Like A Woman	4 18
12	9 March 1966	Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) Temporary Like Achilles	6 4
13	10 March 1966	Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 Obviously Five Believers Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat I Want You	2 4 1 6

5.3 The tracks

Song	Session	Single	Official live	First known live
Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35	10	April 1966	Before The Flood	Isle Of Wight 31 August 1969
Pledging My Time	9	April 1966		San Rafael April 1987
Visions Of Johanna	6		Biograph	Pittsburgh 6 February 1966
One Of Us Must Know	4	Early 1966		Wichita 19 May 1976
I Want You	10	June 1966	At Budokan Dylan & The Dead	San Francisco 23 March 1975
Stuck Inside Of Mobile	8	July 1966	Hard Rain	Pensacola 28 April, 1976
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat	10			Hempstead 26 February 1966
Just Like A Woman	9	August 1966	Before The Flood At Budokan Bangla Desh Hard To Handle	Melbourne 19 or 20 April 1966
Most Likely You Go Your Way	10	1967	Before The Flood	Chicago 3 January 1974
Temporary Like Achilles	10			—
Absolutely Sweet Marie	9			Concord 7 June 1988
Fourth Time Around	6			Hempstead 26 February 1966
Obviously Five Believers	10	August 1966		Palm Desert 15 May, 1995
Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands	7			—

Biograph - Royal Albert Hall, London, May 26, 1966

Bangla Desh - The benefit concert in Madison Square Garden, 1971.

Before The Flood - Tour with The Band, 1974.

Hard Rain - 2nd Rolling Thunder Revue, 1976.

At Budokan - Far East Leg of World Tour, 1978.

Hard To Handle - With Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers in Sydney, Febr. 1986.

Dylan & The Dead - Mini Tour with The Grateful Dead, July 1987.

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6 EAT THE DOCUMENT

Eat The Document was filmed in Europe April-May 1966 as a sequel to Don't Look Back. It as directed and filmed by D.A. Pennebaker and edited by Bob Dylan and Howard Alk two years later in the summer of 1968. Eat The Document premiered at the New York Academy Of Music, February 8, 1971. Eat The Document documents Dylan's tour of Europe back-stage, on stage and off stage. It is filmed in colour and runs approximately 52 minutes. It is yet not available as commercial home video.

Content:

Tell Me, Momma	KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1 May
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down	KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1 May
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues	KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1 May
One Too Many Mornings	KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1 May
Ballad Of A Thin Man	KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1 May
Like A Rolling Stone	KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1 May
I Still Miss Someone	backstage Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, May 11
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues	soundcheck, Free Trade Hall, Manchester, May 17
One Too Many Mornings	soundcheck, Free Trade Hall, Manchester, May 17
What Kind Of Friend Is This	hotel room, Glasgow, Scotland, 18 May
When Will I Be Loved	hotel room, Glasgow, Scotland, 18 May
What Kind Of Friend Is This	hotel room, Glasgow, Scotland, 18 May
I Can't Leave Her Behind	hotel room, Glasgow, Scotland, 18 May
Ballad Of A Thin Man	Glasgow, Scotland, 18 May
I Don't Believe You	ABC Theatre, Edinburgh, May 20

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7 SONGS 1966

January	One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)
	She's Your Lover Now [1,2]
February	Fourth Time Around
	Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
	Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
	Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
	Tell Me, Momma [2]
	Visions Of Johanna
March	Absolutely Sweet Marie
	I Want You
	Just Like A Woman
	Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
	Obviously Five Believers
	Pledging My Time
	Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
	Most Probably van Gogh [5]
	Don't Tell Him, Tell Me [5]
May	I Can't Leave Her Behind [3]
	On A Rainy Afternoon [3]
	What Kind Of Friend Is This [3,4]

Notes

[1] Two takes exist, one with The Hawks in December 1965 and the solo version from January 1966.

[2] Covered by The Original Marauders on their album "Now Your Mouth Cries Wolf" - Pied Piper 1977.

[3] Only version is in Eat The Document, not copyrighted until 1978.

[4] May be an arrangement only, not an original song.

[5] This song has not been copyrighted. It was performed in a hotel room in Denver, Colorado, 12–13 March 1966 together with Robbie Robertson and taped by Robert Shelton.

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8 SOURCES

Tim Dunn	I Just Write 'Em As They Come. An 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.
John Baldwin	The fiddler now upspoke, Volumes 1–5 A collection of Bob Dylan interviews and press conferences. Desolation Row Promotions, 1995.
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
Michael Krogsgaard	Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions (Part 1). The Telegraph #52, Summer 1995, pp. 128–129.

9 SUGGESTED READINGS

9.1 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.
Anthony Scaduto	Bob Dylan. An intimate biography. New American Library 1973
Robert Shelton	No Direction Home. The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. New American Library 1986.

9.2 Books about 1966

John Bauldie	The Ghost Of Electricity. Bob Dylan's 1966 World Tour. Wanted Man 1988
Lars Hols	Bob Dylan In Sweden. Reports on Bob Dylan's concerts in Sweden 1966-1989. Privately published booklet. 116 pages.
C. P. Lee	Like The Night Bob Dylan and the road to the Manchester Free Trade Hall. Helter Skelter Publishing 1998. Soft cover, 190 pages.
Alex Russell	Flagging Down The "Double E"- (Dylan, with allusions) Richie Roberts, New York, 1983.
John Way	Hungry As A Raccoon (Bob Dylan Talks to his Fans and other Strangers) 1993 Transcripts of the WBAI radio phone-ins, with notes exploring and analysing some of Dylan's responses.

9.3 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
Paul Williams	Watching The River Flow Observations on Bob Dylan's Art-in-Progress, 1966-1995. Omnibus Press 1996, 255 pages.

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9.4 Articles

Blonde On Blonde – review by Stephen Pickering in A Commemoration

Blonde On Blonde – The Record That Can’t Be Set Straight – by Roger Ford in The Bridge No. 2 (Winter 1998) and No. 3 (Spring 1999).

Copenhagen Press Conference May 1966 in Occasionally #2

Eat The Document – article in Endless Road #5

Eat The Document: A Second Helping – article in Endless Road #6

Eat The Document: Another Piece In The Jigsaw – by Graham Ashton in Endless Road #7

Eye To Eye – A Conversation With D.A. Pennebaker – in The Telegraph #26

Freeze-Out, Visions Of Johanna And The Nightingale's Code – by Clinton Heylin in The Telegraph #16

God Bless America – by Paul Williams in his book Outlaw Blues

London Press Conference May 1966 – in Occasionally #2

Lovers Emotions: An Analysis of Visions Of Johanna – in Talkin' Bob Zimmerman Blues #4

Paris Press Conference, 1966 – in Positively Tie Dream

Stockholm Press Conference 1966 – in Endless Road #2

Tarantula – a perspective – by Elia Katz in Praxis: One

Tarantula: A Question Of Interpreting – by Stephen Pickering in A Commemoration

Temporary Like Achilles – by Nick de Somogyi in The Telegraph #27

The 1966 Line Recordings – by Clinton Heylin in The Telegraph #25

The D.A. Pennebaker Interview – in The Telegraph #16

The Original 1966 Playboy Interview – in Whaaaat?

Understanding Dylan – by Paul Williams in his book Outlaw Blues

Unreleased Tarantula – Released! – by Stephen Pickering in Talkin' Bob Zimmerman Blues #5

Visions Of Johanna – by Nigel Hinton in The Telegraph #9

Visions Of Johanna: Dylan's Romantic Dilemma – by Louis Morgan in A Commemoration

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John Baldwin

Bob Dylan, The Recording Sessions 1960-1994

Positively Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions (Part 1). The Telegraph #52, Summer 1995, pp. 128–129.

John Bauldie

Carl Benson (ed)

Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions (Part 1).
The Telegraph #52, Summer 1995, pp. 128–129.