1 Introduction

Bob Dylan was back on the road and also back on the streets. He returned to New York City in the summer and started hanging out in the Village. He met Jacques Levy and they started writing a number of songs that were later to become Desire, one of Dylan’s most commercially successful albums. Late in the summer the idea of a new tour took form. This turned out to be something completely different compared to the last year’s comeback tour with The Band. This was to be a low-key tour with a number of friends like Bob Neuwirth, Roger McGuinn, Allen Ginsberg, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Joan Baez. He called it the Rolling Thunder Revue.

2 1975 At A Glance

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3 The 1975 Calendar

17 January	Release of Blood On The Tracks.
February	Release of Tangled Up In Blue/If You See Her Say Hello single
23 March	SNACK benefit concert in Golden Gate park - Kezar Stadium in San Francisco together with members from The Band and Neil Young. The whole show is broadcast by a local radio station, but Dylan's microphone is somehow turned away, making his vocals practically inaudible.
26 April	Mary Travis and Friends radio show on KNX-FM.
May-June	Dylan visits France.
Mid-June	Dylan visits Rubin Carter in jail for the first time.
26 June	Release of The Basement Tapes
26 June	Dylan attends a concert with Patti Smith at The Other End in New York City, New York and turns up backstage after the show. For photos and more information please go to Bob Dylan his 1975 adventures: Thursday June 26, 1975 at The Other End -Patti Smith and Bob Dylan & Patti Smith-most from the June 26, 1975 Other End show.
July	Release of Million Dollar Bash/Tears Of Rage single.
3 July	Dylan joins Ramblin’ Jack Elliott on stage at the Other End in Greenwich Village.
Summer	Dylan plays harmonica on the song Who Love (If Not You Love) on David Blue's album 'Comin' Back For More' (Asylum).
Summer	Dylan meets Jacques Levy and starts co-writing the Desire songs.
14 July	1^st Desire recording session in New York City
28 July	2^nd Desire recording session in New York City
29 July	3^rd Desire recording session in New York City
30 July	4^th Desire recording session in New York City
31 July	5^th Desire recording session in New York City
10 September	Dylan appears in The World Of John Hammond TV-program.
October	Recording of Buckets Of Rain with Bette Midler.
24 October	6^th Desire recording session in New York City is spent re-recording Hurricane with slightly changed but accurate lyrics. The first recorded versions had mistakenly placed Arthur Dexter Bradley in the bar.
October	Rolling Thunder Revue rehearsals in New York City.
30 October	The first Rolling Thunder Revue starts with a show in the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The show contains five new songs from the unreleased Desire album: Romance In Durango, Isis, Oh, Sister, Hurricane, One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below), and Sara. The songs I Shall Be Released and Never Let Me Go get their first live treatment.
November	Release of Hurricane single.
4 November	At the afternoon show in Providence, Rhode Island, Dylan sings With God On Our Side for the first and last time during Rolling Thunder Revue. Lyrics include extra lines about having learned to hate Korea, Vietnam, Poland, South America and Cuba.
	The evening show features the only version of It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) during Rolling Thunder Revue.
6 November	Arlo Guthrie is guest at the evening show in Springfield, Massachusetts, and plays two songs with Roger McGuinn.
8 November	Simple Twist Of Fate is played for the first time in concert at the show in Burlington, Vermont.
10 November	People Weekly publishes interview by Jim Jerome.
13 November	During the afternoon show in New Haven, Connecticut, Dark As A Dungeon and Tangled Up In Blue are played for the first time.
	Joni Mitchell joins The Rolling Thunder Revue at the evening show and stays on until the last show in December.
22 November	In Waltham, Massachusetts Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You is played live for the first time. This version has rewritten lyrics.
1 December	Dylan’s mother Beatty attends the show in Toronto, Canada, and comes up on stage.
8 December	Night Of The Hurricane 1, a special Hurricane Carter Benefit show takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is also the last show in 1975.

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4 Desire

4.1 The recording sessions

Desire was recorded in six recording sessions during July and October. Here's a summary of these sessions:

		# of		take released on
Date	Song		takes		Desire	BS[1]	Single	BIOG[2]
14 July	Rita May		7
	Joey		10
28 July	Catfish		3
	Hurricane		3
	Money Blues		1
	Oh, Sister		1
	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)		1
	Romance In Durango		6		2
29 July	Black Diamond Bay		12
	Catfish		2			1 or 2
	Money Blues		1
	Mozambique		7
	Oh, Sister		8
	Black Diamond Bay		5		4
	Golden Loom		4			2
	Hurricane		1
	Isis		2
	Joey		2
	Mozambique		4		4
	Oh, Sister		5		2
	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)		3		1
	Rita May		4				4
31 July	Golden Loom		1
	Abandoned Love		2					1
	Town (Reference)		2
	Sara		6		6
	Isis		2		2
11 August [3]	Joey		1		1
24 October	Hurricane		10		2/6

For more details about some of these sessions please refer to the corresponding session pages.

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4.2 Live history

Song	Debut
Abandoned Love	Other End, New York City 3 July 1975, the only live performance
Hurricane	In the TV-program The World Of John Hammond, Chicago 10 September 1975. First concert performance was in Plymouth 30 October 1975. Last performance was in Houston 25 January 1976.
Isis	Plymouth 30 October 1975. Last performance was most probably in Salt Lake City 25 May 1976.
Joey	Foxboro 4 July 1987 with The Grateful Dead.
Mozambique	Lakeland 18 April 1976. Last performance was most probably in Salt Lake City 25 May 1976.
Oh, Sister	In the TV-program The World Of John Hammond, Chicago 10 September 1975. First concert performance was in Plymouth 30 October 1975. Last performance was in Tempe 18 November 1978.
One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)	Plymouth 30 October 1975.
Rita May	New Orleans 3 May 1976, being the only known live performance.
Romance In Durango	Plymouth 30 October 1975. Last performance was in San Antonio 11 May 1976.
Sara	Plymouth 30 October 1975. Last performance was in Houston 25 January 1976.

Black Diamond Bay might have been played at the last Rolling Thunder Revue concert in Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 May 1975.

Catfish, Golden Loom, Money Blues and Town (Reference) have probably never been played live.

4.3 Officially released live versions

4 Songs From Renaldo And Clara	Isis	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
At Budokan	Oh, Sister	Tokyo, Japan, 1 March 1978
	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)	Tokyo, Japan, 1 March 1978
Biograph	Isis	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
	Romance In Durango	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
Bootleg Series Vol. 5.	Hurricane	Worcester, Massachusetts 19 November 1975.
	Isis	Boston, Massachusetts, second show 21 Nov. 1975.
	Oh, Sister	Boston, Massachusetts, second show 21 Nov. 1975.
	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)	Boston, Massachusetts, second show 21 Nov. 1975.
	Romance In Durango	Cambridge, Massachusetts, 20 November 1975.
	Sara	Boston, Massachusetts, second show 21
Dylan And The Dead	Joey	Foxboro, Massachusetts, 4 July 1987
Hard Rain	Oh, Sister	Fort Worth, Texas, 16 May 1976
Hard Rain TV Special	Mozambique	Fort Collins, Colorado, 23 May 1976
Renaldo And Clara	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
	Sara	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
	Romance In Durango	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
	Isis	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.
Single 1984	Isis	Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 4 December 1975.

4.4 Performances during The Never-Ending Tour

Joey	1988, 1990-1992, 1994-2000
One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)	1988, 1990, 1991, 1993

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1 Introduction

2 1975 At A Glance

3 The 1975 Calendar

4 Desire

4.1 The recording sessions

4.2 Live history

Debut

4.3 Officially released live versions

4.4 Performances during The Never-Ending Tour