1 Introduction

1978 was a hectic year for Bob Dylan. Renaldo & Clara finally premiered and got mostly bad reviews. He went out on a world tour that in the end covered ten different countries with 115 shows! There was a major new record, Street-Legal, the first in more than two years. A compilation, Masterpieces was released in Japan and later in Australia. There was also a live double album from the first part of the world tour in Japan, At Budokan. Dylan gave a lot of interviews to promote both his new movie and the world tour. And then, in the end, a new beginning.

2 1978 At A Glance

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3 The 1978 Calendar

January	Playboy publishes the Ron Rosenbaum interview.
Early January	Rehearsals continue at Rundown Studios.
8 January	New York Times publishes the John Rockwell interview.
20 January	Article by Joel Kotkin about his meeting with Dylan published in Washington Post.
22 January	L.A. Times publishes the Gregg Kilday interview.
24 January	Two press conferences at Rundown Studios, one for Australian and one for Japanese journalists.
25 January	Renaldo & Clara opens in New York and Los Angeles and gets generally bad reviews.
26 January	Rolling Stone publishes the Jonathan Cott interview.
3 February	Minneapolis Star publishes the Jon Bream interview.
17 February	Tokyo press conference.
20 February	The first concert of the World Tour in Nippon Budokan Hall in Japan features live debuts of Lonesome Bedroom and The Man In Me as well as the first live versions of All I Really Want To Do since Newport 24 July 1965 and of Tomorrow Is A Long Time since Minneapolis 17 July 1963.
24 February	Repossession Blues is played for the first time at the show in Osaka.
25 February	The triple album Masterpieces is released in Japan.
26 February	Love Her With A Feeling is played for the first time at the show in Osaka.
28 February	The first song from Street-Legal, Is Your Love In Vain?, is played at the show in Tokyo. This concert is recorded and seven songs are later released on Bob Dylan At Budokan.
1 March	The second show in Tokyo is also recorded and fifteen songs are released on Bob Dylan At Budokan.
March	Women's Day publishes the Julia Orange interview.
15 March	The Age publishes the Helena Thomas interview.
18 March	Sydney Morning Herald publishes the Craig McGregor interview.
20 March	MacLeans publishes the Philip Fleishman interview
22 March	Live debut of I'm A Steady Rolling Man at the show in Melbourne.
26-29 March	Toronto Sun publishes the Barbara Kerr interview.
1 April	Karen Hughes interviews Dylan before the last show of the world tour's first leg in Sydney.
7 April	Release of The Band’s The Last Waltz.
Early April	Rehearsals for the European tour at Rundown Studios.
25 April	1^st Street-Legal recording session at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California.
26 April	2^nd Street-Legal recording session at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California.
27 April	3^rd Street-Legal recording session at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California.
28 April	4^th Street-Legal recording session at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California.
1 May	5^th and last Street-Legal recording session at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California. Three joint compositions with Helena Springs are recorded during this session, Walk Out In The Rain, Stop Now and Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long). None of these songs were released and only Stop Now is in circulation.
28 May	L.A. Times publishes the first Robert Hilburn interview.
1 June	A series of seven “warm up” shows for the European tour starts at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, California. Two songs from Street-Legal are played live for the first time, Baby Stop Crying and Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power).
15 June	The release of Street-Legal coincides with the first show in Europe since 1966, then at Royal Albert Hall, now at Earl's Court in London, England.
Late June	Release of Baby Stop Crying/New Pony single in UK.
3 July	L'Express publishes the Philippe Adler interview.
	True Love Tends To Forget is premiered at the show at Pavillon de Paris.
4 July	Yet another Street-Legal song is played for the first time at Pavillon de Paris, this time We Better Talk This Over.
5 July	This night in Paris, it is time for Changing Of The Guards to make its live debut. New Pony is tried at the soundcheck but remains unplayed live.
12 July	The soundcheck in Gothenburg contains another Street-Legal song never played live, No Time To Think.
15 July	The European tour is concluded before some 200 000 people at the Blackbushe Aerodrome in Camberley, England. This show contains the last live debut from Street-Legal, Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat).
21 August	Bob Dylan At Budokan is released in Japan.
September	Release of Changing Of The Guards/Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power) single in US.
Early September	Rehearsals for the American tour at Rundown Studios.
15 September	First show of the American part of the World Tour takes place at the Augusta Civic Center in Maine. A new song, Am I Your Stepchild?, makes its debut and is played regularly during the Fall tour.
October	Release of Is Your Love In Vain?/We Better Talk This Over single in UK.
7 October	Toronto Sun publishes the Peter Goddard interview.
22 October	Hibbing High Times publishes the Pam Coyle interview.
31 October	Another new song written with Helena Springs called Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long) is played for the first and only time at the show in St. Paul, Minnesota.
12 November	L.A. Times publishes the second Robert Hilburn interview. Sound publishes the John Mankiewicz interview.
13-14 November	During the shows in Oakland, California, Dylan starts telling long stories: the story about the geek who ate a live chicken at carnivals before playing Ballad Of A Thin Man and the story about the gypsy king at the gypsy festival in the south of France, preceding One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
17 November	Another story makes its debut at the show in San Diego, the one preceding Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power), about the old man on the train from Chihuahua to San Diego with burning eyes and with smoke coming out of his nostrils.
	It is at the same show that someone throws up a little silver cross onto the stage. Dylan picks it up and puts in his pocket. This little incident turns out to be the start of a new chapter in the life and art of Bob Dylan.
18-23 November	Dallas Morning News publishes the Pete Oppel interview.
19 November	Circus Weekly publishes an edited version of the Matt Damsker interview.
24 November	At the show in the Fort Worth Tarrant County Convention Center Arena Dylan is seen wearing a large metal cross around his neck.
2 December	An early version of Slow Train is tried at the soundcheck in Nashville, Tennessee.
16 December	Final concert at the Hollywood Miami Sportatorium includes an early version of Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others).

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4 Official recordings

4.1 Street-Legal

Street-Legal was recorded in five sessions in a week’s time in late April. It was produced by Don DeVito. Here's a summary of these sessions:

		# of		take released on
Date	Song	takes	Street-Legal		BIOG[1]	single
25 April	Changing Of The Guards	?
26 April	Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)	1
	Is Your Love In Vain?	1
	New Pony	1
	We Better Talk This Over	3	3			3
	Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)	3
	True Love Tends To Forget	4
27 April	No Time To Think	?	X
	Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)	?	X
	True Love Tends To Forget	?	X
	Changing Of The Guards	?	X			X
28 April	Baby Stop Crying	?	X			X
	Is Your Love In Vain?	?	X
	New Pony	?
	Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)	?	X		X	X
1 May	Walk Out In The Rain	?
	Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long)	?
	Stop Now	?
	New Pony	?	X			X

Please note that details are missing for most of these sessions. For more details about some of these sessions please refer to the corresponding session pages.

4.1.1 Live history

Song	Debut
Baby Stop Crying	Los Angeles, California, 1 June 1978
Changing Of The Guards	Paris, France, 5 July 1978
Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long)	St. Paul , Minnesota, 31 October 1978, only one known performance.
Is Your Love In Vain?	Tokyo, Japan, 28 February 1978
New Pony	no known live performance, played at soundcheck in Paris, France, 5 July 1978
No Time To Think	no known live performance, played at soundcheck in Gothenburg, Sweden, 12 July 1978.
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)	Los Angeles, California, 1 June 1978
Stop Now	no known live performance
True Love Tends To Forget	Dortmund, West Germany, 27 June 1978
Walk Out In The Rain	no known live performance
We Better Talk This Over	Paris, France, 4 July 1978
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)	Paris, France, 8 July 1978

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4.1.2 Officially released live version

Bob Dylan At Budokan

Is Your Love In Vain?

Tokyo, Japan, 1 March 1978.

Performances during The Never-Ending Tour

Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)	1991, 1992, 1994-2002
We Better Talk This Over	2000 (once)

4.2 Bob Dylan at Budokan

This album was originally intended only for the Japanese market and released in Japan 21 August 1978. It became such a success that Columbia decided to release it worldwide late in 1978.

The album was recorded at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo as follows.

Track	Song	28 February	1 March
A1	Mr. Tambourine Man		X
A2	Shelter From The Storm	X
A3	Love Minus Zero/No Limit	X
A4	Ballad Of A Thin Man		X
A5	Don't Think Twice, It's All Right	X

B1	Maggie's Farm		X
B2	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)		X
B3	Like A Rolling Stone		X
B4	I Shall Be Released		X
B5	Is Your Love In Vain?		X
B6	Going, Going, Gone		X

C1	Blowin' In The Wind		X
C2	Just Like A Woman		X
C3	Oh, Sister		X
C4	Simple Twist Of Fate	X
C5	All Along The Watchtower		X
C6	I Want You		X

D1	All I Really Want To Do		X
D2	Knockin' On Heaven's Door		X
D3	It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)	X
D4	Forever Young	X
D5	The Times They Are A-Changin'	X

Tracks A and B made up the two sides on the first LP, tracks C and D the two sides on the second LP. Tracks A and B correspond to the first CD, tracks C and D to the second CD.

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1 Introduction

2 1978 At A Glance

3 The 1978 Calendar

4 Official recordings

4.1 Street-Legal

4.1.1 Live history

Debut

4.1.2 Officially released live version

4.2 Bob Dylan at Budokan